Excerpted From
Related
Marks of a True Renunciate
Talk by Nayaswami Kriyananda, Gurgaon, India, January 2010. MP3 download, 24 MB
Marks of a True Renunciate
Talk by Nayaswamis Jyotish and Devi, Ananda Village, November 2009. MP3 download, 64 MB
Marks of a True Renunciate
Printable card, PDF format, 3 MB
Marks of a True Renunciate
By Nayaswami Kriyananda
What are the marks of those whom I’d consider worthy of being accepted as true renunciates? They would be those who have achieved noteworthy progress toward the attainment of the following virtues:
They have no, or very
few, attachments or desires.
They are without anger.
(Anger appears in the heart when one’s desires are thwarted.)
They accept without prejudice
whatever life gives them, and live by the principle, “What comes of
itself, let it come.”
They never seek to justify
or defend themselves, but accept all judgment by others dispassionately,
as experiences given them by God for their higher good.
They keep in their hearts
primarily the company of God.
They are indifferent to
others’ opinions of them.
They work without personal
motive, to please God alone.
They are impersonal in
the sense of wanting nothing for themselves, but never in the sense
of being indifferent to the needs of others.
They see all beings as
striving toward the attainment of Satchidananda: ever-existing,
ever-conscious, ever-new Bliss, no matter how presently misguided the
efforts of some people may be. Thus, they feel kinship with everyone,
and with all life.
They accept nothing as
their own, but only as being “on loan” to them, for the benefit
of others.
They view pleasure and
pain equally, as opposite (or dual) expressions of eternal, divine bliss.
They have meditated daily
for years.
Because they are always
happy in themselves, they are impervious to insults, outer suffering,
failure, defeat, or disaster. They strive to live the ideal that Paramhansa
Yogananda voiced when he said, “You should be able to stand unshaken
amidst the crash of breaking worlds!”
They strive to love God
unceasingly, and ever more deeply, in a spirit of utter openness to
be guided by His will.