Sannyasa

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Sannyasa, (Devanagari: संन्यास) sannyāsa is the renounced order of life within Hinduism. It is considered the final and highest stage of the varna and ashram systems^{[citation needed]} and is traditionally taken by men at or beyond the age of fifty years old or by young monks who wish to dedicate their entire life towards spiritual pursuits. One within the sanyass order is known as a sannyasi or sannyasin.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Lifestyle and goals 3 Application 4 Monasticism 5 Sannyasa Upanishads 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] Etymology

Saṃnyāsa in Sanskrit means "renunciation", "abandonment". It is a tripartite compound of saṃ- has "collective" meaning, ni- means "down" and āsa is from the root as, meaning "to throw" or "to put", so a literal translation would be "laying it all down".

[edit] Lifestyle and goals

The sannyasi lives without possessions, practises yoga meditation — or in other traditions, bhakti, or devotional meditation, with prayers to their chosen deity or God. The goal of the Hindu Sannsyasin is moksha (liberation), the conception of which also varies. For the devotion oriented traditions, liberation consists of union with the Divine, while for Yoga oriented traditions, liberation is the experience of the highest samadhi (enlightenment). 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)^[1]

[edit] Application

The term is generally used to denote a particular phase of life. In this phase of life, the person develops vairāgya, or a state of determination and detachment from material life. He renounces all worldly thoughts and desires, and spends the rest of his life in spiritual contemplation. It is the last in the four phases of a man, namely, brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha, and finally sannyasa, as prescribed by Manusmriti for the Dwija castes, in the Hindu system of life. However, these four stages are not necessarily sequential and various Hindu traditions allow for a man to renounce the material world from any of the first three stages of life.

[edit] Monasticism

Unlike monks in the Western world, whose lives are regulated by a monastery or an abbey and its rules, the Hindu sannyasin is a loner and a wanderer (parivrājaka). Hindu monasteries (mathas) never have a huge number of monks living under one roof. The monasteries 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 is undergoing changes in recent times.

Having succeeded in overcoming all sensual affections and desires, and in acquiring perfect equanimity towards everything around him, the hermit has fitted himself for the final and most exalted order, that of devotee or religious mendicant. As such, he has no further need of either mortifications or religious observances; but with the sacrificial fires reposited in his mind, he may devote the remainder of his days to meditating on the divinity. Taking up his abode at the foot of a tree in total solitude, with no companion but his own soul (jiva), clad in a coarse garment, he should carefully avoid injuring any creature or giving offence to any human being that may happen to come near him.

Once a day, in the evening, when the charcoal fire is extinguished and the smoke no longer issues from the fire-places, when the pestle is at rest, when the people have taken their meals and the dishes are removed, he should go near the habitations of men, in order to beg what little food may suffice to sustain his feeble frame. Ever pure of mind he should thus bide his time, as a servant expects his wages, wishing neither for death nor for life, until at last his soul is freed from its fetters and absorbed into the atman, the impersonal self-existent Brahman, or else returns to dwell with Brahman experienced as the personal Deity.

[edit] Sannyasa Upanishads

Of the 108 Upanishads of the Muktika, 23 are considered Sannyasa Upanishads.^{[citation needed]} They are listed with their associated Veda (ṚV, SV, ŚYV, KYV, AV):

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)

[edit] See also

• Yogi
• Sadhu
• Gymnosophist

[edit] External links

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

Hinduism
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