HARD ARE THE RULES FOR A SANNYASI

THE Rules for a sannyasin are extremely hard. He

cannot have the slightest contact with 'woman and

gold'. He must not accept money with his own

hands, and he must not even allow it to be left near

him.

Lakshminarayan Marwari, a Vedantist, used to

come here26 very often. One day he saw a dirty

sheet on my bed and said: "I shall invest ten

thousand rupees in your name. The interest will

enable you to pay your expenses." The moment he

uttered these words, I fell unconscious, as if struck

by a stick. Regaining consciousness I said to him:

"If you utter such words again, you had better not

come here. It is impossible for me to touch money.

It is also impossible for me to keep it near me." He

was a very clever fellow. He said: "Then you too

have the idea of acceptance and rejection. In that

case you haven't attained Perfect Knowledge." "My

dear sir," I said, "I haven't gone that far."

Lakshminarayan then wanted to leave the money

with Hriday. I said to him: "That will not do. If you

leave it with Hriday, then I shall instruct him to

spend it as I wish. If he does not comply, I shall be

angry. The very contact of money is bad. No, you

can't leave it with Hriday, Won't an object kept

near a mirror be reflected in it?"