Renounce ignorance, not the world

Once a sincere seeker asked an enlightened master, Bhagawan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam: “Dear master, is it necessary to renounce the world to realize the self?”

Bhagawan replied: “To realize the self, there is only one thing you must be willing to renounce, that is ignorance.”

He explained that self-realization has nothing to do with renouncing the world. To run away from the world is just as bad as clinging on to it, in both cases, it is evident that the world is controlling your actions. Aversion to the world is as much a product of ignorance as attachment to it. They are just two sides of the same coin.

A person can live in a cave, in the mountains, and be obsessed with sansar (worldliness), while another can live in the world and yet to be completely detached from its pull and push. To take sannyas (renunciation) is not to renounce the world, but to renounce both attachment and aversion to the world. The very same life, when it is seen through the mist of ignorance is sansar and when it is seen in the clear light of self-awareness, becomes sannyas.

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