He says, Even though the head itself must be given, why should you weep over it! The master waits many lives for you. But you have to say yes. Remember, the master is a gentleman. He gives you the freedom to remain in bondage. He waits. Once you say yes, he takes you in his arms. The master is the only one who can show you the power of love. An enlightened being's love and compassion is boundless. Sannyas is living like an enlightened being. It is living enlightenment. A sannyasi is one who is established in love and compassion in the inner world, while being established in concentration and precision in the outer world. A real sannyasi has the precision of a sword. When he closes his eyes, the outer world is no more.

When he opens his eyes, his work is perfection, perfection not only in work, but in relationships also! He is a father, a mother, a brother and a friend, all at the same time. He moves, guided by inner intelligence. That is why he is in the present moment all the time. He responds to the moment. That is the ultimate sense of responsibility – responding to the moment spontaneously. True love and compassion are spontaneous responses to the moment. That is why they surface irrespective of people or situations. A small story: One man went to a Zen monastery and told the master, master, I wish to practice Zen for the rest of my life but I have never stuck with anything for very long. I always look for shortcuts to everything.

Is there a shortcut to enlightenment? The master told him, You are accepted into this monastery for two days. In these two days, you will be taught the shortcut to enlightenment. Is there anything that you like to do in particular? The man said, Since I don't stick to anything for a long time, I am unable to tell what I like to do most. But I like to play chess. The master called for a young disciple who was supposed to be a good chess player. He asked the two of them to sit down and placed True love and compassion are a chess spontaneous board bet- responses to the ween them. moment. They He then took out his surface sword and irrespective of placed it in people or front of the situations.

two of them and said, Both of you have to play. The moment one of you loses, the loser will have his head cut off. They were shocked at the master's words! They started the game and played. They concentrated on the game like they had never done before. Initially, the young monk made good moves, and it looked like he was going to win. Then suddenly he made a mistake. The man took the opportunity and took over the game. Soon, he was clearly on the way to winning. Suddenly, he looked at the young monk and thought with what dedication and devotion the monk lived his life with the master at that young age. Then he thought about his own life and how he had wasted it.

Suddenly he decided, if at all anyone should die, it should be himself. He deliberately made a wrong move. The young monk saw that and took over the game again. The master was watching the whole thing. At that point, he took the board away, and the coins fell in the air. He said, Nobody wins. Nobody loses. The game is over. There are only two things needed for enlightenment, they are concentration and compassion. Today, you learned both. Stay with me and study the way you have played chess today. Enlightenment will be yours! Sannyas is bringing together concentration and compassion. With concentration, you never forget the goal of life, which is enlightenment. With compassion, you are ready to sacrifice your very life so that the other may reach the goal! When both are there, both you and the other will reach! That is the greatness of sannyas.

That is the space of sannyas. The greatest quality of a sannyasi is his immense trust in Existence. Society trains you to always protect yourself from everything. That is the problem. You are made to believe Existence is the enemy from which you have to protect yourself. You apply the same rule and protect yourself from the master also. The master happens in your life with just one intention - to destroy your ego and allow the attitude of sannyas to flower in you. Sannyas is nothing but finding out exactly where you are going wrong. That exact place is known as nothing but the ego. If you understand this, you will simply open up to the master and allow him to strike the ego. You will simply drop all your defenses and open up.

Being closed to the master's presence is like closing your nose with your fingers when there is a fragrant breeze blowing. When you open up to him with trust, you will see miracles happen all around you. Trust has amazing power. It works beyond logic. Anything that works beyond logic is the direct truth. It never fails. When you trust the master, when you surrender to the master, you are giving him the responsibility of you. He never fails! It does not mean you can surrender to him and then do foolish things. No! The first thing to realize is that when real surrender happens, it will never prompt you to do foolish things. Only surrender in the name of surrender will attempt to do foolish things.

Real surrender is a consciousness, not a concept for trial. Sannyas is a consciousness that flowers in groups of people in the presence of the master. Over the years, sannyas has always happened in groups. All the great masters have ordained groups of sannyasins. When a group of people start dissolving in love, when a group of people start melting, sannyas starts happening. Suddenly, so much beauty radiates. Suddenly, Existence appears to be profoundly mystical and beautiful. The power of coincidence becomes a way of life. Tremendous energy starts flowing. For no reason, life looks tremendously beautiful. Everything seems to be perfect. There is an inexplicable feeling of blossoming all round. It is not that Existence has become more beautiful. Existence is always the same. You have started responding to it, that's all.

Your own human qualities have enriched tremendously. That is sannyas! When you start responding to Existence with enriched qualities, when you start melting into Existence, when you start yearning for it, sannyas starts happening to you. When sannyas happens, you automatically add more beauty to Existence. You become a creator. People think sannyas is renouncing creativity. No! Sannyas is moving one step closer to god, and god is the ultimate creator. The very energy of sannyas is creation. This is a little known fact about sannyas. When sannyas happens, the moment is right … A small story: One day a young man approached Socrates*, the Greek philosopher, and said, O great Socrates*, I come to you for knowledge. Socrates* took the man to the sea and pressed his head down into the water for a few seconds.

When he released him, the man came up gasping for breath. Socrates asked him to repeat what he wanted. The man said, I want knowledge. Socrates put him under the water again, this time for a longer period. Then he released him and asked, What do you want? The man replied, Knowledge. Socrates repeated this a few times. After a few times, Socrates asked again, What do you want? The man gasped, Air. I want air! Socrates said, Good. When you want knowledge as much as you wanted air, you shall have it. Sannyas is a deep urge that rises from within you. It is a deep yearning. Even if the longing is not completely consistent over time Socrates - Greek Philosopher. Contemporary of Plato.