Sadhana Panchakam, Instruction 12

Translation and Commentary by Jayaram V

2.4. Strengthen the resolve to give up all actions

Some commentators interpret this as a call to sannyasa. It may not be true. It is more like a call for practicing karma sannyasa yoga or giving up desires in performing actions, so that such actions do not bind or produce sinful karma. It appears to be a suggestion or instruction for the householders who want to prepare for sannyasa ashrama, the final stage in their lives, strengthening their resolve to give up desire-ridden actions and all attachments, and gradually transition into a life of renunciation.

Before taking the oath of sannyasa, one has to mentally prepare for it by developing a distaste for worldly life and practicing karma sannyasa yoga or the yoga of desireless actions. When a householder realizes that all actions and even inaction produce karma, and he can neither give up actions altogether nor escape from their consequences, he has to find a way to resolve the problem and halt the formation of karma.

Our scriptures address this problem, suggesting that the best way to escape from karma is by giving up desires rather than actions, since no one can escape from performing actions while desires can be given up with effort and divine help. Overcoming desires is liberation in itself. As the Maitri Upanishad states, one becomes pure by giving up desires. The pure mind, which is devoid of desires, is a divine mind. It has the same consciousness as that of the pure self.

The purpose of sannyasa is to cultivate dispassion or disinterest (vairagya) in worldly matters and regain the knowledge of the self (atma-jnana) which remains covered up in human consciousness. Depending upon which of the goals he wants to pursue, an aspirant may decide upon which type of sannyasa he wants to practice. The decision depends upon how much one is willing to give and in what timeframe one wants to achieve liberation.

Since it may not be possible for everyone to give up worldly life completely and practice renunciation, our tradition allows people to practice it in stages. Hence, there are several types of sannyasa, ranging from the mildest to the most extreme one. The mild forms of sannyasa involve cultivating vairagya (dispassion and detachment) living outside one’s previous abode or wandering from place to place, while the more extreme ones require the initiates to cultivate knowledge of the self through direct experience, along with the practice of vairagya, austerities, seclusion and self-purification. The milder forms of sannyasa are preparatory and suitable for those who have not yet fully made up their minds.

In the extreme forms of renunciation, such as hamsa or paramahansa sannyasa, the aspirant simultaneously practices integral yoga, combing the best of karma, jnana, sannyasa, atma-samyama, buddhi and bhakti yogas. He remains absorbed in the contemplation of the self, without letting the world enter his mind or disturb him. He cultivates aversion to all worldly enjoyments and attachments and recognizes no relationship other than his relationship with himself or God.

With faith in God’s assurance that he will take care of those who totally surrender to him. and driven by the aspiration to know the self, he transitions from prvritti (activity) to nivritti (passivity), and from karma-marga to moksha-marga. Giving up his identify which is associated with his name, form, place, time, family and even teacher, he depends upon no one but the divinity in him and outside him. In the final stages of renunciation, he renounces even the desire to know the self or be with God or pursue liberation. He lives a random life, putting himself totally at the mercy of chance or fate, and letting the divine will guide him in whatever direction it leads him.

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