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Samnyasa Upanishads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation c5.s6: 6

Saṃnyāsa Upaniṣads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation c5.s6

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6

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*of Renouncers*

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Although renunciation is defined as an essentially negative and even antinomian state, in practice, however, the renouncer's way of life was regulated by clear rules and characterized by established patterns of behavior. Our Upaniṣads devote considerable space to exhorting renouncers to follow these rules and customs.

6.1 Wandering Alone and Homeless

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Constant itinerancy and the absence of a stable residence characterize the daily life of a renouncer. One of the most common names for a renouncer, *parivrājaka*, literally means "wanderer." At the conclusion of the renunciatory rite, the new renouncer turns his back on his home and village and walks toward the north. The technical term for this "going forth" is *pravrajyā*, which is also a common term for renunciation. "Going forth with his arms raised," says the *Laghu-Saṃnyāsa* (LSU 20–21; KśU 41), "let him not restrict himself to specific roads, but wander about homeless."

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Living without a home or a stable place of residence, therefore, is the hallmark of a renouncer's life. "A residence, the great sages have proclaimed," says one text, "is equal to the dung of sows. Let an ascetic abandon it, therefore, and roam about like a worm" (NpU 181). He is instructed to "spend just one night in a village and five nights in a town."¹ Another texts says: "Where he is at sunset, there let him sleep. Let him live without a fire and without a home" (NpU 182). Renouncers were vagabonds, and their homelessness, just like their refusal to use fire, was a powerful symbol of their separation from society that values stable residence. They are further required not to ask for directions as they wander; their wandering is aimless. They are not traveling anywhere. They are pilgrims without a destination.

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¹ KśU 33; NpU 158, 201–202; PpU 284.

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A renouncer should avoid traveling in the village and region in which he formerly lived and where he is known. "A sage should leave his native land right after he has renounced. He should live far away from his own, like a thief just released from jail" (MU 115). The reason for abandoning one's native region appears to be twofold. First, living close to one's family and relations makes it easier to get attached to them. Second, he may be treated there with greater respect and kindness, which would make it impossible for him to live the anonymous and humble life of a renouncer (see below 6.4).

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Renouncers are expected to live an itinerant life, however, only during the dry season, which lasts eight months. During the four months of the rainy season, roughly from June to September, when traveling becomes difficult and dangerous, they live in one place. "An ascetic shall wander alone for eight months;" says the *Āruṇi* (8), "he shall keep a fixed residence during the entire rainy season or during just two months of it." The rain residence was a practice common to all renouncers both within and outside the Brāhmaṇical tradition. In time, these months of forced residence became a holy period. Many customs associated with it are recorded in the medieval literature on renunciation (Ypra 61.1–65.37).

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As they wander about, renouncers live in the wilderness, which may be defined as uninhabited areas outside towns and villages, and enter a village only to beg for food.² They spend the night "in deserted houses, in temples, on haystacks, by anthills, at the foot of trees, in potter's sheds, in sheds for fire sacrifices, on sandy banks of rivers, in mountain caves, in glens, in the hollows of trees, in lonely spots, or in open fields."³ Life in the wilderness, as we have seen (2.5), defines the renouncer's life in opposition to the ritual life of the householder lived in the village.

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² For a detailed discussion of the concept of "wilderness" (*araṇya*), see Sprockhoff 1981 and 1984.

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³ JU 70–71. Cf. LSU 22; ĀśU 102; NpU 154; BhU 236.

6.2 Mendicancy

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Another distinctive feature of a renouncer's life is mendicancy, from which is derived a common Sanskrit name for a renouncer, *bhikṣu* ("beggar"). Mendicancy is the inevitable result of a renouncer's abandonment of all possessions. A renouncer is totally separated from economic activities; he is neither an owner nor a producer. Owning nothing that is his own, a renouncer is reduced to fulfilling all his requirements by begging.

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Of all those requirements, however, the most necessary and the most constant is food. Because a renouncer is forbidden to hoard anything, he is permitted to beg food only sufficient for a single meal. Because he cannot use fire, he is required to beg food that is already cooked. Begging, therefore, becomes a daily exercise; indeed, a renouncer's day appears to revolve around his begging round. Food and the methods of obtaining food are so central to a renouncer's life that they form the basis of most classifications of renouncers.⁴

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⁴ See P. Olivelle, "Food and the Indian Ascetic," in *Problems of Dharma: Rules and Remedies in Classical Indian Law*, ed. I. Julia Leslie (Leiden: E. J. Brill), in press.

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The ideal method of begging is called *mādhūkara*, which means to beg like a bee. As a bee gathers nectar a little at a time from many flowers, a renouncer begs a little food at a time from several houses. As a bee does not injure the flowers from which it obtains the nectar, so a renouncer, obtaining just a mouthful from each, does not become a burden on any householder. The *Bṛhat-Saṃnyāsa* (266) defines *mādhūkara* as the food that is begged from five or seven houses at random; that is, the renouncer does not select the houses he will visit. He is indeed instructed not to visit the houses that have acquired a reputation for giving plenty of almsfood. Lack of forethought and planning is the hallmark of a renouncer’s attitude toward food. His attitude is one of indifference; such a renouncer is said to be “tongueless”:

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He who does not notice even as he eats that one thing is tasty and another is not, and whose words are kind, measured, and true, is said to be a tongueless man. (NpU 147)

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He remains the same when he receives food and when he does not:

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Let him not be elated when he receives food or be dejected when he receives not. Let him beg only as much as will sustain his life without getting attached to his belongings. (NpU 181)

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Some renouncers give up all efforts at obtaining food. They remain in one place and eat anything that people may bring to them unasked. This practice is called *ajagaravrata* (“python vow”), because the ascetic waits for his food to come to him, just as a python.

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Renouncers carry begging bowls to collect their almsfood. The bowls are made from a variety of materials, including clay, wood, and bottle-gourd.⁵ The renouncers collect the food in their bowls and eat only after they have completed their begging round. The highest types of renouncers, however, are expected to give up the use of external bowls. Some receive the food in their hands and eat it as soon as it is received. They are called *pāṇipātrin*, "people who use their hands as begging bowls." Others forego even the hands; the donors throw the food on the ground and they eat it directly with their mouths in imitation of cows. They are called *udarapātrin*, "people who use their stomachs as begging bowls."

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⁵ ĀrU 11; LSU 22.

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Food is necessary for survival, but it can also be a source of attachment. Love of food results in greed, a vice that our documents frequently warn the renouncers to guard against. They are expected to eat merely to sustain their life, not to gain any pleasure. They should therefore regard food as medicine.⁶ Many sources instruct the renouncer to eat little—according to some, just eight mouthfuls a day—so that he becomes lean and puts on no fat.⁷ Fear of food, as I have shown elsewhere (see above n. 4), is a central theme in the ascetic ideology and practice of all Indian religious traditions.

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⁶ KśU 33; JU 70.

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⁷ NpU 174, 176.

6.3 Possessions and Emblems

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Renunciation, we have seen, was understood as essentially a negative state. Most injunctions are thus prohibitions; they instruct renouncers to give up or to discard various practices and objects. Renouncers, nevertheless, require certain articles for their life of wandering and mendicancy. We have seen that these are formally handed over to the new renouncer immediately after his renunciation (see above 4.5). The *Laghu-Saṃnyāsa* (21) cites a verse that lists these articles:

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A pot, a drinking cup, a sling, a tripod, a pair of shoes, a patched garment against the cold, a loincloth, a water strainer, a bathing cloth, and an outer garment: an ascetic should avoid anything else other than these.

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Several of these articles commonly carried by renouncers became symbols of their state. Thus the staff, the begging bowl, and the ochre garment are often taken as emblems of renunciation. These articles are collectively called *liṅga*, the emblem of the renunciatory state.⁸

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⁸ On the emblems of renouncers, see Olivelle 1986 and 1987.

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Advance in renunciation, however, is marked at least in the Advaita Vedānta tradition by the abandonment of emblems associated with lower levels.⁹ Thus, for example, the *Paramahaṃsa Upaniṣad* (46–47), after describing the articles taken by a renouncer, says that those articles do not signal the highest state of renunciation: “Now this is the highest: A Paramahaṃsa lives without a staff, without a topknot, without a sacrificial string, and without a garment.” The *Nāradaparivrājaka* (154–155) says: “Triple staff, sling, bowl, water pot, waistband, and loincloth: let him abandon all these in water, saying: ‘Earth, *svāhā*!’”

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⁹ A medieval document called *Pañcamāśramavidhi* gives the appropriate rites and formulae for abandoning these insignia of renunciation: see Olivelle 1986, 143–156.

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As the abandonment of things that characterize the ritual life defines renunciation as such, so the abandonment of things that are associated with lower levels of renunciation defines its higher forms. Renunciation thus remains essentially a negative state, defined by what it abandons rather than by any custom with which it may be associated.

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One of the customs associated with the highest type of renouncer is nudity. At the conclusion of the renunciatory rite, the new renouncer takes off all his clothes and, as the texts put it, “becomes clad as he was at birth.” This ritual nudity and the statement that he return to a newborn state, as we have seen (4.5), implies the ritual rebirth of the renouncer. In the case of the lower types, however, the new renouncer then takes the emblems of his status, including a loincloth and an ochre garment.

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The higher types of renouncers, however, are expected to go totally naked. “Waistband, loincloth, staff, garment, and water pot: let him throw all these in water and thereafter wander clad as he was at birth and seeking the self” (NpU 155).

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The *Turīyātītāvadhūta* (242) describes clearly the process of advancement in renunciation:

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At the outset, then, such a person becomes a Kuṭīcaka, then in due order he advances to the Bahūdaka state, and when he is a Bahūdaka he proceeds to the Haṃsa state. Once he is a Haṃsa he becomes a Paramahaṃsa. He comes to know the entire universe by the deep contemplation of his own nature. Staff, water pot, waistband, loincloth, and garment—all these he throws into water after performing the rites prescribed in his own rule. He then becomes naked, giving up even the use of discolored old clothes, bark garments, or antelope skins.

6.4 Courting Dishonor: Madness and Acting like Animals

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A saying that recurs frequently in our Upaniṣads is that a renouncer should wander about the earth like a worm. The analogy of a worm is quite appropriate, because like a worm a renouncer is expected to go about unnoticed on the one hand, and despised on the other.

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The highest type of renouncer should display no emblem or insignia of his state and keep even his conduct concealed (JU 69). Some of our Upaniṣads tells him to go about in disguise, so that people would not recognize him as a holy man (NpU 141).

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A renouncer should not be influenced by the honor some may show him or by the disrespect and insults others may heap on him.

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If a man remains as well pleased when people assault him as when they honor and worship him, he is then a true almsman. (NpU 139)

When he is praised let him not rejoice, nor curse others when he is reviled. (LSU 22)

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To take pleasure in praise and honor can be fatal to the advancement in the path of perfection.

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Praise is fatal to the success of yoga, and a yogin who is scorned by men attains the perfection of yoga. Without reviling the path of good men, therefore, let a yogin act in such a manner that people will despise him and never associate with him. (NpU 185)
Let a Brahmin ever shrink from praise as if it were poison. Let him always long for insults as if they were nectar.
For those who suffer insults sleep at ease, and at ease they rise from sleep. At ease, likewise, they roam this world. But a man who insults will perish. (NpU 143)

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A renouncer is thus instructed not merely to avoid praise and honor but to actively court dishonor and insults.¹⁰ He should find satisfaction when people insult him and maltreat him, for he is then able to conquer pride.

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¹⁰ Regarding the practice of courting dishonor, see Daniel H. H. Ingalls, "Cynics and Pāśupatas: The Seeking of Dishonor," *Harvard Theological Review* 55 (1962): 281-298. Minoru Hara, "A Note on the Pāśupata Concept of Purity (*śaucha*)," *Svasti Śrī: Dr. B. Ch. Chhabra Felicitation Volume*, ed. K. V. Ramesh et al. (Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 1984), 237-244. See also David H. Lorenzen, *The Kāpālikas and Kālāmukhas: Two Lost Saivite Sects*. Australian National University Centre of Oriental Studies, Oriental Monograph Series, no. 12 (New Delhi: Thomson Press, 1972).

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When evil men abuse and revile him; when they cheat and envy him; when they beat him, put him in jail, and deprive him of his livelihood; when fools throw feces and urine at him and assail him in many ways; desiring bliss but overtaken by pain, let him lift himself up by himself. (NpU 185)

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Renouncers are also instructed to assume the appearance of and to behave like madmen. The *Jābāla* (69), for example, says that renouncers, "although they are sane, behave like madmen." The *Nāradaparivrājaka*, likewise, declares: "He acts as if he were a fool, a lunatic, or a goblin" (NpU 154).

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His emblem and aim concealed, he should present himself to the people as a madman or a simpleton even though he is a sage, and as a fool even though he is wise.
Let him not do anything, say anything, or think of anything

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whether it is good or bad. In this manner a sage shall roam like a fool, finding his delight in himself.

Let a wise man play like a child and let a clever man act like a fool. Let a learned man speak like a lunatic, and let a Vedic savant act like a cow. (NpU 184)

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The three terms that recur with some frequency in this context are *bāla*, *unmatta*, and *piśāca*. The first can mean both a madman and a child; in either case it indicates behavior that goes against adult and rational norms. *Unmatta* can mean a lunatic and a man who is intoxicated, both symbols of irrational and improper behavior. *Piśāca* is a class of demonic beings who delight in eating raw flesh and who elicit feelings of disgust and loathing.

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Separation from society and, therefore, from human culture is a characteristic of most Indian ascetic institutions and ideologies. This separation is expressed, as we have seen, in the opposition between village and wilderness common to most Indian ascetic traditions. Society is centered in the village, and ascetic life-styles are associated with the wilderness. An interesting aspect of this opposition is that the two are the typical habitats of humans and wild beasts, respectively. Many ascetic traditions use the image of the ascetic imitation of animals to express their opposition to society and culture, their rejection of the cultural norms of rational and proper behavior, and their return to nature.

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An ancient law book introduces life-styles dedicated to holiness with a verse that admonishes people seeking holiness to behave like beasts:

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Moving about with wild beasts,
And dwelling with them alone,
Living a life just like theirs—
Clearly that's the way to heaven.
(BDh 3.2.19; 3.3.22)

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The imitation of animals is most often associated with the way ascetics obtain and eat their food. We have already seen that the typical way of begging food (*mādhūkara*) is named after the bee and imitates the way bees gather nectar. Two special ways of obtaining food that are associated with higher classes of renouncers, as we have also seen, are named after the cow and the python (see above 6.2).

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Other sources tell us of ascetics who imitated cows and dogs. The *Mahābhārata* (5.97.14) offers the following definition of an ascetic who practices the cow-vow (*govrata*): "He is said to observe the cow-vow who lies down anywhere [that is, wherever he may happen to be in the evening], feeds on anything, and covers himself with anything whatsoever." A Buddhist source speaks of ascetics who imitate dogs by going naked, walking on all fours, lying on the ground, and picking up food thrown on the ground with the mouth.¹¹ The Buddhist writer Aśvaghoṣa gives this interesting classification of ascetics:

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¹¹ *Dīgha Nikāya*, III.6–7. The *Majjhima Nikāya* (I.79) describes how the Buddha before his enlightenment walked on all fours and behaved like an animal and records (I.387) a meeting between the Buddha and two ascetics, one of whom practiced the cow-vow and the other the dog-vow.

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Some live like birds by what they can pick up from the ground, others graze on grass like deer, and others, turned into anthills by the forest wind, pass their time with snakes.¹²
Some gain their subsistence by laborious pounding with stones, others eat only what has been husked by their own teeth, and some again cook for others and meet their needs on anything that may be left over.
Some with their coils of matted hair soaked with water twice offer oblations to Agni chanting sacred texts; others plunge into

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¹² The editor and translator, E. H. Johnston, comments: "But as I understand it, the wind piles up earth around the motionless ascetics lying on the ground, turning them into anthills and thus giving them an additional resemblance to snakes who are often mentioned as living in anthills." The *Mahābhārata* (3.122) relates an episode where the ascetic Cyavana stood motionless for so long that ants built an anthill around him. In another episode, Jājālin stood still for such a long time that a pair of birds built a nest on his head (MBh 12.253.20–46). See also the verse in the BSU 262: "As I remain mute in the repose of undivided contemplation, when will the birds of the forest build their straw nests on my head?" Jain saints are often represented iconographically with wild creepers twining around their legs and bodies as they stand naked and motionless in meditation.

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the water and dwell with the fishes, their bodies scored by turtles.¹³

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¹³ *Buddhacarita*, 7.15-17 (Johnston's translation).

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The *Bhāgavata Purāṇa* (5.5.32), likewise, describes several ascetic vows that imitate the behavior of animals:

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When the Lord noticed that this world was definitely opposed to the practice of yoga, he considered any resistance to it as abhorrent and he undertook the vow called "python." Thereafter he ate, drank, chewed, and passed urine while he was in a prone position. . . . Likewise, following the life-style of cows, deer, and crows, he behaved like them, drinking and passing urine while he was walking, standing, and sitting down.¹⁴

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¹⁴ See also the legend of Ādi-Bharata recorded in the *Viṣṇu Purāṇa*, 2.13. Cf. Olivelle 1987, 135-147.

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Imitating animals, acting mad, and seeking dishonor by loathsome conduct clearly have complex sociological, psychological, and theological reasons and causes. Our sources identify one reason: the seeking of dishonor from society. Madness and irrationality, however, are often associated with divinity, divine possession, and holiness.¹⁵ Thus, irrational and improper behavior, just as ecstasy and possession,¹⁶ may have reasons other than seeking dishonor, especially when such behavior was expected of a certain class of individuals, such as renouncers. Such behavior may indeed confirm their holiness in the eyes of the believers and their position in society as extraordinary and powerful individuals. From a theological point of view, moreover, the mystic knowledge that these renouncers seek, at least within the Advaita Vedānta tradition, is associated with the transcendence of rationality. Madness, therefore, just as other aspects of a renouncer’s life, proclaims their separation from the world of illusion to which belong rationality, morality, and all social norms and structures and at the same time guarantees them a powerful position within society.

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¹⁵ For an account of madness in the life of Guṇḍam Rāüḷ, considered an incarnation of god in the Mahānubhāva sect, and how madness can become a proof of divinity for the believers, see Anne Feldhaus, *The Deeds of God in Ṛiddhipur* (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984).

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¹⁶ For an excellent study of the sociological framework of spirit possession, see I. M. Lewis, *Ecstatic Religion: An Anthropological Study of Spirit Possession and Shamanism* (Harmondsworth: Pelican Books, 1971).

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