One of the critical “secrets” of the Upanishads is that renunciation is the opposite of deprivation. When the senses (indriyas) are untrained they run wild, leading to a state of conditioning that is the opposite of freedom (Katha I.2.5–6). Joy comes from putting these faculties back on track under the guidance of the Self. This is precisely why the Upanishads teach renunciation. Not only are joy and renunciation not contradictory; they positively require each other. Taken together they form the key value of Hinduism, as Mahatma Gandhi taught when he took for his own mahavakya those three
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