True Renunciation

Shailendra: Once a man from a village went to a city. But an accident happened to him — and he lost his nose. He became so ugly, that he couldn’t get any job. So he decided to wear a brick red colour dress like a swami and go back to his village. When the villagers saw his face, they began to laugh. But he told them: “Why are you laughing, fools? This is the price I had to pay to see God face-to-face”. Some of the villagers became very curious. They considered themselves to be great devotees of God, so they started to ask him: “Could you show God to us?” He answered: “Yes, I can show God to you, but I will have to cut your nose for that”. Then one villager came forward and said: “I want to see God, and I will give my nose for that”.

So he took him to a private place, gave him clothes of a swami, and with a sharp knife he cut his nose.

The villager shouted and then told him: “I cannot see God”. And he told him: “But if you go and say it to the villagers, you will be a laughing stock of the whole village. So my suggestion is: go happy, dancing and crying: “I have seen God, I have seen God!”, and you will become a very respected person”.

So the villager did as he was told, and all the villagers prostrated in front of him as if he was a man from God. And after that one by one all the villagers had their noses cut.

After a while that became a sacred village and a lot of tourists began to come to see the noseless people.

This is my idea about renunciation. He cannot come back to society, and he cannot accept that he has been made a fool.

I think you have never heard me suggesting renunciation and all these things. Even the five promises are more than enough.

Disciple: But this somehow relates to the issue of non-violence. Because I think if you renounce something that you desire, this is a natural violence to the mind. If your mind is developed so that it does not have this desire, then this is the renunciation.

Shailendra: I would say that you need to understand your desires in totality. Only then you’ll be able to go beyond them. If you don’t understand something, it will keep nagging you — no matter how much you decided to renounce, you will always remember it.