Prevailing misconceptions about sannyāsa
Krishna listened to Arjuna’s questions on sannyāsa and tyāga. He then begins to answer them, with his characteristic notes. After having heard about sannyāsa and tyāga all this while, if Arjuna’s mind still needs clarification and confirmation, Krishna has to be sufficiently lucid. So he commences with an elaborate note:
Some wise people consider renunciation as the relinquishment of such acts as are motivated by desire. Some discerning experts hold the view that tyāga consists in relinquishing the results of all actions.
Those given to deep introspection, say that all actions carry evil and hence are to be abandoned. Others hold the view that sacrifice, gifting and austerity should not be forsaken at all.
People generally quote these verses as Krishna’s message on sannyāsa and tyāga, as though these form part of the gospel of Bhagavad Gita. In reality, Krishna only prefaces his reply with what others think on the subject. His own words are yet to follow. This point should not be forgotten. In these two verses he states what the wise people think about the subject.
Some wise people feel that renunciation should in fact include all actions, for which desire acts as the motivation, driving force. This means that no desire-motivated action should ever be undertaken, if the spirit of sannyāsa is to be upheld and preserved.
Another view of the Wise, adds Krishna, is that the results of all actions are to be totally abandoned. What kind of abandonment can this be? After having done an act physically to its completion, can the actor keep away from the result that follows? Would it then mean an employee having to disown his salary or remuneration due to him at the end of the month? It would also mean a student, after yearlong study and writing examination successfully, refusing the promotion or certificate! Should he continue in the same class, or refuse to leave the school, after having passed the final examination? Can or should a couple, on having a child, abandon him, thinking that the result of all actions is to be renounced?
The third view the sages and the wise uphold, Krishna says, is that actions, which always carry a measure of evil, are to be strictly relinquished at any cost. But is this ever possible? Ever since birth, a child is fed. An adult regularly has his meals. Though hunger is what makes him do so, the real purpose of eating and drinking is to provide nourishment to the body, which, in turn, is converted into energy, to be utilized for activity throughout the day. To live means to be active. How can the principle of renouncing all actions, on the ground that they are troublesome, be adopted at all?
In the next case, Krishna says, people make a difference with yajña, dāna and tapas. These three, they feel, are very holy and therefore should not be included in the list of actions to be relinquished. Holy acts serve a supreme purpose and so should be encouraged and preserved.
In a nutshell, either actions as such or the results as a whole should be abandoned, if the spiritual purpose of life is to be served. The only exception is yajña, dāna and tapas. This is the prevailing view, says Krishna.
Three-fold classification of sannyāsa
With these views of thinkers and scholars presented first, Krishna now sets forth his own thoughts on the subject. Till now whatever is stated is not the view of Bhagavad Gita or its author or Krishna. This must be kept in mind.
As against these verdicts, O Bhārata, listen to my considered view. Relinquishment, O tiger among men, is famed to be of three kinds.
This is where Bhagavad Gita becomes distinct and excellent in its enunciation. Krishna is preparing to go beyond the prevailing views expressed earlier. True, tyāga (relinquishment) and sannyāsa (renunciation) are the core of his teaching. In fact, these constitute the elegance of human life, its distinction. But their pursuit cannot be in disharmony with anything else.
Any value must relate to the complex human personality, which is functioning under Nature and its compulsions. Nature cannot be set aside or repudiated in any matter. At the same time, the role of intelligence, a gift of Nature, cannot be disregarded either. Where lies then the balance between the two?
Where and how to employ our intelligence and make the right choices? And where should we accept the hands of Nature and acknowledge our limitations? The consideration is quite crucial and relevant. So Krishna begins with his own full-fledged exposition of the whole subject.
Prakṛti consists of three guṇas – sattva, rajas and tamas – a point Krishna has been focussing throughout the dialogue. He applies the same guṇatraya evaluation here too in explaining the principles of relinquishment and renunciation (tyāga and sannyāsa). The exposition is quite unique and seekers should not fail in grasping it with sufficient attention.
“My considered view on the subject”, says Krishna, “is that relinquishment is of three kinds and levels.” Obviously, he refers to the three guṇas, with their respective qualities, in shaping the process of relinquishment.
Rendering the acts purificatory
Any spiritual pursuit and attainment can only be by giving sufficient regard to the guṇas and their influences, not by denying or eschewing them. Attunement and harmonization are the watchword in spiritual life and attainment.
Yajña, dāna and tapas are not at all to be eschewed, abandoned. Yajña, dāna and tapas, say the Wise, are meant to purify the people.
Actions are generally classified as divine and secular. Those acts related to God and religious in character are called divine. Those done with worldly objectives are, in contrast, deemed secular. On this basis, all religious acts constitute yajña. Anything addressed to the supreme Reality, the Almighty, will fall in this category. Dāna, as stated earlier, consists of all items offered with the sole aim of serving or helping those who receive them.
Tapas, austerity involves religious or spiritual disciplines of various kinds. In all forms of austerity, either something special is taken up or something harmful is avoided. The purpose is to have a measure of discipline and restraint. In other words, it can be denials or inclusions of special acts, processes or pursuits. The intention is to sublimate and enrich the inner personality with noble qualities and potentials.
Yajña, dāna and tapas are always a need of human life. These cannot be avoided at any time. Yajña and dāna instill and reinforce a proper link between oneself and the supreme Reality as well as the society. Tapas always is aimed at deepening and fortifying oneself.
Krishna is quite firm that these should not be neglected on any account. There should be no thought of abandoning these any time. For, he says, yajña, dāna and tapas are the ones meant to purify the inner being of man.
Here, Krishna has something more significant to add. Yajña, dāna and tapas are no doubt holy. But even a holy act will be so only when pursued with a holy attitude that brings a divinizing effect on the performer. If the same act is done with unholiness, then it will prove to be vitiating. Rāvaṇa had performed great austerities. Kumbhakarṇa also did. Hiraṇyakaṣipu undertook severe austerities and got a number of boons, making him almost invincible. Can their efforts be thought of as holy then? Were the effects holy?
What happened with Vājaśravas of the Kaṭhopaniṣad? He wished to perform a great sacrifice. Accordingly he made elaborate arrangements. He began the performance. Nachiketas, his young son, was by his side, witnessing all that was being done.
The time for giving gifts came. And lo, the father had brought all useless and aged cows from his cowshed, for gifting to brāhmaṇas reciting holy Vedic Hymns. Did the yāga become holy or unholy by this attitude? Nachiketas felt the impact and tried to bring this disharmony to his father’s attention. It made the father extremely angry, and he sent the son to the abode of Yama.
Dis-attachment in religious and secular acts
The holiness of any act does not thus consist in its external character, but in the holy attitude and purpose the performer fosters. An act, held holy, is expected to instill holiness in the performer. But it need not always do so. So Krishna says:
But these three also are to be performed leaving both identification and attachment to results thereof. They are to be undertaken always. This is my well-considered opinion.
Even the yajña, dāna and tapas have to be governed by the dictum of tyāga. While performing these holy acts, the performer must ensure that he does not have any undue identification (saṅga) in his mind. He should make sure that the results promised by these holy acts do not become the sole motivation for him.
To do anything with saṅga will be disastrous. Asaṅga, dis-identification, is the formula Krishna has been emphasizing throughout. The same asaṅga is applicable while performing yajña, dāna and tapas also. The holiness of an act does not entitle its performer to be attached to it or its results.
Any act, when analyzed closely, is but movement or vibration of one organ or another in the human personality. Whether it is holding by hands or walking by legs, it is movement, activity. The same is the case with seeing, hearing and the like. In one, the organs of action, karmendriyas move. In the other, organs of knowledge, jñānendriyas move. Even in the inner activities like thinking and understanding, the mind and intelligence are causing vibrations. Gross activities are by movements and the subtle ones are by vibration.
In all of them, the actor has his role to play. He can get attached to the activities and their results. This is what vitiates the actions. Such vitiation can equally apply to the so-called religious acts as well.
So Krishna spells out his thought in the matter. Call it a principle, a warning or an injunction: “Even these holy acts are to be performed without saṅga towards both the acts and their promised results.” By applying this dictum, Krishna brings yajña, dāna and tapas also within the general orbit of karmas, activities.
Krishna’s statement may appear to be irrelevant. But when reflected well, it reveals a great means for the performers of holy acts to be elevated spiritually by what they do.
The same principle of dis-attachment, asaṅga, which should govern the usual domestic, professional and social activities, Krishna says, should apply to divine actions as well. Only then they will bring about the desired inner evolution and felicity.
What does this mean, in essence? All acts, when performed with dis-attachment, no matter whether they are religious or secular, become spiritually equal in their effectiveness. Dis-attached, everything equally leads to inner ennoblement.
The question becomes quite relevant then: Is there any necessity at all for courting specially religious acts in order to be spiritual or serve the purpose of sādhana? If dis-attachment is the watchword to be applied for all, then would not the usual activities – personal, domestic, professional and social – done with the dis-attached attitude suffice for fulfillment? Yes, is the real answer.
That is how seekers, on embracing the last phase of asceticism, rise above all religious duties and rituals and preserve one uniform spiritual wholesomeness. They remove the tuft of hair and the sacred thread, declaring that they have no linkage with any of the Vedic rituals or the worlds and the results these rituals promise. All religious, ritualistic connections and obligations come to an abrupt end for them. Imagine how wholesome and consequential is such a step of renunciation!
Remember what Krishna stated in the 3rd chapter:
Perform well whatever needs to be done with dis-attachment. By so doing, one will attain the Supreme.
Specially earmarked religious or divine activities become necessary only as long as the seeker is not able to understand that all acts, religious and secular, are equally movements and vibrations of the various organs. All the rest is what the mind attributes in the form of attitude, orientation and objective.
If the same attitude of dis-attachment begins to grace every act that one performs, then the whole pursuit of life becomes divine, graceful and fulfilling. In fact, Bhagavad Gita by virtue of its message, discussion and enunciation is striving to bring about a complete spiritual revolution in the mind of the seeker, enquirer. The outcome of this will be that he stands divinized fully.
With the attitude of dis-attachment the seeker’s life becomes wholesomely divine. It is not that he selects any particular act and makes it a yajña. Instead, all that he does becomes a full-fold and ceaseless yajña, as explained earlier (4.23). By virtue of his spiritual enlightenment, he becomes a gata-saṅga and mukta, his mind constantly dwelling in the supreme Brahman. Whatever he does becomes yajña alone, which has the power to dissolve all the plural notes of sin, virtue and allied taints.
One may wonder as to where is then the relevance or utility of yajña, dāna and tapas at all? It is fully there. To begin with, religious acts hold out considerable charm and supremacy, by dint of their uniqueness and elaborate details. They obviously bear upon the supreme Reality. And thereby remain sacrosanct.
Compared to ordinary worldly acts, religious acts offer a striking difference, which is intriguing and alluring to many. People take to them with a lot of interest and involvement. Gradually, the limitations and hollowness of the rituals get revealed, as they are not able to transform the mind structurally. The ills and evils still hold their sway in the mind. The struggle continues. See what happened to Arjuna, just after his prolonged austere forest exile. The much needed spiritual attitude, orientation and objective do not grace man with the help of mere rituals. His flair for religion is almost like the flair for worldly things of attraction.
At the same time, if yajña, dāna and tapas are allowed to become extinct, even the little touch and involvement these evoke in ordinary minds will be lost, denied. All will simply become worldly alone. That is not desirable at all.
Amidst all the worldliness, in the name of religious acts, people have a chance to feel a touch of difference. That acts as a nucleus, which leads to deeper thoughtfulness and introspection. Scriptures like Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads play their distinct role in instilling this kind of deeper reflection, as is evidenced by Arjuna.
The pressures of worldly life have also no doubt their contributions to make. And eventually the victims become staunch enquirers and seekers. The process takes a certain period of time based on individuals. Seekers are varied in their approach and involvement, as Krishna himself has explained (7.16,17).
With regard to both karma-yoga and bhakti-yoga, the essence consists in a wholesome orientation of the intelligence and mind. It is vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ (intelligence becoming resolved) for karmayoga (2.41). It is a twin attunement of the mind and intelligence for bhakti-yoga (12.8).
Yajña, dāna and tapas do serve the purpose of generating this inner transformation, though for a short while. It is a time bound effect, no doubt. What we want is a wholesome orientation, enrichment and objective. That will transpire only through thoughtful evaluation.
Dis-attached performance of yajña, dāna and tapas will make the performer indifferent to the very performance, as Munḍakopaniṣad explains:
Having analyzed the enticing but hollow ritualistic rewards and promises of the Vedas, and finding that the Causeless cannot be attained by causal means, the true seeker must grow utter indifference to all of them. He should then humbly approach the great Teacher who is an embodiment of the scriptures (śrotriya) and is always abiding in the supreme Truth (brahma-niṣṭha), carrying a bundle of faggots (expressing that he wants the firewood of his ignorance to be burnt by the fire of knowledge received from the Teacher).
Here, the Upanishad declares that after examining the kārmic worlds well, a true brāhmaṇa, one of viveka, should gain indifference, nirveda on the grounds that by means of actional involvement one cannot attain the action-free Soul, the Imperishable. Once the performer becomes disidentified with the results of what he does, it is natural that no more he performs the acts meant for those results. Rather than asking people not to undertake the rituals as a whole, Krishna gives them the permission to perform them, but ensuring that their mind does not cling to the results the least. This is a very dexterous way of instilling indifference and thereby transcending those very rituals.
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(From Essential Concepts in Bhagavad Gita - Volume 6)