If Adi Sankara’s life typifies the true import of renunciation as stressed in the sastras, his works are equally helpful guides that initiate one towards seeking salvation, pointed out Nannilam Sri V. Rajagopala Ganapadigal in a discourse. It is held that Siva incarnated as Adi Sankara for the purpose of imparting the highest knowledge by which man can attain salvation from the cycle of births. Adi Sankara accepts sanyasa at a tender age and shows through example how to tread the path of renunciation. Through Viveka Chudamani and other granthas he tries to dispel the ignorance that binds mankind to samsara. It is only natural to seek happiness in life and worldly attractions beckon all people to seek the joy and happiness in these. But if one spends his lifetime in seeking these such as name, fame, wealth, relationships, etc, then it is all the more difficult to give up all these.
Since it is a great challenge to give up the different kinds of happiness that life affords, scriptures and sacred texts reinforce the truth that these joys that we expect or experience are full of faults. Unless one understands with full force this truth, it will be difficult to renounce these. For instance, if one sees a lizard in the food he has been looking forward to eat, would he have any second thoughts in rejecting the food? Being aware of the ephemeral quality of life’s joys can help one to cultivate the spirit of renunciation. With this knowledge one can cultivate detachment to objects, places and people and gradually learn to renounce these. The knots of desires that spring in the human heart are only the effects of ignorance. So the important factor is to cut off desire. Then the senses can be subdued. The end of renunciation is when the desires that have already subsided do not rise again as also the sense of I and Mine.