Swami Prakashanand Saraswati on Sanyas and Spiritual Transgressions: A Q&A Session

Swami Prakashanand Saraswati offers profound insights into the essence of Sanyas(living a renounced life as a Hindu monk or nun) and the nature of spiritual transgressions. In his enlightening Q&A session, he emphasizes that true Sanyas transcends mere external renunciation and involves a deep inner detachment from material desires. His teachings clarify that spiritual transgressions involve not only the disrespect or criticism of divine entities but also the failure to recognize the true purpose of divine guidance. Through his wisdom, Swami Prakashanand Saraswati helps devotees navigate the complexities of spiritual practice with humility and dedication.

Question and Answer are:-

Question: What is the meaning of taking sanyas? Is it possible for me to become a sanyasi?

Answer: Sanyas means the renunciation of the mind, having no mental attachment or desire for the material world. Sometimes there is a subtle vanity in the mind of those who wish to take sanyas, a desire to be called greater than other devotees. For instance, once I said that the promotion of divine-love-consciousness is a very important service and asked those who were willing to dedicate their lives and become full-time preachers to submit their names. Thirty to forty names were received but out of these, the majority of people had a vanity of wanting to show themselves superior to others. A true devotee chooses the lowest service and this is the indication of his humbleness. A devotee’s motive and intention is taken into consideration by the Master, not his outer actions. That is why a devotee should carefully retain humility and his desire to serve.

Taking sanyas is not a question of wearing saffron robes, but of fully detaching the mind from worldly desires and attachments and having a single-minded desire for Divine service and God realization.

Question: How does Divine love meditation work as far as Divine realization is concerned. Is it using our mental imagination of Krishn in meditation?

Answer: Devotional meditation is not an intellectual act. When a person meditates with faith and love, then that becomes devotion. Pure material imagination, like that of poets and writers, has no spiritual value. A devotee’s imagination of the Divine abode and the form of Radha Krishn does have real spiritual value, when love and affinity are added.

His feelings become devotion and imagination helps to develop those feelings. Even listening to the chanting of Krishn name could be a normal action, unless dedication, loving feelings, and faith are added to it by the devotee. When a devotee prepares food he can imagine he is preparing for his Divine Beloved and offer that food to Radha Krishn in his meditation. That food then becomes prasad (blessed food) which not only nourishes his physical body but also nurtures his spiritual life. So material imaginations are purely material, but a devotee’s imagination, when related to the meditation of Radha Krishn with feelings of selfless love, is quite different and elevates his divine love consciousness on the base of his faith and dedication.

Question: – What exactly is a spiritual transgression?

Answer: Spiritual transgression is transgressing the spiritual laws, for instance: disrespecting or criticizing the Divine existence of God, Saint, and Divine love. God is kind, merciful, and always gracing all the souls with the opportunity to reach Him through the revelation of the Vedas and the Saints, who come on this earth with His grace to help the souls find their eternally sought, perfect happiness. Blaming God for one’s own physical misery caused by any reason (which is surely the outcome of one’s own past bad and evil actions), is also a grave transgression. Instead of feeling grateful for God’s kindness, if we reject it, even due to ignorance, it becomes a transgression.