Renunciation and Transformation
Visitor: What place does
renunciation have in the meditative process of realising one's true Self?
SWAMIJI: Can you tell me what
your idea of renunciation is? What does it mean, actually?
Visitor: To be more interested
in realising what is true, and one's true Self, than anything else in life.
SWAMIJI: No. If you are
interested in realising your Self, you are saying that you are going to
renounce something. Isn't it?
Visitor: I think that is the
result of being more interested in it.
SWAMIJI: What are you going to
renounce? What are the things that you would like to renounce for this purpose?
Visitor: It might be old ways
of being, old ways of thinking, old ways of interacting with people, old ways
of understanding things.
SWAMIJI: That is all right. But,
actually, renunciation means renunciation of all the desires that are connected
with the world of perception. Have you desires connected with this world? If
they can be renounced, you have attained perfection. Old ways of thinking, and
other things you mentioned to me just now – actually, the old way of thinking
is the way of desiring things in the world.
Visitor: Yes.
SWAMIJI: And, if that can be
overcome, and if you desire the Self only, and desire nothing external to the
Self, you have renounced, really. Renunciation is not abandoning objects of the
world, persons and things – but the longing for them. Now, many people are
seated here. Can you say, "I have renounced them"? The question does
not arise, because you have no connection with them at all. Therefore, the
question of renunciation, also, does not arise. Like that, if you have no
concern with anything in the world, then the question of renunciation, also,
will not arise.
Visitor: Yes.
SWAMIJI: If you have got
concern with something, then the idea of renunciation, or not renunciation,
arises. You are concerned with the Self, as you understand it correctly. And if
there is nothing else that can interest you, then you have renounced perfectly,
and you have done the best thing in the world. That is my answer.
Visitor: Thank you.
Visitor: I have another
question, Swamiji, about transformation – how does transformation take place in
time?
SWAMIJI: What kind of
transformation?
Visitor: Of the personality,
of the old way of being, the old way of seeing things, and understanding things
to the new way of being more interested in the Self.
SWAMIJI: Transformation is
actually a state of consciousness. When you are aware of something,
consciousness envelops that thing, and it takes the shape of that particular
thing, whether it is a human being, or any particular object of the world. And,
you are transformed at that time into the form of the object which you are
thinking in your mind. But, if the object does not exist for you, as you have
concluded just now – they are not matters of concern for you – you have nothing
to do with anything in the world, and then the consciousness transforms itself
into its own true nature.
Now, we are empirically
conscious, sensorially aware, and filled with object consciousness. We are
seeing this world; we are looking at the buildings, we are seeing the wall, and
so many people around us. There, in that condition of perception of things, a
psychological transformation takes place. The mind assumes the shape of that which
it cognises; then, you are able to see that such a thing exists. As molten lead
cast into a crucible takes the shape of that crucible, the mind takes the shape
of any object which it cognises, or perceives through the sense organs.
This is called bondage to the
objects. If you are not concerned with anything – you are seeing so many people
here, but your mind is not transformed into the shape of these people, because
the mind has no concern with them – it is a blank looking and seeing, without
any emotional connection. If that emotional connection with things is
withdrawn, and your concern is centralised in the Pure Self, you undergo a
metaphysical transformation, as they call it – a transcendental transformation
– transformation into a form of God Himself, I should say. Instead of your
consciousness taking the shape of a thing that it cognises outside, in the form
of objects, etc., the centralised consciousness, with no concern external in
space and time, gets modified into the form of the Transcendent Being, which is
God-consciousness. That is the transformation that you are expecting, which
will take place automatically, if you are freed from object-consciousness, or
any kind of desire-consciousness. That is what you are expecting in your
spiritual transforming process.
The Self almost loses contact
with itself, and moves outside in the form of objects of sense, when it desires
anything. That is an unnatural condition of the mind. The senses have to be
withdrawn from such perceptional activity, and consciousness has to rest in
itself. The resting of the consciousness in its own self, which is Universality
of Being, is the highest Yoga or meditation. There is nothing more to be done
afterwards. That is the final goal.
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