Legendary Tales of True Sanyasis

14 January 2003, 12:00am IST
S Srinivasan

A true sanyasi is one who has no attachments to worldly things. He has no self interest and whatever he does is for the benefit of society. This is more a state of mind and does not depend on whether he is a grihasth, brahmachari or sanyasi. Once Swami Vivekananda was invited to Mysore. The king had arranged for a grand reception befitting royalty that included a dance by a dasi. When Vivekananda heard of it, he chose not to attend the reception. The dasi, overcome by sadness, sang a song to express her feelings: "Parasmani, which turns metal into gold, can convert an idol of god into gold as well as the knife of a butcher. It does not distinguish between the two, because parasmani is pure. Similarly, a true sanyasi does not distinguish between people. I was awaiting your visit, hoping it would give me an opportunity to cleanse myself." On hearing these words, Vivekananda felt ashamed. He rushed to the place with folded hands and told the dasi that he had become a true sanyasi only after hearing her words. Another interesting story of sages acting for the greater good involves saint Ramanuja. With great difficulty, he managed to learn the divya mantra from his guru. This mantra was supposed to absolve one of all sins and take one closer to moksha. Ramanuja's guru made him promise that he would disclose this mantra only to the most distinguished among his disciples. The very next thing that Ramanuja did was to climb to the top of the temple in a place called Tirukottiyur, and call out to the people of the town. He then recited the divya mantra in his loudest voice for them. He declared that he was ready to go to hell, but at least all the other people would be absolved of their sins and attain moksha. According to another story in the Vedas, Janashruthi was a rich man who was very pious. He would give donations of food and money to the needy and the poor. Once, while standing on the terrace of his eight-storied building, he overheard the conversation of two swans flying above him. One bird was asking the other: "Is there anybody greater than Janashruthi?" The other bird asked in reply: "Is he greater than Raickwer?" Janashruthi was intri-gued. He wanted to meet Raickwer. He thought that Raickwer would be richer than him and sent his men in search of him to all big cities. But they could not find Raickwer. Then he sent his men to towns, but they failed to locate him. Ultimately, his men found a person named Raickwer sitting under a cart in a small village. Janashruthi went personally to meet him with a cartload of riches. Raickwer was suffering from leprosy, with wounds all over his body. Insects were eating his wounds and if they fell down, he would put them back. He told Janashruthi that his wealth consisted of these insects. Janashruthi learnt about atmagyan and ways to reach God from Raickwer. Vedanta Desika was a great Vaishnavite scholar. Once, when somebody gave him diamonds, he threw them away, saying that they were stones. At once, the diamonds turned to stones. Once, a poor man approached Vedanta Desika for money for his daughter's marriage. Vedanta Desika sang Sristuti in praise of Goddess Lakshmi and it is said that gold coins showered on the poor man. Madhvacharya composed poems addressed to Lakshmi and he too was blessed with gold, with the condition that he could use it only in his next birth. Immediately, he took sanyas, as sanyas is a new birth, and utilised the wealth for public good. In all these cases, these sanyasis prayed for others and not for themselves. Thus sanyas is a state of mind and the true sanyasi makes no difference between human beings. He spends his time for the betterment of all.