"Sanyasi" redirects here. For the motion picture, see Sanyasi (1975 film)

Adi Shankara (788 CE - 820 CE), founder of Advaita Vedanta, with disciples.

Sannyasa (Devanagari: संन्यास, saṁnyāsa) is the life stage of the renouncer within the Hindu scheme of āśramas. It is considered the topmost and final stage of the ashram systems and is traditionally taken by men or women over fifty or by young monks who wish to renounce worldly and materialistic pursuits and dedicate their lives to spiritual pursuits. People in this stage of life develop vairāgya, or a state of dispassion and detachment from material life, renouncing worldly thoughts and desires in order to spend the remainder of their lives in spiritual contemplation. A member of the sannyasa order is known as a sannyasin (male) or sannyasini (female).

During the sannyasa phase of life, a person abandons fire, or Agnihotra, allowed to the Grihastha ashram or householder phase of life. People who have entered the sannyasa ashram may choose not to cook, perform fire rituals or take heat from fire. In practice, however, Sannyasis do various services and partake in sacred rituals to set an example for others. Sannyasa focuses only on the self and spirituality and not even the gods (as abandoning fire suggests). Symbolically, a sannyasi casts his physical body into fire by wearing saffron robes when entering this phase, thus freeing the soul while the body is still alive. Hence, sannyasis are not cremated after death as most Hindus are, but may instead be buried.

Etymology[link]

Saṃnyāsa in Sanskrit means "renunciation" or "abandonment". It is a tripartite compound of saṃ- with a "collective" meaning, ni- which means "down" and āsa from the root as, meaning "to throw" or "to put". A literal translation would be "laying everything down". In Dravidian languages, "sannyasi" is pronounced as "sanyasi" and also "sannasi" in colloquial form.

Types[link]

There are subtypes of sannyasi in accordance with socio-religious context. Traditionally there were four types of forest hermits with different stages of dedication.^[1] More recently, in modern observation there are two types of "ekadanda" (literally single stick) and "tridanda' (triple rod or stick) saffron robed monks.^[2] Specific practices differ slightly between these two groups.

Lifestyle and goals[link]

The sannyasi lives a celibate life without possessions, and practises yoga or bhakti devotional meditation, depending on the specific tradition, with prayers to their chosen deity or God. The goal of the Hindu Sannsyasin is moksha (liberation), the conception of which varies from tradition to tradition. For the devotion oriented traditions, liberation consists of union with the Divine, while for Yoga oriented traditions, liberation is the experience of the highest samādhi (enlightenment) and for the Advaita tradition, liberation is the removal of all ignorance and realising oneself as one with the Supreme Brahman.

Within the Bhagavad Gita, sannyasa is described by Krishna as follows:

"The giving up of activities that are based on material desire is what great learned men call the renounced order of life [sannyasa]. And giving up the results of all activities is what the wise call renunciation [tyaga]." (18.2)^[3]

Sanskrit and Indic scholar Barbara Stoler Miller translates chapter 18, verse 2 as follows:

"Giving up actions based on desire, the poets know as renunciation; relinquishing all fruit of action, learned men call relinquishment.

"Disciplined action and relinquishment are spiritually more effective than renunciation."^[4]

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's translation of verse 3, Chapter 5 of the Bhagavad-Gita, says:

"Know him to be ever a man of renunciation who neither hates nor desires; free from the pairs of opposites, he is easily released from bondage, O mighty-armed."^[5]

Renunciation in Dharma Literature[link]

The Dharmasūtras and Dharmaśāstras give a number of detailed rules regarding at what stage of life a person may renounce fire, who is entitled to renounce it, and what their legal and social standing is following renunciation.

When can a person renounce?[link]

The earliest Dharmasūtras do not favor renunciation. The author of the earliest stage of the Baudhāyana Dharmasūtra, for example, is critical of renunciation when young because ascetics do not reproduce. The birth of a son was necessary for a twice-born man to repay his spiritual debt to his ancestors. A Vedic student (snātaka), having completed his education, is required to start a family as a householder; Baudāyana states that only the householder's āśrama exists for him.^[6] At the time Baudāyana was composed, the āśramas were most likely permanent states of life chosen after one finished his time as a snātaka, not the sequential life stages they would later become.^[7]

The Vasiṣṭha and Āpastamba Dharmasūtras represent a transition from the disapproval of the idea of various āśramas (including that of the ascetic) expressed in Baudāyana and Gautama to the acceptance of the āśrama system and gradual efforts to incorporate it into the framework of texts on dharma.^[8] Those efforts culminated in the form of the aśrama system found in the Manusmṛti; by the time that text was composed, the āśramas had taken the form of sequential temporary stages which would allow one to pass from Vedic studentship to householder to forest-dwelling hermit to renouncer.^[9] Thus, Manu and Yājñavalkya after him are able to stipulate that a renouncer must have paid his triple-debt as a householder before renouncing the world.^[10] However, Yājñavalkya differs from Manu and Viṣṇu over whether passing through the āśrama of the vanaprastha is necessary. Manu 6.33 and Viṣṇu 96.1 state that one should renounce from the forest-dwelling hermit's āśrama, while Yājñavalkya 3.56 states that one may renounce from the householder's āśrama, provided he has paid the triple debt (to his ancestors, the Vedic sages, and the gods).

Who may renounce?[link]

Although the question of which vaṛṇa renunciation is allowed to whom is not dealt with explicitly in dharma literature, it was understood that the āśrama system, including the āśrama of renunciation, was only open to dvija men.^[11] Accordingly, when speaking of the rules for renouncers, Dharmaśāstra texts only directly address twice-born men. For instance, when Manu speaks of the qualities of a renouncer or the conditions under which he renounces, the person being spoken of is outrightly specified a "a Brahmin" or "that twice-born man".^[12]

Nevertheless, Dharmaśāstra texts document that people other than twice-born men, such as Śūdras and women, did renounce, even if this mention is only one of castigation. Yājñavalkya 5.115 and Viṣṇu 2.235 place a fine on feeding a Śūdra ascetic at a festival, and Manu 8.363 places a fine on conversing with a female renouncer; indicating that these categories exist.^[13]

Legal and social status of renouncers[link]

In renouncing the world, the ascetic becomes, for all religious and social purposes, dead and for this reason, a ritual death is part of the rite of renunciation itself. The ascetic is no longer bound to perform the Vedic rites enjoined upon twice-born men; he leaves his family behind to live an itinerant life.^[14] This state of being ritually dead is reflected in the laws relating to these ascetic renouncers found in the Dharmaśāstras, which are closely connected to and overlap with laws relating to the dead. Thus, Viṣṇu 6.27 states that when a debtor dies, renounces the world, or is in a far-off country for over twenty years, his male progeny should settle his debts. Nārada 13.24 allows the brothers of a renouncer to partition any inheritance he may have received from his father amongst themselves, except for the portion due his "widow". Nārada 12.97 allows a wife to remarry if her husband disappears or dies, or becomes a renouncer, a eunuch, or an outcaste. Some texts, however, require that a man have provided financially for his wife and children before renouncing.^[15] Relatedly, Nārada 1.7 states that if a renouncer dies in debt, all the merit produced by his spiritual practice goes to his creditors.

Thus, renunciants are not only socially but legally dead, and cannot therefore enter into new contractual agreements. Kauṭilya provides a clear expression of this in the Arthaśāstra when he states that transactions cannot be completed by dependents and renouncers (3.1.12). Nārada 1.159-169 includes renouncers among those who cannot be questioned as witnesses in a court case.

Other rules pertaining to ascetics hinge on the spiritual power they were believed to have acquired through their austerities. The Bṛhaspatismṛti, at 1.27, warns the king to have a proxy, and specifically someone schooled in the three Vedas, hear cases involving ascetics and others skilled in sorcery. Since ascetics were believed to have supernatural powers, any action or decision which caused them to lose their case would incur their wrath, therefore involvement in such a case had the potential to threaten a king's life. The existence of a proxy option is relevant to the larger discussion of ascetics and Ancient Indian law, as it acknowledges that ascetics could and sometimes did become involved in legal cases, despite their legally and socially deceased status.^{[citation needed]}

Monasticism[link]

Unlike monks and nuns in the Western world, whose lives are in the main regulated by a monastery or an abbey and its rules, it is common for Hindu sannyasis to be solitary wanderers (parivrājaka). Hindu monasteries (mathas) never have a large number of monks living under one roof at any given time; they exist primarily for educational purposes and have become centers of pilgrimage for the lay population. Ordination into any Hindu monastic order is purely at the discretion of the individual guru, who should himself be an ordained sannyasi within that order. Most traditional Hindu orders do not have women sannyasis, but this situation has begun to change in recent years.^[16][17]

Danda as spiritual attribute[link]

In the Varnashrama System or Dharma of Sanatana Dharma, the 'danda' (Sanskrit; Devanagari: दंड, lit. stick) is a spiritual attribute and axis mundi of certain deities such as Bṛhaspati, and holy people, such as sadhus, carry the danda as a marker of their station as a mendicant renunciate or sannyasi.^{[citation needed]}

Sannyasa Upanishads[link]

Of the 108 scriptures (or "Upanishads") of the Muktika, 23 are considered Sannyasa Upanishads.^[18] They are listed with their associated Veda – ṚV, SV, ŚYV, KYV, AV (as found in the Upanishad):

1. Brahma (KYV)
2. Jābāla (ŚYV)
3. Śvetāśvatara (KYV) "The Faces of God"
4. Āruṇeya (SV)
5. Garbha (KYV)
6. Paramahaṃsa (ŚYV)
7. Maitrāyaṇi (SV)
8. Maitreyi (SV)
9. Tejobindu (KYV)
10. Parivrāt (Nāradaparivrājaka) (AV)
11. Nirvāṇa (ṚV)
12. Advayatāraka (ŚYV)
13. Bhikṣu (SYV)
14. Turīyātīta (SYV)
15. Sannyāsa (SV)
16. Paramahaṃsaparivrājaka (AV)
17. Kuṇḍika (SV)
18. Parabrahma (AV)
19. Avadhūta (KYV)
20. Kaṭharudra (KYV)
21. Yājñavalkya (SYV)
22. Varāha (KYV)
23. Śāṭyāyani (SYV)

Noted sannyasins[link]

Swami Vivekananda (1894).

This section requires expansion.

• Sri Pada Sri Vallabha Swamy (approx 788 – 820)
• Adi Shankara (approx 788 – 820)
• Sri Nrusimha Saraswati Swamy (approx 14th Century)
• Swami Ramanuja (1017-1137)
• Madhvacharya (apporx 1238 - 1317)
• Jayathirtha (approx 1365 - 1388)
• Vyasathirtha (1460–1539)
• Vadirajatirtha (1480–1600)
• Raghavendra Swami (1595–1671)
• Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1533)
• Totapuri (1780-?)
• Ramakrishna (1836–1886)
• Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902)
• Sri Vasudevananda Saraswati Swamy (1854–1914)
• Sree Narayana Guru (1855–1928)
• Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950)
• Swami Sivananda (1887–1963)
• Swami Chinmayananda (1916–1993)
• Swami Sathyananda Saraswathi (1935–2006)
• Swami Sahajanand Saraswati (1889–1950)
• Swami Krishnananda (1922–2001)
• Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura (1874–1937)
• A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977)
• Sri Chandrashekarendra Saraswathi(Maha Periyava) (1894-1994)
• Swami Vishveshwaranand

See also[link]

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Articles on aspects of Sannyasa, Vairagya, and Brahmacharya
• 'The Song of the Sannyasin', poem by Swami Vivekananda
• The Internal Meaning of Sannyasa

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura ca. 1920s
Born	(1874-02-06)February 6, 1874 Puri, British Raj
Died	January 1, 1937(1937-01-01) (aged 62) Calcutta, British Raj
Birth name	Bimal Prasad Dutta
Titles/honours	Expounded Gaudiya Vaishnavism, founded Gaudiya Math
Guru	Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji
Philosophy	Achintya Bheda Abheda

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada,^[1][2] (February 6, 1874 – January 1, 1937),^[3] was a preacher of Gaudiya Vaishnavism throughout India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He was born as Bimal Prasad Dutta in the seaside pilgrimage town of Jagannath Puri, Orissa, India. His father was the Vaishnava scholar Sri Kedarnath Dutta, later known as Bhaktivinoda Thakur, the first to present the teachings of Chaitanyite Vaishnavism to the English speaking world^{[citation needed]} and was a notable Gaudiya Vaishnava Theologian.^{[citation needed]} Bimal Prasad was well known for having a fiery preaching spirit and especially acute intellect.^{[citation needed]}

Background[link]

By the time he was twenty-five years old, Bimala Prasada had acquired an impressive reputation^{[citation needed]} as a scholar of Sanskrit, mathematics, and astronomy. Editing the publication of an ancient astronomical treatise, Surya Siddhanta, won the title Siddhanta Sarasvati^{[by whom?]} in recognition of his scholastic achievements. In 1905, following the advice of his father, Siddhanta Sarasvati accepted spiritual initiation from Gaurakisora dasa Babaji.^{[citation needed]} Although Gaurakisora dasa Babaji was renowned^{[citation needed]} as a saintly person and great devotee of Krishna, he was illiterate and left no scriptural additions to the tradition of Vaishnava Theology. Satisfied with the humility and dedication of his highly educated disciple, Srila Gaurikisora gave him his full blessings and requested him to "preach the Absolute Truth and keep aside all other work." Siddhanta Sarasvati then proved himself a capable assistant in the missionary work of his father.^[4] Here, one has to understand the secret of his divine birth. His father was praying desperately to Lord Jagannatha to send one who could help him in preaching the message of Lord Chaitanya. His birth and preaching activities were predicted in the Padma Purana long ago.^{[citation needed]}

Gaudiya Math[link]

From the very beginning of Lord Chaitanya's bhakti movement in Bengal, Haridasa Thakur and others Muslim or Hindu by birth were the participants. This openness received a boost from Bhaktivinoda Thakura's broad-minded vision in the late nineteenth century and was institutionalized by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati in his Gaudiya Math in the twentieth century.^[5]

Upon the death of Bhaktivinoda Thakura in 1914, Siddhanta Sarasvati became editor of his father's journal, Sajjana-tosani, and founded the Bhagwat Press for publication of Vaishnava literature. Then in 1918, Siddhanta Sarasvati accepted the renounced order of spiritual life, assuming the title Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja. For the purpose of propagating Krishna-bhakti throughout India, he organized the Gaudiya Math, with sixty-four branches throughout the country. The headquarters of his mission, the Caitanya Gaudiya Math, was located in Sridhama Mayapur, the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. He would later send disciples to Europe for missionary work.^{[citation needed]}

There has not been, there will not be, such benefactors of the highest merit as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His devotees have been. The offer of other benefits is only a deception; it is rather a great harm, whereas the benefit done by Him and His followers is the truest and greatest eternal benefit. This benefit is not for one particular country, causing mischief to another; but it benefits the whole universe.

—Siddhanta Sarasvati^[4]

Teacher of A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada[link]

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur is also the spiritual master of world renowned A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. It was A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who set out in 1965, at the age of 69, to America to try to fulfil the admonition of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja of preaching to the West. Within 12 years A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada had set up a world wide society of devotees of Lord Krishna and Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (called ISKCON)- and fulfilled the prophecy of Lord Chaitanya. Not only that, A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada established 108 centres world wide (personally traveling to USA, England, Scotland, Germany, France, Hawai, Russia, Australia, South Africa, Nigeria, Japan and many other countries.) He also made "Hare Krishna" a house-hold term in the USA, translated texts into English and gave purports to various Sanskrit Vedic texts (approaching 70 volumes) such as the Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam - allowing thousands to benefit from learning these valuable ancient teachings. A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada had accomplished what Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja and his father Bhaktivinoda Thakur had so long desired - an international society of Krishna conscious devotees.^{[citation needed]}

Modern application of Bhakti[link]

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati adjusted the traditions of Gaudiya Vaishnavism to conform with the technological and social conditions of the twentieth century. He considered the printing press the most effective means of spreading Krishna Consciousness throughout the world and was himself the author of many important translations, commentaries, and philosophical essays.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• Hare Krishna
• Pancha Tattva
• Six Goswamis of Vrindavan

References[link]

1. ^ Thompson, Michael. "The Life of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada". www.krishna.org. http://krishna.org/the-life-of-srila-bhaktisiddhanta-saraswati-goswami-prabhupada. Retrieved 2010-04-19. 
2. ^ Website, The Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library. "Sri Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada.". www.bvml.org/. http://www.bvml.org/SBSST/. Retrieved 2010-04-28. 
3. ^ Renaissance of Gaudiya Vaishnava Movement - Page 47
4. ^ ^{a b} Goswami, Satsvarupa dasa (2002). Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta Vol 1-2 (2 nd ed.). Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. pp. vol.1 ch 3. ISBN 0-89213-357-0. 
5. ^ Sherbow, P.H. (2004). "AC Bhaktivedanta Swami's Preaching In The Context Of Gaudiya Vaishnavism". The Hare Krishna Movement: the Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant: p.139. http://books.google.com/books?q=and%20others%20%20Haridasa%20of%20Muslim%20by%20birth%20were%20the%20participants&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8. 

Further reading[link]

• Bhakti Vikasa Swami, "Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava". Bhakti Vikas Trust. Print Edition (3-vol. set) ISBN 978-81-908292-0-5 Electronic Edition (3-vol. set) ISBN 978-81-908292-2-9
• Ferdinando Sardella, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati: The Context and Significance of a Modern Hindu Personalist. Dissertation, Göteborg 2010. ISBN 978-91-88348-33-3.

External links[link]

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