Chapter 13§
Monastic Aspirants
मठवासि नवशिष्य
ATHAVĀSI SANNYĀSINS ARE THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF HINDUISM. CONTINUING THIS NOBLE RENUNCIATE MONASTIC TRADITION IS ESSENTIAL FOR THE PERPETUATION OF THE FAITH. THEREFORE, WHEN A YOUNG BOY EXPRESSES THE DESIRE TO BECOME A MONk, PARENTS SHOULD NEVER DISCOURAGE THAT INCLINATION, BUT STRONGLY ENCOURAGE IT IN ALL WAYS THEY CAN. IT IS A GREAT BLESSING FOR THE FAMILY TO HAVE A SON BECOME A SANNYĀSIN. §
234 ¶Each father should guide his sons who express an inclination toward monastic life into learning more of sannyāsa by teaching them of the lives of great yogīs and swāmīs, encouraging them in the arts of meditation, haṭha yoga and personal purity, having them read and study the Vedas, and bringing them to receive the darśana and advice of the swāmīs whenever possible. Sūtras 282-283 remind us, “My devotees with sons inclined toward monastic life wholeheartedly encourage these noble aspirations. Fathers and young sons live as monastery guests periodically to nurture monastic patterns and tendencies. Aum.” My devotees regard any son destined for the monastery not as their own child, but as the satguru’s progeny in their trusted care. All details of his upbringing, training and education are to be guided by the preceptor. Aum. “The kulapatis, heads of extended families, all realize the importance of keeping the monasteries well populated. Sūtra 281 states, “Each Saiva Siddhanta Church family prays to birth a son for the monastery. Prior to conception, parents mix with the swāmīs and beseech the Gods to bring through a divine soul destined to perpetuate our lineage. Aum.” ” §
Attitudes of Monks’ Families§
235 ¶The power of brahmacharya makes the monks very magnetic and the temples they serve in powerful. Monastics are therefore careful to keep their distance and not become involved with devotees who attend the temples. In turn, the cultured devotees keep their distance from the monks—physically, emotionally and psychically, not even thinking of them, let alone psychically pulling on them, even in their dreams. Nothing should happen to distract a monk from his chosen path. This code of nonintervention is even more strict for the monk’s parents, who share in his renunciation of worldly life for the life of selfless service to the Sanātana Dharma. Once a brahmachārī has entered the monastery under vows, he is a very special person living a very special life. He should be treated by everyone, including his own family, as a holy person. He now stands apart from family and former friends. This is summarized in sūtra 284: “My devotees with a monastic son never claim special access or privileges based on blood ties. They dissociate from him and do not involve themselves in his life or seek to influence our Śaiva Church through him. Aum.” Parents when visiting respect his chosen path and keep joint and extended family problems from his knowledge. They exclude him from news of marriages, divorces, illness, deaths and other householder events. They should show great interest in what he is learning and speak of high philosophical matters. What a blessing to the family.§
Strengthening Renunciate Commitments§
236 ¶A life of discipline is not an easy life, but it is a joyous one with many soul-satisfying rewards. Monastics follow their rigorous 24-hour protocol even in their dreams. It is not easy, and those who are born to perform this service are to be respected and not distracted by family pulls or the desires of former friends. Tested, yes, in their beginning years, to be assured that their commitment is firm, their energies secure and their loyalties well understood. Traditionally at this time family and friends play an important role by bringing temptations to them and valid reasons why they should renounce renunciation. But when their robes turn to yellow or when in white the rudrāksha beads are worn, their path is clear and a new protocol on both sides must be firmly kept. All relationships have now changed.§
Sannyāsa: The Spirit of All Maṭhavāsis§
237 ¶The Śaiva sannyāsin states at the time of his initiation, “All that I have and all that I am I now give unto my God, my Gods and my guru. I have no family except the Divine Father Śiva and Mother Śakti who dwell in Kailāsa and on earth the saṅgam of Śaivite devotees.” This is the ideal of not only the swāmī, but of all monks. Therefore, a state of aloofness from blood ties must be maintained on the part of each monastic. This is reflected in the protocol of the monk’s not referring to relatives as “my father,” “my brother,” “my mother,” but by formal, impersonal names, such as Mr. Śivanesan, etc. This is an affectionate detachment, a lovingly detached attitude, from the gṛihastha community. It is a detachment from joint or extended family, which includes former friends, seeing guru as mother and father, and fellow monastics as family, aadheenam devas as dear relatives, and Gods as close, not far away. Each family learns to respect this renunciate attitude. This is the fabric of monastic life, both for sannyāsins and postulants, for in our community, all are on the path of renunciation. Some have received sannyāsa dīkshā and others are preparing for it by fully living the life of the one who has renounced the world in one-pointed quest for service and God Realization.§
Premonastic Training and Protocol§
238 ¶A formal, progressive pre-monastic regimen which leads the śishya through the stages of aspirant and supplicant into the postulancy is also available for those eager to eventually take holy orders of sannyāsa. Sponsorship is given by senior kulapati by placing their signatures on the candidate’s pre-monastic vow document, indicating endorsement of him as suitable for monastic life. Aspirants are encouraged to live for short or long periods of time in a temple within their own country before entering a formal monastery. During this time they wear white and strive to fulfill the pledge of purity. Supplicants, intent on entering the Postulancy, live under the additional pledges of humility and obedience. Postulants and premonastics study Holy Orders of Sannyāsa daily to enhance their understanding and fulfillment of renunciate life. Young boys strongly inclined toward the monastic path may leave their own home for a time and be raised instead in the home of a brahmachārī couple, as indicated in Śaivite Śāstra verse 192: “It was in these two [types of brahmacharya] families that their guru sent very young sādhakas, ten, twelve, thirteen, fourteen years old, to have initial training. They were sent only after two years of brahmacharya had been mastered by the family and the forces within the family well adjusted.” Because training must be given when the nature is still young and pliable, we do not accept candidates for monastic life who are over the age of 25.§
Sunless and demonic, verily, are those worlds, and enveloped in blinding darkness, to which all those people who are enemies of their own souls go after death. §
ŚUKLA YAJUR VEDA, ISAU 3. BO UPR, 570§
The Upakurvāṇa Program§
239 ¶Upakurvāṇa śishyas are young men between the ages of 11 and 21 devoting six months serving their religion at Kauai Aadheenam or a branch monastery, or through a missionary program, prior to path choosing. Upakurvāṇa means “prior to taking up one’s profession.” The upakurvāṇa program is open only to young men from homes of well established Church families who have raised their sons to be worthy of the upakurvāṇa training, as stated in sūtra 285: “My family devotees raise their sons to be worthy of entering my monastery for two years to serve, study and grow in character as they live the monk’s selfless life. This is the ideal for all young men. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.” Before university is the best time to enter into this period of service, sādhana and study, which is meant to establish and strengthen the youth’s personal spiritual connection to the Paramparā. It has been proven through the years that excellent monastics as well as householders come from the experience of living with and being trained by the Śaiva monastics in the arts of worship, the disciplines of yoga and the daily unrelenting routine which is traditional to the life of the maṭhavāsi. He learns to work well with others, to discipline himself, to accept correction and to respect his elders. It is a time of refining and cultivating his nature just when he needs it most, on the passage between being a boy and becoming a man. Upakurvāṇīs, also known as aspirants, take the pledge of purity and abide by the premonastic document Solemn Aspirations. They may live in Church family homes and come to the monastery daily to serve, or they may be given the privilege of staying overnight at the monastery’s devasthānam, a brahmachārī resident facility outside the central monastery forcefield, on nearby but nonadjoining property owned by the Church. In either case, they live with the families during all phasely retreat days. During sādhu paksha, upakurvāṇīs may continue residing in the devasthānam during the phase and staying with the families on retreat days. Part of the upakurvāṇa experience is to visit our dharmaśālas and the homes of kulapati families worldwide.§
Raising a Son for the Monastery§
240 ¶All must always remember that it is a family’s greatest blessing for a son to become a sannyāsin. But a word of caution must follow. Though a young man may be raised as a monk, it is he himself who has to have the burning desire for ultimate, transcendent realization of Paraśiva. It is he who must have a heart full of selfless service and vairāgya, the spirit of renunciation. It is he who must have the prārabdha karmas that would allow him to be the ideal sannyāsin his parents would hope for. Becoming a monk is not simply a matter of moving from his family home into a monastery. Various tests must be met and passed. The entire monastic community has to be convinced of the young man’s sincerity and strengthened by his presence. With this in mind it is easy to see why only six-month pledges are given during the pre-monastic time of testing before two-year vows are taken and renewed again and again before lifetime holy orders are given. At each juncture, new decisions are made, the karmas reviewed and commitments to the sannyāsin path made firm. §
Path-Choosing for Young Men§
241 ¶After the upakurvāṇa training, most young men go on to their higher education, family life and careers. A rare few elect to pursue the renunciate’s path. After he returns home it is time for the young man to think over his life and make a firm choice between the two paths, that of the gṛihasthin and that of the sannyāsin. This decision, once made by the son and his parents, is formalized before the community through the path-choosing rite, Ishṭa Mārga Saṁskāra. Should a young man, with his parents’ blessings, desire to return and prepare for sannyāsa dīkshā, he may apply after a minimum of 39 days have elapsed. The Ishṭa Mārga Saṁskāra is a temple ceremony held for all my young followers, witnessed by family and fellowship community. The family makes the path-choosing with the youth, giving deep consideration to his nature and inclinations. If they choose married life, then the community joins in seeking the ideal partner. If the choice is monastic life, and all feel that he is a worthy candidate, then he is prepared to beg acceptance into a monastery as a Supplicant pre-monastic to be raised and educated in a monastery of the Church and be considered the satguru’s progeny henceforth. The family relinquishes all claims on him from that day onward, with the understanding that they would welcome him back into their home and arrange a marriage for him if monastic life proves not to be his right path. §
The mind is said to be twofold: the pure and also the impure; impure by union with desire—pure when from desire completely free! §
KṚISHṆA YAJUR VEDA, MAITU 6.34. UPH, 447§
Judging Candidates’ Worthiness§
242 ¶Even if monasticism is embraced in the Ishṭa Mārga rite, this is no guarantee of acceptance into a monastery, for he must be a renunciate by nature as well as by desire and have no close blood relative or personal family attachments within the monasteries. Our Dravidian Śāstras emphasize strictness in accepting young aspirants. Verse 395 explains, “Surrounding each of our monasteries there are, of course, sādhaka sent by family men who had trained them for entrance, begging admittance for the first time into the monastery. They were kept by the wall for long periods of time before being admitted. Each moon they were given a philosophical examination and a close look at their deportment and conduct and fulfilling of the śāstras in their own life. Occasionally some were sent back to the family who had trained them for additional acquisition of accomplishments in certain areas. During this time they were always encouraged and shown great love and kindness, for it was important that the monasteries gain new sādhaka in order for our culture to persist. But this effort to increase our population and begin new monasteries did not in any way lower our standards.” Verse 400 emphasizes how the family communities appreciate these high standards, “It was the family educators of young monastics who were always appreciative of high and difficult standards arrived at by individual monasteries, and they would tell young potential sādhaka studying with them in their homes of the difficulties in entering one or another of them and the reasons why. This became a part of their training and is a part of our culture. These high standards, which set certain monasteries apart from others, strengthen Śaivism on this planet.”§
If Acceptance Is Not Granted§
243 ¶Dravidian Śāstras verse 398 explains the procedure for cases when a young aspirant is not accepted into a monastery: “It was on occasion, when a newcomer seeking entrance did not readily become accepted because of his failure to be able to adjust to the deep inner flow, participate in it in the monastery he was begging to enter, that after many interviews and philosophical examinations and review of personal conduct, the Umagaṇeśa had no choice but to suggest to the guru he be asked to seek entrance into another monastery that perhaps wasn’t quite as strict. This monastery was carefully chosen for him. And because of the training he had just received by the wall, he more than often was accepted within a short time and enhanced this new monastery by his presence.” §
Boys Are Trained to Be Maṭhavāsis§
244 ¶Verses 486-487 of the Dravidian Śāstras give the pattern for a youth’s training and entrance to the monastery. “Outside the walls in the community, in some of the homes of enlightened family men, constant training of potential sādhaka goes on. It generally commences after the age of puberty, for then a young man automatically detaches from his mother. This is about 12 years of age. It takes another 12 years for the final detachment to occur, during which time he’s primarily trained by the pattern his father sets for him, or he’s taken by a guru from his family home and placed in the home of a brahmachārī family, a family that has no sexual intercourse, for training to enter the monastery. With special permission, a young soul might enter this family’s household as early as nine or ten years of age, and the monastery as early as fourteen. If any attachment exists to mother or the rest of the family after the age of 14, it is only diminishing attachment, and if any attachment exists after the age of 24 other than love, respect and honor to the mother on the part of the son, it is on the part of the son himself because of his not being sure of his way in the world and his seeking to reattach to his mother through psychic means.” §
Diminishing Attachment To Family§
245 ¶Verse 488 continues with more about the youth’s acceptance: “Therefore, at any time after the age of 14 up to the age of 24, he’s accepted into one of our Śaivite monasteries after proving himself, having settled his worldly affairs and obtained the good feeling of mother and father as the diminishing attachment fades away. If he enters the monastery after the age of 18, he should simply courteously and lovingly beg leave of his mother, father and friends by informing them of his new position in sādhaka life that he hopes to attain by sitting by our wall. Then he should never look back, for that would strengthen the psychic bonds that are in the process of diminishing from the age of 18–24 and cause congestion and confusion in the nerve system of the family.” §
When the soul gradually reduces and then stops altogether its participation in darkness and inauspicious powers, the Friend of the World, God, reveals to the soul the limitless character of its knowledge and activity.§
MṚIGENDRA ĀGAMA JNĀNA PĀDA 5.A1. MA, 138§
About the Following Chapter§
246 ¶The next chapter discusses the nucleus of society, the family, which in our Church we strive to maintain as a harmonious, integrated group of beings all following dharma according to the same system of belief under the guidance of a single preceptor. Such ideal families, as you will see, are able to take in foster and adoptive members related not by blood but by the common spiritual bond of Śaiva Siddhānta Church membership. §
Purified, empty, peaceful, breathless, selfless, infinite, indestructible, stable, eternal, unborn, free, he is established in his own glory. Having seen the Self who is established in His own glory, he looks upon the wheel of life as a wheel that rolls on.§
Kṛishṇa Yajur Veda, MaitU 6.28. VE, 440§
He should fulfill, according to the rules ordained, for twelve years the observance of brahmacharya, such as the service of the guru.§
Atharva Veda, NaradapariU 1. UpA, 135§
The Self resides within the lotus of the heart. Knowing this, consecrated to the Self, the sage enters daily that holy sanctuary. Absorbed in the Self, the sage is freed from identity with the body and lives in blissful consciousness. §
Sāma Veda, NaradapariU 1. UpA, 135§
Earnest seekers who worship enlightened ones at sight— with perfume, flowers, water, fruits, incense, clothing and food, or by word, deed and thought—are absolved then and there.§
Devīkālottara Āgama, JAV 83. RM, 117§
The guru who has attained Self Realization can alone help the aspirant in acquiring it.§
Śiva Sūtras, 2.6. YS, 102§
The heart of the holy trembles not in fear. All passions stilled, it enjoys calm unruffled. Neither is there death nor pain, nor night nor day, nor fruits of karma to experience. That, truly, is the state of those who have renounced desire.§
Tirumantiram, 1624. TM§
O Lord of the home, best finder of riches for our children are you. Grant to us splendor and strength, O Master of our home.§
Śukla Yajur Veda 3.39. VE, 343§
Keen of mind and keen of sight, free from sickness, free from sin, rich in children, may we see you rise as a friend, O Sun, till a long life’s end! §
Ṛig Veda 10.37.7. VE, 319§
Never may brother hate brother or sister hurt sister. United in heart and in purpose, commune sweetly together.§
Atharva Veda 3.30.3. VE, 857§
Let there be no neglect of the duties to the Gods and the fathers.
Be one to whom the mother is a God.
Be one to whom the father is a God.
Be one to whom the teacher is a God.
Be one to whom the guest is a God. §
Kṛishṇa Yajur Veda, TaitU 1.11.1–2. UpR, 537–8§
If he should desire, “Let me be born here again,” in whatever family he directs his attention, either the family of a brāhmin or the family of a king, into that he will be born. §
Sāma Veda, JaimU BR 3.28.3–4. VO, 115§
By honoring his mother he gains this world, by honoring his father the middle sphere; but by obedience to his teacher, the world of Brahman. All duties have been fulfilled by him who honors those three.§
Manu Dharma Śāstras 2.232–3. LM, 72§
Among those who strive for liberation, the foremost are they who live the blessed state of family life as it should be lived. §
Tirukural 47. TW§
Study well. Be obedient. Hear and follow the advice of your father, mother, brothers and sisters, and your aunt and uncle. You alone always set a good example in obedience.§
Natchintanai, Letter 10. NT, 22§