Sandeha Nivarini - Post 47

Chapter XV. Gurus and Ashrams

Devotee: Swami, You told us that people have four stages of life (asramas) — student, householder, hermit, and renunciant (brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha, sanyasin) — and that those who reach the last stage are indeed blessed, because they attain realisation. Now, please tell us what exactly is that renunciant?

Swami:  My dear fellow, the wearing of the orange cloth, the shaving of the head, these do not make a renunciant. The renunciant is a person who has given up all desires. The renunciant must be fully immersed — in desire, design, and deed — fully in the One Godhead and in the discipline to attain Him. 

Whoever is so immersed is a renunciant. Instead, if a person retains all kinds of desires and engages in every activity to realise the desires, then the person is a counterfeit (sanyasi) instead of a renunciant (sanyasin), as the saying goes. Do you understand?

Devotee: But Swami, now we get counterfeits very cheap for a rupee, a paisa, or even a cigarette! Whom of these should we approach, whom should we accept?

Swami: Why are you concerned with all this? You are concerned with your advancement, your progress. You must crave a person to point out to you the right path for your spiritual exercises (sadhana). Or, if that is not possible, you approach and accept your Self — that is enough to give you what you require. Depend upon yourself, and your doubts will be destroyed.

Devotee: In that case, Swami, what about the statement, “guru-less education (vidya) is sight-less education”? It is essential to rely on some great person, isn’t it? To show the way, I mean.

Swami: Great men have not vanished from the face of the earth, My child! Do not think that all are of the type you mention. There are many great men even now; otherwise, how could the world have daylight, as the saying goes?

Devotee: Great men may exist among householders, hermits, and renunciants, Swami! I haven’t much experience with such, but still, I have seen among them people with big name and fame. However, I can say this: it is very difficult to discover really holy men among renunciants. It’s impossible to find a single renunciant without some desire or other. When renunciants have so much desire, what is wrong if householders have them? To whichever place we go, the one demand is, “money, money, money!”

Swami: Really speaking, renunciants should have no desire, as you said. Lust and greed are their dreadful enemies. Renunciants should have no contact with them. Renunciants can accept only whatever little food is given, whenever it is offered, that is all. They can have no desire for more. That is the vow, the rule. They have nothing to do with money.

Devotee: Well, Swami, excuse me. Renunciants are perpetually in need of money! No householder worries as much as they do about money! They exploit disciples and extract their hard-earned cash from them. Those who do not give are condemned. Is all this right, Swami? Is this just? Are these people gurus?

Swami: No wise person will say that these things are just. How can I say it is right? Why, can’t you ask such renunciants once, “Sirs, why do you need the money? Isn’t it wrong for you to have this craving for the fame that comes through money?”

Devotee: Oh, I have asked them, Swami. 

Swami: What did they say?

Devotee: Some said, they wanted money for their expenses; others said, they wanted to develop their ashrams further. Many such reasons were given. For those who have learned to argue, reason-giving is not very hard. It is only when it comes to believing that we have to choose and discriminate, isn’t it?

Swami: The guru must engage in the progress of the disciples who come for guidance, and not in the ashram; taking refuge is more important than the ashram. The excitement, the anxiety about the ashram becomes itself a huge burden (srama). It is on account of this that people lose even the little faith and devotion that they have and are transformed into atheists. Such gurus, instead of giving up all ties, have yoked themselves tighter; they are beasts of burden. My dear fellow, listen to Me, don’t cast your looks upon the guru who inflicts pressure on a disciple to extract money. Keep as far away as possible from such people; don’t lose faith by contact with them. Preserve faith and develop it, all by yourself.

Devotee: We go to such people eager to learn the higher things of life and to know the path for the attainment of the Lord; we seek and search for them, for we don’t know which snake lives in which hole, but we find these cobra renunciants and are shocked! The anxious desire that they exhibit for the ashram —isn’t that also wrong, Swami? If they want to serve the public like that, they can as well be just ordinary people and retain their original names and go about collecting funds and spending them, right? Calling themselves renunciants and wearing that dress, being initiated into a mantra (getting upadesa), taking upon themselves numerous vows at the time of initiation into monkhood, declaring that they have destroyed all desire ... if later they follow the path of accumulation, doesn’t that spoil the very sacredness?

Swami: That individual may be spoiled, that is all, my dear fellow; the sacredness of renunciants (sanyasins) can never be diminished! Don’t run away with that idea. Of course, there are such men in the world today. But please don’t include them in the list of renunciants or swamis. They have no relationship with these two categories. They only harm their disciples by retaining those designations. Don’t spend even a single thought on them.

Devotee: All right, Swami. But for those who have built ashrams and established themselves as gurus, this desire for money, etc., is wrong, isn’t it?

Swami: Why do you ask? Have these people any special

adornment like horns on the head? Really speaking, these people have to be even more careful. They train many disciples, so they must make a special effort to see that the trainees acquire the right attitudes and get fully immersed in contemplation of the Lord. Otherwise, much injury will be caused. If the guru pays attention to the spiritual progress and inward joy of the disciples, the disciples themselves will struggle for the development of the ashram. No one need exert any pressure.

Instead, forgetting their progress, if one clamours for so much money from this disciple and so much from this devotee for the development of “his” ashram, one will lose the ashram itself! The disciple will lose devotion and the guru will lose the institution!

Devotee: Besides all this, Swami, if anyone points out to them that it is wrong, they get wild and threaten severe

punishments. Is that right, Swami?

Swami: This is an additional wrong. How can it be right? It is not correct for any guru to weaken the heart of any disciple; the guru must please it and satisfy it. People who frighten and extract are not teachers but cheaters. They are not shepherds but sheep.

Devotee: Then what do you advise us to do? How are we to deal with these people? Please tell us.

Swami: My dear child, give up all talk of people who have lost their way. Speak of your reaching the path. Give up all contact with such people. Instead, cultivate contacts with people and places where there is neither lust, greed, nor any other desire. Seek the guru who looks on all with equal love (prema).

The real guru must have certain qualities. Note this. If these qualities are present, go there and be happy.

If you don’t find such a place, meditate on God within yourself. Do meditation and devotional singing. That is enough; you needn’t search for another place at all. Whenever you have leisure, read good devotional books. Even from these books, take what you need and discard the rest. Be careful; don’t get entangled in all kinds of nets and traps.