Living in his own world he walked down towards a house of this world. The house seems to be of a middle class family. He knocked the door; a boy aged around 12 years opened it. He was mesmerized and kept on observing the person. His bright and shiny saffron clothes were more than enough to create an immense curiosity for the boy. The questions started flooding his mind and he was getting more and more confused, that, ‘why he looks so different from the people around him’? The silence was broken by the person and he asked for a glass of water. The boy brought it and finally asked:-
‘Who are you?’
Man: - ‘smiling he replied, I am a monk.’
Boy: - ‘Monk!!!’
Man: - ‘you know about monks!!’
Boy: - ‘not exactly, but I have read in the books, that they are super humans, know about God.’, ‘Have you ever met God?’ (The monk smiled on the innocence of the child) The child continued to speak…What is your daily routine?
Man: - My boy, my routine is different from yours. My daily routine begins with first ray of light in the morning, it starts with meditation and prayer, followed by studies and preaching religious philosophy. Later in evening time I wander home to home for food. If I am lucky I will get it and if I am not then I will starve. And again I meditate before sleep.
Boy: - (amazed hearing such a different lifestyle he asked) ‘can I become a monk?’
Man: - (smiling he gave reply) to become a monk the first and foremost requirement is of a strong moral character. The person should not accumulate or make any wealth or property on her/his name. She/he should satisfy oneself in minimum required things need to be alive. If there is need to walk barefoot you must walk, if there is need to starve you must starve. You need to concentrate towards God. There should be no desire other than the desire to get enlighten. You must read and understand the holy books and, you must restrict yourself from exposure of the outside world.
Boy was staring at his face, and was unable to understand what he said. But he again asked to him- ‘what you get from all these?’
Man: - ‘I attain a permanent state of happiness, which never fades in any situation.’
Boy wandered and said- ‘but I get happy when I play games, can monk play games, which I play?’
Man laughed on him and told him- ‘no he cannot, as he need to remain ideal.’
Unsatisfied with his answer boy went away saying that I want to play. He still got many questions left in his mind but he didn’t bothered to ask, as a straight thought struck his mind that becoming a monk means he will lose his happiness .
This conversation between a man who is monk and a 12 year old boy raises some question- ‘Why it is so hard to become a monk?’ ‘What kind of happiness they attain, for which one has to give up their happiness which we are in?’ ‘Why there cannot be an easier option?’
Let us get a brief idea about a monk first.
A monk never means a person, who only wears a peculiar garb and follow a set of observances. It’s a part of monk’s life which the monk follow. A monk is a person who decides to dedicate his life to serve other living beings or a person who follow ascetism. Who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live his life in prayer and contemplation? The word monk basically originated from the Greek word ‘monos’, which means ‘alone’. Monks are involved in all kinds of religious services and rituals. In Tibet, there is a monk from every family, who sends at least one boy to monastery for a rigorous life. Life starts early in the morning till late night in monasteries. Monks at any monastery study sutras and read religious texts. Some monasteries also teach subjects like science, crafts, astrology and medicine etc.
Now let’s go in brief about different monasteries and their rules and regulations, so that you can understand their motto and working culture, and how they transform a person to monk. There are varieties of monasteries around the world like- Jainism, Buddhism itself made to promote monasticism. In Roman Catholicism Anglicanism, Lutheranism, Methodism etc. are being practiced, started by their respective priests. In Hinduism ISKON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Ramakrishna Paramhans Ashram etc. promotes monasticism. While Islam is strictly against monasticism; Judaism to, does not encourage it and Zoroastrianism also rejects all forms of asceticism and monasticism.
Other than the above mentioned several other monasteries are also there like Tibetan monastery, monastery for Benedictines, monastery for Zens, Protestantism is practiced in Protestantism etc. Similarly there are different monasteries at different places, being promoted by their respective priests.
Monasticism mainly promotes celibacy and giving up of materialistic world strictly to attain happiness and get free from sufferings, and their rules and regulations to revolve around it. Let’s start from Buddhism-
A Buddhist monk should not have any personal means of support; he should seek alms to contemplate the necessity of life. A Buddhist monk is allowed to receive and consume food between dawn and midday, but he can consume plain water anytime. He is not allowed to cure and cook food except in special circumstances. He is not allowed to eat fruits or vegetables containing fertile seeds, though they can eat it if any other person has removed seeds. He cannot live in luxury or cannot use luxurious items, though a modest furnishing is allowed. Medicines can be taken if given by others, like food. No entertainment is allowed through media and any type of sexual behavior is not allowed; they need to follow celibacy strictly.
Jainism practices asceticism intensively. They practice fasting, yoga and meditation in difficult postures and other several austerities. Their main goal is to attain ‘Nirvana or Moksha’. Jain monks or nuns attain it by taking five vows; those are- non-violence, truth, non-stealing, non-possession and celibacy.
Ramakrishna Mission Ashram focus on self consciousness, by preaching path of devotion, path of philosophical inquiry, path of meditation and path of right action. But in ashram work has special importance, as according to the rules laid down by Swami Vivekananda, every member, must do some work in the service of Sri Ramakrishna. One cannot avoid work in the name of pseudo-spirituality. The monastery vow of poverty though for clothing, food and housing, middle class standards are followed. Renunciation of personal ambitions, family relations, possessions, luxury and sex is to be followed to become a member of ashram.
The Benedictine monks take vows on the basis of the rule of St. Benedict. The monks take a vow of obedience which includes poverty and celibacy. The other two vows are stability and conversion in the way of life. The Benedictine monks carry out regular round of worship, reading, and manual labor. Each day is divided into seven sacred offices, beginning and ending with services in the monastery church. The emphasis on labor is given as religious duty.
Similarly one can find almost same vows and life style in different Christian monasteries around the world. And not only they are same in Christian monasteries but anyone can point out the similarities in rules and regulations, their strictness their ways of achieving enlightment, in monasteries of different religion; it seems they accompany each other.
We have gone through few monasteries and their rules which a person need to follow to be a monk in their monastery. The most common aspect we found in every monastery that they have tried their best to make life tough by applying stringent norms and conditions. The starting conversation between a man who was a monk and a 12 year old boy gives a hint, that, how much different, life can be in a monastery, which repels people instantly. As the boy gave up his intentions which evolved inside him, after hearing some logical and some illogical statements by the monk, similarly, the conditioned lifestyle in a monastery repels more than attract. Our intention here is to question monasteries who never eased their rules simply for the sake of maintaining their standard differently. What is the use of such rules which were never meant to attract and the ironical part is that repulsion became an exclusive factor for monasteries. The tougher are the norms, more is the exclusivity.
Human nature always tries to find the easiest path. Therefore, out of all those tough norms of different monasteries, so many of them can be eased, or must be eased, because all the path described in monasteries are not relevant today. They might have some relevance at the time of their respective origin, but now with the passage of time human psychology, their requirement and their definitions have gone under change. Living in today’s material dominated society, it is not easy for a person to leave things all of sudden and join monasteries with their current norms. If monasteries could make it systematic, like for example, to make people aware of the beauty of a monastic life they can ask them to join with eased norms and conditions partially. Later, when that person will understand the monastic life she/he will itself cannot be able to resist them to start a monk’s life. Monasteries must think to treat in a psychological manner like a psychologist does in therapy; so many therapies take several years to treat any disorder. Target of monasteries should be to make a large number of people, so that they can make them to feel its beautifulness, which can only be achieved when they will attract more and more people. Making their rules and regulations comfortable, and following a different path should not be taken as their degradation. There are many incidents available in history in every religion, when traditions have got changed by men like Vivekananda who broke a myth of not crossing sea in Hindu society, Christ who was seen as greatest rebellion of his time, then why not to give a chance.
People with their thoughts; with their hard work; with their ethical approach make any place stand different among others. More will be the people more will be the variety of thinking and more will be the ways to find something new in spirituality, therefore, more will be the possibilities.
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