Chinmoyananada was in the Ashram for about seven or eight years. Four or five Ceylonese devotees came to the Ashram, and they saw that he was wearing an ochre cloth. 24 In the Ashram only one or two individuals used to wear ochre cloths.
Now I shall diverge briefly. The other day I was reading a book about a spiritual Master. One of his disciples wanted to accept renunciation, sannyasa. He had been with the Master for a few years, but he was not making progress. He thought that if he took sannyasa, then he would make fast progress.
The Master said, “Wearing an ochre cloth you will make fast progress? Then look at a horse or a donkey! They have the same skin colour as the ochre cloth. If you wear an ochre cloth, you will become another donkey or horse! The colour of the dhoti does not make any difference. If you want to renounce, renounce all wrong things. Renounce evil thoughts! You do not have to wear an ochre cloth.”
The Master himself never used an ochre cloth. He said, “Did I wear an ochre cloth? Did I accept sannyasa, renunciation? No, it is all in the mind. If you can give up attachment, then you do not need an ochre cloth. If you wear it, do not think that you can conquer attachment all at once – never, never! Look at a donkey, look at a horse! Their skin is the same colour as the ochre cloth.”
To come back to the story, those five young men from Sri Lanka went to the Ashram, and they were quite mesmerised by Chinmoyananda. They requested him to come with them and open a Centre in Sri Lanka. He went there, but after only a few months his students became so unruly, so undivine, and he was mistreated.
18 May 2002, Public School 86
24. The yellow-orange clothing that signifies taking the monastic vow of renunciation.↩
From:Sri Chinmoy,Depend on Grace, Agni Press, 2023
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/dg