renunciation

Renunciation is always in the mind, not in going to the forest or solitary places, or giving up one’s duties. The main thing is to see that the mind does not turn outward but inward. It does not really rest with a man whether he goes to this place or that, or whether he gives up his duties or not. All that happens according to destiny.

All the activities that the body is to go through are determined when it first comes into existence. It does not rest with you to accept or reject them. The only freedom you have is to turn your mind inward and renounce activities there. Nobody can say why that freedom alone and no other freedom is left to man. That is the Divine scheme.

Giving up activities means giving up attachment to activities or the fruits thereof, giving up the notion ‘I am the doer’. The activities which this body is destined to perform will have to be gone through. There is no question of giving up such activities, whether one likes it or not.

~ Sri Bhagavan