To renounce what we cannot gain is not true renunciation, it is weakness.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
To renounce what we cannot gain is not true renunciation, it is weakness. When the apples are so high up on the branch of the tree that we cannot reach them, we try to and cannot, if we then say, “The apples are sour. I don’t want them”, that is not renunciation. If we climb the tree and get the apples and cut them in half, then we may say, “They are sour”, and throw them away.
If we say, “I cannot have my wish. It is not intended by the Will of God. I am resigned to the Will of God”, that is not resignation. Why should it not be meant for us to have our wish? Behind our will there is the Will of God. God desires it through us. Christ said, “If ye desire bread, God will not give a stone”. By this we see that it is natural for us to have our desire, it is natural for us to have health and riches and success and all things. It is unnatural to have illnesses and failures and miseries. But if, after gaining all the wealth in the world, position and titles, then we give it up, then that will be true renunciation.
( from Unpublished Papers – Nekbakht Foundation Archives: The Way of Attainment (undated) )
The real spirit of renunciation is willingness; and willing renunciation comes when one has risen above the thing one renounces. The value of each thing in life, wealth, power, position, possession, is according to one’s evolution. There is a time in life when toys are one’s treasures, and there is a time when one puts them aside. …
There are two different renunciations: one is renunciation, the other is loss. True renunciation is that which a person makes who has risen above something that was once valued; or whose hunger and thirst for the thing are satisfied and it is no more so valuable as it once was; or who perhaps has evolved and sees life differently, no longer as it was seen before.
Renunciation in all these cases is a step forward towards perfection. But the other renunciation is one which a person is compelled to make when circumstances prevent the achieving of what one wishes to achieve or from getting back what one has lost helplessly; or when, by weakness of mind or body, by lack of position, power, or wealth, one cannot reach the object one desires. That renunciation is a loss; and instead of leading towards perfection it drags one down toward imperfection. …
The final victory in the battle of life for every soul is when one has abandoned, which means when one has risen above, what once one valued most. For the value of everything exists for us only so long as we do not understand it. When we have fully understood, the value is lost, be it the lowest thing or the highest thing. It is like looking at the scenery on the stage and taking it for a palace. Such is the case with all things of the world; they seem important or precious when we need them or when we do not understand them; as soon as the veil which keeps us from understanding is lifted, then they are nothing.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
As in the story of the fox, who abandoned its quest for the grapes on the high branch, the one who calls it surrender or renunciation when one cannot obtain an object sought has made the prime error of assuming that one is that thought of self called nufs [ also spelled nafs ] by the Sufis, but which is not really the true Self. Whatever be the true cause of failure, it is due to lack of concentration and some weakness. Of course, very often ignorance leads us to believe that we might secure some unwarranted prize, which later knowledge shows is beyond our reach. In this case it was the weakness which was the cause of ignorance.
Spiritual renunciation is of a very different character, being surrender of that which we can easily obtain; or sacrifice of something which we possess and prize; or giving away something we have earned at great cost; or abandoning the fruits of action for some higher ideal. This is the true renunciation, the real spiritual sacrifice.