Renunciation is in fact denial of the self, and the denial of that which could be of use to one. As all things in this world can be used and abused, so the principle of renunciation can be used and abused; and among the many wrong meanings people attach to self-denial the one that is most common is that it means denying oneself the pleasures and the happiness that the world can offer. If practicing renunciation as a principle were a good thing, then there would seem to be no purpose behind the whole of creation. The creation might well never have been manifested if renunciation had been the principle. Therefore renunciation in itself is neither virtue nor sin; it becomes a virtue or a sin according to the use we make of it.