42. Are you ripe for renunciation?🔗

If you are renouncing because of fear of attachment or fear of maintenance, it is better you drop the renunciation and enjoy your life, because you are not yet ripe for renunciation. Don't take that big step. Don't be so arrogant as to renounce. Don't renounce out of arrogance!

A small story: A new disciple entered a monastery. He found that humbleness was highly valued in the monastery, so he started acting very humble. One day his guru asked him to massage his feet. The disciple immediately said, 'No, no, no! I am a fool. I am a sinner. How can I touch your feet?' Another day, a devotee brought some fruits as an offering for the guru. The guru just touched it as a blessing. Immediately, the disciple ate the whole thing. The guru asked, 'What happened?' The disciple answered, 'You touched the fruits, so they became sacred, they became prasad. How can such sacred fruits go to waste? Somebody has to eat them, so I ate them!' Then the guru said beautifully, 'Relax! There is no need to behave so humbly. You have not yet become so great as to be humble!'

Even humbleness needs to happen with the right understanding, for the right reason. Without the right context, even your humility is arrogance, even your renunciation is arrogance. The real renunciation is not renunciation because of fantasy or fear; it is the renunciation of the fantasy and fear itself. Only the renunciation of the imagination in all seven chakras can be called true renunciation.

Make a list of 5 desires that you have renounced, or considered renouncing (eg., a lucrative job, a material possession, a relationship, a vacation plan, etc.) Contemplate: Did you renounce the desire because of fantasy or fear?