Four Types of Renunciation (Sanyasa)
In Sanskrit a renunciate is called a sanyassi. There are four type of sannyasa based on the nature of renunciation, ranging from partial to total. The highest form of sannyasa is paramahamsa sannyasa, which is the renunciation of everything.
There are ‘lower-grade’ sannyasis who still have an interest in something worldly. Paramahamsa sannyasa is further subdivided into two types: vividisha sannyasa and vidvat sannyasa. Vividisha sannyasa is undertaken for scriptural study. Vividisha means desiring to know. Vividisha sannyasa is a step toward vidvat sannyasa, in which a sannyasi is no longer interested in anything. He has attained the knowledge and does not hold onto anything, not even to the idea ‘I am a jnani.’ He does not even have pride in the knowledge. Thus, the aim of vividisha sannyasa is committed scriptural study and the aim of vidvat sannyasa is total renunciation.
According to the Vedas, vividisha sannyasa is the ideal means and vidvat sannyasa is the ideal end in life. Why? If someone wants an empirical model for the Self, a sannyasi serves as such a model because The Self is free of all actions and duties. He does not have family duties, social duties, religious duties, a duty to earn etc. Second, the Vedas say that The Self is free from all relationships. Similarly, in taking sannyasa, the sannyasi breaks all relationships. Third, The Self is behind everything, supporting everything. Like The Self, the sannyasi supports the whole creation. He or she does not belong to anyone;but to everyone. Nothing belongs to him or her; everything belongs to everyone. Fourth, The Self does not depend upon anything for security and neither does a sannyasi. He does not have a bank balance, a house. etc. He finds security in himself. The beauty is that he gives security to others and the irony is that the other person to whom he gives security could be a very rich person while the sannyasi himself is a pauper.
This vividisha sannyasa is the ideal means. Sannyasa is also the ideal end. In renunciation alone does one achieve mastery. A sannyasi gives up everything that will inevitably be snatched away in time or death. The only unsnatchable entity is the The Self. When something is snatched away from us, the sense of loss is intensified; when it is given up or given away by us, the pleasure is intensified. There was a lady who, while visiting the temple, lost a gold ornament. She thought somebody had stolen it. She became very upset and took an oath that if the ornament were to be found, she would offer it to the Lord. As it turned out, she found the ornament and offered it to the Lord, which made her very happy. When she had lost the ornament, she lost the benefit of wearing it and was very sad, but when she gave the ornament to the Lord, even as she lost the benefit of wearing it, she was very happy. This example illustrates that both in loss and in giving we are without an object, but whereas in loss there is pain, in giving there is pleasure. So we hand what we have over to time before time takes away from us. In the Gita Isvara says, “I am Time, destroyer of wombs.” This way, when things go—whether money, relationships, or our hair and teeth in old age—we do not feel any pain. A renunciate is not worried about losing anything, including his body. He knows that time is going to take everything away. He holds onto just one thing that time cannot take away: himself. He can even challengedeath, because he knows that death cannot touch him. So what is the ultimate renunciation? Giving up everything that can be lost or taken away and finding security in what cannot be snatched. This is called Paramahamsa sannyasa or vidvat sanyasa.
What is the life of such a sannyasi? Because he does not belong to any particular family or community, he keeps moving from place to place. If he remains in one place, there is a danger that he may get attached to people and that people may get attached to him. His life is to teach. He does not have anything; he does not know what his security will be tomorrow. Yet he is the happiest person. When we see such a sannyasi we come to recognize that we don’t need things for joy.
Swami Dayananda