Question: Dear brother, As a yogi I am not fond of or attracted to any material things or luxurious items, however what I consider non luxurious items (here in north America ) might be a luxurious item in India; in terms of using what I need to carry on my life , how far can I or should I go in renouncing material items? i.e. I can easily live without a laptop, but I use them to read murli or write knowledge related materials, so does it come to a point where we own stuff but not attracted to?
Thank you for your question.
Dear soul,
When you have reached the state where material items do not mean anything to you (you are not dependent on them) then you do not need to “renounce” anything. You are just using them for the sake of it, to make your life easier.
When we apply the teachings of the Murli, we need to apply those seeing the “spirit” of the teachings and not taking those literally, for otherwise, will be out of context.
Renunciation is important in the Brahmin life when you follow the Maryadas. After that, you are dealing with attachment and greed, which are vices.
In devotion this “renouncing” game has been used by some religious groups. I believe one branch of Sikhism go around naked, because they have “renounced” everything. The idea is to be like King Janak, even though he had a kingdom, he wasn’t attached to it.
Best wishes!
Exploring the Depth of Living 