Today you are being initiated into karma sannyasa. It is a very important initiation. Karma sannyasa is much more difficult than full sannyasa, because you have to maintain a very careful balance between the external life and the inner inspiration without rejecting anything. Therefore, the balance that you have to maintain between the external life and the inner life becomes a very important philosophy for you.
For most people, the difficulties, the problems in life are either punishments of nature or the fruits of one’s bad karma. For a karma sannyasin, every experience in life is a stepping stone; it is complementary and not contradictory. This point and this philosophy have to become very clear for a karma sannyasin, then only whatever you are, whatever you do or whatever you experience in life will help you to have inner experience.
If you think that this external life is harmful, that it is not good and it is anti-spiritual, then you will create a conflict between the inner and outer life. As a karma sannyasin, you are trying to unite both the forms of life. This is a very important aspect of karma sannyasa. When you are trying to unite or to fuse the external things of your day-to-day life, your job, your family, your children, with the inner experience, then you will have to create a very definite and clear cut relationship between the two.
How is your external life to which you are committed every day? Is it related to an inner experience? Is it related to spiritual life, and how is it related? Now, in this particular respect you must remember that any experience which you have in your day-to-day life: quarrels, unhappiness, success, jubilation, joy, anger, frustration or even physical sickness, is leading you to inner experience; it is not disturbing your inner experience.
However, most of us do not think like that and we are angry, we are sorry, we repent and we don’t want to have it any more. When we are unhappy and frustrated, we don’t want that experience. That is the psychology of most people, but in karma sannyasa any experience which nature has provided for you is helpful for the spiritual experience and for the growth of spiritual life.
Three things are very important for a karma sannyasin.
One is his daily practice, which he must decide for himself and do every day. The second is to involve himself in the spirit of karma yoga. The spirit of karma yoga is the fulfilment of all obligations without attachment. When you are unaffected by what happens in your daily life, that is called karma yoga. The third thing is relationship with guru, not on the physical plane, mental plane, intellectual plane or emotional plane, but on the spiritual plane. To experience the relationship between guru and disciple on the spiritual plane, it will become necessary for you to go a bit deeper into the mind. When you go deeper into the mind, then you begin to realize the spiritual relationship. When you are not deep in the mind, when you are outside, then you realize the physical relationship, emotional relationship or intellectual relationship.
However, there is something called the spiritual relationship, which I will not be able to explain to you now, but which you will experience only when you have been able to go a bit deeper into your mind. As you dive deeper into the mind there comes the awareness of a link between guru and disciple. So, karma yoga, your spiritual sadhana and your relationship with guru are the three most important factors in the life of a karma sannyasin.
There are quite a few books you should read on karma sannyasa. One book published by me entitled Karma Sannyasa contains the philosophy, doctrine and practices of karma sannyasa. It will give you a very clear idea and answer many questions on the subject.
The second is a very important old and classical text known as the Bhagavad Gita. It is a small book in which you can read about the difficulties which a karma sannyasin encounters in day-to-day life and how he has to deal with his problems, with his inner life and with various aspects of his life. You should read it from time to time. That will give you a philosophical approach and understanding of karma sannyasa.
17 March 1984, Auckland Country Ashram, New Zealand, published in Teachings of Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Volume V