By Hansadutta das
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Text 18
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Whether living in celestial
temples or under trees, lying on the bare ground and wearing rough
skins, by giving up all possessions and enjoyment, to whom will not
such detachment bring
happiness?
In material life we experience various conditions of
happiness and distress, but if we want to be happy under all
circumstances,
we shall have to accept the mood of renunciation: jñana
and vairagya. Jñana means knowledge, and vairagya
means renunciation or detachment.
In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna says, "The wise
men do not take part in the sources of misery which are due to contact
with
the material senses. Such pleasures have a beginning and an end. No
wise
man delights in them." ( Bhagavad-gita 5.22) Krishna also
says,
"No one can become a yogi unless he gives up the
desire for sense gratification." (Bhagavad-gita 6.2)
Sense gratification means eating, sleeping, defending
and mating. There must be some sense gratification, because, after all,
in our present condition we are bound up with our senses. We are
entrapped
within the material body, which is composed of the five senses
including
mind, intelligence and false ego. As long as we are trapped within this
material body, we must accept some sense gratification. We must eat
something. We
must sleep somewhere. We must defend ourselves and beget children. But
if
we want to be happy in this material situation, we shall have to learn
to
regulate our sense gratification. Bhagavad-gita (2.64)
says, "One who can practice the regulative principles of freedom
can attain the complete mercy of God and become free from all kinds of
material
misery." Regulating sense gratification means to accept only the bare
necessities
of life, and everything else should be given up.
Give up doesn't mean to throw it in the street; it means
to utilize it for the service of Krishna. We should take however much
we
require for our personal maintenance. We have this house, so we should
accept
some place to sleep, but not each person having his own room with all
kinds
of unnecessary paraphernalia such as furniture and lamps. As far as
food
goes, we should eat some rice, chapatis and vegetable. That is
all.
Whatever
is left over should be used for prasadam distribution. This is
the
idea of renunciation. Without renunciation and detachment, knowledge,
penance and austerity, there cannot be any progress in Krishna
consciousness.
A life of sense enjoyment, comfort and luxury does not go together with
yoga. We must reject one or the other. In
Chanakya's Niti-Shastra it is said, "A man who desires
knowledge should give up the desire for sense gratification, and the
man who desires sense gratification should give up the desire to have
knowledge." How can one who desires sense gratification have knowledge?
And how can one who has knowledge desire sense gratification? These two
are always opposed.
Therefore in this verse Shripada Shankaracharya is
saying that whether we get the opportunity to live in a palace or a
temple, or
whether we have to lie on the ground beneath a tree, wearing rough
clothing or animal skins, or whether we give up all possessions and all
kinds of
enjoyment, if we are in the mood of renunciation and detachment, then
we
shall be happy. That should be our motto. We should be satisfied with
whatever
comes off its own accord and not make any extra effort for our personal
sense
gratification. That is called sannyasa.
Sannyasa refers to a person who has given up all
kinds of plans and arrangements for unnecessary sense gratification. A
sannyasi is supposed to wander over the face of
the earth, not staying in any place more than three days. A sannyasi
is supposed to practice depending completely on the mercy of the Lord
under all kinds of conditions, sometimes in the cold and sometimes in
the
heat. Sometimes he will be praised, sometimes he will be blamed. At all
times a sannyasi is supposed to be completely
dependent on the grace of God. In this way, a sannyasi learns
to
become free from material attachments and completely free from material
designation. He is preparing himself so that when he dies he has no
dependency
on anything material but is completely surrendered to the lotus feet of
the Personality of Godhead, Krishna. Thus he goes home, back to
Godhead.
This Krishna consciousness movement is essentially a
movement for renunciates. It is not a movement for improving material
life.
It is a movement for improving spiritual life, and whatever is destined
to come to us due to our past karmic activity, we shall accept and not
endeavor
for more.
Even those devotees who enter into the grihastha
ashram (married life) should also live a progressive life of
renunciation. Although grihasthas (married devotees) are
permitted to associate with the opposite sex, that association is also
restricted to associating to beget children. That means unless one
desires to beget a child, he should not accept sex life. Sex life is
accepted as religious only when one engages in sex for begetting a
child. Otherwise, there should not be any sex indulgence. That is the tapasya
(austerity) of grihastha life. A
grihastha who lives according to the rules and regulations of Vedic
injunctions is considered also to be a brahmachari (celibate
student).
Those who do not abide by the Vedic injunctions in the grihastha
ashram are called grihamedhis (those who have made the
central interest of their life sense enjoyment). In other words, they
are simply maintaining a wife and a band of children without any
interest in spiritual advancement.
Every member of the Krishna conscious movement is
supposed to be a sannyasi (renunciate). On the basis of
knowledge, we want to get out of material existence in this very
lifetime by strictly controlling our senses. In the matter of eating,
we should eat only krishna-prasada (food offered to Krishna),
and even then we should eat only as much as we require. We should not
overeat in the name of prasadam. To eat too much prasadam
is a kind of maya (illusion). We should sleep only as much as
necessary. If possible, we should sleep in the temple, which is
transcendental. As far as defending is concerned, we depend on
Krishna to protect us. Regarding sex, if one desires to beget a Krishna
conscious child, he can accept sex life with his legally wedded wife,
but not with others. If there is no intention to beget any children,
one should keep himself aloof from the opposite sex. If we keep these
four principles very strictly, then we are sure to make progress. When
this term of bodily activity comes to an end with the dissolution of
the body due to old age, disease, and death, we shall definitely be
promoted to the spiritual sky
in our original spiritual body and enjoy our original life of knowledge
and bliss, being eternally in the association of Krishna.
It is very difficult to keep oneself purely Krishna
conscious, but if we remain in the association of devotees and follow
strictly the
regulated program of rising early, chanting sixteen rounds, attending
mangala-arati, regularly hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam,
taking prasadam and going on sankirtan, then
there will be no problem. It is a matter of following the standard
practices
in the association of the devotees. As soon as we remove ourselves from
the
company of the devotees, then immediately maya begins to attack
us,
and we are attracted to eat more, to sleep more, to have sex and so on.
The
secret of success is the association of devotees. Make this life
perfect
and go home, back to Godhead. Hare Krishna.
