Swami Satyananda's Views on Sannyas

"O Bhiku"
Keep on Moving
With compassion and love
For the happiness of many
For the well-being of many"

• Let people come forward for sannyas and karma sannyas. Respect all systems, all philosophies and all religions; that is the only way for growth in spiritual life. You should see no difference in the different paths, and that is how you go ahead in spiritual life.
• For a sannyasin, all the funeral ceremonies are done at the time of initiation, because when you take sannyas you are supposed to die and get reborn immediately in the same body.
• Sannyas is not only for those who have exhausted their desires. It is the key to a fuller life, it is the universal path on which we are able to fulfil our basic need to expand our experience and awareness of life by working in the world for the evolution of all beings.
• When a sannyasin realises that his body, his mind, his intellect and his resources are for one particular purpose, then everything is solved. He begins to feel, "This body is net mine and everything I have is not mine", and then he becomes a sannyasin.
• Sannyas is not for perfect people. It Is for those who want to make their life spiritually dynamic.
• Whenever you want to take sannyas you are ready.
• Whatever my sannyasins are they are dearest to me, and those who have worn this geru dress even for one night, I consider be blessed.
• Once you have taken sannyas everything is booked. You can not, you should not, use any of yourself for your own pleasure. Therefore a sannyasin is one who has created an endowment, a trust, of all his physical, mental, emotional, social end economic, resources, and all those resources are directed for one purpose. That purpose is the Guru's order. Whatever your Guru decides far you, you are to do it.
• Sannyas is the ultimate point of evolution. It is there that you dedicate yourself to the path of enlightenment, wholly and completely.
• Even if you only live the life of a sannyasin for fifteen days, it will enrich you with very deep and abiding experiences, it will create a new type of mind, personality and man.
• The lives of sannyasins are a moving panorama of success through struggle, harmony through conflict, of noble attainment through selfless service. Their lives act as printers and are an assurance to all seekers, no matter what their nationality, religion or creed, as in their lives is seen what all men of all nations, of all countries call great. Their lives offer a message to strife-ridden humanity, a message of love and service, of hope and courage and burning optimism, a message for now!
• A sannyasin tries to flow with the river of life, to let things happen in the way that they must.
• A sannyasin tries to accept whatever is; he takes whatever comes and responds accordingly.
• The Sannyasin should see all things equally.
• A sannyasin should be realistic.
• A sannyasin's life should be based on experience and not on blind belief. A sannyasin should not accept blindly other people's words. He should listen and try to find out the truth behind the words for himself.
• A sannyasin must be like a phoenix and arise to a renewed life.
• The sannyasi alone lives for the world. The world looks to its own happiness, whereas the Sannyasi looks to the happiness of the world.
• Remember that the status of a sannyasi is an immortal one. It is eternal and full of bliss.
• Remember that there has never been a sannyasin, nor will there aver be one, who has not had samskaras, karma and dharma to work through. Please know that when you are working through these times, they may not be pleasant, they may be very hard times, but they can be overcome. You can overcome any and all of them. It depends on you. You must be strong. Do not let them take hold of you. You should know that you can rise above them.
• After one has accepted sannyas he belongs to all, not to any particular group or individual.
• The moment you take sannyas, forget that you were born to family. Forget that you were meant to love or be loved.
• The geru colour is a symbol of detachment and trial dedication. It also represents the calm, peaceful, serene, dynamism in one's personality. Nowadays, when we wear geru. It represents our spiritual tradition and symbolises our renunciation.
• The sannyasin must face everything within him.
• The traditional period for sannyas training is twelve years, as that is the time required for changing or transmuting the mental patterns and samskaras from gross to subtle; from mundane to spiritual.
• In sannyas you have no protection, you have no defences, you have no bunkers there. All the evil propensities of mind attack you on the open ground - you do not know where to hide!
• A sannyasin cannot escape from the dark and naked and cruel realities of the mind,
• There has to be a fundamental and qualitative change, if not a complete change, in the structure of the thinking of a sannyasin.
• A sannyasin does not care what is happening. Death and birth mean nothing to him. Prosperity and poverty mean nothing to him. Tragedy and comedy mean nothing to him. For the sannyasin both are a kind of dream.
• Swami Sivanandaji said on the day of my sannyas: "A sannyasin can repeat any mantra, any time, according to his whim. He can practise 'Om' one day, 'Om Namah Shivaya' another day. Shakti mantra on the third day, because a sannyasin sees oneness in all.
• Duty to your own spiritual evolution, and duty to the spiritual evolution of the community, are equally important.