- A sannyasin must renounce both lust and gold. Just as he must not look at the picture of a woman, he must not touch gold – money. Having money near is bad in itself. With money comes keeping accounts, worry, pride of wealth, and anger at others. You are looking for the sun and, lo, it is covered by clouds!
- Why such difficult rules of conduct for a sannyasin? They are there for the instruction of humanity as well as for his own good. Even if a sannyasin lives unattached, having controlled his senses, he should renounce ‘lust and greed’ in order to teach mankind.
- People will muster the courage for renunciation only if they see the one hundred percent renunciation of a sannyasin. Then only will they endeavour to renounce ‘lust and greed.’ If a sannyasin doesn’t impart this instruction of renunciation, who else will?
- There are four stages of life: brahmacharya (celibate student life), garhasthya (family life), vanaprastha (life of retirement, non-attachment, and contemplation of God) and sannyasa (complete renunciation). Work is necessary in the first three stages of life. Although a sannyasin carries a staff, a water pot, and a begging bowl and may perform daily Vedic duties, his mind is not attached to them.
- A sannyasin is like one observing a waterless fast on the eleventh day of the lunar month. There are two other kinds of fasts on the eleventh day: One, when one may eat fruits; and the other, when one eats fried luchi. With the fried luchi, maybe you also have two chapattis soaked in milk.
- Others learn from a sannyasin’s example. That’s why there is such a strict rule of conduct. ‘Lust and greed’ for a sannyasin is like the odour of a goat in the body of a beautiful woman. Her beauty is useless if she smells like that.
- The rules of conduct for a sannyasin are very difficult indeed. When one puts on the guise of a sannyasin or sadhu, one has to conduct himself exactly like a sadhu or a sannyasin. It’s like in the theatre: the person who plays the king acts like a king, and the one who takes the role of his minister acts just like a minister.
- There is a tremendous difference between a householder devotee and a genuine all-renouncing devotee. A true sannyasin, a devotee of real renunciation, is like a bee. A bee sits nowhere else but on a flower. It drinks nothing but honey. The other – the householder devotee – is like a fly. It sits on sandesh as well as on a festering wound. He is sometimes in a fine spiritual mood and other times he is busy with ‘lust and greed.’
- A sannyasin must not even see a picture of a woman. I tell them, ‘Even if a woman is a devotee, do not sit beside her and talk. Speak very briefly, while standing.’ Even after attaining perfection, you have to do this. It is both for your own protection and for setting an example.
- ‘If a guru goes to relieve himself, his disciple must at least emit gas.’ If a sannyasin has renounced mentally but lives with ‘lust and greed,’ he can’t teach. People will say that he secretly eats molasses.
- Do you know what it’s like for a sannyasin to accept money, or to be greedy? Like a brahmin widow who has lived for a long time on vegetarian food and observed celibacy taking a man of low caste as her paramour.
- Tie a knot, sew, roll up curtains, lock a door or a box with a key. All such disciplines are necessary for one who wishes to renounce. All these disciplines are for sannyasins.
- Renunciation is for sannyasins. They shouldn’t even see the picture of a woman. They must keep at least ten cubits away or, if that’s not possible, at least one cubit. Even if a woman is a great devotee, a sannyasin shouldn’t talk to her for long.
- Money is also a poison for sannyasins. When you have money, you quickly fall prey to anxiety, pride, physical comfort, anger, and so forth. Rajas increases. When there is rajoguna, it leads to tamoguna. So a sannyasin shouldn’t touch money. ‘Lust and greed’ make you forget God.
- A sannyasin keeps the ekadashi fast without taking a drop of water. It is a dangerous situation if he clings to enjoyment. ‘Lust and greed’ are sense enjoyments – they’re like swallowing your own spittle. Money, name and fame, sense pleasures – all these are sense enjoyments.
- It’s not good for a sannyasin to even sit and talk to a woman devotee. It harms not only him, but others – they don’t learn from it. It doesn’t help them. A sannyasin lives to teach others.
- A sannyasin must renounce ‘lust and gold’. He cannot accept them. A person doesn’t swallow his own spittle. If a sannyasin gives anybody anything, he doesn’t keep it in his mind that he did it.
- A genuine sannyasin renounces both internally and externally. Not only does he refuse to eat gur [raw sugar], he won’t even keep it near him. If he himself should have it and ask others not to take it, nobody would listen to him.