Renunciate Life and The Two Paths, Part Three
Author: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Description: Realization in family life is in the anāhata and viśuddha chakras. For breaking the vows that fulfill grihastha dharma, the penalty is bad merit. As a sannyāsin, to fulfill the illustrious Śaiva sannyāsin dharma, Paraśiva, in nirvikalpa samadhi, must be regularly experienced over many years. True renunciation must be complete, unconditional. Facing hardships cheerfully and with dauntless courage give all to God Śiva and never take it back. True renunciation comes when the world withdraws from the devotee. Bring honor to yourself and your religion by being the vault wherein are kept the priceless treasures of Śaivism. Spread the light of the One Great God Śiva.
Transcription:
Good morning everyone.
This morning we're continuing "Merging with Siva", Chapter 39 entitled: " Renunciate Life and the Two Paths" drawn from "The 1970 Master Course" Lesson 271 continued:
"Following Neither Path
"Truly devout born members of Hinduism would never turn against the cause they support, nor would those who join the faith by valid adoption or conversion—for to make their unwavering commitment, they made sacrifices, be it a family inheritance or alienation from their community, such as Jews, Christians and Muslims have faced who left their fold and converted to the Sanātana Dharma. The voice here is commitment to an established religion and fully converting to it by severing from any and all prior affiliations. Also, there should be zero tolerance for inharmonious conditions. So many gurus live surrounded by conflicts amongst followers as a way of life. No wonder they pass on before their time.
"It has always been my advice to gurus and swāmīs to impose aloneness as a prāyaśchitta, penance, on dissidents who have infiltrated their core. In their aloneness, they would experience the torment of their own misdeeds, and their departure would be imminent, or in their aloneness their soul might shine forth and deliver a message to their errant mind—perhaps preprogrammed by others who sent them to break up the group—and emancipate them from the destructive and disruptive path they are on. Those within the āśrama pursuing a higher path, training for true renunciation, are then freed from the detractors. The detractors are also freed to find good spouses and raise good families within the confines of their faith. Every group has such misfits within it from time to time. Wise gurus and swāmīs will ferret them out and send them on their way before they make too many bad karmas that will sorely impact their next birth.
"Many devotees ask about realization amidst family life, not renouncing the world, but just changing your attitude about life: 'I mentally renounce the world and therefore I am a sannyāsin.' Realization in family life is in the anāhata and viśuddha chakras, which then stimulates the chakras above into psychic abilities of various kinds: astral projection, foreseeing the future, reincarnation-readings of past lives and more. These realizations are stabilizing to the families, especially to the elders of the extended family when three generations live in one house..."
So, my comment on Gurudeva's statement: "Realization in family life is in the anāhata and viśuddha chakras". So in Shum that means the portraits in the fourth and fifth dimension are the ones to focus on for those in family life.
Back to the text:
"...However, the family man would not want to seek for timeless, formless, causeless Paraśiva, because that would be a foundation, a starting point, for detaching from the family, and he would never look back. To renounce the world may not be possible, but if he were to continue seeking for total transformation, the world would renounce him. The family would find their newly acquired mendicant incompatible with their desires and goals. The wife would find her spouse more interested in himself than her, with difficulties in maintaining income, continuity of family duties, distaste for work in the world, and the desire to retire into mountain caves, or at least a peaceful forest. All these thoughts, desires and feelings manifest in deserting family duties, or gṛihastha dharma, and its penalty is bad merit and breaking the vows that fulfill that dharma. So, you can see the dilemma that entangles stepping over the fiery line without the proper preparation, qualifications and initiations. It is the sannyāsa initiation that gives permission, the starting point for the experience of Paraśiva and the aftermath of transformation. This is what the orange robes signify in orders that set for themselves this ideal as their true goal."
So, Gurudeva's phrase there: "...the aftermath of transformation," I have a comment on it:
It is popularly thought that it is enough to experience the state of Paraśiva once. That is not true. Paraśiva must be regularly experienced over many years. This re-experiencing process brings us realization through the entirety of one's being. In the padas of Saiva Siddhanta this idea is the practice of yoga in jnana, the focus on daily re-experiencing the ultimate meditative state of nirvikalpa samadhi, the realization of Paraśiva. As Gurudeva explains in "Merging with Siva" Lesson 34 [341]:
"Paraśiva has to be experienced time after time for it to impregnate all parts of the body...Ears, eyes, nose, throat, all parts of the body have to realize Paraśiva, and the siddha has to do this consciously. The calves have to realize Paraśiva. All the parts of the lower body have to realize Paraśiva, because all of those tala chakras have to come into that realization."
And we get Lesson 272:
"A Message To Sannyāsins
"To further delineate the nature of renunciate life, I would like to share with you a letter I wrote to the sannyāsins of my Saiva Siddhanta Yoga Order. It constitutes the introduction to Holy Orders of Sannyāsa, the vows and ideals they live by.
“The first part of your life was lived for yourself; the second part will be lived in the service of others, for the benefit of your religion. You have been tried and tested through years of training and challenges and proved yourself worthy to wear the kavi, the orange robes, and to fulfill the illustrious Śaiva sannyāsin dharma.
“The sannyāsin harkens close to Śiva and releases the past to an outer death. Remembering the past and living in memories brings it into the present. Even the distant past, once remembered and passed through in the mind, becomes the nearest past to the present... (That's an interesting idea.) "... Even the distant past, once remembered and passed through in the mind, becomes the nearest past to the present. Sannyāsins never recall the past. They never indulge in recollections of the forgotten person they have released. The present and the future—there is no security for the sannyāsin in either. The future beckons; the present impels. Like writing upon the waters, the experiences of the sannyāsin leave no mark, no saṁskāra to generate new karmas for an unsought-for future. He walks into the future, on into the varied vṛittis of the mind, letting go of the past, letting what is be and being himself in its midst, moving on into an ever more dynamic service, an ever more profound knowing. Be thou bold, sannyāsin young. Be thou bold, sannyāsin old. Let the past melt and merge its images into the sacred river within. Let the present be like the images written upon the water’s calm surface. The future holds no glamour. The past holds no attachment, no return to unfinished experience. Even upon the dawn of the day, walk into your destiny with the courage born of knowing that the ancient Śaivite scriptures proclaim your sannyāsin’s life great above all other greatness. Let your life as a sannyāsin be a joyous one, strict but not restrictive, for this is not the path of martyrdom or mortification. It is the fulfillment of all prior experiential patterns, the most natural path—the straight path to God, the San Mārga—for those content and ripened souls. Leave all regret behind, all guilt and guile, others will preserve all that you proudly renounce... (Isn't that great?) ...Others will preserve all that you proudly renounce. Let even the hardships ahead be faced cheerfully.
“Never fail to take refuge in your God, your guru and your Great Oath. This is the highest path you have chosen. It is the culmination of numberless lives, and perhaps the last in the ocean of saṁsāra. Be the noble soul you came to this Earth to be, and lift humanity by your example. Know it with a certainty beyond question that this is life’s most grand and glorious path, and the singular path for those seeking God Realization, that mystic treasure reserved for the renunciate. Know, too, that renunciation is not merely an attitude, a mental posture which can be equally assumed by the householder and the renunciate. Our scriptures proclaim that a false concept. True renunciation must be complete renunciation; it must be unconditional. There is no room on the upper reaches of San Mārga for mental manipulations, for play-pretend renunciation or half-measure sādhana. Let your renunciation be complete. Resolve that it will be a perfect giving-up, a thorough letting-go. Let go of the rope. Be the unencumbered soul that you are. Be the free spirit, unfettered and fearless, soaring above the clamor of dissension and difference, yet wholeheartedly and boldly supporting our Śaivite principles against those who would infiltrate, dilute and destroy. All that you need will be provided. If there is any residue of attachment, sever it without mercy. Cast it off altogether. Let this be no partial renunciation, subject to future wants, to future patterns of worldliness. Give all to God Śiva, and never take it back. To make this supreme renunciation requires the utmost maturity coupled with a dauntless courage. It requires, too, that the wheel of saṁsāra has been lived through, that life hold no further fascination or charm."
And the last lesson in the chapter, Lesson 273:
“A New Spiritual Birth (Gurudeva's letters continuing)
“Through experience the soul learns of the nature of joy and sorrow, learns well to handle the magnetic forces of the world. Only when that learning is complete is true sannyāsa possible. Otherwise, the soul, still immature, will be drawn back into the swirl of experience, no matter what vows have been uttered. True renunciation comes when the world withdraws from the devotee. Sannyāsa is for the accomplished ones, the great souls, the evolved souls. Sannyāsa is not to be misinterpreted as a means of getting something—getting enlightenment, getting puṇya, or merit. Sannyāsa comes when all getting is finished. It is not to get something, but because you are something, because you are ready to give your life and your knowledge and your service to Śaivism, that you enter the life of the sannyāsin. The kavi, or saffron robes, are the royal insignia of the sannyāsin. Those in kavi the world over are your brethren, and you should feel one with each of these hundreds of thousands of soldiers within.
“The ideals of renunciation as practiced in the Sanātana Dharma are outlined fully in these Holy Orders of Sannyāsa. Live up to them as best you can. You need not be a saint or jīvanmukta to enter into the ancient world order of sannyāsa. Renunciation in its inmost sense is a gradual process. It does not happen instantly when a vow is spoken. Do not mistake sannyāsa dīkshā as the end of effort, but look upon it as a new spiritual birth, the beginning of renewed striving and even more difficult challenges. There will remain karmas to be lived through as the soul continues to resolve the subtle attachments, or vāsanās, of this and past lives. It is enough that you have reached a knowing of the necessity of tyāga. It is enough that you renounce in the right spirit and pledge yourself to meet each challenge as befits this tradition, bringing honor to yourself and your religion.
“Finally, you are charged with preserving and defending the Śaiva Dharma teachings of the Nandinātha Sampradāya’s Kailāsa Paramparā as brought forth in The Master Course trilogy of Dancing, Living and Merging with Śiva, and in The Holy Bible of the Śaivite Hindu Religion. You are cautioned against being influenced by alien faiths or beliefs. You are the vault, the repository, wherein are kept the priceless treasures of Śaivism, secure and available for future generations. All who accept these Holy Orders accept a selfless life in which all monastics work their minds together, thus keeping the saṅgam strong and effective. You must not veer from the San Mārga, nor follow an individual path, nor remain remote or aloof from your brother monastics. It is a serious life which you now enter, one which only a sannyāsin can fully undertake. Remember and teach that God is, and is in all things. Spread the light of the One Great God, Śiva—Creator, Preserver and Destroyer, immanent and transcendent, the Compassionate One, the Gracious One, the One without a second, the Lord of Lords, the Beginning and End of all that is. Anbe Sivamayam Satyame Parasivam.”
Then I have a commentary.
So commenting on Gurudeva's line:
"Do not mistake sannyāsa dīkshā as the end of effort, but look upon it as a new spiritual birth, the beginning of renewed striving and even more difficult challenges. There will remain karmas to be lived through as the soul continues to resolve the subtle attachments, or vāsanās, of this and past lives."
So that's the comment I wanted to make. Gurudeva's pointing out that a sannyasin still needs to "resolve the subtle attachments, or vāsanās, of this and past lives" having resolved the gross ones.
Thank you very much, a bit long, but we finished.
Have a wonderful day. A U M!
[End of transcript.]