Story 99 - True Renunciation

There came a man, a prince, to a monk in India, and he prostrated himself before him. The monk asked him as to the cause of this homage that the prince was paying him. The prince said: "O sir, O holy sir, you are a monk, and you have adopted this order by giving up your kingdom which you ruled at one time. You are a great man of renunciation, and so I look upon you as God, I worship you." The monk replied to the prince, "If that is the reason why you honour me, I must wash your feet, I must kneel down before you, because, O king, you are a greater man of renunciation than all the monks in this world put together." The king remarked, "That is very strange. How could that be?" Then the monk began to explain: "Suppose, here is a man who possesses a magnificent palace, and this man casts out the dust and dirt of the house; he throws out or renounces only the dust or dirt of the house. Is that man a man of renunciation?" The prince said, "No, no; he is not." Then the monk continued, "Here is a man who treasures up the dirt and dust of the house and gives away the whole house; the magnificent palace. What do you think of this man?” The prince said, "This man, who keeps only the dirt and dust, and resigns the palace, is a man of renunciation!" Then the monk said, "Brother prince, you are then the man of renunciation, because the Self God, the real Atman, that which is the magnificent palace, the real Home, the Paradise, the Heaven of heavens, you have renounced, and only the dust and dirt of that palace, which is this body, this little selfishness, you have retained. I have renounced nothing. I am myself the God of gods—the Lord of Universe."

MORAL:—True renunciation does not consist in renouncing anything but realising the Self as the God of gods - the Lord of Universe.

Vol. 1. 26