#renunciation

“You see, the trouble is, that although virtue is said to be its own reward, few people know how to acquire either the virtue or the reward; their idea is, simply to kill out their feelings – a process so unalluring that few wish to practice it – whereas they ought to transmute their feelings instead. Kill out a feeling, and there is nothing but tedium left; transmute it, and you transmute it into joy. Even the killing-out process is seldom a success, for the war is usually made on the gratification of the desire instead of the desire itself. A man has only overcome the drink habit when he no longer desires to drink, not when he merely refrains from drinking. Now, a lower desire can only be overcome by replacing it with a higher one, the higher desire being in reality productive of greater happiness than the lower.”

Renunciation is not rejecting the family but accepting the whole world as family. Renunciation is not changing the name or dress. It is changing the attitude towards life. Renunciation is not removing the hairs form the head. It is eliminating the negative thoughts from the mind. Renunciation is not running away from responsibility, doership or fruits of action but it is focusing on the fruits and actions that will bring happiness to the whole world. Renunciation is the ultimate compassion and ultimate forgiveness.

Cut.