To renounce means to give up or to disown something. But the question is ‘what to renounce?’and ‘for what?’. In the name of renunciation our good and saintly people renounce the material things like money, sex, relationships etc. What they intend to do is to renounce (or should we say escape from) the day-to-day affairs of this world. They simply want isolation because they are not able to bear the perceived burden of this seemingly materialistic society. It is, according to them, taking a toll on their mind and soul so they need a respite. And what could be a better way than to turn your back on a burning house!

But they are greatly mistaken! They do not understand the meaning of renunciation in the first place. By doing so they have snatched away from themselves the opportunity to grow further that this world and its affair could have given to them.

I feel that true renunciation is to be a ‘spiritual materialist’, meaning thereby that while living in this world and its hustle and bustle one enjoys the spiritual freedom and ecstasy of one’s own being and thereby enjoy and celebrate an uninhibited life of freedom, joy and love.

Metaphorically, to be a lotus is to be a renunciate. Just like a lotus stays untainted and unaffected by the mud in which it lives similarly a renunciate lives free of all the societal clutter attached to worldly affairs. The purpose is not to run away from the world; the purpose is to leave and give away all the wrong and rotten ideas and dogmas that are associated with life in the outside world.

Money, sex, relationships are all divine blessings. There is nothing wrong in them. It is the so called renunciates that have given a bad name to these very important aspects of human life and made us feel guilty about them thereby causing a repression inside us.

There is no need to go anywhere. This life and its affairs are given to us as an opportunity for our soul’s growth or the consciousness to develop and expand further. Even a king while running his kingdom could be a renunciate! He simply needs to bridge the gap, the disconnect, between his inner and outer world. He needs to be a spiritual materialist!