as you all may know we started the renounceathon on January 1st. Most of the Santi community and many of our friends renounced various things for one month.
One of the yogis at Santi renounced fear and he did a great job! Not that he has overcome fear entirely – but none the less, his life changed this month. And we rejoice very, very much.
Chocolate was renounced, complaining, anger, sleeping in, doubt and more; all of them things without which our life would change for the better.
As for my part (Ayya Phalanyani), I intended to give up liking and disliking. And I have to admit: I completely failed. But it was worth a try! The intention to give up likes and dislikes drove my attention to see once more how much of it there still is and how deeply it is rooted.
The mind is just like that, it judges every single experience and decides whether something is perceived as good or bad, whether we like or dislike it. We need continuous full awareness and strong concentration to see our defilements and make every moment a ‘present moment’. Even if we are totally mindful and concentrated, we need to have strong determination to look at things as they really are. We need to have compassion towards ourselves, as just one among many imperfect human beings, so that we don’t punish or torture ourselves when we realise we are not yet perfect. Then understanding can ripen and we can spiritually grow beyond our old habits and patterns of thinking and behaving.
One of my strongest aversions is towards cold water. Satiya, one of Santi’s friends and strong yogis took cold showers all last winter, just because hot water was not available once! I was deeply impressed. Another consideration is that our electricity bill has increased due to many visitors and monastics staying at Santi, whilst support has decreased. All this together triggered the new resolve that I will make for the next month of renounceathon – giving up warm water for washing and showering (I’ll continue to take hot drinks to warm up after the shock!) But hey, afterall it is summer!
Friends, I hope you too keep on giving up all sorts of unnecessary things, such as bad habits, defilements or whatever else is weighing you down, for the benefit of yourself and in support of Santi. Please check the following link for details on sponsoring a renunciant or becoming one yourself: https://sites.google.com/