This lecture defines true renunciation not as the abandonment of family and societal duties, but as performing one's prescribed work without attachment to the results, as exemplified by the householder saint Srivasa Thakura. To achieve this state of surrender, devotees are encouraged to maintain a balanced lifestyle that prioritizes physical health and chanting while actively engaging in service to avoid mental complacency.
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
mayā proktaṁ hi lokasya
pramāṇaṁ satya-laukike
athājani mayā tubhyaṁ
yad avocam ṛte mune
The Personality of Godhead, Kapila, said: Whatever I speak, whether directly or in the scriptures, is authoritative in all respects for the people of the world. O muni, because I told you before that I would become your son, I have descended to fulfill this truth.
om ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ
mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
So, Prabhupāda speaks in this purport about sannyāsa, the renounced order of life. And we will try to understand today the true meaning of renunciation.
We also have the disappearance day of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, member of Pañca-tattva, so we will try to speak a little bit about that as well.
But we often think that to become spiritually advanced, we must stop working and give up our family life. But there is a contradiction. If quitting our duties is the goal, why is Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, a householder living in the middle of a busy society with a large family, considered the perfect example of a renunciate?
Well, we are not this body, but the bodily conception of life is very strong. Here, like in Alnwick, we are all engaged in different practical duties, managing the community, maintaining families, performing daily work. The material energy is pushing us. The mind becomes disturbed. And the false ego is dictating to us that this work is entanglement. "If only I could stop these duties and retreat, then I would be peaceful. I would be a pure devotee." But this is illusion. We confuse stopping of physical activity with true spiritual advancement. We try to escape from our prescribed duties out of frustration and bodily discomfort, maybe, rather than purifying our consciousness.
So, let's talk a little bit about Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura.
As part of the Pañca-tattva, he represents part of the Absolute Truth. And the meaning of the syllable oṁ, oṁ praṇava, oṁ, oṁkāra, Krishna says, but Kapila says in the Bhagavad-gītā, that "I am oṁkāra." So, in a very nice verse attributed to the Jīva Gosvāmī, he says:
akāreṇocyate kṛṣṇaḥ
sarva-lokaika-nāyakaḥ
ukāreṇocyate rādhā
makāro jīva-vācakaḥ
That "a" means Krishna, the Supreme Hero, the ruler of all, sarva-lokaika-nāyakaḥ. "u" means Radharani, the Supreme Shakti, non-different from Krishna but still different. And "ma" stands for the jīvas, jīva-vācakaḥ. So, when we pronounce aum, everything is contained within: the Supreme Īśvara, Parama Krishna, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, Śrīmatī Rādhikā, the pleasure potency personified, and the jīvas.
So on the altar we have oṁ in a sense. We have Krishna and Radha in the form of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. We have Nityananda, the first expansion, and in that sense also īśa-tattva, Viṣṇu-tattva. And we have Advaita, first avatar, also Viṣṇu-tattva or īśa-tattva. And then Gadadhara Prabhu, who is the shakti, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. And we have Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, the jīva. So, there's the complete, Supreme Absolute Truth standing right here on the altar.
Śrīvāsa was living as a gṛhastha, householder. And gṛhastha is for most of us a natural stage in life, starting as students, brahmacārī, brahmacāriṇī, we study under the spiritual master, and then reaching adulthood, most enter into the householder ashram, gṛhastha. And there are different dharmas for when you are a student compared to when you are a householder. One important dharma for a gṛhastha is to maintain, to produce income for the other three ashrams: the brahmacārīs, brahmacāriṇīs, the vānaprasthas, and the sannyāsīs. And particularly those householders, gṛhasthas, who are vaiśyas, are very productive, producing wealth from what God has given us and then distributing it throughout society through charity, etc.
Much could be spoken about the different varṇas as well, which are very important to make one peacefully situated in our conditioned life. You may be conditioned by the mode of goodness, meaning that you are mainly of brahmanical stature. You are conditioned by a mixture of passion, or rather mostly passion, then you are kṣatriya. Vaiśya is a mixture of passion and ignorance, and śūdra, the very valuable working labor force, are mostly conditioned by tamo-guṇa. So all these dharmas, which are mostly described in the portion of the Vedas dealing with fruitive activity, karma-kāṇḍa, and in the Manu-saṁhitā, are pertaining to this temporary type of dharma, which is linked to the material condition that we have. You may be a brahmana in one life, you may be a vaiśya in another, you may be a woman in another life, and you have to follow the particular strī-dharma.
So, we can understand that this dharma, which is temporary, conditional dharma, is very much required for the proper management of material society, which should serve as a stepping stone to our nitya-dharma, our eternal dharma, which has nothing to do with any ashram or any varṇa. kībā vipra, kībā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya, Mahaprabhu says.
So, whether you are a sannyāsī or brahmacārī or householder or śūdra, vaiśya, kṣatriya, doesn't matter. Your eternal position is to be Krishna's servant. So, in the conditioned state, we are suffering from kind of an identity crisis, because due to the false ego, which is part of the material energy covering our true knowledge, we believe that we are these material bodies, with a variety of illusion in every new lifetime. Every lifetime we are very much convinced that we are this particular body that we have been awarded by the material nature, and then we act upon that, feeling connection to a particular family, particular race or nation, particular religion, like that, gender, etc.
So, this is our identity crisis. And then we have confusion about what is the right thing to do. So, we also when we end up in a, particularly in a crisis situation in this world, we don't know: what shall I do? What is the best thing for me to do? And if you are in a really big crisis, you're just thinking, who am I? What's the meaning of my life? Who am I? So, these are the two crises. And it's very nicely answered in the classic sloka: jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa.
So, we are eternal, we are aṇu, very small parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and our occupation—"What shall I do?"—that's dāsa, kṛṣṇera dāsa, huh? And it's also very eloquently answered in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:
sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati
That what you should do, whether you have seven days left to live or 70 years or seven minutes, in every moment, the best thing to do is to serve Krishna, because that is who we are: eternal servants.
So, the first thing that happened to us when we come to this world is that we forget these things. We forget who we are and we forget what to do. The āvaraṇātmikā-shakti of Krishna, that's an aspect of māyā, is the covering, cover your true knowledge. So, instead of being self-realized, you are being self-delusional and identifying with different material temporary bodies, no matter how abominable they are, in every life. And then the prakṣepātmikā-shakti, another aspect of māyā, is very good at distracting us. It's pointing us to different more or less useless activities, which has very little to do with our transcendental eternal occupation of being Krishna's servants. But those two aspects of māyā are very, very powerful.
So, the prakṣepātmikā-shakti simply presents with innumerable distractions and deviations, and "Maybe I should do this, maybe I should do that. I should go to school, I should get married, I should travel here," you know. So, this is our predicament in this world.
However, a person who is not fully self-realized and not fully connected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead is still part of the more or less conditioned material society, and therefore, while a beginner in bhakti-yoga may very strictly follow the principles of varṇāśrama-dharma and of vaidhi-bhakti, after he or she matured and become more advanced, they enter into the more spontaneous mood of bhakti where you no longer follow because of duty, because the scriptures tells you or the guru tell you, but you continue to follow because of attraction, right? So, at no point we give it up unless we become a complete renunciate or babaji and go out in the forest and dress in tree bark and deer skin and eat roots and stuff like that. So, although varṇāśrama is external, it's not rejected by the acaryas or by Mahaprabhu Himself. It's just not the final goal.
So, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura say that whatever material occupation or whatever you do, whatever temporary dharma, in actuality, that's not very important, very mundane. But still, if it points you towards your nitya-dharma, it should be considered nitya-dharma as well. Everything that puts you on the right trajectory is your eternal occupation.
So, Kapila Muni was very great sage and renunciant. And Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura was a great householder and a pure devotee. But, according to this scripture, Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura is an incarnation of Nārada Muni, great sage and jīva, pure devotee, and engaged in all kinds of very interesting līlās to support the pleasure of Krishna. So, he is the bhakta-avatāra, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura.
But, he observed a great level of renunciation. For example, when during the Mahā-prakāśa-līlā, Mahāprabhu while Caitanya was dancing in ecstasy in Śrīvāsa's courtyard, Śrīvāsa's house was the known saṅkīrtana-kuṭīra, everybody was assembling there to chant Harināma saṅkīrtana. During that Mahā-prakāśa-līlā, Śrīvāsa's son suddenly passed away, he had a severe fever. What did Śrīvāsa do? Did he stop the devotional service? No, he strictly forbade his family from lamenting and weeping. His only concern was that the Lord's ecstatic dancing should not be disturbed. This is not ordinary. This is not artificial restraint. This is absolute surrender. He did not change his ashram, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, he changed the center of attachment.
So, what is true renunciation? According to the Bhagavad-gītā, Chapter 18 particularly, the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna states definitely that sannyāsa is giving up of activities based on material desires, meaning as a sannyasi, you only engage in transcendental activities. Whereas tyāga, renunciation, is giving up the fruitive results of all activities, right? If you perform transcendental activity, there are no material fruitive results. It's simply transcendental, directly pleasing the Supreme Lord. But if you perform fruitive activities, you surrender the results, like that, niṣkāma. You have no attachments to the results of your activities.
And then Krishna explicitly categorizes renunciation in Chapter 18: If you give up your prescribed duties out of illusion, that is the mode of ignorance. If you give them up because they are troublesome, that is the mode of passion, rajo-guṇa. True renunciation, the mode of goodness, means you perform your prescribed duty simply because it ought to be done, without any attachment to the result.
So, in this way, even the fully self-realized soul sets example for the rest of society by continuing following, you know.
Like a person working in a bank, he handles millions of dollars or crowns every day, but he does not claim a single one as his own. Nor does he artificially renounce his position and run away from the bank in the name of detachment. He simply executes his duty for the proprietor. Who is the proprietor?
īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ
yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat
tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā
mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam
Everything belongs to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ, everything is controlled by Him.
So, in exact same way, the true renunciation means recognizing that Krishna is the Supreme Proprietor, and we are His eternal servants. In today's verse that describes the departure of Kardama Muni into the renounced order of life, he very dutifully fulfilled his gṛhastha ashram with a very, very qualified spouse in Devahūti, who complemented him, and they produced nine very good daughters plus the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kapila deva. So, his duty was fulfilled with excellence, and now was the time to proceed to the next stage of his duty.
But his internal state was complete, unalloyed dependence on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura perfectly demonstrated this exact internal state. When Lord Caitanya asked how he would maintain his large family without seeking a job, Śrīvāsa clapped his hands three times. He vowed that if Krishna did not provide food for three days, he would tie a heavy pitcher to his neck and drown himself in the Ganges. He knew Krishna maintains everyone.
So, devotee of that caliber is never worried about the source of income. He is simply concerned about the source of maintenance:
nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām
eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān
So, overjoyed with this absolute dependence, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was roaring loudly and promised that even if the Goddess of Fortune had to beg, Śrīvāsa's would never experience poverty. Same thing in the Second Canto, it's explained that also the beasts in the forest, everybody, they gets their maintenance by the mercy of the Supreme Lord.
So, we should not fall into the trap of false renunciation. Since Krishna Himself explains that using everything in His service is far more superior than rejecting it, you do not need to artificially stop your work. Perform your daily duties here in Alnwick, or wherever you are, without claiming the results. Serve the Vaiṣṇavas, maintain your families, and execute your practical service simply because it must be done for the pleasure of Guru and Gaurāṅga. Give up the desire for the fruits, and depend entirely on Krishna's maintenance, which is one of the six aspects of surrender, to feel completely dependent on the protection of the Lord, and also to see Him as our guardian angel, so to speak. Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda, Hare Krishna. Is there maybe some comment or question?
Yes... you said that whatever is leading towards pure devotional service, is also considered pure devotional service...
From the Jaiva-dharma, there's a section in the beginning, in the first section of the book, where Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura goes deeply into these matters. And, by the way, Śrīla Prabhupāda himself highly recommended particularly the Jaiva-dharma and the Śrī Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta to be read by devotees, preferably when maybe they made a little more advancement, and also he highly recommended the Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta by Sanātana Gosvāmī. Because you find knowledge in there which will help you realize more of the truth about devotees and devotional service. So, naimittika-dharma is ordinary activity which leads to maybe some sense gratification and then comes suffering, and this is all part of the quagmire of material existence. Even if you strictly follow the varṇāśrama system but without going in the direction of approaching the Supreme Lord, that's pretty useless. But it clearly says that if you're in the right trajectory, if an activity is leading to pure devotional service—it's not necessarily is pure devotional service, that's not how we write, but it says it is actually nitya-dharma, because you are striving in the right direction. That's the saving grace in Chapter 9, Verse 30, even that if you by mistake make something really terrible, wrong, as a devotee, you should still be considered saintly person because you're rightly situated. You are in the shower, you may have been covered with dirt and sweat and whatever abominable substances, but as long as you stand in the shower. He says also in Chapter 2 that in this endeavor there is no loss, he never says in this status, just because you are a sannyasi or you are this or that or travels all over the world and preach and this and that, that doesn't mean that... He says if you endeavor, wake up every day, "My dear Krishna, please help me be a better devotee today than I was yesterday," you know, that is what is considered nitya-dharma, according to Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, yes.
I can see this... in Śrī Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, there is a scope of performance...
Yes.
...which translation is not the highest perfection, but it's like by which... by which we can attain...
Actually corroborating, yes. "That by which we can attain." That's the prayojana. So, if you're on the stage of abhidheya, you're actually doing nitya-dharma, starting with sambandha, you understand there is a sambandha between you and the Lord, right? And then when you are convinced that you are, at least theoretically, kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa, then we just do it, and then we make it, then you engage in abhidheya and then you reach prema, prayojana, ultimately.
And Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta is also quite important...
Well, you know, we also follow a trajectory. I think the first book I was studying, which I actually translated later, was the Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers. Krishna, somehow or other, when you start showing interest in re-establishing your relationship with Him, He shows you special interest or special mercy, kṛpā, sukṛti. So, He puts you in contact with people and books which are perfectly matching your present level of realization and understanding. So, therefore, we have so many small books, you know. Sometimes devotees, I remember in the past, we went out with the Caitanya-caritāmṛta and Srimad-Bhagavatam story and I never really understood... I mean, if people take it and put it on the bookshelf, they have God in their home, just like Devahūti, Kardama Muni, Kapila deva, so it's good. But if they throw it away or whatever... So we have all these things, you know, Easy Journey to Other Planets, Chant Hare Krishna and Be Happy, Raja-vidya, and all these small books. But then they can become a little bit thicker, like the Upadeśāmṛta, Īśopaniṣad, and Gita is very thick book. And then as you grow as a devotee, then, you know, it becomes natural like that. For example, the Jaiva-dharma has two sections. One is about, a lot about naimittika, temporary dharma, and nitya-dharma, very, very interesting, I think I read it about three times. Then, of course, the second section, which is rasa-tattva about the higher things, I have not read that at all. I don't dare getting into that section because I'm absolutely not on that platform. So, that has to wait until another lifetime. So, you know a little bit what, when the book really speaks. And you can always go back because if you read the Bhagavatam for the second or third or fourth time, you always find new sweetness in the Bhagavad-gītā, I don't know how many times we read the Bhagavad-gītā, but now you read the 18th chapter and find: wow, yeah, now... We have charity, we have sacrifice, things that didn't make sense before, right? But you follow a trajectory because that's like illustrating your endeavor. Look at it this way: you kind of broke up with an old friend, but then you realize, I shouldn't have done that. So, I have to endeavor a little bit. So, this is the thing, you know. We try hard, according to our capacity, to be recipients of Krishna's mercy. He never stops giving mercy, He always gives that, but some of us are really bad at receiving the mercy. The whole world are full of these people. So, the task of a Vaiṣṇava is to more and more open up and become the recipient of Krishna's mercy. That means you clean your heart, so it becomes as pure as possible, so Krishna would like to sit there and stay there, right? So, there is a endeavor. Our transcendental fruitive work is we want the fruit of Krishna's lotus feet, you know? So, we work hard because we want that, we are desirous. So, if you want to repair your relationship, it's not that it's going to be automatically. "Yeah, you know, I just happen to live in Alnwick, it's a sacred place so..." No, we have to try hard, we have to, you know, chant the holy name, associate with devotees, according to our physical capacity, come and attend the programs, we want to repair our relationship, we want to show repentance, we want to, "Please Krishna, I will never leave You again," you know. So, this is what He appreciates, it's the effort that you put in. We know we can't do anything, everything is given by Krishna, but the more you try sincerely, not artificially, but sincerely, according to your means, your capacity, the more Krishna will bestow His mercy upon you, like that.
Hare Krishna... you say that māyā has the quality or she covers our consciousness, and we get the feeling that we need something more, we need to travel, we need to eat this, and we need that, and go there... but on the other hand, there is an understanding of zone of comfort, so how do you distinguish between the two of them? This is māyā making me restless, and this is just my comfort zone?
Śrīla Prabhupāda has the solution to everything. He had a wonderful disciple, artist, great cook, great servant, a lady by the name Jadurāṇī. And one day Prabhupāda came looking for her, but she wasn't there, she was cooking for him generally and then he heard that she got sick. She kind of had a weak body. And he's very concerned, so he made a handwritten note and put it there in the kitchen for her. He said, "Health is number one. Chanting is number two. Service is number three. And then comes reading." So, if you look at it, if you really meditate, this is the perfect description of the Vaiṣṇava lifestyle. Because we have one thing here which we don't have in the spiritual world, and that's a material body. If you don't take care properly of the body, you will not be able to meditate properly, because the body will cause you pain and anxiety and disturb your mind. And like Krishna says in the Gita, "Without peace, how can there be happiness?" If you have a disturbed mind, can't chant. So, you take care of the body to the extent that it's healthy, well-fed, well-rested, and you can do service. You don't create... another thing Prabhupāda is funny, says that any "unnecessary necessities", like "I have to have this, I have to, you know, this kind of makeup and this..." No, no, you don't need makeup to chant Harināma, but you need to be well-rested, you can't be a yogi if you sleep too little or sleep too much, or if you eat too much or eat too little. And you need to balance work with recreation. You have those three factors, then you're safe. It's not, you know, comfort zone, you should be comfortable in your role as a Vaiṣṇava, you know, and not just walk around hungry and tired and, you know. Health comes first, then comes chanting, then comes service, and then comes reading. No unnecessary necessities, but all real necessities to cover the material body, the needs, the needs to be satisfied, right? If you're hungry, eat. If you're tired, sleep. If you have a headache, then maybe you have need to take an aspirin. Like that too, you know. If you have a cavity, go to the dentist. If you have a broken leg, go to the doctor and get some cast, you know. We do the necessary, do the necessary, what I just said. Don't do the unnecessary, but do the necessary. So, since we don't have a material body in the spiritual world, we don't have to care for all this eating and go to the toilet and all that, you know. But here we do, so we have to properly take care of the body like that, so that we can serve. If you're disturbed mentally or suffers physically, it's harder to do good service. There's so much focus on your anxiety, focused on the pain, discomfort, it's very difficult to focus on Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu-Nityānanda Śrī Advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsādi-Gaura-Bhakta-Vṛnda, yeah? Is that okay?
I have additional question... but it did concern also service... if there are too little challenges, then yeah, to some people, it is good, but for some people, the restless mind, it is obstacle also. So, there might be also comfort zone, that I'm just not able to take too much challenges, although I would need them, and then my japa would be also... I would be more calm during the japa-patha...
Thank you, very good question. Prabhupāda used to say that an idle mind is the devil's workshop. So, we need to fill our mind with Krishna, and we need to fill our day with activities for the pleasure of Krishna. And they are always challenging. This is also in modern pedagogy, you know, if you don't stimulate the children, they get kind of obnoxious sometimes. So, the thing is, if you are good enough, you can give yourself challenges, but we have authorities, we have temple authorities, we have spiritual master. Spiritual master will always challenge you, Krishna will challenge you in different ways, sadhari, he will not give you a test or a challenge which is harder than you can actually do. So, I would recommend that if you want to be challenged, you talk to the, like, temple president, or temple commander, and you talk to your spiritual master, he will give you a service, they will expect some results. And to get results, you have to put in the work, you have to endeavor. They don't come automatically, you know, you have to show that "I want to be better recipient for mercy," like this, "And then I can be your instrument in this world." So, we should not let the mind be in the comfort zone too much and be the devil's workshop, because then you come up with so many distractions and concoctions that will, you know, hamper your spiritual progress, like that. So, staying sufficiently challenged, it's good, it's a balance, just like, you know, stay sufficiently rested, and sufficiently fed, you know, that it's always this balance to, you know, working properly. Thank you, Hare Krishna. we are well over time, so I think I should stop here, right? Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam kī jaya, Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya.