Practical Vedanta

[Shashikanth Hosur]

> Sitting in meditation is still "doing" something,
> and jnAnayoga is not about doing anything.
> Equating jnAnayoga with sitting in meditation is
> based on a total misunderstanding of the whole
> thing. Anand's reply is quite appropriate and I
> second it.
>
> Still, sitting in meditation is a good thing for an
> aspirant. However, how many samnyAsins do
> you know, who do sit in meditation or who have
> sat in meditation all day?
>
>
> Nowadays,
> samnyAsins seem to be very busy doing various
> other things, whether it is organizing
> conferences or giving interviews to the press or
> participating in Indian politics and setting up
> alliances between various parties. Some are even
> members of our parliament, and they go begging
> not for alms but for votes. And it is not as if
> these people are doing action in the sense of
> nishkAmya karma, beccause there are very many
> obviously selfish motives at work. So, what
> does one call the samnyAsin who is only a bhogi
> and neither a karmayogi nor a jnAnayogi?
>
> Vidyasankar
>
        Namasakram
        I differ to agree with whom you are calling samnyasin.  Sri Sankara
warned us about such people in his bhaja govindam song.
        Jatilo mundi lunchita Kesa: ....  Just because one calls one self as
a samnyasin one does not become one.  One who truly has renounced everything
is a samnyasin.  Lord Sri krishna although lead a life of householder is
true samnyasin.  Such people can be recognised by there actions from day to
day life.  Just because one wears a saffron colored coth and roaming about
with a stick in his hand calling himself a samnyasin does not become one.
Sri Ramakrishna paramahamsa though being a housholder was a true samnyasin.


        shashi