by David Bruce Hughes

Sannyasa means a great many things. In practical terms, it means offering one's mind, body and words to Kṛṣṇa. This is why a sannyasi carries a tri-danda, three bamboo sticks wrapped in saffron cloth signifying the sannyasa order.

Philosophically, sannyasa means acceptance of the inevitability of death. This body is temporary; soon it will die. Then it will be consumed by worms, bacteria and fungus after death. Or it will be put into the fire and consumed, or into the river and eaten by aquatics.

In any case, the body is meant for the enjoyment of others. Ultimately, it is meant for enjoyment by God and His servants. Therefore, since the body will be enjoyed by others anyway, we should accept this, relinquish our attachment to the body and offer it for others’ enjoyment now. The best way of doing this is consecrating one’s remaining bodily existence and energy for the service of God and His devotees. A sannyasi has no other business than devotional service, and the best devotional service is teaching others about Kṛṣṇa.

Kṛṣṇa says: “For one who explains the supreme secret to the devotees, devotional service is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me. There is no servant in this world more dear to Me, nor will there ever be one more dear.” [Bhagavad-gita 18.68-9]

A sannyasi’s external religious duty is to travel all over the world and teach the people in general about devotional service to Kṛṣṇa. He should not be limited by any boundaries of nationalism, party spirit, race, religion or other such material sectarian designations in carrying out this duty. A sannyasi belongs to the entire world.

A sannyasi’s inner activity is to remain constantly engaged in confidential devotional service to the Lord in his spiritual form. This gives both the Lord and the sannyasi the highest pleasure, the spiritual bliss of love of Kṛṣṇa. For this reason, so many sannyasa names end in -ananda, meaning bliss.

This bliss is purely spiritual, causeless and unconditional, therefore a sannyasi easily gives up all kinds of bodily pleasures, especially sex life. Engagement in sexual activities destroys spiritual bliss, because it strongly reinforces the bodily concept of life. Anyone who is engaged in sex life is in a fallen condition of spiritual life, and therefore cannot be a sannyasi.

A sannyasi must be constantly vigilant to prevent lust, the precursor of sinful life, from influencing his mind. “While contemplating the objects of the senses, person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises. From anger, delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost, one falls down again into the material pool.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.62-3]

Therefore, to prevent attachment to sense objects from polluting his mind, a sannyasi is not supposed to stay in any one place more than three days. However, while strict celibacy and detachment from other sense objects certainly are required for a sannyasi, the real point of such abstinence is transcendence of the material bodily conception of life, or material identity.

We are all conditioned by material existence, and to reject the objects of the material senses artificially is very difficult. It cannot be done by an act of will; that will not be effective for very long. To transcend material consciousness, one must be self-realized, or conscious of one’s eternal spiritual identity. Then one can replace the temporary material sense of identity with the eternal spiritual sense of identity, and successfully rise above the lure of material sense gratification.

One must have an identity—a feeling of “I am”—and a point of identification. In material life, one feels “I am the material body,” and identifies with everything in relation with the body: “My name, my family, my house, my car,” etc. In spiritual life, one feels that “I am the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa,” and identifies with Kṛṣṇa’s service, Kṛṣṇa’s temple, Kṛṣṇa’s philosophy, Kṛṣṇa’s village, His names, forms, activities, associates and so on. This is spiritual identity, and this supreme secret is attainable through lifelong practice of bhakti-yoga.

Therefore a true sannyasi must be a self-realized soul, or one who has already realized his spiritual identity in relationship with the Lord. Only such a spiritually advanced person can honestly perform the duties of a sannyasi, because only a self-realized soul is factually detached from the material conception of life. One must be engaged in pure devotional service, otherwise the mind will become attached to subtle forms of sense gratification, such as fame, power and the adoration of the innocent public. This attachment inevitably leads to falldown.

A real sannyasi thinks, “This body is temporary. Therefore it is as good as dead already. I will engage whatever energy is left in this body in unalloyed devotional service by offering it at the lotus feet of my guru and the other pure Vaiṣṇavas. Meanwhile, I will simply enjoy ever-increasing bliss from my internal engagement in the Lord’s confidential service. In this way I will accomplish everything according to the Lord’s pleasure.”

An authentic sannyasi does not care for any position in a religious organization or ecclesiastical hierarchy. If position, fame, money or disciples come without extraneous effort, the sannyasi takes it as the Lord’s mercy. But he is at liberty to reject such material benedictions if they threaten the purity of his devotional service. He may even reject the outward symbols of sannyasa and live like an impoverished mendicant or madman, unmindful of the world and absorbed within in spiritual bliss.

Therefore it is very difficult for people at large to understand the mind and activities of a real sannyasi. Unfortunately, many dishonest people, anxious for the honor and respect offered to sannyasis, artificially imitate the outward signs and symbols of sannyasa without attaining the prerequisite spiritual advancement. Ordinary people are inclined to accept such a false sannyasi because they are easier to understand than an actual renunciant.

Neophyte devotees can easily be fooled by fallen souls who expertly disguise themselves as a sannyasi, although they lack the spiritual qualifications for real sannyasa. The advanced transcendentalists alone can identify the real sannyasi. But only the self-realized soul on the platform of spiritual perfection can understand the mind of an actual sannyasi.

A real sannyasi just wants the people of the world to understand Kṛṣṇa’s instructions and perform unalloyed devotional service, so that they can overcome their suffering and be happy. The sannyasi provides the example of how to live in this world without becoming entangled in the sources of material misery.

Actually, he lives in the spiritual world, and maintains this body only for the benefit of others. This is real happiness. So far from being a great sacrifice or a difficult burden, the actual life of a sannyasi is full of the most exalted happiness and bliss. Only the authentic sannyasi is fit to conduct the shakti of divine bliss to the suffering world, and show people the way to real happiness through practice of divine transcendental loving service.