Nivritti-Marga, or the Path of renunciation
Have a strong determination and a strong will. Never think of returning home after taking up to the Nivritti-Marga. Look before you leap. Have courage, fixity of mind and a definite purpose in life. Be not wavering. Are you ready to give up all possessions, including body and life? Then alone come to me. Then alone take to Nivritti-Marga and embrace Sannyasa. Think twice before you come to definite conclusions. This is not a rosy path as you may imagine. It is full of thorns. It is beset with countless difficulties and hardships. Be humble, patient and persevering. Never care for Siddhis or quick awakening of the Kundalini. I shall serve you. I shall help you. I shall take care of you. Be not troubled. Be not anxious. I am your servant always. Be noble-minded. Mere emotional bubbling will not help you much. Some young men have returned to their homes. Difficulties are many in this path. But it can make you a King of kings, an Emperor of emperors.
Those who want to take to seclusion and Nivritti-Marga should observe Mouna, non-mixing and disciplining the Indriyas, mind and body while living in the world. They should train themselves to a laborious hard life, coarse food, sleeping on the ground or a hard mattress without pillows, walking barefooted without umbrellas. Then alone they can bear the rigorous austerities of an ascetic's life. They should give up timidity and shyness in getting alms.
Aspirants who take to the Nivritti-Marga generally become lazy after some time, as they do not know how to utilize their mental energy, as they do not keep any daily routine, as they do not follow the instructions of their masters. They get Vairagya in the beginning, but they have no experience in the spiritual line. They do not make any progress in the end. Intense and constant meditation is necessary for entering into Samadhi.
Have you fully determined with an iron will to stick to this line at any cost? Are you really prepared to sacrifice this body and life in the cause of Truth? Have you understood the glory of Sannyasa and the importance of seclusion? If your daughter, brother, mother or son comes here and weeps, have you got the requisite strength to resist Moha? After coming here can you cut off all sorts of connections with your relatives? Can you stop all correspondences? Do not hide anything. Be absolutely candid. Be frank and guileless. Speak to me the truth now. Open out your heart to me.
Sleepless vigilance is necessary, if you wish to have rapid spiritual advancement. Never rest content with a little achievement or success in the path a little serenity of mind, a little one-pointedness of mind, some visions of angles, or Siddhis, a little faculty of thought-reading, etc. There are still higher summits to ascend, higher regions to climb up.
The attraction for objects and ties of various sorts make a man bound to this world. Renunciation of all attractions and breaking up of all ties constitute real renunciation. That Sannyasin or Yogi who is free from attraction and ties enjoys infinite bliss and supreme joy and peace. Fluctuation and imagination are the two seeds of the mind. Fluctuation is the fuel. Imagination is the fire. The unceasing fire of imagination is kept up by the fuel of fluctuation. If the fuel of fluctuation is with drawn, the fire of imagination gets extinguished by itself. The mind becomes tranquil. It is withdrawn into its source, the Atma.
You came alone. You came naked. You came weeping. You will go alone. You go naked. You will go weeping. Wily then are you proud of your titles, false wealth and false knowledge? Become humble and meek. You will conquer the whole world through humility. Become pure in thought, word and deed. This is the secret of spiritual life. The Upanishads and the Gita harp again and again upon this one note.
To a passionate man there is much pleasure in this world. He runs after money and women. His mind is intoxicated, perverted and clouded. Poor man, he does not know what he is really doing. But to a Yogi or a man of discrimination this world is a ball of fire. It is a huge furnace in which all beings are roasted. The three kinds of heat viz., Adhyatmika (internal), Adhidaivika (heavenly) and Adhibhautika (external) are burning him.
Friend! Is there any limit to the number of fathers and mothers and wives you had in the crores and crores of previous incarnations? Yet this clinging and false relationship have not gone. Discrimination has not dawned.
Are you not ashamed to repeat the same old process of eating, drinking and sleeping day in and day out? You are proud of your titles and knowledge. Have you improved your life even a bit? What have you learnt from the recent Bihar and Quetta earthquakes? Are you attempting to reach that imperishable seat, wherein all desires and Trishnas are completely eradicated? Are you endeavouring, in however small a measure it may be, to attain the highest goal of life, Atmic realization, which gives immortality, bliss and peace? You are not crawling now. You have learnt to stand up and walk. You can think, reason out, judge, infer and ratiocinate. Will you not utilize this precious life and all your various faculties in meditation and Self Realization? Can you give me a definite word of promise to the effect? Speak to me the truth now. Climb up the ladder of Yoga. Drink the Nectar of Immortality.
Vairagya born of Viveka is enduring and everlasting. It will not fail the aspirant at any time unlike the Vairagya that comes temporarily to a lady who gives birth to a child or to a man attending a funeral in the crematorium. The view that everything in the world is unreal causes Vairagya or indifference to the enjoyments of this world and the other heaven worlds also. One has to come down to this Mrityu-loka from heaven when the fruits of good works are exhausted.
The same five kinds of enjoyment of sensual pleasures prevail in the heaven worlds also. But they are more intense and subtle. This cannot give real and lasting happiness to a Viveki. He shuns all enjoyments of the heaven world also. He kicks them mercilessly. He is keenly aware of the pleasures of the three worlds and is convinced that they are only a mere drop in the ocean of Brahmic bliss.
