Question and answer 14
சந்நியாசத்தின் யதார்த்தமான தாத்பரியமென்ன?
சந்நியாசமென்பது நானென்னும் சங்கற்பத்யாகமே யன்றி வெளி விஷயங்களை விடுவதல்ல. இந்த சந்நியாசமுள்ளவனுக்கு ஏகாந்தத்திலிருந்தாலும் அபாரசம்சாரத்திலிருந்தாலும் சமமாகவே தோன்றும். * வேறு விஷயத்தில் மனதைச் செலுத்தியிருக்கும்போது பக்கத்திலுள்ளது தோன்றாததுபோல ஞானி எவ்வளவு வ்யவஹாரங்களைச் செய்யினும் நானென்ற போதம் வராமல் தன்னிடத்திலேயே மனதிருப்பதால் அவன் ஒன்றும் செய்யாதவனேயாம். தான் அசையாமற் படுத்திருந்தும் கனவில் தலை கீழாக விழுவதாய்க் காண்பதுபோல அஞ்ஞானி அதாவது நானென்பதறாதவன் ஏகாந்தனாய் சதா நிஷ்டையிலிருந்தாலும் சர்வ வ்யவஹாரங்களையும் செய்த்வனேயாம் என்று பெரியோருங் கூறியிருக்கின்றனர்.
In plain words
What does renunciation actually mean?
Renunciation is the giving up of the notion 'I'; it is not the leaving of outer things. To one who has this renunciation it is all the same whether he is in solitude or in the thick of worldly life. When your mind is set on something else, you do not notice what is right beside you. In the same way the jñāni, however many dealings he carries on, is doing nothing at all, because the sense 'I' does not come and his mind stays in himself. A man lying perfectly still may see himself, in a dream, falling headlong. In the same way the ajñāni, the one in whom the 'I' has not ceased, even if he lives alone and stays always in meditation, has done every deed there is. So the great ones have said.
Word for word
What is the true purport of renunciation?
Renunciation means only the giving up of the resolve called 'I', and not the giving up of outer objects. To one who has this renunciation, whether he is in solitude or in the thick of the world, it appears just the same. Just as what is right next to a person does not register when his mind is engrossed elsewhere, the jñāni, however many transactions he performs, since the thought 'I' does not arise and the mind stays only in its own place, is one who does nothing at all. And just as a man lying perfectly still may see himself, in a dream, falling head over heels, the ajñāni, that is, one in whom the 'I' has not ceased, even though, being alone in solitude, he remains always in niṣṭhā, is one who has performed every transaction there is: so the great ones have said.
Notes
*
சேய்மையுளஞ் சென்றுகதை கேட்பார்போல் வாதனைக டேய்மனஞ்செய் துஞ்செய்யா தேயவைகள்—தோய்மனஞ்செய் தின்றேனுஞ் செய்ததே யிங்கசைவற் றுங்கனவிற் குன்றேறி வீழ்வார் குழி.
saeymaiyulan sendrugathai kaetpaarpoal vaathanaiga taeymananjey thunjeyyaa thaeyavaigal—thoaymananjey thindraenun seythathae yingasaivar runganavir kundraeri veezhvaar kuzhi.
Like people who hear a story while their mind is far away, a mind whose vāsanās have worn away acts and yet does not act. A mind steeped in them, though it does nothing, has done it all: like people lying here without a movement who, in a dream, climb a hill and fall into a pit.
Like those who hear a story with the mind gone far away, the mind whose vāsanās have worn away, though it does, does not do; the mind steeped in them, though it has not done, has done: like those who, lying here without moving, in a dream climb a hill and fall into a pit.