Real Renunciation Real renunciation consists in the renunciation of ‘I-ness’ and ‘mine-ness’ and desires. Moksha does not mean the physical separation from all worldly affairs but only a state of mind bereft of all impure Vasanas or clinging to worldly things, but yet working as usual amidst them. Queen Chudalai in the form of Kumbha Muni said to Raja Sikhidhwaja, her husband, who was in the forest: “The renunciation of yours is not the true one. Though you have given up your kingdom and the rest, that will not constitute true renunciation. You have yet desires in all objects. It is only by entire rejection of them that you can hope to attain the Brahmic Bliss of the wise. Alas! You have not renounced anything. All your delusive renunciations are in vain.” On this the king reflected and said: ‘There is left with me only this body composed of white bones and flesh, in which the serpents of the five sense-organs hiss. I shall instantly dispose of it without care. You shall soon see.” So saying, he ascended the summit of a high cliff, and was about to cast his body down, when the supreme Kumbha Muni arrested him with these words: ‘What is this folly that you are about to do? How, O ignorant man, did this body of yours hinder your progress? How will death in any way help you? Though you should fall down and destroy this body, like a bull that is angry with a tender calf, yet you will not complete the true abnegation. But, if you, O king, will give up that which is the cause of motion in this body, and which yields the seed of all births and Karmas, then true renunciation will be made. This is the unqualified Truth.” That man who has a wavering mind and turbulent senses, and who has not ethical training, can never obtain this Atman. There is no salvation obtained through the mere holding of the staff or making the head bald or other disguise or through ostentatious observances. Sitting for six hours on one Asana at stretch and reading Gita or Bhagawata for two hours, cannot give Mukti for a man. Though the man is seated with closed eyes, he may have day-dream and many evil thoughts. He may not possess right conduct and ethical culture. He tells lots of lies daily. He injures others. He does backbiting and tale-bearing. He has an unchaste look. He has jealousy. Purification of the mind and cultivation of virtuous qualities are of vital importance. Then only the divine light will descend. Then only the vessel will be strong enough to hold on the divine light. The mirror must be quite clean. Then only the reflection of the face in the mirror will be quite clear. The turbidity of the water in the lake must be removed. Then only you can see the bottom of the lake. Even so all impurities of the mind should be removed. The senses should be subdued. The mind should be rendered quite steady. The mind-wandering should be eradicated by constant practice and by eradication of Vasanas. Then only the aspirant can realise the Self in this self. Then only he can get Atma-Sakshatkara. Aspirants do not move on right lines. They do not practise the right kind of Sadhana and the right kind of Tapas. They do not attempt to control the Indriyas. That is the reason why they do not make any real progress in the spiritual path. Just as there is a lot of pus in the sinus inside the apparently healed ulcer or wound, so also there are lots of impurities in the minds of aspirants, though they move about from Kashmir to Brindawan, from Gangotri to Badri-Narayan, under the pretext of realised souls. This is the real state of affairs. There is only Rupantara-Bheda or difference in colour and dress. Nobody wants to do any rigid Sadhana with patience. Nobody does introspection and careful self-analysis and correction of the mistakes, weaknesses and defects. They blow out empty powerless ‘SIVOHAM, SIVOHAM, and AHAM BRAHMA ASMI’. They cram some Slokas here and there, something from Panchadasi, something from Upanishads and repeat them like parrots in the presence of some selfish householder, their so-called admirers and Bhaktas (Bhagawatha) who are waiting with the false hopes of getting some wealth or a son or some Bhooti (herb from the Himalayas) from them. This is their Self-realisation. Great Pity! Life is wasted! No real improvement has come! Renunciation is not lethargy, escapism, frustration or irresponsibility. Renunciation is getting rid of egoism, desires and cravings. When all the desires are annihilated, then this very mortal becomes Immortal. Freedom is supreme happiness. Dependence is extreme misery. Renunciation moves hand in hand with Peace.

Vedantic Culture Sri Swami Sivananda The Being who is described in the Upanishads is Brahman or Atman or the Self or Absolute. He is the fountain-head of all scriptural knowledge. He is the source or womb for everything. He is existence absolute, knowledge absolute and bliss absolute. He is indivisible, all-pervading, self-contained, eternal and immortal. He is beyond time, space and causation. He is beginningless and endless. He is the indweller in all beings. He is the witness of the activities of all minds. The Atman or the Self is all-pervading. He is beyond birth and death. He is undecaying, self-luminous, eternal, pure and self-existent. He is all-full, imperishable and infinite. He is the silent witness of the three states, viz., waking, dreaming and deep sleep. He is beyond caste, creed or colour. Sin cannot touch Him because He is ever pure. Pain, sorrow and delusion cannot affect Him, because He is all-joy. Hunger, worries and tribulations cannot torment Him, because He is all-bliss. Lust cannot reach Him, because He is sexless. Wrath cannot approach Him, because He is mindless. Restlessness cannot agitate Him, because He is all-peace. Time cannot devour Him, because He is eternity. What on earth can cause fear in you when you have realised your identity with such an Atman? What on earth can generate hatred, delusion, difference and sorrow in you when you behold the one in all and all in one? What on earth can cause agitation in you when you have transcended the mind and when you rest peacefully in your own Sat-Chit-Ananda Svarupa–that magnanimous ocean of bliss and stupendous silence? The question: “Who am I? What is this Samsara? Whence have I come? Whither will I go? What is the goal of life? What is Brahman or Atman? What is the relation between the individual soul and the supreme soul? How to attain the goal? Can I become immortal? Can I enjoy eternal bliss?” Will surely arise in the mind of every human being at one stage of his life or another. He who seriously thinks over these questions and attempts in right earnest to reach the goal is a wise man but he who does not care to ponder over these vital questions, who leads a sensual life and who does not endeavour to attain the final beatitude of life, is a fool or a thoughtless person. He lives in vain. He is a burden on this earth. He is a slayer of his own Self. His life is indeed very pitiable. He alone who is devoted to his parents, who has a calm mind, who has controlled all his senses, who has a one-pointed mind, who is equipped with four means, who is endowed with Sattvic qualities, who has purified his mind by constant selfless service, who has removed the tossing of the mind by Upasana or worship, Japa and Kirtan and, last but not least, who sits at the feet of a preceptor, who is enlightened and well-versed in scriptural knowledge, is able to grasp the Truth or the one Eternal Principle. Worldly enjoyments are fleeting like the flashes of lightning. Human life is ephemeral like the bubble. The vigour of youth is short-lived. All these are illusory in this world. All worldly things are generative of pain only. There is not even an iota of bliss in this world. The wealth which you covet is only ephemeral. The longing for wife and wealth does but enchain you. One thing which is sweet and pleasant to you at one moment produces the very reverse of that sensation in another moment. Who has not experienced this in this world? Hence it behoves a wise man to concentrate his mind on the Atman or the Self and attain the supreme seat of Eternal Bliss and Supreme Quiescence. Do not be afraid of difficulties and failures in the spiritual path. Failures are stepping stones to success. Difficulties will make you stronger and powerful. Difficulties will develop your will-power. Overcome the difficulties one by one. Use your intelligence, sagacity, discrimination and common-sense. Be bold. Stand adamant. Be cheerful. Dismiss fear and anxiety. March boldly in the spiritual path. Do not look backwards. Draw courage, strength and power from within. Tap the source. Go direct. Refresh yourself. Renovate yourself. Then march cautiously. Thou art invincible. Nothing in the three worlds can hurt you. Rest assured. Remain serene always. Smile and rejoice in the Atman. Do not confine yourself to names and forms. Rise above them and realise the Truth. Just as bubbles, foam and waves come from the ocean, exist in the ocean and dissolve in the ocean itself eventually so also these illusory names and forms have come out of Brahman or the Absolute or the Ocean of Bliss and Knowledge, exist in Brahman and ultimately dissolve in Brahman. This world is nothing but Brahman. Behold the one Self in all forms. See the One in all and all in one. You can dispel pain, sorrow, ignorance, fear, worry and anxiety only when you realise Brahman or the Self. This is the emphatic declaration of Vedanta. There is no other way to attain complete freedom from ignorance, fear, sorrow and pain. Verily it is true indeed! For how can you be subject to fear when you have realised the Self, when you have come to know that you are in essence identical with the non-dual Brahman and that there is no other seer but you, no other hearer but you, no other knower but you, no other thinker but you? Who is to be afraid of whom, when one feels oneness everywhere? Who is to hurt whom, when all dualities have totally vanished? The music of the soul is within you. The kingdom of God is within you. The domain of peace is within you. The Light of lights is within you. Knowledge is within you. The three worlds are within you. The source of power, joy, bliss and life is within you. Heaven

What is Mind Sri Swami Sivananda Mind is the cause for bondage and freedom of man. A mind that is filled with impure Vasanas tends to bondage; whereas a mind that is destitute of Vasanas tends to freedom. Mind is no mind when the Vasanas are destroyed. You become mindless. When you become mindless, intuition dawns and you are endowed with the eye of wisdom. You enjoy indescribable peace. Mind is Vasanamaya. This world is Vasanamaya Jagat. Mind clings to sensual objects through Vasanas and constantly thinks of objects. If the Vasanas perish, the mind ceases thinking of objects and we attain the state of thoughtlessness. One of the most common habits of mind is the wandering habit. It cannot stick to one point as it is of the nature of air. Sri Krishna says, “O mighty armed (Arjuna)! The mind is hard to curb and is restless; but it may be curbed by constant practice and by dispassion.” Destruction of desires and control of Indriyas are the essential steps for the control of mind. It is the desire that makes the mind restless. The Indriyas run after objects and the mind also follows the Indriyas just as a dog follows the master. Therefore if you want to check this wandering mind, you will have to renounce all sorts of desires and control the Indriyas first. Then alone will you be successful in the practice of concentration, meditation, will-culture, memory-culture and thought-culture. The vital point in concentration is to bring the mind to the same point or object again and again by limiting its movement in a small circle in the beginning. That is the main aim. A time will come when the mind will stick to one point alone. This is the fruit of your constant and protracted Sadhana. There should be one line of thought. There should be one continuity of thought like the steady flow of oil from one vessel to another vessel, like the continuous sound of a church bell. You must be regular in your practice of meditation. You must sit daily both morning and night and at the same hours. The meditative mood or Sattvic Bhava will manifest by itself without exertion. You must sit in the same place, in the same room. Regularity in meditation is a great desideratum and a sine qua non. Even if you do not realise any tangible result in the practice, you must plod on in the practice with sincerity, earnestness, patience and perseverance. Your efforts will be crowned with sanguine success after some time. Do not stop this practice even for a day, under any circumstance, even if you are ailing! Meditation is a first class tonic. The wave of meditation will remove all sorts of diseases. It will infuse spiritual strength, give new vigour and vitality. Pray fervently: “O All-merciful Lord! Through Thy grace, may I realise the Truth. May I always entertain sublime thoughts. May I realise myself as the Light Divine. May I serve humanity with Atmabhava. May I be free from greed, lust, egoism, jealousy and hatred. May I behold the one sweet immortal Self in all beings. May I realise Brahman with pure understanding. “May that Light of lights ever guide me. May He cleanse my mind of all impurities. May He inspire me. May He bestow on me power, courage and strength. May He remove the veil in the mind. May He remove all obstacles in the spiritual path. May He make my life happy and fruitful. I bow to Thee O God of gods, O Brahman of the Upanishads, Support for Maya and Isvara, the Bridge to Immortality.” Without Self all is void. It is a well-known fact that any number of zeroes has no intrinsic value unless a number is placed before them. Even so, the wealth of all the three worlds is nothing, if you do not lead a spiritual life, if you do not try to acquire the spiritual wealth. You will have to live in the Self within. You can influence others, radiate joy and peace to millions of people, far and near, if you attain Self-realisation. You will be drowned in the ocean of bliss and infinite knowledge.

Awaken from The Slumber of Non-Awareness Sri Swami Chidananda Occasionally you must take time to systematically ponder the question “Who am I?” in depth and in earnest. You are endowed with the faculty of reason, and the greatest function of this faculty is to enquire into your ultimate nature. Out of an unmanifest condition where you exist without form, height, weight or colour, you manifest for a little while on this planet as a personality with a particular name and form endowed with many distinctive physical and mental attributes. Your manifestation begins at a certain point in time called birth and ends soon after at a certain point in time called death. Between these two points you talk, laugh, love, hate, smile, sing, study, work and play. You go to school, and you learn all about trees and plants, animals, manufacturing, mathematics and whatever else it may be. Everything under the sun you learn about your external environment, but you know next to nothing about yourself. What little you do assimilate in self-knowledge is paltry, disconnected facts—but nothing real or whole. If you are ever really in a difficult spot, you go and lie down on a couch and ask someone else to tell you about yourself! You are walking about in a kind of darkness about yourself. You read a few books, hear a few lectures, and maybe a little ray of light somehow enters your mind. This single ray is better than nothing, but it is not enough. One ray of light is not enough to illumine you, and one small segment of knowledge will not help you through a deep crisis. In a crisis you need the truth, and you need it whole and not merely in bits and pieces floating about on the surface of your mind. You need it to be anchored in the very depths of your being. I met a person recently who seemed to know nearly all there is to be known about Vedanta, the immortality of the soul, the purity and perfection of the eternal, and the freedom and independence of the highest state. Yet, he was totally unable to avail himself of all this knowledge, because it had never really penetrated his mind. These ideas are impotent if they have not taken deep root in the mind-soil. To raise man out of the quagmire into which he has fallen, great power is needed. Ideas must be absorbed in depth. Intellectual conviction is good—if it is firm. It is better than mere mental fascination, but eventually ideas must become a part of you so that they actually change your way of doing things. Your ideas must vitally affect your life and reform your attitude. Eventually you must acquire the higher knowledge of the Self. Life bereft of this higher knowledge is a life steeped in darkness, ignorance and error. How in utter darkness can you ever hope to reach the ultimate goal? You will be very surprised if you take a dispassionate survey of your present pursuit of what passes for “knowledge.” You will see that, by and large, this pursuit is only to serve your worldly interests. Why, for instance, are you taking all these night courses, correspondence courses and degree courses? Because you want dollars. You want to buy a new car, a colour TV, a swimming pool, a trip to Hawaii or membership in some country club. You want to visit nice places, see nice things, and have nice people to talk to. You are in pursuit of knowledge, for you believe that in this way you will be able to improve your earning capacity. You believe that if your pay cheque is fat, your main wants will be satisfied. Do you suppose that people are flocking nowadays to colleges and universities in quest of the Absolute? Do you think they are fired with a noble urge to dedicate their lives to the cause of freedom? Do you think it is wisdom they’re after? They want to improve their prospects for a better job and a better income. Indian sages told us long ago that even though man is the shining glory of all creation and made in the image of God Himself and in spirit one with Him, with respect to the physical apparatus he is not different from every animal in creation. This is not meant in a derogatory way, but is meant to show that man’s needs for food, water, sleep and survival are all the same physical urges that are in an animal. Man shares them with every beast of the field, every fowl of the air, every fish of the water—with everything that moves upon the surface of the earth. Animals fulfil their needs in primitive and simple ways, and man fulfils them in very sophisticated ways, but there is not much difference, except that man needs knowledge for his survival. He strives to get this knowledge, but in this elaborate and roundabout way, he endeavours to get it only as a means to fulfil his sensual urges. Ultimately, he converts his knowledge into cash. The intellect serves the interests of the body, because in this circumstance the body is the kingpin. However, real knowledge is Self-knowledge. Self- knowledge is the higher knowledge acquired in the form of light. The light of Self-knowledge illumines the inner depths of your being, banishes the darkness of Self-ignorance, awakens you from the slumber of non-awareness, and leads you into the experience of Self-realisation. When the intellect is employed in pursuing this higher knowledge, it is serving not the interests of the body but those of the soul. The inevitable fate of the body is dissolution—it will be reduced to dust. Sooner or later the body will be put six feet under, and then what will all this lower knowledge of our external environment avail us? After all is said and done, of what use is all the lower knowledge? A young boy once referred to

Religion is One Sri Swami Sivananda Children of Immortal Being! Peace be unto all! Without peace there is no joy, and a joyless life is a valueless existence, for it is a struggle, a pain, a process of becoming a “not-itself, a self discrepancy.” The reign of peace, therefore, means the freedom of life, the liberation of mankind, the salvation of all beings. All strive for peace, all want unperturbable happiness. All crave for eternal life. If we think and breathe, it is for this purpose; if the wind blows and the water wriggles, it is towards this end. Nothing changes, and nothing moves even a bit, if not to perfect itself, to become the whole and self-sufficient, to break down the barriers that limit its scope and jurisdiction of existence. The process of this kind of urge and movement in thought and act, man calls Religion. Religion is not a dogma or a comfortable fancy or a hobby of a certain group of people. Religion is the expression of the Universal impulse to live the Divine Life, an inherent impulse which none can resist. Every person thinks differently, and yet, thinks towards the One Supreme Being. Differences are in the roads and the ladders and not in the city reached or the roof climbed over. The lower distinctions can be brought together and reconciled only in the light of the higher unity of the Truth. Man is a combination of the animal and the Divine, God and brute crossed at a point. Every individual has both these characteristics in him. The brutal propensity hurls him down to difference, misery, battle, bloodshed and death, and the Divine reality lifts him up to the rich and splendid realm of glorified and purified plentitude of the immortal Essence. Religion is the answer to the call of this higher impetus from the one Real God who is seated in the heart of the Universe as its very life itself. Therefore, ardent religionists! Can you not account for religious wars, for poverty, for grief, for restlessness? The seed of the perpetration of evil is sown by the lack of ability to apprehend the nature of wisdom, truth and justice. It is not the human aspiration but the subhuman propensity that ravages the very values of life through contempt for alien temperament and hatred towards the other inhabitants of the earth. It is a great mistake that the boys and girls of today are spending their career in “education for a job, bread and comfort,” neglecting the central realities of true civilisation and culture. It is imperative that all schools and colleges should, if they intend to work for the happiness and freedom of mankind, include as the most important item in the curriculum, the art of perfect living, of the essential values of life–virtue, love, purity, truth, universality, wisdom and justice, which constitute the very heart of religion, religion which soars high up to the possibility of cosmic salvation. There is no life in the education if it is destitute of the religious consciousness, for religion is the very meaning of life’s purpose, the one aim of the struggle for existence. If religion is rejected, there is nothing left in the mortal except a heap of bones and a mass of flesh. Why modern man has despised religion is because he understands by religion an outburst of the irrational spirit. Far from it! Religion is the light that enlivens the most rational life, the manifestation of the eternal glow of intelligence that peeps through even the mightiest genius of the world. There can be no civilisation without religion if it is destitute of spirituality. That religion which aims at nothing more than a happy life in the world is only materialistic utilitarianism and not a solacing religion. Materialism is a crude product of a want of proper illumination and insight into the true essence and hence, it is not worthy of consideration. An impure heart and a conceited brain cannot understand religion. True religion begins where intellect ends. Religion is neither emotion nor scholarship, but knowledge that is direct and immediate, a faith born out of the Vedas and the Upanishads, the Gospel of the Buddha, the teachings of Christ, all have sprung from an impersonal source, though this impersonality is made known to us only when it expressed itself through personalities. No intelligent men of the world can say that he has reached the zenith of intelligence; knowledge grows and widens when experience deepens itself. Many rank materialists have turned into great spiritual heroes, which shows that the shallow world cannot satisfy the deep spirit in man. This one Spirit is common to all and therefore religion must be one, and not two or many. Though shirts and coats may be many, the person is the same who puts them on. Therefore, fight not, argue not, be not intolerant, O happy sons of God! Blossom ye joyous flowers of the garden of the earth. There is no Asiatic or European or American, no Hindu or Christian or Moslem, but there are sons of God, worshipping Him in the temple of the Universe, there are seekers of Truth who are studying in the vast school of Nature, there are human beings who are marching towards the Divine Being, there is the finite stretching itself to the Infinite. Therefore, peace is thy birthright, religion is the way, universal brotherhood is the ideal, spiritual perfection is the one goal of each and every inhabitant of this vast earth. Mere bread for the body is not enough, religion is the bread of the soul, without which life is but death and civilisation is a mere mockery. May you all realise the aim of true religion. May perfect peace reign over the whole world! May the Almighty Lord bless you all!