Mystical Experience: The Fount and Raison d'etre of Sanyasa

Dr. Kurian Perumpallikunnel

MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE: FOUNT AND

RAISON D’ÊTRE OF SANNYĀSA

1. IntroductionReligions, especially those which claim a globalpresence like Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, andBuddhism have something in common: a potent andpulsating mystical core. In fact, these religions arethe outcome of the mystical experience of theirfounder/s. The Abba (Daddy) experience or the filialconsciousness of Jesus gave rise to Christianity.While meditating in a cave named Hira’, in the MountAn-Nour, near Makkah, Prophet Muhammad had a mysticalexperience. He became aware of Allah calling his

Kurian Perumpallikunnel, “Mystical Experience: Fount and RaisonD’être of Sannyāsa” in New Horizons of Indian Christian Living: A Festschrift inHonour of Acharya Prof. Dr. Vadakethala Francis Vineeth CMI, ed. SajuChackalackal, 283-203, Bangalore/Coimbatore: VidyavanamPublications/ Preshitha Communications, 2009.

© 2009, Vidyavanam Ashram, Bangalore

2 New Horizons of Indian Christian Living:A Festschrift in Honour of Acharya Francis Vineeth

creation to ‘submission’ and as a result he and hisfollowers surrendered to become Muslims. It is thecollective mystical experience of hundreds andthousands of meditators who lived in the Indiansubcontinent that gave rise to Hinduism. During hismeditation under the bodhi tree Gautama Buddha had amystical experience (‘enlightenment’) which had led tothe origin of Buddhism. The spirituality of thesereligions, in fact, is the praxis or the modusoperandi devised by the founder himself or hisfollowers to acquire the same experience which thefounder(s) claim(s) to have had. The theology andphilosophy of these religions are nothing but thetheoretical justification and apologetics formulateddown through the centuries to defend and promote theirfaith and morals. The liturgy, in turn, is thesymbolic expression of their faith and beliefs throughrites and rituals designed for celebrating andrecapturing the same experience if possible.Therefore, we can easily trace back the fount andraison d’être of every religion and religious movementto an aspiration for mystical experience – either hereor hereafter.

2. The Mystical PhenomenonMysticism is often defined as a spiritual disciplineembraced by individuals to figure out the ultimatereality behind the ever-changing appearances of thisempirical world. While this definition is more or lessacceptable, there have been many people who claim tohave had mystical experiences without following anyspecial disciplines. Conversely, people who

Kurian Perumpallikunnel“Mystical Experience: Fount and Raison D’être of

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meticulously followed those prescribed spiritualpractices for prolonged periods failed to arrive atthe fount of reality. They call into question both theefficacy of those disciplines as well as the validityand trustworthiness of the claim of mystics. Theproponents of mysticism retort to this attack bystating that the mystical event does not follow thelaw of physical causation. They portray it as apersonal experience during which one feels as thoughone has been touched or overwhelmed by some higher orgreater truth or power. This can happen within orwithout a religious setting.

Whether religious or non-religious, there arecertain general characteristics ascribed to themystical experience such as a sense of unity ortotality, a sense of timelessness, a sense of havingencountered ultimate reality, a sense of sacredness,and a sense that one cannot adequately describe therichness of this experience. Mystical experiences maynot always be marked by all the above saidexperiences, though a few of these feelings orinsights are experienced without exception. Theseexperiences may last as short as a few seconds or upto a few days.

The mystical experience, at times, is projectedand promoted as an important component of a religioustradition because it can offer validation of atradition’s belief system. It can attract adherentssince many people are frantically searching for gurusand ashrams offering mystical experiences. However,because the mystical experience is so powerful and has


the capacity to provide new orientations to theintellectual, emotional, moral, and ethical values, itis frequently mistrusted by the established religionsin general. Sometimes labelled as work of somecorrupting power (i.e., the devil), those havingmystical experiences have been ostracized or, evenworse, have been the targets of persecution.

3. Mystic Experience: Fact or Fake?William James, a world renowned psychologist from theUnited States of America, in his famous collection oflectures published in 1902, The Varieties of ReligiousExperience, provides us with a description of themystical experience. In lectures 16 and 17, heidentifies four typical features of mysticalexperience. They are:

(1) Ineffability: The person who had theexperience claims that the experience defiesexpression and no adequate report of itscontents can be given in words. This responseindicates that the mystical state of mind isnegative. (2) Noetic Quality: Although sosimilar to states of feeling, for those whoexperience mystical states, they seem to them tobe also states of knowledge. They are states ofinsight into depths of truth unplumbed by thediscursive intellect. They are illuminations,revelations, full of significance andimportance, all inarticulate though they remain;and as a rule they carry with them a curioussense of authority for aftertime. (3)Transiency: Mystical states cannot be sustained


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for long. (4) Passivity: Although the oncomingof mystical states may be facilitated bypreliminary voluntary operations, as by fixingthe attention, or going through certain bodilyperformances, or in other ways which manuals ofmysticism prescribe; yet when the characteristicsort of consciousness once has set in, themystic feels as if his own will were inabeyance, and indeed sometimes as if he weregrasped and held by a superior power.1

Walter Terence Stace, an English-born philosopher andthe author of Mysticism and Philosophy (1960) and TheTeachings of the Mystics (1960), was very strict in hisdefinition of mystic experience. He refused to honourbeginning or intermediate states people experiencealong the path to full mystical experience. Visions,voices, insights, or powerful dreams were not mysticalexperience as per his definition. Only a ‘non-sensuousand non-intellectual’ union fits his definition. Inhis introduction to his second book, he gives abaffling definition to a mystic: “A Mystic is aMystic.” He explains his definition as follows:

By the word “mystic” I shall always mean aperson who himself has had mystical experience.Often the word is used in a much wider andlooser way. Anyone who is sympathetic tomysticism is apt to be labelled a mystic. But Ishall use the word always in a stricter sense.However sympathetic toward mysticism a man may

1William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, New York:Random House Inc., 1999, 413-414.


be, however deeply interested, involved,enthusiastic, or learned in the subject, he willnot be called a mystic unless he has, or hashad, mystical experience.2

Stace argues that the word ‘mysticism’ is popularlyused in a variety of loose and inaccurate ways so thatanything misty, foggy, vague, or sloppy is called‘mystical’. According to him, there is nothing misty,foggy, vague, or sloppy about mysticism. He alsochallenges the absurdity of associating mysticism withmystery-mongering. He says that the etymologicalconnection between ‘mysticism’ and ‘mystery’ shouldnot tempt people to consider mysticism as some sort ofhocus-pocus. He insists that mysticism is not the sameas what is commonly called the ‘occult’ nor does itinclude what are commonly called para-psychologicalphenomena such as telepathy, telekinesis,clairvoyance, precognition which are not mysticalphenomena. Even though, mystics may have had suchspecial powers, even while exercising such powers theywere well aware that such powers were not part of, andwere to be clearly distinguished from, their mysticalexperience. It is very important to realize thatvisions and voices are not mystical phenomena, thoughmystics may often be the sort of persons who seevisions and hear voices. However, mystics alwaysasserted that genuine mystical experience is non-sensuous or beyond the realms of five senses. Visionsand voices are sensuous experiences.3

2Walter T. Stace, The Teachings of the Mystics, New York:The New American Library, 1960, 9.

3Stace, The Teachings of the Mystics, 10-12.


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According to Stace, the central characteristicof all fully developed mystical experiences isdefinitive of them and serves to mark them off fromother kinds of experiences, is that they involve theapprehension of an ultimate non-sensuous unity in allthings, a oneness or a wholeness to which neither thesenses nor the reason can penetrate. In other words,it entirely transcends our sensory-intellectualconsciousness. It should be carefully noted that onlyfully developed mystical experiences are necessarilyapprehensive of the One. Many experiences have beenrecorded which lack this central feature but yetpossess other mystical characteristics. These areborderline cases, which may be said to shade off fromthe central core of cases. To the core of mysticismthey have only a resemblance.4

Stace classifies mystical experience into twotypes: extrovertive and introvertive. Both areapprehensions of the One, but they reach it indifferent ways. The extrovertive way looks outward andthrough the physical senses into the external worldand finds the unity there. The introvertive way turnsinward, introspectively, and finds the unity at thebottom of the self, at the bottom of humanpersonality. The latter far outweighs the former inimportance both in the history of mysticism and in thehistory of human thought generally. The introvertiveway is the major strand in the history of mysticism,the extrovertive way a minor strand. The extrovertivemystic with his physical senses continues to perceive



the same world of trees and hills and tables andchairs as the rest of us. But he sees these objectstransfigured in such a manner that the unity shinesthrough them. As it includes ordinary senseperceptions, it only partially realizes thedescription, that is, an experience of complete unity.It is suggested that the extrovertive type ofexperience is a kind of halfway house to theintrovertive. For the introvertive experience iswholly non-sensuous and non-intellectual. But theextrovertive experience is sensory-intellectualinsofar as it still perceives physical objects but isnon-sensuous and non-intellectual insofar as itperceives their essential unity. In introvertivemysticism, a total suppression of the whole empiricalcontent of consciousness is achieved. According to anintrovertive mystic, what happens is not that allconsciousness disappears but that only the ordinarysensory-intellectual consciousness disappears and isreplaced by an entirely new kind of consciousness, themystical consciousness.5 Stace makes a comparativeanalysis of this experience by bringing in insightsfrom the Hindu scriptures:

Of the introvertive mystical consciousness theMandukya (Upanishad) says that it is “beyond thesenses, beyond the understanding, beyond allexpression... It is the pure unitaryconsciousness, wherein awareness of the worldand of multiplicity is completely obliterated.It is ineffable peace. It is the Supreme Good.It is One without a second. It is the Self.” Not



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only in Christianity and Hinduism but everywhereelse we find that the essence of this experienceis that it is an undifferentiated unity, thougheach culture and each religion interprets thisundifferentiated unity in terms of its owncreeds and dogmas.6

In his book, The Idea of the Holy, Rudolf Otto speaks ofmystical experience7 as an “inexpressible andineffable”8 occurrence. In an attempt to give fullexpression to that experience he coined the word“numinous” and commented extensively upon it.According to him, numinous experience tends to haveelements of ‘awe’fullness,9 overpoweringness,10 energyor urgency,11 ‘Wholly Other’,12 and fascination.13 Heexplains it further as follows:

... it grips or stirs the human mind. Thefeeling of it may at times come sweeping like agentle tide, pervading the mind with a tranquilmood of deepest worship. It may pass over into amore set and lasting attitude of the soul,continuing, as it were, thrillingly vibrant andresonant, until at last it dies away and the

6Stace, The Teachings of the Mystics, 20-21.7Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy, London: Oxford

University Press, 1977, 6-7.8Otto, The Idea of the Holy, 5.9Otto, The Idea of the Holy, 13.10Otto, The Idea of the Holy, 19.11Otto, The Idea of the Holy, 23.12Otto, The Idea of the Holy, 25.13Otto, The Idea of the Holy, 31.


soul resumes its “profane,” non-religious moodof everyday experience.14

It is a well-known fact that Albert Einstein, thetopmost Genius among modern scientists had greatfascination for mysticism. He said: “... the mostbeautiful and most profound religious emotion that wecan experience is the sensation of the mystical. Andthis mysticality is the power of all true science.”15

He considers people to whom this emotion is astranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt inawe, is as good as dead. He insists that to know thatwhat is impenetrable to us really exists, manifestingitself as the highest wisdom and the most radiantbeauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend onlyin their primitive forms – this knowledge, thisfeeling, is at the centre of true religion. In hisbook, The World as I See It, Einstein states:

The fairest thing we can experience is themysterious. It is the fundamental emotion whichstands at the cradle of true art and truescience. He who knows it not and can no longerwonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good asdead, a snuffed-out candle. It was theexperience of mystery — even if mixed with fear— that engendered religion. A knowledge of theexistence of something we cannot penetrate, ofthe manifestations of the profoundest reason andthe most radiant beauty, which are onlyaccessible to our reason in their most

14Otto, The Idea of the Holy, 12-13.15Peter A. Bucky, The Private Albert Einstein, Kansas City:

Andrews & McMeel, 1992, 86.


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elementary forms – it is this knowledge and thisemotion that constitute the truly religiousattitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I ama deeply religious man.16

D. T. Suzuki’s description of Satori in ZenBuddhism goes very much in line with the mysticalexperience we were discussing hitherto. He enumeratesthe characteristics of Satori experience as follows:(1) Irrationality: those who have experienced Satoriare always at a loss to explain it coherently orlogically. (2) Intuitive Insight: there is a kind of‘seeing’ or ‘perceiving’ in Satori which is noetic. (3)Authoritativeness: the knowledge realized by Satori isfinal, that no amount of logical argument can refuteit. Being direct and personal it is sufficient untoitself. (4) Affirmation: it is essentially anaffirmative attitude towards all things that exist.(5) Sense of the Beyond: my individuality rigidly heldtogether and definitely kept separate from otherindividual existences, becomes loosened into somethingindescribable. (6) Impersonal Tone: it has no personalnote in it. (7) Feeling of Exaltation: a sense offreedom and an infinite expansion of the individual.(8) Momentariness: Satori comes upon one abruptly andis a momentary experience.17

Psychologists like David Lukoff18 attempted tocompare psychotic states with that of mystical

16Albert Einstein, The World as I See It, Secaucus, NewJersey: The Citadel Press, 1999, 5.

17D. T. Suzuki, Zen Buddhism: Selected Writings of D. T. Suzuki,New York: Anchor Books, 1956, 103-108.


experiences. He noticed that those who claimedmystical experiences spoke of a transient,extraordinary experience marked by feelings of beingin unity, harmonious relationship to the divine andeverything in existence. Walter Pahnke who studiedeffects of LSD in clinical settings claims that whenthe substance was used in an appropriate setting andwith the appropriate intent, experiences that closelyresembled classical mystical experiences would occur.He presents a nine point description of these LSDinduced experiences as follows:

Nine universal psychological characteristicswere derived from a study of the literature ofspontaneous mystical experience reportedthroughout world history from almost allcultures and religions. When subjected to ascientific experiment, these characteristicsproved to be identical for spontaneous andpsychedelic mystical experiences. They are: (1)Unity: a sense of cosmic oneness. (2)Transcendence of Time and Space. (3) Deeply FeltPositive Mood. (4) Sense of Sacredness. (5)Noetic Quality: a feeling of insight orillumination. (6) Paradoxicality: A person mayrealize that he/she is experiencing, forexample, ‘an identity of opposites,’ yet it18David Lukoff is a Professor on the core residential

faculty and a licensed psychologist in California whoseareas of expertise include treatment of schizophrenia,transpersonal psychotherapy, and spiritual issues inclinical practice. He has served on the faculties ofHarvard, UCLA, Oxnard College, California Institute ofIntegral Studies, and Saybrook.


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seems to make sense at the time. (7) Allegedineffability. (8) Transiency: the experiencepasses. (9) Persisting positive changes inattitudes and behaviour.19

Charles S. Grob,20 in his article, “The Psychology ofAyahuasca,” has outlined experiences that come aboutwhile under the influence of a South American plant.These experiences appear to be very similar if notidentical to those experienced by those having amystical experience. Following are his observations:(1) Alterations in Thinking: To varying degrees,subjective changes in concentration, attention,memory, and judgment may be induced in the acutestate, along with a possible diminution or expansionof reflective awareness. (2) Altered Time Sense: Thesense of time and chronology may be altered, inducinga subjective feeling of timelessness, or theexperience of time either accelerating ordecelerating. Time may be experienced as infinite orinfinitesimal in duration. (3) Fear of Loss ofControl: An individual may experience a fear of losinghis hold on reality or his sense of self-control. In

19Walter Pahnke, “The Psychedelic Mystical Experiencein the Human Encounter with Death,” Psychedelic Review 11(1971), 2-18 pages.

20Charles S. Grob is a Professor of Psychiatry andPaediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine and the Directorof the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at theHarbor-UCLA Medical Center. He is presently collaboratingwith Dennis McKenna on a project to study the biochemical,physiological, and psychological parameters of long-termayahuasca use in Brazil.


reaction, increased resistance to the experience mayoccur, causing an amplification of underlying anxiety.If there is a positive cultural conditioning andunderstanding of the experience, mystical and positivetranscendent states may ensue. (4) Changes inEmotional Expression: Along with reduction involitional or conscious control, intense emotionalreactivity may occur, ranging from ecstasy to despair.(5) Changes in Body Image: Alterations in body imageare frequently reported, often associated withdissolution of boundaries between self and others andstates of depersonalization and de-realization wherethe usual sense of one’s own reality is temporarilylost or changed. Such experiences may be regarded asstrange and frightening, or as mystical, oceanicstates of cosmic unity, particularly when sustainedwithin the context of belief systems conditioned forspiritual emergent encounters. (6) PerceptualAlterations: Increased visual imagery, hyper-acutenessof perceptions and overt hallucinations may occur. Thecontent of these perceptual alterations are influencedby cultural expectations, group influences andindividual wish-fulfilment fantasies. They may reflectthe psychodynamic expression of underlying fears orconflicts, or simple neurophysiologic mechanismsinducing geometric patterns and alterations of light,colours, and shapes. Synaesthesia, the transformationof one form of sensory experience into another, suchas seeing auditory stimuli, may be experienced. (7)Changes in Meaning or Significance: While in apowerful altered state of consciousness, someindividuals manifest a propensity to attach special


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meaning or significance to their subjectiveexperiences, ideas or perceptions. An experience ofgreat insight or profound sense of meaning may occur,their significance ranging from genuine wisdom toself-imposed delusion. (8) Sense of the Ineffable:Because of the uniqueness of the subjective experienceassociated with these states and their divergence fromordinary states of consciousness, individuals oftenhave great difficulty communicating the essence oftheir experience to those who have never had such anencounter. (9) Feelings of Rejuvenation: Manyindividuals emerging from a profoundly altered stateof consciousness report a new sense of hope,rejuvenation, and rebirth. Such transformed states maybe short-term, or conversely, may lead to sustainedpositive adjustments in mood and outlook. (10) Hyper-suggestibility: While in the throes of altered stateof experience, individuals experience an enhancedsusceptibility to accept or respond uncritically tospecific statements. Nonspecific cues, reflectingcultural belief systems or group expectation, maysimilarly assume directives of weighty importance.21

Hitherto we have listened to the claims andcounterclaims of those who propose and oppose theexistence of mysticism. What is possibly theconclusion we can reasonably arrive at? Are mysticalexperiences and drug induced hallucinations one andthe same? Before arriving at a final decision, let us

21Ralph Metzner, ed., Ayahuasca: Hallucinogens, Consciousness,and the Spirit of Nature, New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1999,214-250.


analyse the ultimate outcome of both theseexperiences. Although healthy food and poisonous foodcan fill the stomach, it does not mean that they areone and the same. The aftermath will establish whichis beneficial and which is detrimental. Even a casualobservation can reveal the impact of both theseexperiences on a person which are, of course,diametrically opposite. Mystical experience transformsa person into a master while drug induced ecstasyconverts him into a wretched slave. We can easilynotice that even those who were average or belowaverage in their performance before the occurrence ofthe mystical experience were elevated to the heightsunimaginable and unbelievable in the natural course ofevents. On the contrary, those who got addicted todrugs and attained to the ‘so-called mysticalexperience’ have descended from their physical,intellectual, artistic, and moral heights to dismaldepths. This obvious fact does not demand any researchfor its validation. Moreover, the hedonistic notionthat ‘end justifies the means’, and ‘to feel good’ anymeans and shortcuts are okay may be detrimental tosound moral principles of the society. Is it notprecisely the overcoming of obstacles that buildscharacter? A serious question needs to be answered byscientists and medical professionals: should allsufferings be eliminated from human life under allcircumstances? Should this most profound experiencerevealing and reminding us of our limits andlimitations be hidden from us? The artificialinduction of extraordinary experiences in situationsof ultimate human helplessness are so complex and so


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far-reaching that much more attention and study mustbe devoted to them. Another significant question: whathas this drug induced euphoric experience to do withGod? For the one who believes in God, it is not thehuman feelings or wellbeing or sufferings orunhappiness that provide the ultimate criterion ofwhat is right or wrong, what good and what evil, butthe divine will. It is, in short, to move fromanthropocentrism, which measures everything in termsof human feelings and desires to a theocentrism, whichseeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.It may well be that God wills that the suffering anessential part of human enlightenment. Therefore,without further arguments we can conclude that thoughcertain experiences seem similar, mystical experiencesand drug-induced hallucinations are not bloodrelatives, instead, they are born enemies.

4. Verities of Mystical Experience We have sufficient proof to state that the mysticalexperience is a universal phenomenon crossing thethresholds of time, culture, nationality, sex, andreligion. But, is it possible to have a mysticalexperience that is specific to Christianity? It ispossible, since all experiences are subjective. Justlike Christian mystical experiences, there could alsoexist, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, or numerous othermystical experiences. Christian subjectivity can giverise to an experience specific to its uniqueness.Since we do not have any intension to deal withvarious mystical experiences specific to different


subjectivities, we shall concentrate only on theChristian orientation and interpretation of mysticalexperience. However, at the very outset, we should beaware that even among Christian mystics based on theirindividual subjectivity variations are detectable. Thefirst Christian community, based on the teachings ofJesus and their own mystical experience, attempted tocreate an ‘egalitarian commune’, the rise and declineof which was meteoric (Acts 4:32-37, 6:1-4). TheApostles soon realized that it is humanly impossibleto establish an egalitarian community where selfishinterests and hidden agendas are at play. Theyunderstood why Jesus demanded and insisted on the needof a rebirth or a total conversion from the old waysto enter the kingdom of God.

5. Vision of Jesus on the Ultimate OnenessJesus compared himself and his disciples to a vine andits branches to illustrate his vital relationship withthem. He explained the interconnection between himselfand his father and the disciples as follows:

I am the true vine, and my Father is thevinedresser… Abide in me, and I in you. As thebranch cannot bear fruit of itself, except itabides in the vine; no more can you, unless youabide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches:He who abides in me, and I in him, the samebrings forth much fruit: for without me you cando nothing (Jn. 15:1,5).

Jesus was ever conscious of his oneness with hisheavenly Father (Jn. 17:11). He wanted his disciplestoo to partake in that oneness. He prayed to his


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heavenly Father, “That they all may be one; as you,Father, is in me, and I in you, that they also may beone in us: that the world may believe that you havesent me. And the glory which you gave me I have giventhem; that they may be one, even as we are one: I inthem, and you in me, that they may be made perfect inone; and that the world may know that you have sentme, and have loved them, as you have loved me” (Jn.17:21-23). Following the lead of Jesus, St. Pauldeveloped his concept of ‘mystical body’, of whichChrist is the head and the members of the Church itsbody. In his Letter to the Romans, Paul reminds hisreaders as follows: “For as we have many members inone body, and all members have not the same office, sowe, being many, are one body in Christ, and every onemembers one of another” (Rom. 12:4-5). Indicating theunifying function of the Eucharistic meal, heinstructs his listeners: “For we being many are onebread, and one body: for we are all partakers of thatone bread” (1 Cor. 10:17). Paul was convinced of thefact that Christian mystical experience envisages therealization as well as the day-to-day living of theMystical Body awareness. He questions Corinthians: “Doyou not know that your bodies are members of Christ?”(1 Cor. 6:15). Further, he wrote to the Galatians:“All of you are one in Christ” (Gal. 3:28). He gave adetailed description of this very same concept in hisFirst Letter to Corinthians as follows:

For just as the body is one and has manymembers, and all the members of the body, thoughmany, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by


one Spirit we were all baptized into one body –Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all weremade to drink of one Spirit. For the body doesnot consist of one member but of many. If thefoot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I donot belong to the body,” that would not make itany less a part of the body… God arranged theorgans in the body, each one of them, as hechose. If all were a single organ, where wouldthe body be? As it is, there are many parts, yetone body… If one member suffers, all suffertogether; if one member is honoured, all rejoicetogether. Now you are the body of Christ andindividually members of it (1 Cor. 12: 12-27).

The Christian mystical experience envisaged disciplesrealizing themselves as integral parts of the MysticalBody of Christ. However, very soon it became quiteevident to the Apostles that the experience theydemanded from the early Christian community wouldremain utopian rather than an achievable goal. Sellingeach one’s property and pooling it as common wealthalso encountered a similar dead-end. The nextseemingly viable plan, which was quite in line withthe teachings of Jesus, was to go all-out for theestablishment of the Kingdom of God. However, apolitical ‘theocratic system’ was unimaginable for thenascent Christianity. Therefore, the Church wasprojected and promoted as the Kingdom of God, with itsphysical, social, and experiential implications.Acquiring membership in the Church through baptism wasdeemed sine qua non for citizenship in the Kingdom ofGod. The communitarian aspect of the human life, thus,


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obtained a boost and common meals, get-togethers,liturgical celebrations, etc., soon became the idealpractices to attain the mystical experience whichChristians were to strive towards.

6. A Political Kingdom of God: Rise and Decline of aLofty Ideal The conversion the emperor Constantine and thetransformation of Rome into the capital of theChristian empire were perceived by many as theemergence of the Kingdom of God. However, soon theyhad to face the reality that values of God’s Kingdomcannot be easily implemented in the given historicalsetting since all its citizens were not on the samelevel of Christian consciousness. When all attempts,down through the centuries, to establish a politicalKingdom of God proved untenable, the only feasiblealternative was to establish religious communitieswere the reconstruction of God’s kingdom was madepossible through creation of a viable ambiencegoverned by a different set of values. Eternal life inplace of mundane survival, love in place fear, povertyin place of possession, obedience in place of will topower, etc., made religious communities an anticipatedexperience of God’s divine kingdom. However, theseexclusive religious communities soon began givingcounter-witness to the Kingdom of God. The process of‘community genesis’ was not originally meant forcreating inward-looking autonomous religiouscommunities which would become abodes of affluence andapathy towards others.


7. The Fount of Sannyāsa in IndiaThe origin of Sannyāsa in India has a differentbackground and pattern. Within the Hindu scheme ofāśramas or stages of life, sannyāsa is the final phase.The term samnyāsa in Sanskrit often stands for‘renunciation’ or ‘abandonment’. There are varyingviews regarding its etymology. It is generallyunderstood as a tripartite compound of sam – has“collective” meaning, ni - means “down” and āsa is fromthe root as, meaning “to throw” or “to put.” So, aliteral translation of samnyāsa would be “laying itall down.” It calls for a breaking oneself away fromall bondages that withhold one from attaining theultimate. A desire or a thirst for union and communionseems to be basic to all creatures. Human beings tooare not exception to this basic instinct. Aconsciousness of the transitory nature of everyempirical union might have spurred people to lookbeyond these limits and limitations. Thus, the fountof sannyāsa is the awakening and exercise of the humanability to be aware of oneself, i.e., one’s owninherent limitations and enormous potentials.

India is the home of numerous ashrams and surfeitof sannyāsis of varying brands. Sannyāsa istraditionally chosen by men at or beyond the age offifty or by young monks who wish to dedicate theirentire life towards spiritual pursuits. In this phaseof life, the person develops vairāgya, or a state ofdispassion and detachment from material life. Herenounces all worldly thoughts and desires, and spendsthe rest of his life in spiritual contemplation. Thesannyāsi lives a celibate life without possessions,


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practises yoga meditation, or in other traditions,bhakti, or devotional meditation, with prayers to theirchosen deity or God. The goal of the Hindu Sannsyāsi ismoksha or mukthi (liberation), the understanding ofwhich also varies. For the devotion orientedtraditions, liberation consists of union with theDivine, while for Yoga oriented traditions, liberationis the experience of the highest samādhi(enlightenment). For the Advaita tradition, liberationis the removal of all ignorance and realising oneselfas one with the Supreme Brahman.

Bhagavad Gita describes sannyāsa as follows: “Thegiving up of activities that are based on materialdesire is what great learned men call the renouncedorder of life (sannyāsa). And giving up the fruits ofall activities is what the wise call renunciation(tyaga)” (Bhagavad Gita 18.2). By giving up actions basedon desires and relinquishing the fruits of actions onecan tread the path of Sannyāsa. Gita teaches thatdisciplined action and relinquishment are spirituallymore effective than renunciation. The Dharmasūtras andDharmaśāstras give detailed rules regarding at whatstage of life a person may renounce, who is entitledto renounce, and what is their legal and socialstanding following renunciation. The earliestDharmasūtras evince a very disapproving attitudetowards renunciation. The author of the earliest stageof the Baudhāyana Dharmasūtra, for example, is criticalof renunciation because ascetics do not reproduce. Thebirth of a son was necessary for a twice-born man torepay his spiritual debt to his ancestors (Baudāyana


Dharmasūtra 2.11.27). The Vasistha and ĀpastambaDharmasūtras brought in a transition from thedisapproval of the idea of various āśramas. ĀpastambaDharmasūtras speak of the eighty thousand seers whodesired offspring and went along the sun’s southerncourse. They obtained cremation grounds. While theeighty thousand seers who did not desire offspring andwent along the sun’s northern course attainedimmortality (Apastambha Dharmasutra 23.4-5). Suchefforts to extol sannyāsa culminated in the form of theaśrama system found in the Manusmruti. Manu andYājñavalkya after him were able to stipulate that arenouncer must have paid his triple-debt (to hisancestors, the Vedic sages, and the gods) as ahouseholder before renouncing the world.

8. Sannyāsa: Dying to the Ways of the WorldIn renouncing the world, the ascetic becomes, for allreligious and social purposes, dead. A ritual deathis, in fact, part of the rite of renunciation itself.The ascetic is no longer bound to perform the Vedicrites. He leaves his family behind to live a homelesslife. This state of being ritually dead is reflectedin the laws relating to ascetics found in theDharmaśāstras. Renunciants are not only socially deadbut legally as well. Like any dead person, they cannotenter into new contractual agreements. Kautilyaprovides a clear expression of this in the Arthaśāstrawhen he states that transactions cannot be completedby dependents and renouncers (Kautilya’s Arthaśāstra3.1.12). Nārada includes renouncers among those whocannot be questioned as witnesses in a court case


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(Nāradasmrti 1.159-169). A sannyāsi is simply a non-competitor in the society. He is a person who hasgained a certain maturity, a certain discriminativeunderstanding, which drives him to pursue spiritualknowledge in a dedicated fashion. But there is still adeeper level of renunciation which a sannyāsi has togain, and that is the knowledge that ‘I am not thedoer, I am not the enjoyer, I never did any karma, anyaction, before’, which constitutes a direct knowledgeof the non-dual Self, which is also actionlessness.Action is always there as long as doership is there.Even ‘not-doing’ is an action. So, the freedom fromdoership that comes in the wake of knowledge of theSelf is not an act of giving up. It is: ‘I know and,therefore, I am free. And so there is no choice.’ Thisis what is called the real sannyāsa, the truerenunciation of all actions at all times, and that isenlightenment.

9. Goal of Sannyāsa True Sannyāsa is freedom, freedom from all bondages.Ignorance is the ultimate bondage. Our identificationwith the ego is the result of ignorance. Once a personis enlightened he becomes a rule unto himself, becausehe is above all the rules. Individuals who have deeplyrealized the non-dual Absolute express sattvic natureand are egoless. Enlightenment takes many forms, andthe expression of enlightenment is different indifferent people, however, fundamentally, there isalways an expression of selflessness and compassionwhich allows us to say that if someone was truly a


realized person he would not be able to act in a self-centred manner. Therefore, there are certainly thingsa person wouldn’t do if he or she was an enlightenedperson. According to Hindu traditions in general, asannyāsi is the one who has renounced all desires,home, attachments, without fears and hopes, duties andresponsibilities. He is virtually merged with God, allhis worldly ties broken; his sole concern becomesattaining moksha, or release from the circle of birthand death.

10. Unique Features of Christian Sannyāsa There are several matters in which the ideal of theHindu sannyāsa differs from that of a Christiansannyāsa. In the first place, Hindu sannyāsa, unlikereligious profession for a Christian, is a commitmentto God, or to final liberation, without anyrestriction. At the conclusion of the sannyāsa diksha[WHICH?] ceremony, the guru says to the disciple to goin the freedom of the spirit across the infinitespaces of the heart, go to the source, go to theunborn, yourself unborn. This is very different fromthe Christian profession which always involvescommitment to a community. The Hindu commitment is toGod alone at the hands of the Guru. In the secondplace, in Hindu sannyāsa, prayer essentially is in theform of solitary meditation. In a Hindu ashram, theremay often be no form of community prayer. The essenceof prayer is seen in union with God in the depths ofthe soul apart from other people, whereas in aChristian community the community prayer with itscentre in the Eucharist is always the central reality.


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Finally, for a Hindu, the essential relation withothers is through the Guru and has no essentialrelation with other members of the ashram, whereas ina Christian ashram the essential relation of eachmember is with the other members of the communitythrough whom and with whom each comes to God.

11. Unifying Factors within Divergent Traditions ofSannyāsa

A Christian can see in his or her religious professionfirst and foremost a commitment to God alone aboveevery created thing, a total self-giving to the Spiritso that one loses one’s self in God. But such a totalsurrender to God alone need not separate such a onefrom others. On the contrary, when one surrenders tothe Spirit, one knows that the Spirit is love and thatlove unites each with every other person in love.Again, a Christian may well make the solitary prayerof contemplation the essential prayer of his or herlife. The times of solitary meditation in an ashramcan and, indeed, should be the most essential prayerof the members. Yet, such a solitary prayer is by nomeans incompatible with a deep commitment to communityprayer: in fact, one supports and enriches the other.Contemplation of the supreme reality is the trueinspiration behind liturgical prayer as well as socialservices. A commitment to God through a guru orspiritual father does not mean that we do not relatealso directly to one another but rather that we findfulfilment in the community as the mystical body ofChrist and realize the love of God in the love of


others. An ashram is a place for contemplation or theexperience of God. An ashram is a place where peoplecome to experience God in the spirit; not in theordinary way of indirect experience through the sensesand in the mind but in the depth of the Spirit. It isprecisely this transcendence not only of the sensesbut also of the mind which is the mark of Hinduspirituality and this is likewise the goal ofChristian contemplation. The consequences of this inreligious life are considerable. It means that ashramlife will centre not so much on the liturgy or lectiodivina, though these, of course, have an essentialplace, but in contemplative prayer. In the Benedictinetradition, the liturgy has always held the centralplace and there is no doubt that the liturgyaccompanied by lectio divina can effectively lead tocontemplation. The prayer of the liturgy like thepractice of lectio divina can lead to genuinecontemplation, but the danger is always there that onewill stop at discursive prayer and not arrive at thedeeper and more unified prayer of contemplation.Contemplative prayer in the Yoga tradition is a methodof arriving more directly at the prayer ofcontemplation. It consists precisely in seeking firstof all to harmonize the senses and the mind, so as tobring them into a state of quiet and then to allow thespirit to become totally open to the action of theSpirit of God. That is, in practice, personal prayerbecomes more central than the common prayer of theliturgy. In an ashram, therefore, it is normal to givecentral place to the times of meditation in theEastern sense of contemplative prayer for an hour or


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more in the evening. The prayer of the liturgy, then,becomes an overflow of this contemplative prayer andis seen as a means to nourish it. In this way, thewhole life becomes really centred on contemplation.

A Hindu ashram is essentially an open community.Though hospitality and the reception of guests areconsidered virtues in Christian monasteries, the ideaof an enclosure and of being separated from the worldhas always had an important place in monastic life.But in a Hindu ashram there is no enclosure. Thesannyāsi is expected to be available to all who come;the ideal of an ashram is to be a centre to whichpeople can come from all parts, seeking guidance inthe spiritual life and even a response to their humanand material needs. An ashram is a centre to whichpeople can come to find that experience of God whichcan give meaning and direction to their lives. In thissense, priority is always given to the inner life, theexperience of the indwelling Spirit in the cave of theheart and this demands times of silence and solitude,and of being ‘one with God’. But this need not, andshould not, be an obstacle to concern for the needs ofthe world. Contemplative prayer means entering intothe depths of one’s being where one experiences one’ssolidarity with all humanity. It consists essentiallyin the surrender of the ‘ego’, of the private self,and the awakening to the true self, the ‘hidden personof the heart’, who shares the concerns of all beings.In other words, it is an awakening to the presence ofChrist within and to the action of the Holy Spirit,which is love.


12. ConclusionAll over the world, people look for a deeper meaningin religion, for something that gives meaning to theirdaily life with all its trials and tribulations. Manyof them are not satisfied with external practices ofreligion; they look for the experience of God in theirlives. Those who genuinely embrace sannyāsa are trueseekers of a personal experience of God, lest theirsacrifice loses its meaning and purpose. They joinashrams to experience God in prayer, in meditation,and in selfless service. However, the bureaucracy ofreligions (the magisterium and the authority) arecapable of quashing every shred of mysticalpossibility, so that the seekers may no longer beimbued with mystical elements in the long run, whichwould otherwise turnout to be a separate source ofauthority based on their direct experience of the‘really real’.

In fact, those who invest their total trust intheir sacred scripture run the risk of missing thepoint of the scriptures as well. Every word in thesacred scripture faces the possibility of beingdegraded to a jargon sooner or later as people startusing it without knowing its meaning. All religions,philosophies, systems, or and ‘isms’ are constantly indanger of becoming a prisons of meaningless jargonssooner or later. All words are repeatedlyprogressively butchered by people who use it themwithout meaning anything. Words Terms like God,enlightenment, spirituality, nirvana, emptiness,sunyata, mysticism are all constantly exposed to thedanger of turning out to be empty jargons. It is


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precisely the experience behind a word that givesmeaning to it. When experience is lacking, wordsbecome empty shells. All sentient beings haveexperience; even including animals and plants have,although the latter are not conscious of it. They donot have the awareness of their experience. Anexperience has value only when the experiencingsubject person is conscious of it. Therefore,enlightenment is more than experiencing. Consciousnessor awareness gives value to the experience, and everyexperience reveals the fact of your being self-evident.

Sannyāsins are often regarded as mystics andashrams as ‘enlightenment factories’. However, theyare in fact only merely reminders. They are beaconsand harbingers of that possibility and potential.Indeed, it is very hard to create beacons of thatpossibility without the very existence reality of theashrams. We expect our gurus, teachers, and priests tobe enlightened, although, unfortunately, many of themare not! We see more and more teachers who teach butwithout having a clue about it any experientialknowledge of what they teach. For most teachers andmasters, their sole source of authority is thescripture! They are the turn out to be zealouscustodians and keepers of the tradition. Like dogscarrying around ‘unhusked coconut’ or like demonsguarding treasure chest they ferociously protect their‘possession’ and prevent people who challenge and dareto open it to see whether it is empty or full.Unfortunately their passion and blind devotion do more


harm to their cause than favour. A radical approach toliberate mystical experience from all thesenonessential trappings of religion and spirituality isa need of the time. that They in their over enthusiasmhave effectively choked off what they try to promoteit calls for is its no-frills revelation of theexistential dilemma of human life. As in the beautifulparable of Buddha about the raft, which he compared tohis dharma [teaching] merely as a temporary device toget his followers from one side of a river to another,every method, and every teaching should be leftbehind. Dharma’s meaning will be completely distortedif it is raised to the status of an end in itself. Inthe presence of unbiased genuine mystical experience,infinite compassion emerges and all divisions,disputes, and hatred vanish. Equanimity reduces allattachments. All destructive emotions are based onignorance. The opposite or the antidote to ignoranceis enlightenment. Enlightenment is awareness of thetrue nature of reality, the cause of it, what can bedone about it, and the procedure towards itachievement.

Now there is an emerging trend of organizedmovements trying to bridge the gap between science andmysticism. Quantum physics, as well as a number ofother modern sciences, predicts the likelihood ofexperimentally verifying the essential unityunderlying the reality. There are scientists whoconsider the possibility of projecting consciousnessas the ground of all being. By attempting to bringmaterial realism to its knees and to integrate allfields of knowledge in a single unified paradigm, they


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hope to pave the way for a new holistic worldview inwhich spirit is put first. A theory of consciousnessthat embraces both the mystical and the latestdiscoveries in neuroscience, parapsychology, andquantum physics is in demand. Uncovering the largelyuntapped potential within our brains, and finding waysthrough which we can unleash this sleeping giant isthe next step in human evolution. Bohm22 was desperateto know, to discover the secret of everything, whetherthrough physics or through mystical knowledge. Yet, heinsists that reality is unknowable. The world we livein is not dependent on fixed ideas or conclusions.Fixed ideas which underlie scientific hypotheses arenot aids but obstructions to clarity, and that amethodology which combines discipline with opennesswould be better equipped to keep pace with the truththat is revealed as scientific investigationprogresses and deepens. But flexibility without rigor,so common in spiritual life, is equally inadequate.The collaboration of genuine Sannyāsins having truemystical experience with open-minded scientists wouldopen the path towards the full realization of humanpotential that remains yet to be achieved. In fact,that is the ultimate human vocation, “to be perfect asour heavenly Father is perfect (Mt 5:48).

22David Joseph Bohm (1917-1992) was a British quantumphysicist who made significant contributions in the fieldsof theoretical physics, philosophy, and neuropsychology,and to the Manhattan Project.

Mystical Experience: The Fount and Raison d'etre of Sanyasa

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