Renunciation

NOW from the narrow pond of a worldly life Ram had lifted up his slave to throw him into the extensive ocean of a Universal Life. But to swim in the wide ocean, Ram knew, Ramdas wanted strength and courage, for gaining which Ram intended to make his ignorant and untrained slave to pass through a course of severe discipline, and this under His direct guidance and support. So, one night while engaged in drinking in the sweetness of His name, Ramdas was made to think in the following strain:

“O Ram, when Thy slave finds Thee at once so powerful and so loving, and that he who trusts Thee can be sure of true peace and happiness, why should he not throw himself entirely on Thy mercy, which can only be possible by giving up everything he called ‘mine’? Thou art all in all to Thy slave. Thou art the sole Protector in the world. Men are deluded when they declare, ‘I do this, I do that. This is mine, that is mine’. All, O Ram, is Thine, and all things are done by Thee alone. Thy slave’s one prayer to Thee is to take him under Thy complete guidance and remove his ‘I’- ness.”

This prayer was heard. Ramdas’ heart heaved a deep sigh; a hazy desire to renounce all and wander over the earth in the garb of a mendicant – in quest of Ram – wafted over his mind. Now Ram prompted him to open at random the book – “Light of Asia” – which was before him at the time. His eyes rested upon the pages wherein is described the great renunciation of Buddha, who says:-

“For now the hour is come when I should quit This golden prison, where my heart lives caged, To find the Truth; which henceforth I will seek, For all men’s sake, until the truth be found.”

Then Ramdas similarly opened the “New Testament” and lighted upon the following definite words of Jesus Christ:-

“And everyone that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life.”

Then again he was actuated in the same way to refer to the “Bhagavad Gita” – and he read the following Sloka:-

Sarvadharmaan Parityajya Maam Ekam Saranam Vraja Aham Twaa Sarvapaapebhyo Mokshayishyaami Maa Suchah

“Abandoning all duties come to Me alone for shelter, sorrow not, I will liberate Thee from all sins.”

Ram had thus spoken out through the words of these three great Avatars - Buddha, Christ and Krishna – and all of them pointed to the same path – renunciation. At once Ramdas made up his mind to give up for the sake of Ram, all that he till then hugged to his bosom as his own, and leave the Samsaric world. During this period, he was very simple in his dress which consisted of a piece of cloth covering the upper part of the body and another wound round the lower part. Next day, he got two clothes of this kind dyed in Gerrua or red ochre, and the same night wrote two letters – one to his wife whom Ram had made him look upon for sometime past as his sister and another to a kind friend whom Ram had brought in touch with Ramdas for his deliverance from debts. The resolution was made. At five o’clock in the morning he bade farewell to a world for which he had lost all attraction and in which he could find nothing to call his own. The body, the mind, the soul – all were laid at the feet of Ram – that Eternal Being, full of love and full of mercy.