231 Samyasa was to leave home and property and wander forth

To enter the order of saį¹ƒnyāsa 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. Śaį¹…kara cites three times in his GÄ«tā commentary the Bį¹›had. Up. III.5.1: ā€˜Having known (viditvā) that Self, they wander forth as mendicants.ā€™

Śaį¹…kara, like the GÄ«tā itself, is against physical renunciations while there is inner longing for objects: in his lead-in to GÄ«tā III.6 he says: ā€˜For 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 (Sāį¹…khya, jnānin, tattva-vid, samyag-darsin, etc.) on the other hand, voluntarily initiated actions will tend to drop away, with the desires that cause them. saį¹ƒnyāsa will tend to follow naturally upon Knowledge. Nevertheless Śaį¹…kara very frequently enjoins it as a necessary accessory to Knowledge: it then leads to Estab- lishment-in-Knowledge (jƱāna-niį¹£į¹­hā) and finally Liberation (mokį¹£a). In the GÄ«tā commentary he makes the essence of saį¹ƒnyāsa to be: giving up the notion (pratyaya) of ā€˜I do.ā€™

In places he describes saį¹ƒnyāsa as being in fact jƱāna-niį¹£į¹­hā. For instance, under XVIII. 12 he calls the highest saį¹ƒnyāsin, the paramahaį¹£sa parivrājaka, kevala-jƱāna-niį¹£į¹­hā and kevala-samyag-darśana- niį¹£į¹­ha). He often uses the term saį¹ƒnyāsa to include both. The samį¹‡yāsa order was usually spoken of in relation to Brahmins, but in XVIII.45 and 46 he states that all classes can qualify themselves for jƱāna-niį¹£į¹­hā by carrying out their proper duty with devotion.

In the GÄ«tā commentary, Śaį¹…kara refers to five kinds of saį¹ƒnyāsa:

1. Saį¹ƒnyāsa 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«tā (e.g.III.6).

2. Partial saį¹ƒnyāsa, 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. Śaį¹…kara refers to this without approval (intro, to V), and remarks that it is ā€˜difficultā€™, as needing great self-control.

3. Honorary saį¹ƒnyāsa, where things and actions are not given up, but only attachment to them and their fruits. The agent still feels ā€˜I do.ā€™ This is a main element of karma yoga.

4. Saį¹ƒnyāsa by Mind, which is renunciation by a Truth-knower (tattva- vid, samyag-darśin, etc.). The GÄ«tā directs him to constant meditation with concentrated mind (samāhita citta) on ā€˜I 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 (paramārtha) renunciation. Its essential quality is the meditation ā€˜I do nothingā€™, but this is now reflected outwardly in physical withdrawal into the order of paramahaį¹ƒarivrājaka, wandering mendicants

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