[Advaita-l] Ramana Maharishi and renunciation

[Ven Balakrishnan]

Ramana Maharishi said that renunciation was not necessary. Sadhu Om, in “The Paramount Importance of Self-Attention” gives a more nuanced view of this (from 16 August 1978 entry):


In this first chapter of Maharshi’s Gospel Bhagavan implies that the actions our body and mind are destined to do will continue whether we attend to them or not. The reason why he implied this was to encourage us to attend only to ourself and not to be concerned about anything else (which is what he also implied in verse 31 of Bhagavad Gita Saram, which is his translation of Bhagavad Gita 9.22). However we should not infer from this that the body and mind and their actions are real or that they actually exist when we do not attend to them, because their appearance is just a dream, and things that appear in a dream seem to exist only when we are aware of them. This entire world is an imagination or mental fabrication (kalpana),so when our mind ceases to imagine or project things, they cease to exist. However this should be told only to those who are mature
enough to accept it. For others it should be said that the world will continue unaffected if we attend to ourself. Whenever anyone asked Bhagavan whether they should give up their job or whether their family would be taken care of if they renounce, he would generally reply, ‘Who asked you to renounce? Whatever work you are destined to do you will be made to do’, because by asking such questions they exposed that they were not yet ready to renounce.

When Osborne asked Bhagavan whether brahmacharya is necessary, what he meant by brahmacharya is celibacy, but Bhagavan replied, ‘Celibacy is not necessary. If you abide in brahman, that is real brahmacharya’. If Osborne had been mature enough to be celibate, he would not have asked that question. But people ask such questions and then write books saying that Bhagavan said that brahmacharya and renunciation are not necessary for those who follow the path of atma-vicara. To understand Bhagavan’s attitude regarding such matters, we should not ask questions but should carefully observe what he replies to questions asked by others. To understand his view is not easy unless one’s mind is mature enough.

When I decided to resign my job, Janaki Mata came to know of my intention, so she asked Bhagavan whether I should do so, and he replied as usual saying that outward renunciation is not necessary, so for more than a year I had to wait. However when I finally decided to write my letter of resignation, I put it in a stamped but unsealed envelope and gave it to him, and he read it, put it back in the envelope and returned it to me without any comment.

From this I learnt that we should not mention what we intend to do even to our friends, but should just do it. If we act with the confidence that this entire life is just a dream and that what matters is only attaining self-knowledge, grace will take care of everything else. But until we are mature enough to have such confidence, working to earn a living will seem to be necessary.