Renunciation is always for a purpose; it is to kindle the soul that nothing may hold it back from God, but when it is kindled, the life of renunciation is not necessary.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
Renunciation has an automatic action on the heart, an action which very few realize because very few arrive at that stage where they can renounce. By this action a spiritual spark is kindled in the soul; and when one has arrived at that stage they have taken the first step on the path of spirituality. The spark produced by this action in the depths of the heart culminates in a flame, a torch in life; and this changes the whole outlook on life. The whole world seems changed, the same world in which one has lived and suffered and enjoyed and learned and unlearned — everything appears to change once renunciation is learned. … They alone are capable of renunciation who find a greater satisfaction in seeing others eat their piece of bread than in eating it themselves.
Only those whose hearts are full of happiness after an act of renunciation should make a renunciation. This shows that renunciation is not something that can be learned or taught. It comes by itself as the soul develops, when the soul begins to see the true value of things. All that is valuable to others, a seer begins to see differently. Thus the value of all the things that we consider precious or not precious, is according to the way we look at them. For one person the renunciation of a penny is too much; for another that of everything they possesses is nothing. It depends on how we look at things. One rises above all that one renounces in life. We remain the slave of anything which we have not renounced; of that which we have renounced we become ruler. This whole world can become their domain to those who have renounced it. Renunciation depends upon the evolution of the soul. One who has not evolved spiritually cannot really renounce. Toys so precious to children mean nothing to the grown-up; it is easy to renounce them; and so it is for those who develop spiritually; for them all things are easy to renounce.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume VIIIa – Sufi Teachings: Part I, Chapter 13 – Renunciation )
Be obstinate in the path of success. Nothing should keep you back from your effort when your resolution is once taken. Renounce your object of attainment only when you have reached it and you have a better one in view. But when you have attained the object and you cling to it, then you hinder your own progress, for the object is greater than yourself. You are greater than the object when you are able to renounce it after attaining it.
( from Githa, Series I: Part 3 – Sadhana (The Path of Attainment), Paper 3 [ unpublished ] )
Some lead the life of renunciation, others have family, friends and all things, because renunciation is always for a purpose. It is to kindle the soul, that there may be nothing to hold the soul back from God, but when the soul is kindled the life of renunciation is not a necessity.
It is as Fariduddin Attar, the great Persian poet, says, ‘Renounce the good of the world, renounce the good of heaven, renounce your highest ideal, and then renounce your renunciation.’
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
Now renunciation is a letting go of things, but this does not make things depart. One can surrender the title to one’s home, yet live in it. It is this kind of surrender which is important in the spiritual life. The Bible teaches, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” What is meant by this fullness? It signifies that every blessing that comes to one while on earth comes from God.