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The Tension Between “Renunciation” and “Life in the World” Within Hinduism In the Hindu tradition the world is considered an illusion, or at least not representing the true nature of ultimate reality. Desire (kama) is the cause of the creation of the world. The One was bored and divided himself in to the many; the unmanifest became manifest. “In the beginning this world was just a single body (atman) shaped like a man…He found …

…to the never ending theological debate on the struggle between renunciation and life in the world within Hinduism. Perhaps, just as the Hindu temple is designed to represent something that is unrepresentable, the Hindu texts may be covering all the bases of the beliefs in order to force the searching Hindu into a state of moderation between the two, where he/she has found the true nature of the relationship between the world and Brahman.