In his early days as a wandering monk – a Parivrājaka – Swami Vivekananda travelled across northern India, meeting people from every walk of life. It was during this time that he came across a story that revealed what true renunciation really means.
The Strict Monk
Vivekananda stayed for a while in a hermitage near a large city.
There lived there a very strict and traditional Sannyāsin – a monk who followed the rules of renunciation with great rigidity.
He avoided all worldly contact — never went to the marketplace, spoke little,and especially kept away from women, whom he believed to be the greatest obstacle to spiritual life.
Every morning, however, a young milkmaid would bring him milk for his daily food.
He depended on her completely, though he took pride in never stepping outside the hermitage.
Vivekananda’s Test
Vivekananda noticed the contradiction. The monk, while claiming detachment, still depended on others and feared the world. One morning, he decided to test the monk’s idea of renunciation.
When the milkmaid arrived at the hermitage with her pot of milk, Vivekananda quietly took it aside and set it out of sight before anyone noticed. When she came and found it missing, she was heartbroken. Tears filled her eyes as she said,
“If I go home without the milk, they’ll punish me. Please help me find it.”
But the strict monk refused to move. He said he could not involve himself in “worldly matters,” as it would break his vow of renunciation.
The Milkmaid’s Strength
Vivekananda was deeply moved by her sincerity and distress.
He went out himself, found the pot and returned it to her.
Then he turned to the monk and said:
“You claim to have renounced everything, yet you depend on this poor woman for your food. You speak of detachment, but your heart cannot move to help her in need.
Her simple honesty and compassion are worth more than all your empty austerity.
Her renunciation is born of strength – yours is born of fear.”
The Teaching: True Vairāgya (Detachment)
This story became one of Vivekananda’s defining lessons on true renunciation or Vairāgya.
- Detachment is Internal:
Real detachment is not running away from the world or avoiding people — it’s freedom from inner attachment to outcomes and desires. - Action from Strength:
Spiritual strength must express itself as courageous compassion, not as cold withdrawal.
To act selflessly, without fear or expectation — that is true Karma Yoga.
Vivekananda taught that it is far nobler to live in the world with strength and purity,
than to hide from it out of fear and call that spirituality.
True renunciation, he said, is not escape – it is mastery.
Source: The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (specifically the lectures on Karma Yoga)
Vedik Mind 