Panch Mahavrat or The Perennial Path The Art of Living

SR No.: 007697
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Osho Rajnish
Publisher: Osho Rajnish
Total Pages: 96
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 1 MB

Page 47

CHAPTER 5. PROCESS OF PROGRESS
The word Asia originates from the word 'Asu' of the Babylonian language which is almost six thousand years old. 'Asu' means the place from where the sun rises. It is opposite of the word 'Aresh' (Assariyan), from which the word 'Europe' originates. It means the place where the sunsets. The world got science and scientists from the land of the setting sun, where there is a quarrel with darkness and there is activity to go into the depth of objects and search for material progress. While sannyas is born out of the search for nonmaterial, where there is movement to understand the depths about God and love of light. Sannyas is a personal decision. It is one's own understanding with one's inner vision. There is no pressure from any side. If he can go in, he can also return.
In my opinion it is not right for every individual to take a life time vow of sannyas. What I think is right today may appear wrong tomorrow. Everything in this world is periodical. A person enters sannyas to know what it is, if he finds it interesting he will continue to be a sannyasi, if not, there is no need for him to remain one just because of his decision. He will loose faith in the beauty of the sannyas. Every person has a right to learn from his errors. When he cannot learn from his errors ho continues to plant ignorance instead of knowledge-wisdom in his life. The decision of a life long sannyas may contribute to make a sannyasi a more ignorant person than a man of knowledge.
There are two countries in the world where there is a separate arrangement for periodical renunciation. A life-long renunciation and a periodical one are prevalent in Burma and Thailand. Any person can take a vow of sannyas for three months in a year. So you will meet lakhs of people in Burma who have adopted sannyas, some for three months, some for six months, some for a year, and some for two or four years. Such a person enters the world of sannyas for a fixed period. If a person during his experience of forty years of life, has been a sannyasi for ten or twelve months, he will be different from a person who has never entered the order of sannyas. If a person becomes a sannyasi even for one month in a year, he will not return as the same person as he was, because the next eleven months will be quite different for him. A person leads his whole life according to his inner self. I think-believe-it is not necessary to take a vow for the whole life, it will be a fortunate thing if it becomes a life-long event. It is the grace of God if it spreads for the whole life. Even the desire to take the decision for a moment is enough. The decision for today is sufficient.
The next important point is that the sannyas is beyond the realms of religion. It is not necessary to be a Muslim, a Hindu or a Christian. It is a sannyasis own personal choice whether he reads the Gita, or the Koran or the Bible or whether he goes to the masjid, a church or a temple.
On becoming a sannyasi one belongs to no religious sect. All religions and sects are one for him. In fact, they all belong to him. If we can bring forth such a sannyasi in the world who is beyond all religious sects, we can easily lead this world on to a truly religious path. This would interlink man with man. So many problems of this world would just disappear. Say if he we had one or two lakhs of such sannyasis we can take the greatest step to destroy the feelings of hatred and enmity between men and nations in this world.
I like to divide this kind of sannyas into three divisions which will be easy for you to understand. Number one, those who wish to lead their life as they are leading it at present, should continue to stay there and become sannyasis. They have simply to make an announcement of their decision to the world and to themselves. But this should not make an iota of change in the place where they are. They only have to change themselves.
There are many old people who come to me and tell me that they have too many problems in their
The Perennial Path: The Art of Living
47
Osho