Why change the environment? Mind should be changed instead; It is easier to achieve everything while being a householder; Path of Kaula Avadhoota

 

Ramana Maharshi

(from "Maharishi's Gospel"): 

Question: Is it possible to enjoy samadhi while busy in worldly work?

Ramana Maharshi: The feeling ‘I work’ is the hindrance. Ask yourself ‘who works?’ Remember who you are. Then the work will not bind you; it will go on automatically. Make no effort either to work or to renounce; your effort is the bondage. What is destined to happen will happen. If you are destined not to work, work cannot be had even if you hunt for it; if you are destined to work, you will not be able to avoid it; you will be forced to engage yourself in it. So, leave it to the higher power; you cannot renounce or retain as you choose

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(From 'Talks with Sri Ramana Maharishi', Talk 251):

Question: Why did you then leave your home in your youth?

Ramana Maharshi: That is my prarabdha (fate). One’s course of conduct in this life is determined by one’s prarabdha. My prarabdha is this way. Your prarabdha is that way.

Question: Should I not also renounce?

Ramana Maharshi: If that had been your prarabdha, the question would not have arisen.

Question: I should therefore remain in the world and engage in spiritual practice. Well, can I get realisation in this life?

Ramana Maharshi: This has been already answered. You are always the Self. Earnest efforts never fail. Success is bound to result.

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(from "Maharshi’s Gospel"):

Ramana Maharshi: Why do you think you are a grihastha? (householder) Similar thoughts that you are a sannyasin will haunt you, even if you go out as a sannyasin. Whether you continue in the household or renounce it and go to the forest, your mind haunts you. The ego is the source of thought. It creates the body and the world, and it makes you think of being the grihastha. If you renounce, it will only substitute the thought of sannyasa for that of grihastha, and the environment of the forest for that of the household. But the mental obstacles are always there for you. They even increase greatly in the new surroundings. It is no help to change the environment. The one obstacle is the mind; it must be got over whether in the home or in the forest. If you can do it in the forest, why not in the home? Therefore, why change the environment? Your efforts can be made even now,  whatever be the environment.

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Vira Chandra: The path of Kaula-avadhoota is when externally you live an almost ordinary life, have a family, perhaps a job - but internally you renounce the feeling of "I work", "I am grihasha" etc. -  your eye does not see anything except God, and your soul contains everything equally, without dividing into "one's own" - "someone else's", "correct" - "wrong", "allowed" - "forbidden" etc.  An example of such a life is provided by Guruji Amritanandanatha, and he is not the only one...