[Advaita-l] Knowledge, renunciation and varNASrama rules

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 19 Aug 2010, Suresh Marur wrote:

> Sanyasa to me is a state of mind when there is nothing more important to the
> individual than the pursuit of the truth and is ready to give up everything.
> The giving up is again not conscious giving up. It appears to others that
> the person is giving up. To the person himself, truth is of highest value
> and giving up of "things" is actually dropping unwanted garbage.

I agree with the substance of what you wrote, but with just one caveat. 
While you do find some negative comments about the world in the shastras, 
they on the whole do give the world higher status than just garbage.

Perhaps a better analogy is to toys?  As a child you are obsessed with 
toys and as you become more mature you leave them behind.  But you do not 
hate them.  You may even buy them for your children even though you have 
no use for them yourself.  In such a way, a sannyasi has no need for the 
fleeting, perishable things of the world.  As Ishopanishad 1, says, mA 
grdha kaschasviddhanaM "Do not covet, for whose is wealth?"  If one can 
meditate successfully on this question "whose is wealth?" vairagya becomes 
natural.

> All advaita is eventually a question of personal growth leading to total
> annihilation of the ego and realizing "Aham Brahma Asmi" and living it every
> moment. Sitting in agyana, we cannot ask the question on whether someone
> else has the right to become a sanyasi. That question is for the individual
> to ask.

Nevertheless when the individual asks it, there should be an answer no?

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>