Sanyas
Lord Shiva – The First Ascetic of the Universe
Sanyaas (Asceticism)
The process to inculcate Self-Determination
Lord Shiva is the first male ascetic of the universe. Asceticism is the state of termination of disorders. The asceticism signifies fulfilment of desires, or rather, asceticism indicates the arrival of a resolution to dedicate oneself towards universal welfare in life.
Lord Sadashiv is the universal benefactor. Lord Shiva’s consort Goddess Durga is the basic core of Shakti-power in the universe. Their son Ganesha is the first among the Deities to be worshipped, and Their primary Gana “Kuber” is the Lord of wealth and prosperity. All celestial beings – Yakshas, Kinnars, Bhoot-Pret-Pishaach, Yoginis, Apsaras, Kaal (death) are His servants. All Gods-Goddesses pray and worship Him. In spite of all this, Lord Sadashiva has no desire of any kind, He has no wish to obtain any kind of support from anyone.
Lord Shiva is always completely engrossed in meditation to fulfil His sole resolution of universal welfare. Lord Shiva has never discriminated. He has never accorded anyone a low or high status or position. One received whatever one sought from Lord Shiva. He treated both Rama and Ravana with the same perspective.
Lord Shiva Himself is the form of “Mahakaal”. He has supreme knowledge of the Time, yet He strengthened the demons according to their meditation-worship, and gave His blessings. This “Welfare-Bestower” form of Lord Shiva is the basic foundation of asceticism. Like SadGurudev, Lord Shiva bestowed divine blessings to His devotees for their welfare and well-being.
It is important to comprehend the nature of Lord Shiva to understand asceticism. Lord Shiva did not chose castles or palaces for Himself, He never desired for anything. He focused and concentrated only on one thought, a single determination to complete a sole resolve – “Universal Welfare” i.e. the welfare of all.
When a Sadhak considers this beneficial nature of Lord Shiva and progresses ahead to fulfil his resolves, then he can be termed as a ascetic or Sanyaasi. Thus it is said that asceticism path is devoid of alternatives, because it is imbibed with the resolution.
Asceticism – Termination of Alternative-Options
Only those who remove alternatives from their resolution, are able to succeed in achieving their resolutions. Therefore an accomplished person is the one, who desists from thinking about any option in their resolves. A worldly householder has many alternative options. He ponders – If this does not work out then I will do this, or try this another option. If you have to accomplish this – Then why not exert your entire focus only on this.
As a matter of fact, there should not be any alternative options in life. Why do you even think about having options? An option in mind will not let you exercise your complete will-power. Anyone desirous to obtain anything in this world should resolve to obtain it with full determination. You will always achieve complete success if you desist from adding any option into your resolves. The asceticism is a way wherein the resolutions are completely devoid of any alternative options.
Being a worldly householder does not indicate presence of a home, spouse or family. The real definition of a householder is the one who is – completely afflicted with his desires and wishes. These temptations will continuously trouble him, and an ascetic is the one who has – completely terminated these temptations, has completely renounced himself from these wishes-desires and has become free from their trappings. A householder who is joyous, is no longer an householder, he has transformed into an ascetic. Outwardly he might seem as a worldly householder cohabiting with his spouse and family, but he is an ascetic from within, since he has achieved freedom from desires.
Only one who has obtained liberations from wishes-desires can be termed as really joyous and happy. Thus an ascetic is never sad. If an ascetic becomes sad, then he is an ascetic only externally, and not from within. He might resemble an ascetic but he is not a one in the real sense.
Generally humans tend to belong to one of the two kinds – first those having a lot of resolutions in life and an equal number of alternative options. They easily transcend from one option to another. Presence of both resolutions and options indicate that they are worldly householders, suffering from an endless cycle of wishes-desires, because the resolutions-options are directly related to temptations.
And those whose life consists of only resolutions, without any sign of any alternative-options, are the perfect personage. Such persons can only be termed as the ascetic. The asceticism is a kind of resolution, a determination to raise oneself, to accomplish.
Apart from the above two types of people, there is a third kind of persons, who have lifted their lives above the resolution-option, those whose life has neither any resolution nor any alternative. They do not face any conflict between resolutions and options. Lord Shree Krishna has termed them as the Saint in Geeta. Geeta clearly states that there are no resolutions-alternatives in the life of a saint.
Domesticity Asceticism
The asceticism is not related to any specific costume or a particular kind of behaviour. The asceticism is directly connected to accomplishments of resolutions. In ancient times, our sages-ascetics had adopted a special lifestyle of leading a little hard life, for accomplishment of their resolutions. Currently the ignorant society has termed that lifestyle as asceticism. The asceticism is not connected to any lifestyle, rather it is related to a determination to achieve the resolutions, a will-power to achieve something in life.
Any householder can be an ascetic, an elderly can also be an ascetic, a child can also be an ascetic or a woman can also be an ascetic. The only requirement-condition is presence of a determination-resolution, coupled with a strong will-power to achieve something in life. There should be a high degree of clarity in life.
The term householder-ascetic refers to a person who can insulate himself from the discontent of domestic life, while living in the family. It means someone who is constantly endeavouring to achieve the goals of life. These goals may be set-up either according to his own intelligence-understanding or can be in accordance with the instructions-guidance from Sadguru.
Resolution
We often have a desire, or multiple wishes, but all of these are not resolutions. When our desire gets merged with a strong willpower to achieve, then it takes the shape of a resolution. The determination ensures success of the resolution.
A general desire or wish is only a specific idea. A strong flow of infinite power gets initiated, when we add our entire energy, strong determination and full dedication to our desires. This strong power enables us to fulfil our desires and accomplish our determinations.
Pujya Gurudev has always encouraged the importance of renunciation for the domestic householder, that is, living with the family with full love in an insulated state. The day such a thought enters the mind of a person, then that day becomes the “Sanyaas Diwas” for him….
Guru tries to provide every kind of knowledge and wisdom to the disciple, keeping the disciple’s maturity and affection in mind. The more a disciple is devoted to the Guru, the deeper he is absorbed in the spiritual practice of Guru Sadhana, the faster will be the pace of granting the knowledge-wisdom from the Guru. The disciple has to try to exert the entire effort.
This day is “Complete Determination Day (Sanyaas Siddhi Diwas)“. It is a day of complete determination, and is the day of contemplation and decision. This day symbolizes whatever I have achieved in my life so far, and what I still need to achieve. This is the day to reflect upon the purpose of whatever kind of life I have led so far. This is the day to determine what work and what Sadhana do I need to accomplish in the next year to achieve perfection in life. If a disciple is able to complete such a deep self analysis, then this special day becomes a transformational fortunate event for him.