109. Enjoy the transience!

In a certain kingdom, the practice was that the royal elephant would pick the next ruler. The elephant would place him on its back and return to the palace where he would be unanimously crowned as the ruler.

On this occasion, the elephant started making its way towards the forest. Puzzled, the people followed. The elephant went to a place where a saint lived. It promptly picked him up and brought him to the palace! The saint was unwilling to be the ruler. However, after much persuasion he agreed and ascended the throne.

Being a saint, he was driven by neither greed nor fear. By the sheer strength of his state, he caused the country to prosper. The ministers and people were thrown back into themselves with no scope for manipulation.

The neighboring king heard about the kingdom and decided to invade it.

But the saint could not be moved to respond to the cry of war. He sat firmly, not mobilizing an army. The offending king arrived in the battlefield with his army and found no one there. Surprised and curious, he entered the kingdom to meet the king. He told him, 'I want to wage a war with you.'

The saint asked, 'What for?'

The king replied, 'I want to have your kingdom.'

The saint replied, 'Take it.'

The king was shocked! He cried, 'What do you mean? Without a fight?'

The saint replied, 'Of course!'

The king fell at his feet and declared, 'I am not fit to rule even my kingdom. Please take it.'

Sannyas is the understanding of the transient nature of everything. All desires, possessions, and emotions are moving and changing. Everything is changing and moving. Nothing is permanent. If you analyze your own desires before one is fulfilled, it looks like a mountain, a huge goal. After being fulfilled, the same desire looks like a molehill. Before being fulfilled, it will seem like your very life. After fulfilling one desire, you simply move to the next desire! Understand that the process itself shows that desires are neither solid nor permanent. They are just changing fantasies of the mind.

Sannyas helps you see the temporary nature of desires. Slowly, desires stop getting created. Then, all the energy that was locked up in desires is freely available to you. Automatically, your potential will take a jump. You are ready to do anything. Although you live in it, nothing in the material world really pulls you. Even if you see something beautiful, you don't wish to possess it. You just enjoy it and move on. That's all. That is sannyas.

Sannyas works like the log of wood that is used to burn the dead body and finally gets thrown into the same pyre. It burns out all the fantasies in you and finally gives itself to the same fire. It is a tool.

Adi Shankara beautifully says in his famous song, Bhaja Govindam* :

Even when days and nights, winters and springs have gone,

Desires are changing fantasies of mind.

and life almost comes to an end,

the grip of desire is still there!

Desire has such a pull at the unconscious level that liberating oneself from it is the greatest liberation.

A small story:

Once there lived a stone cutter. He was not satisfied with his position in life. One day he was passing through a wealthy merchant's house. Through the gate which was open, he noticed many possessions and important visitors in the merchant's house. He thought that the merchant must be very powerful. He became jealous and wished that he could be like the merchant.

To his great surprise, the stone cutter suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever imagined.

One day, he was standing on the road when he saw a high official pass by. He was carried in a beautiful chair, accompanied by attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs.

Bhaja Govindam - Collection of 32 (sometimes 34) devotional verses composed by enlightened master Adi Shankara. This is considered to be the essence of Vedanta and Advaita, non-duality.

A sannyasi is one who clearly sees that everything is changing all the time, everything is beautiful.

Eve-ryone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow down before the procession.

He thought, 'How powerful that official is! I wish I could be a high official!'

Immediately, he became the high official, and he was carried everywhere in his beautiful chair.

One day it was extremely hot, and he felt very uncomfortable in the sticky chair. He looked up at the sun. It was so bright and beautiful in the sky. He thought, 'How powerful the sun is! I wish that I could be the sun!'

He became the sun! He enjoyed his powerful position over everything.

One day, a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. He was surprised. He thought, 'How powerful that huge black storm cloud is! How I wish I could be a cloud!

He became the storm cloud, flooding the fields and villages.

Soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. He thought, 'How powerful the wind is! I wish to become the wind!'

He became the wind and powerfully blew over the roofs of houses and through forests.

One day, he came across something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it. It was a huge and towering rock. He thought, 'How powerful that rock is! I wish to become the rock!'

Then he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself being changed. He thought, 'What could be more powerful than a rock?'

He looked down and saw a stone cutter far below him!

This story clearly illustrates how the mind always thinks that which has not yet been achieved is greater than that which has been achieved. The grass on the other side is always greener. But when we go to the other side, what happens? We feel the grass on the opposite side is greener! We jump from one thing to the other, from one desire to the next, from one point of view to the next, but we are seldom happy.

The truth is, we are already enough unto ourselves. We just need to awaken to it. That's all. If we awaken to that truth, our beauty will be enhanced. Otherwise, we only waste time moving and searching.

A sannyasi is one who clearly sees that everything is changing all the time, and everything is beautiful just the way it is. He also knows that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. That is why he sets out first to clean his eyes. Eyes are the windows of the soul, so his work is at the core level. If you see the world through a red colored lens, everything appears red. If you see with a green colored lens, everything is green. If you see with clear eyes, everything looks clear and beautiful. Existence has always been beautiful, but we missed seeing it. Sannyas is the decision to see with clear eyes.

If life itself is changing all the time, then why are we trying to frame it? Buddha says in his Dhammapada, 'Life is like a flash of lightning in the sky.' Life is transient. Then what are we trying to do? We are trying to do an impossible job. Our job is to see, enjoy, and move on. If everything is a passing manifestation of Existence, then where is the scope for ego or fear or greed? Sannyas, as such, doesn't change anything. Everything remains the same. But it changes the way you see things. Sannyas happens in you. Sannyas has nothing to do with the outer world.

A small story:

Once a spiritual teacher came to visit the king. Nobody

Sannyas is awakening the charioteer. Man's body is like a chariot and his consciousness is the charioteer.

stopped the teacher and he entered the court where the king was sitting on his throne.

The king asked him, 'What do you want? The teacher replied, 'I would like to have a place to sleep in this hotel.'

The king said, 'This is my palace, it is not a hotel.' The teacher asked him, 'Who owned this palace before you?'

The king replied, 'My father owned this palace, but now he is dead.' The teacher asked, 'Who owned it before him?'

The king replied, 'My grandfather. He, too, is dead.' The teacher said, 'This is a place where people live for a short time and move on. Yet you are saying this is not a hotel!'

Sannyas is awakening the charioteer. Man's body is like a chariot and his consciousness is the charioteer. The charioteer is fast asleep, and the chariot is moving according to the horses. The five horses are the five senses, each with its own different idea. Not one of them is the truth. They are just transient ideas!

The master waits many lives for you. But you have to say 'yes'. Remember, the master is a gentleman.

Even in the most difficult times, a sannyasi remains with the awareness that life is a fleeting dream!

He carries a completely different definition for success and failure. He doesn't carry success or failure itself. A samsari on the other hand carries success and failure with him wherever he goes. There starts the problem.