How does a worldly person spend his life? -“The bound souls never think of God. If they get any leisure they indulge in idle gossip and foolish talk, or they engage in fruitless work. If you ask one of them the reason, he answers, ‘Oh, I cannot keep still; so I am making a hedge.’ When time hangs heavy on their hands they perhaps start playing cards.” There was deep silence in the room. – Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna What is the meaning of complete renunciation? -A husband and wife renounced the world and jointly undertook a pilgrimage to various holy shrines. Once as they were walking along the road, the husband being a little ahead of the wife saw a piece of diamond on the road. Immediately he began to scratch the ground to hide the diamond in it, thinking that if his wife saw it perhaps she might be moved by avarice and thus lose the merit of her renunciation. While he was scratching the ground the wife came up and asked him what he was doing. He gave, in an apologetic tone, an evasive reply. She, however, finding not the diamond and reading his thoughts remarked, ‘why have you left the world if you still feel the distinction between the diamond and the dust?’ – Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna How does a man come to Vairagya (dispassion for worldly enjoyment)? -A wife once said to her husband, "Dear, I am very anxious about my brother. For the past one week, he has been thinking of becoming an ascetic and he is making preparations for it. He is trying to reduce gradually all his desires and wants." The husband replied, "Dear, be not at all anxious about your brother. He will never be a mendicant. No one can become a sannyasin in that way. You cannot renounce things in installments." "How does one become a sannyasin, then?" asked his wife. "It is done in this way." So saying he tore into pieces his flowing dress, took a piece of it, tied it around his body and told his wife that she and all others are now mothers and sisters and brothers for him. He left the house, nevermore to return. – Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna This lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda on July 23, 2014.