For God Alone - Renunciation
From Chapter 7, "Renunciation," from For God Alone...
"Having actively sought God for years before entering the ashram, Gyanamata was well aware that the essential aspect of renunciation - for the householder as well as for the monastic - is inner surrender of earthly attachments, and the cultivation of the one desire to seek God and follow His will.
To all who sought her counsel, regardless of their outer role in life, she recommended the inner renunciation of lesser desires and the practice of the yoga meditation techniques taught in the Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons. This, she declared, is the highest path to true freedom."
"I could understand why I must give up the wrong things, but I did not know that the seeker for God must lay all at His feet, must hold nothing back...
What I could not understand was why everything must go; why things that were right, that were mine, that harmed no one, why all the dear little rights and privileges must be taken from me. But they were so taken by God. He was thrusting me out of a life of dependence upon small comforts into one that should be lived for Him alone."
"I saw that an attitude that is perfectly justifiable for a householder is poisonous for one who has stepped upon the path of complete renunciation, holding the soul in bondage. I saw that God is a relentless Master, never accepting anything short of perfection, never satisfied if only a part is laid at His feet."
"We should put a hedge around our wants. That is, we should control them. Do not let them grow into rampant weeds that will impede your progress and drag down your mind from God."
"Our sufferings do not come from Him. They are the result of our ignorance. We suffer because we love wrong things, and suffering comes as result of our actions..."
"Having actively sought God for years before entering the ashram, Gyanamata was well aware that the essential aspect of renunciation - for the householder as well as for the monastic - is inner surrender of earthly attachments, and the cultivation of the one desire to seek God and follow His will.
To all who sought her counsel, regardless of their outer role in life, she recommended the inner renunciation of lesser desires and the practice of the yoga meditation techniques taught in the Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons. This, she declared, is the highest path to true freedom."
"I could understand why I must give up the wrong things, but I did not know that the seeker for God must lay all at His feet, must hold nothing back...
What I could not understand was why everything must go; why things that were right, that were mine, that harmed no one, why all the dear little rights and privileges must be taken from me. But they were so taken by God. He was thrusting me out of a life of dependence upon small comforts into one that should be lived for Him alone."
"I saw that an attitude that is perfectly justifiable for a householder is poisonous for one who has stepped upon the path of complete renunciation, holding the soul in bondage. I saw that God is a relentless Master, never accepting anything short of perfection, never satisfied if only a part is laid at His feet."
"We should put a hedge around our wants. That is, we should control them. Do not let them grow into rampant weeds that will impede your progress and drag down your mind from God."
"Our sufferings do not come from Him. They are the result of our ignorance. We suffer because we love wrong things, and suffering comes as result of our actions..."
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