Renunciation is the Real Essence of YajnyaA person who leads a morally pure life can do with a modest income; being contented with life he also needs modest quantity of food. I emphasize this point repeatedly, because morally righteous conduct is the very basis of paramartha. If the foundation is unsound, obviously the superstructure cannot endure long. So, too, if morality in behaviour is overlooked, your other actions, however commendable they may otherwise be, will not avail. Be specially careful in regard to three things – one, look not on another woman with lust, but with tenderness as on your mother; two, never covet another's money or riches; and three, never slander anybody. Remember, the edifice of paramartha is to rest on the foundation of all these three. Of course that the foundation alone does not make the house is equally true. To chant nama ceaselessly while ascribing all doership to Rama is to live blissfully. An actor may enact the part of a king on the stage, but if he persists in behaving like that at home, too, he will vitiate his whole practical life. Likewise, when you go to God in surrender, forget your standing as a devotee or a scholar or a moneyed man.
Some of us agree that because the effect of an act is not in our hands worry is futile, and yet we continue to worry because it is also not in our power to cease worrying. So practise to remain always immersed in namasmarana.
The Bhagavadgeeta advocates persisting in work. We should, however, remember the result of such work may not correspond with the expectation. Therefore, always act with remembrance of Him, and merely watch and accept whatever comes. This will be acting without expectation. Thus to act merely as duty, is the essence of the teaching of the Bhagavadgeeta.
One must understand what is to be sacrificed. If one gives away his parents to avoid their responsibility, would you call it a sacrifice? Similarly instead of retiring from the world, many of us retire from God which is wrong. The essence of a sacrifice is the relinquishment of all desires and expectations, to do one's duty without expecting any return. Sacrifice all desire. To desire neither to 'have' this or 'not to have' that, paves the way for God's grace.
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