Is Renunciation Necessary for Enlightenment?
28.9 هزار بار بازدید -
2 سال پیش
-
Being obsessed with worldly pleasures
Being obsessed with worldly pleasures is an obstacle to spiritual growth and enlightenment. But merely giving up those pleasures won't make you enlightened either. Then, what is the purpose of renunciation in spiritual practice?
The Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions all have great value for renunciation or monastic life as a spiritual practice. Shankara, the greatest teacher of Advaita Vedanta was a sannyasi, as were his disciples. But many scriptures, especially the Bhagavad Gita, praise the engaged spirituality of karma yoga as being better than renouncing the world and living as a sannyasi, a monk. There, Sri Krishna told Arjuna to stay on the Kurukshetra battlefield and fight the war, to fulfill his personal responsibilities, his dharma.
In the Bhagavad Gita, four different kinds of renunciation are described by Sri Krishna:
1) Escapism - Renunciation of Duties
2) Sannyasa - Renunciation of Worldly Activities
3) Karma Yoga - Renumciation of the Fruits of Your Deeds
4) Enlightenment - Renunciation of the False Sense of being a Doer of Action
1) Escapism is not an option, because by shirking your responsibilities, you will incur papa karma, sin, which will create obstacles on the path of spiritual growth. Those who live as sannyasis to escape responsibilities are called hypocrites by Sri Krishna. 2) Sannyasa is suitable for those who have fulfilled their worldly responsibilities and are inclined to lead a contemplative life of meditation, study, and prayer. 3) Surprisingly, Sri Krishna describes Karma Yoga as a kind of renunciation, in which you give up the fruits of your deeds, you give up your personal, self-serving agenda, and instead, act for the welfare of all, as did King Janaka of Mithila. 4) An enlightened person has figuratively renounced the false sense of being a doer of action through gaining self-knowledge, atma jnana. That knowledge leads you to discover that your true self, atma, is not involved in activity of any kind. It is the body, mind, senses, and ego that are involved in action, not atma, the so-called light of awareness, unchanging consciousness, cit or chaitanya, that illumines the activities (vrittis) of your mind as the sakshi, the awareful witness, the detached observer.
0:00 Introduction
7:52 Karma Yoga and Renunciation
11:36 Escapism - Renunciation of Duties
16:24 Sannyasa - Renunciation of Worldly Activities
20:04 Karma Yoga - Renunciation of the Fruits of One's Deeds
25:04 Enlightenment - Renunciation of the False Sense of Agency
Swami Tadatmananda is a traditionally-trained teacher of Advaita Vedanta, meditation, and Sanskrit. For more information, please see: https://www.arshabodha.org/
The Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions all have great value for renunciation or monastic life as a spiritual practice. Shankara, the greatest teacher of Advaita Vedanta was a sannyasi, as were his disciples. But many scriptures, especially the Bhagavad Gita, praise the engaged spirituality of karma yoga as being better than renouncing the world and living as a sannyasi, a monk. There, Sri Krishna told Arjuna to stay on the Kurukshetra battlefield and fight the war, to fulfill his personal responsibilities, his dharma.
In the Bhagavad Gita, four different kinds of renunciation are described by Sri Krishna:
1) Escapism - Renunciation of Duties
2) Sannyasa - Renunciation of Worldly Activities
3) Karma Yoga - Renumciation of the Fruits of Your Deeds
4) Enlightenment - Renunciation of the False Sense of being a Doer of Action
1) Escapism is not an option, because by shirking your responsibilities, you will incur papa karma, sin, which will create obstacles on the path of spiritual growth. Those who live as sannyasis to escape responsibilities are called hypocrites by Sri Krishna. 2) Sannyasa is suitable for those who have fulfilled their worldly responsibilities and are inclined to lead a contemplative life of meditation, study, and prayer. 3) Surprisingly, Sri Krishna describes Karma Yoga as a kind of renunciation, in which you give up the fruits of your deeds, you give up your personal, self-serving agenda, and instead, act for the welfare of all, as did King Janaka of Mithila. 4) An enlightened person has figuratively renounced the false sense of being a doer of action through gaining self-knowledge, atma jnana. That knowledge leads you to discover that your true self, atma, is not involved in activity of any kind. It is the body, mind, senses, and ego that are involved in action, not atma, the so-called light of awareness, unchanging consciousness, cit or chaitanya, that illumines the activities (vrittis) of your mind as the sakshi, the awareful witness, the detached observer.
0:00 Introduction
7:52 Karma Yoga and Renunciation
11:36 Escapism - Renunciation of Duties
16:24 Sannyasa - Renunciation of Worldly Activities
20:04 Karma Yoga - Renunciation of the Fruits of One's Deeds
25:04 Enlightenment - Renunciation of the False Sense of Agency
Swami Tadatmananda is a traditionally-trained teacher of Advaita Vedanta, meditation, and Sanskrit. For more information, please see: https://www.arshabodha.org/
2 سال پیش
در تاریخ 1401/10/22 منتشر شده
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