Agony of the soul (?) etc

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 9 Jan 1997, Swami Vishvarupananda wrote:

> If you are that sure and desperate, why don't you drop everything here and
> now and run to take sannyasa? Is not your vigorous engagement in this
> debate without taking immediate sannyasa a bit ironic? ;-)

Not in the slightest.  My engagement in this debate is for the
purification of the mind and removal of doubt which are neccessary steps
before Sannyasa.  We are in agreement are we not that the main lakshana of
sannyasa is not the danda or the robes but the complete cessation of
desire.  This is not easy to achieve and demands great mental strength.
Owing to having been born outside India and living far away from learned
people it has been at great cost I have been able to gather what little
knowledge of the shastras I have.  But I possess enough intellectual
humility to know this is only a drop in the ocean of shastric knowledge.
If I foolhardily rush into sannyasa without mastering that ocean how can I
hope to succeed?

Nevertheless I can still recommend sannyasa even without having entered it
myself because its neccessity is truth which doesn't depend on my state in
the least.

> Yes, a samsari has no chance. But a person engaged in the world physically,
> while remaining detached within is not exactly a samsari, is he?
>

If a person thinks the world he's engaged in is real then yes he is a
samsari. If he is engaged in an illusionary world then he is a fool.

Detachment is the opposite of engagement.

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