Procedures for Sannyasa

Ishvara replied

Devi, listen, I will tell you what you have asked. As soon as a living being hears it he becomes like Shiva himself. To understand the meaning of Pranava one must have knowledge of me. The mantra Pranava is the seed of all learning, with great meaning but very subtle, like a banyan seed. It is the beginning and essence of the Vedas and in particular my form. I am the divinity beyond the three gunas, omniscient and the lord who undertakes everything. I, Shiva, who go everywhere, am stationed in the single syllable of the mantra Aum. The meaning of Pranava is said to exist in every object, with the gunas, combined or separate. So that single syllable is brahman and accomplishes everything. Shiva creates the whole universe by first uttering it. It is said Shiva is Pranava and Pranava is Shiva; there is no particular difference between what is uttered and the one who utters. So brahmarshis know me as the divinity who is that single syllable. The learned hold that what is uttered and the one uttering are the same, so one free from faults who wants liberation should know Pranava as me, the attribute-free Parameshvara, cause of everything. Deveshi, for the liberation of all living beings I give this crest of all mantras in Kashi. Ambika, first let me describe the gate to Pranava; once one has discernment of this, one gains supreme siddhi. A person must first gain renunciation, then the kindling; then he must put together time, the staff and Ishvara. Pranava is said to have five parts: the three matras, bindu and nada. One who does japa with it always gains liberation. Pranava is indeed the breath of all living beings, from Brahma down to immobile things, which is why it is called Pranava. There is the letter A, then U follows, M is in the middle, with bindu and nada: this is AUM. Supreme sage, the first letter, like water, is in the north, the second in the south, and M is like fire in Aumkara. In order the three matras are A, U and M, and the half-matra, which takes the form of bindu and nada, comes after. It cannot be described but is known to those with knowledge. Beloved, the shruti has the expression "Ishanah sarvavidyanam," and the Vedas do flow from me and speak truth. So I am the origin of the Vedas and Pranava represents me, the speaker. A is the great seed of rajas, the four-faced creator; U is the womb, Prakriti, sattva, the preserver Hari; M is the Purusha who holds the seed, I, the destroyer. Bindu is the divinity Maheshvara, said to be the form that disappears; nada is called Sadashiva, who gives favours to all. One should think of Shiva, greater than the greatest, above nada, who knows and does everything, Sarvesha, bright and undecaying, the supreme brahman who cannot be fixed, beyond what exists and what does not. From A onward each letter is more pervasive than the last, and the earlier letter is always to be thought of as pervaded. In the five, A and the rest, five brahmanas exist, from Sadya to Ishana, my forms in order. Eight parts of Sadyojata are in A, thirteen of Vama in U, eight of Aghora in M, four of Purusha unseen in bindu, and five from Ishana in nada. In the search there are six components: mantra, yantra, deity, world-display, guru and disciple. I have already spoken of the mantra with its five parts; I will speak of what becomes a yantra, in the form of a mandala. The yantra is a form of the deity and the deity a form of the universe. The guru is a form of the universe and the disciple is the guru's body. "AUM is everything. Brahman is everything": this shruti expression fixes the link between the speaker and what is spoken. Deveshi, the places of utterance are in order the adhara, manipura, heart, vishuddhi, ajna, Shakti and shanti, and beyond shanti is the one greater than the greatest. The one entitled is one in whom firm non-attachment has grown. Devi, because the individual self and brahman are one, I am the subject, which has now been stated. Now hear the link: the connection between the individual self and me, Pranava, is that between a speaker and the intent of a spoken word.

A mendicant is called supremely intelligent if he constantly keeps vows, is calm, an ascetic who has conquered his senses, follows purifying conduct, is a brahmana devoted to the Vedas, uninterested in material objects of this world, indifferent to worlds won by gods and brahmanas, keeps Shiva's vows, knows the true meaning of all texts and has knowledge of Vedanta. Such a person should approach a preceptor, and for a long time the intelligent one will bow like a rod and strive to please him. The disciple must have calm and other good qualities and good conduct. The guru is called Shiva and Shiva the guru. Having decided this he should present his thoughts, and after the guru's permission keep the vow of living only on milk, on an ocean shore, a river bank, a mountain or in Shiva's temple. On the fifth or eleventh of the bright fortnight he rises in the morning, purifies himself and does the daily rites. Inviting his guru, he performs the preliminary ancestor rite by the rules, shaves his head and beard except the armpits and groin, pares his nails, bathes and controls himself. In the evening he bathes, eats only barley meal and does the evening rite. With his guru, the brahmana does the evening worship, giving Shiva, in the form of the guru, the fee the texts name. Following the household sutras he gathers materials for oblation, kindles the fire and makes oblations, though customs differ in worldly practice. When the fire is kindled the Prajapatya rites are done, with Agni mantras from the shruti and every kind of fee given. Invoking this fire in his self, the brahmana formally leaves the householder's state. He boils the rice-and-ghee offering himself and, self-controlled, offers oblations with verses from the Purusha sukta. Having finished the sacrifice and oblations, he practises mantra. A learned person sits on cloth, antelope skin or a kusha mat north of the fire and silently does japa, chanting the gayatri firm in mind until Brahma muhurta. Then he bathes and cooks the offering as before. When he offers oblations he should start with the Purusha sukta and end with the Viraja sukta. There are the views of Vamadeva and of Shounaka and others, and Vamadeva's is more important since that sage was liberated while still in the womb. After the oblations he does the morning worship, invokes the fire in his self and does the morning sandhya. When the sun has risen he chants the Savitri mantra in order. Giving up the three desires, he chants the presha mantra. He puts aside his tuft, sacred thread and waist thread, and, having given them up, starts facing east or north. He takes a staff, loincloth and other things needed for life in this world, though if wholly unattached he can also shun everything. He approaches his guru and bows to him three times like a rod, then sits near his feet. By the rules the guru takes white ash from the Viraja fire and applies it to the disciple's body, with Agni mantras, and he wears the Tripundra. He thinks of Shiva and Devi seated in the lotus of his heart. The guru, glad in mind, places his hand on the disciple's head and recites the three kinds of Pranava into his right ear and teaches him knowledge of the six kinds of meaning. The disciple then bows to the guru twelve times like a rod, and, staying subordinate, constantly practises Vedanta. He constantly thinks within himself of me, the supreme self, pure, faultless, the undecaying brahman and witness. One entitled in this way is called a mendicant, free of jealousy, skilled in Vedanta knowledge and devoted to self-control and other dharma. The lotus in the heart is free of dust and of sorrow, great or small, with eight petals and filaments, bright above the pericarp. With Shakti as the base he will think of the destination of the three tattvas, and think of Hara in the centre of the heart. Uttering the single syllable AUM, the same as brahman, he will constantly, unwaveringly, think of Devi and Shiva in the middle. One who does this worship gains a destination in my world, and, beloved, having gained knowledge of me, gains union with me as fruit.