Sri Sai Baba`S:Charters And Sayings

NINETEENTH TALK 393

Brahmana thread, the most important Brahmana
possession, put upon him as a boy when he was made
a Brahmana, and worn always by him. He changes the
actual thread, bufc^continues to wear the same symbol
till the day of his death, and that, the most sacred
symbol of all, the Sannyasi breaks and throws
away.

When our President instituted at Adyar the Order
of the Theosophical Sannyasis, that was part of the
ceremony of the induction. These people came
before her in the shrine room and took certain vows
to serve the Masters and to acknowledge her as
the head of their order, and simultaneously broke
their threads and gave them to her, thereby renounc-
ing their position in the highest caste because
they had risen above caste. That shows how, in the
very land of ceremonies, they recognise that these
things are not necessary. But remember that a
man may perform them for the sake of others,
when he himself has got quite beyond the necessity
for them. Many men in India, I am sure, do that.
Many Theosophists, who know that the ceremonies
are of no real necessity for them, continue to perform
them for the sake of others who are helped by them.
In an English village also the squire of the village
continues to go to Church for the sake of setting an
example to the villagers, even though he himself may
have his doubts about the value of the teaching" on
many points.