Yesterday was the auspicious day of Vaikasi Vishakam. It is one of the most holy days of the year, especially dedicated to Lord Muruga and spiritual initiations.

After over 45 years of exemplary selfless service to the Kailasa Paramaparai, having reached beyond the age of 72, and after having been a Yogi Tapasvin for the last six years, Yogi Jothinatha was reborn as Kaivalyanathaswami. Bodhinatha gave him Sannyas diksha early in the morning yesterday in a traditional ceremony with only the swamis present. The auspicious day finished with a very powerful Vaikasi Vishakam Muruga abhishekam and puja in the evening.

We quote here from the inspiring text of the Holy Orders of Sannyas (click to read on line)

THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR ACCEPTANCE INTO THE SANNYASA DHARMA.
SCRIPTURES PROCLAIM that candidates for sannyas must be of a sattvic nature and possess a natural purity. They must be one-pointed and tranquil. Sankara's Crest Jewel of Discrimination states: "He alone may be considered qualified to seek the Absolute who has discrimination, whose mind is turned away from all enjoyments, who possesses tranquility and the kindred virtues, and who feels a longing for liberation... Longing for liberation is the will to be free from the fetters forged by ignorance--beginning with the ego-sense and so on, down to the physical body itself--through the realization of one's true nature... Be devoted to Brahman and you will be able to control your senses. Control your senses and you will gain mastery over your mind. Master your mind and the sense of ego will be dissolved. In this manner, the yogi achieves an unbroken realization of the joy of Brahman. Therefore, let the seeker strive to give his heart to Brahman... The fruit of dispassion is illumination. The fruit of illumination is the stilling of desire. The fruit of stilled desire is experience of the bliss of the Atman, whence flows all peace."

Candidates must have reached their twenty-fourth year and have begun their training for sannyas before age twenty-five, or have entered the sannyas ashram after age seventy-two.

Together he and the satguru symbolically conduct his antyesti samskara, the ritual funeral rites, to betoken the death of the personal self and the birth of the spiritual being. He places the remnants of personal identity, hair, clothing, pulnool or sacred thread and all desires for wealth, progeny and fame into the homa fire, beseeching the permission of Lord Ganesha and heeding the path of Lord Muruga, vowing aloud his renunciation thus: "All that I have and all that I am I now give unto my God, my Gods and my guru. I have no family except the Divine Father Siva and Mother Sakti who dwell in Kailas and on Earth the sangam of Saivite devotees. I have no home except the stillness of Being. I have no possessions except my faith and dedication. I have no desires except my desire to serve and to realize God." The candidate then says aloud three times, "I, wishing for mukti, take refuge in this sacred Order and in God Siva, who created the world, who breathed out the Vedas. The purpose of my life is to cultivate dispassion, to become pure, to attain union with God Siva and be immersed in Divine Love. I do fully and of my own volition accept these Holy Orders of Sannyas, now and for the remainder of my life, and bind myself in the fulfillment thereof to the ancient Order of sannyas, to my satguru, to my Saivite Hindu faith and to the devas, the Mahadevas and Lord Siva Himself. I am the Atman, the non-dual Parasiva, pure and free."

So saying, the renunciate walks unclad seven steps around the homa fire, returning to kneel at the guru's feet. He is thereafter dead to the world. The satguru then whispers the Panchakshara Mantra in the candidate's right ear three times, along with personal instructions for meditation.

Kaivalyanathaswami took his three vows of sannyas: Renunciation, Purity, ObedienceAnd we read aloud Yogaswami's from Natchintanai:

Hail, O sannyasin, love's embodiment!
Does any power exist apart from love?
Diffuse thyself throughout the happy world.
Let painful maya cease and ne'er return!
Day and night give praise unto the Lord.
Pour forth a stream of songs
To melt the very stones.
Attain the sight where night is not nor day.
See Siva everywhere, and rest in bliss.
Live without interest in worldly gain.
Here, as thou hast ever been, remain.
Then never will cruel sorrow venture nigh.