JOIN USHistory has dubbed those men mere escapists who jettisoned the baggage of their family and kids and wore the saffron robes of a saint. I am not up in arms against the philosophy of conventional renunciation. It is believed to be a method of attaining salvation with hard monastic discipline under the guidance of a spiritually elevated master. But a stubbornly insular approach to spirituality does not yield the desired fruit. It ends up as an entirely vain pursuit.
Many of the great religious sages and seers have always advocated the concept of divine eulogisation while fulfilling the obligatory duties of the house and hearth. No philosophy of any religion has ever imposed the belief on humankind that in order to unite with God one must first abandon this world. Contrary to that, we are made to understand that this world is a real hermitage. The key to renunciation is to be with the world but not in the world. Like a lotus, a truly enlightened individual lives here among all others but keeps his head high by not absorbing himself into the filth and murk. Therefore, one need not forsake his family life in the pursuit of salvation.
Emancipation, which is the ultimate objective of human life, can be fully accomplished while performing one’s familial and filial duties. True renunciation does lie in turning indifferent or apathetic to the surroundings. It lays emphasis on detachment within the attachment. But man has deformed the nature of attachment. Being in love with our fellow human beings does not in any manner impede one’s spiritual elevation, no family member is an obstacle in one’s path to Nirvana.
Like us, they are also the pure divine manifestations sent on this earthly realm to settle their own karmic accounts. Therefore, it is useless to hate humanity and prefer to stay put in caves and mountains. A dedicated seeker must renounce all the evils of the world and teach others also to rise above worldly temptations. By doing so one can become a true yogi and the perfect claimant of salvation with one’s mingling with the divine.