Matha Gitananda Ashram
TRADITIONAL HINDU MONASTERY
Samnyasa - renunciation
Samnyasa means to “renounce, let go, set aside, abandon, renounce the world”.
Samnyasin is one who is detached from the world, is the one who renounces the way of the world, but the real renunciation is the renunciation to "I and my".
The conduct of monks includes the observance of the vows, service, discipline, obedience to the dharma principles expressed in the Vedas and by the ancient sages, rishis, and devotion to the tradition of the Masters. The search for God is his absolute need and his only goal is liberation -mukti- from ignorance which separates us from our true Divine nature.
Ashram monks with the traditional orange robes.
Perspective from the inside of Shri Lalita Maha Tripurasundari Temple.
Samnyasin is he who has left behind him the world of duties and desires, whose only aspiration is to attain to a state of peace, beatitude, and perfect knowledge of the self, beyond birth and death. His renunciation makes him an atmayajnin, he who sacrifices himself. He becomes the oblation of the eternal cosmic sacrifice, and aware of this, he dedicates himself fully to the service of God. When the monks are initiated in the sacred order of the samnyas, they join the universal body of the renounciates, whose existence has always been like an uninterrupted flux from the time of the Veda until now.
È credenza comune che i samnyasin abbiano origini divine, ovvero dai quattro figli mentali di Brahma, i Kumara, che possedevano assoluta rinuncia .
Le scritture dichiarano che le due vie, capofamiglia e rinunciante, sono distinte negli ottenimenti e nel dharma e affermano che la vera rinuncia non può essere ottenuta da quelli che vivono nel mondo anche se animati da una genuina attitudine di distacco.
I sacri Veda dichiarano “L’uomo che ha trovato Lui, diventa un monaco silente. Desiderando Lui solo come mondo, gli asceti lasciano le loro case ed errano”.
“Who are those apt to enter the sacred order of the samnyasa? Only those who renounce the world completely, who have no preoccupation for tomorrow, who do not worry about what they will eat or wear. It is necessary for them to be like a man who can climb the tallest of trees and then can abandon himself to a fall, without worrying about his limbs nor his life.”
The scriptures define four types of samnyas: vidvat, vividisha, markata, and atura. In the first case, vidvat samnyas, one has a extreme awareness that renunciation and the abandonment of the world are the only way to realize reality; this awareness comes from very strong impressions, samskara, matured in previous lives. The second type is vividisha samnyas, and happens when a student, while on a path of spiritual search, spends long years in study and introspection, through the scriptures and various practices.
He lives the renunciation in the world through action until he can embrace the samnyas as a culmination of the fruits of his actions. The third, markata samnyas, happens when a person is hit by a real strong sorrow as in the death of a dear person, and takes up the vows of renunciation. This vow is weak and could not last in time. The last type, atura samnyas, is the one that can be received at the moment prior to death.
In such a moment, sometimes, a person may feel the desire to take on this vow of renunciation in order to receive an impression that can carry over the next incarnation. On the other hand, if the person continues to live after this moment, he or she must commit to a life in respect of the laws of dharma, and finally consolidate the vows taken during that “extreme” moment with the appropriate ceremony.
The inmates of Matha Gitananda Ashram during a meditation session.