An introduction to religious and spiritual experience

Renunciation
Many Hindus followed the path through life set out for man, with 
the stage of student followed by that of the married householder and 
then when his work was done, he would often retreat to the forest to 
meditate on spiritual matters. Ultimately he might renounce the world 
in pursuit of spiritual enlightenment or 
moksha,
through living
 
as a 
sannyasin
, described below.
He needs no house or furniture. He may live in a cave or take shelter 
beside a temple or on the veranda of a house. For clothing he needs 
only two pieces of cloth – which should not be stitched – one to wear 
round the waist and another to cover the shoulders or the head. There 
are even some s
annyasis
who renounce all clothing and are said to be 
‘clothed with the sky’. For food he needs only one meal a day, which 
he gets by begging or, more often, which a householder will offer him 
unasked. He can thus reduce his life to an absolute simplicity. He is 
totally detached from the world, depending on divine providence for 
his bare needs of food, shelter and clothing.
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It is in renunciation that one finds, according to William James,
. . . the way to success [. . .] is by ‘surrender’, passivity, not activity; 
relaxation, not intentness, should now be the rule. Give up the feeling 
of responsibility, let go your hold, resign the care of your destiny to 

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Religious Triggers
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higher powers, be genuinely indifferent as to what becomes of it all, 
and you will find not only that you gain a perfect inward relief, but 
often also, in addition, the particular goods you sincerely thought you 
were renouncing. . . . It is but giving your little private convulsive self 
a rest, and finding that a greater Self is there. 
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