Dear friends,
Many of the terms regarding the spiritual path are more subtle than they first appear. But a true understanding often helps us embrace things that we had a sense were right, but couldn’t fully embrace due to a confusion of some sort. Renunciation is one such concept I’d like to share about this week.
Renunciation smacks of denial and contraction. Our mind immediately goes to what it cannot have. I am a vegetarian, so I deny myself meat. I am a yogi so I deny myself drugs. But this is looking through the wrong end of the telescope.
There are impersonal rules for life. Does anyone feel they are denying themselves the pleasure of touching a hot stove? And what if the result of that touch did not occur for three days? Three days later we’d be in pain and would have no idea why. It sure would have been nice if someone had told us about that do-not-touch-a-hot-stove rule.
Renunciation is just like that. The things we “give up” are actually things that do us no good. And even more importantly, the giving up of something is on the inside, not the outside.
Renunciation is not about denying ourselves money, for example. It is about recognizing that money will never bring us the joy and peace we all want. True renunciation is an inner experience of the heart, not a set of outward conditions.
The material plane, too, has rules of the game. If we feel that, for example, keeping a budget is an act of denial, we are playing the game wrong. When little children play at baseball, one hits the ball, starts off to first base and is about to be tagged out. However, he runs away and hides behind a bush. Cute!... but not baseball. As adults we learn to stay in the base paths. Is that contractive? Do we rebel? Do we complain about the rules? The rules give the game shape.
Life is the same. True joy will be found by nurturing freedom in the heart. Not needing outward circumstances to be any particular way is a liberation! True renunciation is an affirmation of freedom. We deny ourselves the illusions that keep us on the treadmill, but never bring us the joy we want.
A great saint in India had been part of a very wealthy family, and he gave away his entire inheritance to pursue a life devoted to Spirit. When someone commented on what a sacrifice he had made he replied, “I have given away a few paltry rupees in exchange for a kingdom of Joy and freedom. It is you who are the renunciate.” As one of my favorite songs states, “I need nothing, I am free. In myself I am free.”
May we each find true freedom, which can only be found within ourselves---in our own hearts.
Blessings,
David G., manager
For the Gang at East West