Quotes About Renunciation

Deny thy self!

It will attempt to ensure its survival by finding something else to identity with, for example, a mental image of yourself as someone who has transcended all interest in material possessions and is therefore superior, is more spiritual than others. There are people who have renounced all possessions but have a bigger ego than some millionaires.

Yes - it was happiness she still wanted, and the glimpse she had caught of it made everything else of no account. One by one she had detached herself from the baser possibilities , and she saw that nothing now remained to her but the emptiness of renunciation. The House of Mirth

No, fly me, fly me, far as pole from pole; Rise Alps between us! and whole oceans roll! Ah, come not, write not, think not once of me, Nor share one pang of all I felt for thee. Thy oaths I quit, thy memory resign; Forget, renounce me, hate whate'er was mine. Fair eyes, and tempting looks (which yet I view!) Long lov'd, ador'd ideas, all adieu!

It seems absurd for a man of twenty-eight to renounce the pleasures of life, doing violence to his nature by a pure act of will. An untold number had done this before him for religious reasons, but Kafka had based his renunciation on nothing but a self-image. He claimed that for better or worse he was what he was, and that therefore much was out of the question for him

Instead, he was perfectly willing to cut them out even if it meant spiting himself—just as he had defaced his mandolin by gouging out the "Gibson" inlay, just as he had neglected to record Peter Rowan's lead singing.

all mature spirituality, in one sense or another, is about letting go and unlearning.

All Mature Spirituality Is About Letting Go

So Jesus pulls no punches, saying you must "hate" your home base in some way and make choices beyond it.

All great spirituality is somehow about letting go.

God warns us to not get too attached to what's around us because it is temporary. We're told, "Those in frequent contact with the things of the world should make good use of them without becoming attached to them, for this world and all it contains will pass away."9

Being a monk was the strangest and most perverted way of life imaginable. Monks spent half their lives putting themselves through pain and discomfort that they could easily avoid, and the other half muttering meaningless mumbo jumbo in empty churches at all hours of the day and night. They deliberately shunned anything good—girls, sports, feasting and family life.

Renunciar a la felicidad es como arrojar piedras preciosas al océano. Es mucho peor que cualquier pecado.

May the things of this world so lose their power over us that we do not in the slightest wish to be 'worldly'; nay, we even delight in not remaining 'in the world.'

Always remember that renunciation is the root idea. Unless one is initiated into this idea, not even Brahma and the World - gods have the power to attain Mukti

It is the highest manifestation of the power of Vairagya when it takes away even our attraction towards the qualities.

Love is the fruit of prayer ... Patiently abiding in prayer signifies a man's renunciation of himself. Therefore the self-denial of the soul turns into love for God.

Before we can pray "Lord Thy Kingdom come " we must be willing to pray "My Kingdom go."

So, rather than appear foolish afterward, I renounce seeming clever now.

Renunciation simply means a state of un-attachment. A big house and a new car should be enjoyed to their fullest so long as we accept them as things that can and will go away. We never really own anything; we hold title, rent, lease, use, and borrow things during our short visit here. Impermanence is just another name for perfection.

I'll give my jewels for a set of beads,My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,My gay apparel for an almsman's gown.

For a moment, all that remained lit was a solitary gold lotus flower—the Buddhist symbol of transcendence, renunciation, and hope—on the front of the temple. It floated on the unseen surface of an ocean of shadow.

renunciation is the start of our inner journey. Instead of fixating on external circumstances, we look within.

The best use for these methods is in our practice of Dharma. That is how they evolved. When we begin our journey with renunciation, we accept that our happiness, our wellbeing, is dependent not so much on circumstances, as on our mind. We decide to turn away from the true causes of our unhappiness, which is, say, our attachment or anger, and instead cultivate more beneficial mental states. We take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, yes?