231 Samyasa was to leave home and property and wander forth
To enter the order of saį¹nyÄsa was to leave home and property and wander forth, sustained by semi-automatic actions of body-mind like begging and lying down to sleep and so on. Åaį¹ kara cites three times in his GÄ«tÄ commentary the Bį¹had. Up. III.5.1: āHaving known (viditvÄ) that Self, they wander forth as mendicants.ā
Åaį¹ kara, like the GÄ«tÄ itself, is against physical renunciations while there is inner longing for objects: in his lead-in to GÄ«tÄ III.6 he says: āFor one who does not know the Self, it is not-right (asat) that he should not undertake his required duty.ā
For the Self-knower (SÄį¹ khya, jnÄnin, tattva-vid, samyag-darsin, etc.) on the other hand, voluntarily initiated actions will tend to drop away, with the desires that cause them. saį¹nyÄsa will tend to follow naturally upon Knowledge. Nevertheless Åaį¹ kara very frequently enjoins it as a necessary accessory to Knowledge: it then leads to Estab- lishment-in-Knowledge (jƱÄna-niį¹£į¹hÄ) and finally Liberation (mokį¹£a). In the GÄ«tÄ commentary he makes the essence of saį¹nyÄsa to be: giving up the notion (pratyaya) of āI do.ā
In places he describes saį¹nyÄsa as being in fact jƱÄna-niį¹£į¹hÄ. For instance, under XVIII. 12 he calls the highest saį¹nyÄsin, the paramahaį¹£sa parivrÄjaka, kevala-jƱÄna-niį¹£į¹hÄ and kevala-samyag-darÅana- niį¹£į¹ha). He often uses the term saį¹nyÄsa to include both. The samį¹yÄsa order was usually spoken of in relation to Brahmins, but in XVIII.45 and 46 he states that all classes can qualify themselves for jƱÄna-niį¹£į¹hÄ by carrying out their proper duty with devotion.
In the GÄ«tÄ commentary, Åaį¹ kara refers to five kinds of saį¹nyÄsa:
1. Saį¹nyÄsa as outer show. In this the property and home are renounced, but no attempt is made at inner renunciation. In India, sometimes a well-off man expecting to die would, just before the end, give away everything in order to get merit in the future. (But sometimes he embarrassingly recovered.) See also the opening of the Katha Upaniį¹£ad. Others took to the anonymous wandering life to escape family, creditors, or police. All this is condemned by the GÄ«tÄ (e.g.III.6).
2. Partial saį¹nyÄsa, where only some actions and things are renounced. This renouncer still feels T doā, and is still affected by the results of his actions. He simply reduces them. Åaį¹ kara refers to this without approval (intro, to V), and remarks that it is ādifficultā, as needing great self-control.
3. Honorary saį¹nyÄsa, where things and actions are not given up, but only attachment to them and their fruits. The agent still feels āI do.ā This is a main element of karma yoga.
4. Saį¹nyÄsa by Mind, which is renunciation by a Truth-knower (tattva- vid, samyag-darÅin, etc.). The GÄ«tÄ directs him to constant meditation with concentrated mind (samÄhita citta) on āI do nothingā, though undertakings continue to be carried out by the body and mind. Onlookers suppose they are performed by an individual as before.
5. Preme (paramÄrtha) renunciation. Its essential quality is the meditation āI do nothingā, but this is now reflected outwardly in physical withdrawal into the order of paramahaį¹arivrÄjaka, wandering mendicants