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a positive attitude toward sannyas means a dimension altogether different. You can be where you are, you can go on doing whatever you are doing -- no outward change is immediately asked for. Of course there will be changes, but they will come. When they come, let them come, but do not try, do not make any effort. Do not force them to come. And I see more possibility for positive sannyas, for positive renunciation, in the world that is coming.
That negative concept of denying oneself was possible previously for so many reasons. One was the way society was structured. All the agricultural societies could allow some persons to be completely without work. But the more the society is industrialized, the less will be the possibility of joint families. The more individuality, the less will be the possibility of joint families. Loose economic structure could allow more joint families, but the more planned the economy, the less will be the possibility of joint families. Those who were sadhus and monks seem to be exploiters. Now they cannot be respected, now they cannot exist. And as I see it, everyone must do whatever he can do; one must contribute to the society in which one exists. One should not remain an exploiter. One should not be, and the religious person cannot be, an exploiter. And if a religious person can exploit, then we cannot expect others not to exploit.
To me, a sannyasin will not be an exploiter. He will earn a living. He will be a producer, not only a consumer. So a productive concept also goes with the positive. The old concept of the non-productive monks was well adjusted with the negative attitude. The positive attitude will have more implications. For example, the old concept of sannyas denied many things. It denied a family, it denied sex, denied love. It denied everything that contributes to society's happiness -- that can contribute to your own happiness. It denied -- I will not deny.
That does not mean that I allow. When I say I will not deny, it only means a moment can come when a person becomes absolutely transcendental -- for example, to sex. That is another thing, that is not a requirement but a consequence. It is not needed
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