GIVING IT UP TO GET IT

The life stage of the renouncer within Vedanta is called sannyasa, and is considered the highest and concluding stage of the ashram (stages of life) system.  The other stages include:  celibate student life or brahmacharya, married householder life or garhasthya, the life of retirement and contemplation or vanaprastha, and then finally, again, monastic life or sannyasa. 

Sannyas, or final vows of renunciation, are traditionally taken by men or women over fifty or by young monks who wish to renounce worldly and materialistic pursuits so as to dedicate their lives to spiritual pursuits.

People in this stage of life develop vairāgya, or a state of dispassion and detachment from material life.   They renounce worldly thoughts and desires in order to spend the remainder of their lives in spiritual contemplation.  A male member of the sannyasa order is known as a sannyasin, a female as a sannyasini.

When entering this phase, a sannyasi symbolically casts his physical body into fire by wearing saffron robes.  This frees the soul while the body is still alive.  As a result, a sannyasi is not cremated after death as most Hindus are, but may instead be buried.