By Nama Prabhu dasa
We are so very grateful to Bhurijana prabhu for sharing that wonderful purport by Srila Prabhupada. So many of us are getting on in years and we are witnessing our God-brothers and sisters leaving their mortal frames. And the younger devotees are well aware that there is no guarantee for a long life. It is said, krishna nama koro vai, ar sabe miche – palaiba patha nai, yama aache piche. Take to Krsna consciousness. Chant Hare Krsna! That is the only remedy. All other things are simply illusion. False. Death is coming. Death is at your door. There is no escaping. Yamaraja is right behind you!
We have been contemplating taking shelter of the holy dhama and Srila Prabhupada’s words were like a thunderbolt to our hearts. We hope that the following quotes from Srila Prabhupada will offer further guidance and inspiration to all the sincere devotees of the Lord. Hare Krishna.
are are krishnadasa, na karaha bhaya
vrindavane yaha,—tanha sarva labhya haya
“O my dear Krishnadasa, do not be afraid. Go to Vrindavana, for there you will attain all things.”
After saying this, He directed me toward Vrindavana by waving His hand. Then He disappeared with His associates.
I fainted and fell to the ground, my dream broke, and when I regained consciousness I saw that morning had come.
I thought about what I had seen and heard and concluded that the Lord had ordered me to proceed to Vrindavana at once.
That very second I started for Vrindavana, and by His mercy I reached there in great happiness. (Cc. Adi 5.195-200)
Sanjaya said: My dear descendant of the Kuru dynasty, I have no information of the determination of your two uncles and Gandhari. O King, I have been cheated by those great souls.
PURPORT
That great souls cheat others may be astonishing to know, but it is a fact that great souls cheat others for a great cause. It is said that Lord Krishna also advised Yudhishthira to tell a lie before Dronacarya, and it was also for a great cause. The Lord wanted it, and therefore it was a great cause. Satisfaction of the Lord is the criterion of one who is bona fide, and the highest perfection of life is to satisfy the Lord by one’s occupational duty. That is the verdict of Gita and Bhagavatam.* Dhritarashtra and Vidura, followed by Gandhari, did not disclose their determination to Sanjaya, although he was constantly with Dhritarashtra as his personal assistant. Sanjaya never thought that Dhritarashtra could perform any act without consulting him. But Dhritarashtra’s going away from home was so confidential that it could not be disclosed even to Sanjaya. Sanatana Gosvami also cheated the keeper of the prison house while going away to see Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and similarly Raghunatha dasa Gosvami also cheated his priest and left home for good to satisfy the Lord. To satisfy the Lord, anything is good, for it is in relation with the Absolute Truth. We also had the same opportunity to cheat the family members and leave home to engage in the service of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Such cheating was necessary for a great cause, and there is no loss for any party in such transcendental fraud. (SB 1.13.37)
Lord Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, who is very dear to the sons of King Pandu, has accepted me as one of those relatives just to please His great cousins and brothers.
PURPORT
A pure and exclusive devotee of the Lord serves his family interest more dexterously than others, who are attached to illusory family affairs. Generally people are attached to family matters, and the whole economic impetus of human society is moving under the influence of family affection. Such deluded persons have no information that one can render better service to the family by becoming a devotee of the Lord. The Lord gives special protection to the family members and descendants of a devotee, even though such members are themselves nondevotees! Maharaja Prahlada was a great devotee of the Lord, but his father, Hiranyakasipu, was a great atheist and declared enemy of the Lord. But despite all this, Hiranyakasipu was awarded salvation due to his being the father of Maharaja Prahlada. The Lord is so kind that he gives all protection to the family members of His devotee, and thus the devotee has no need to bother about his family members, even if one leaves such family members aside to discharge devotional service. (SB 1.19.35)
One should leave home and practice self-control. In a sacred place he should bathe regularly and sit down in a lonely place duly sanctified.
PURPORT
To prepare oneself for the better next life, one must get out of one’s so-called home. The system of varnasrama-dharma, or sanatana-dharma, prescribes retirement from family encumbrances as early as possible after one has passed fifty years of age. Modern civilization is based on family comforts, the highest standard of amenities, and therefore after retirement everyone expects to live a very comfortable life in a well-furnished home decorated with fine ladies and children, without any desire to get out of such a comfortable home. High government officers and ministers stick to their prize posts until death, and they neither dream nor desire to get out of homely comforts. Bound by such hallucinations, materialistic men prepare various plans for a still more comfortable life, but suddenly cruel death comes without mercy and takes away the great planmaker against his desire, forcing him to give up the present body for another body. Such a planmaker is thus forced to accept another body in one of the 8,400,000 species of life according to the fruits of the work he has performed. In the next life, persons who are too much attached to family comforts are generally awarded lower species of life on account of sinful acts performed during a long duration of sinful life, and thus all the energy of the human life is spoiled. In order to be saved from the danger of spoiling the human form of life and being attached to unreal things, one must take warning of death at the age of fifty, if not earlier. The principle is that one should take it for granted that the death warning is already there, even prior to the attainment of fifty years of age, and thus at any stage of life one should prepare himself for a better next life. The system of the sanatana-dharma institution is so made that the follower is trained for the better next life without any chance that the human life will be spoiled. The holy places all over the world are meant for the residential purposes of retired persons getting ready for a better next life. Intelligent persons must go there at the end of life, and for that matter, after fifty years of age, to live a life of spiritual regeneration for the sake of being freed from family attachment, which is considered to be the shackle of material life. One is recommended to quit home just to get rid of material attachment because one who sticks to family life until death cannot get rid of material attachment and as long as one is materially attached one cannot understand spiritual freedom. One should not, however, become self-complacent simply by leaving home or by creating another home at the holy place, either lawfully or unlawfully. Many persons leave home and go to such holy places, but due to bad association, again become family men by illicit connection with the opposite sex. The illusory energy of matter is so strong that one is apt to be under such illusion at every stage of life, even after quitting one’s happy home. Therefore, it is essential that one practice self-control by celibacy without the least desire for sex indulgence. For a man desiring to improve the condition of his existence, sex indulgence is considered suicidal, or even worse. Therefore, to live apart from family life means to become self-controlled in regard to all sense desires, especially sex desires. The method is that one should have a duly sanctified sitting place made of straw, deerskin and carpet, and thus sitting on it one should chant the holy name of the Lord without offense, as prescribed above. The whole process is to drag the mind from material engagements and fix it on the lotus feet of the Lord. This simple process alone will help one advance to the highest stage of spiritual success. (SB 2.1.16)
Especially in this age of Kali, family life is being reduced. Everyone is becoming self-centered because that is the law of nature. Even if one has sufficient money to maintain a family, the situation is such that no one is happy in family life. Consequently according to the varnasrama institution, one has to retire from family life in middle age: pancasordhvam vanam vrajet. One should voluntarily retire from family life at the age of fifty and go to Vrindavana or a forest. This is recommended by Srila Prahlada Maharaja: tat sadhu manye ‘sura-varya dehinam. There is no benefit in transferring from one forest to another. One must go to the Vrindavana forest and take shelter of Govinda. That will make one happy. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is therefore constructing a Krishna-Balarama temple to invite its members as well as outsiders to come and live peacefully in a spiritual atmosphere. That will help one become elevated to the transcendental world and return home, back to Godhead. Another sentence in this verse is very significant: kautumbikah krudhyati vai janaya. When one’s mind is disturbed in so many ways, he satisfies himself by becoming angry with his poor wife and children. The wife and children are naturally dependent on the father, but the father, being unable to maintain the family properly, becomes mentally distressed and therefore chastises the family members unnecessarily. As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (12.2.9): acchinna-dara-dravina yasyanti giri-kananam. Being disgusted with family life, one separates from the family by divorce or some other means. If one has to separate, why not separate willingly? Systematic separation is better than forced separation. Forced separation cannot make anyone happy, but by mutual consent or by the Vedic arrangement one must separate from his family affairs at a certain age and fully depend on Krishna. This makes one’s life successful. (SB 5.13.8)
Because of a moment’s association with devotees [the Vishnudutas], Ajamila detached himself from the material conception of life with determination. Thus freed from all material attraction, he immediately started for Hardwar.
PURPORT
The word mukta-sarvanubandhanah indicates that after this incident, Ajamila, not caring for his wife and children, went straight to Hardwar for further advancement in his spiritual life. Our Krishna consciousness movement now has centers in Vrindavana and Navadvipa so that those who want to live a retired life, whether they be devotees or not, can go there and with determination give up the bodily concept of life. One is welcome to live in those holy places for the rest of his life in order to achieve the highest success by the very simple method of chanting the holy name of the Lord and taking prasada. Thus one may return home, back to Godhead. (SB 6.2.39)
“Although wherever You stay is Vrindavana, You will still go to Vrindavana just to instruct people. Otherwise, You will do whatever You think best.”
PURPORT
It was not essential for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to go to Vrindavana, for wherever He stayed was immediately converted to Vrindavana. Indeed, at that place were also the river Ganges, the river Yamuna and all other places of pilgrimage. This was also expressed by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself when He danced in the Ratha-yatra. At that time He said that His very mind was Vrindavana (mora-mana—vrindavana). Because His mind was Vrindavana, all the pastimes of Radha and Krishna were taking place within Himself. Nonetheless, just to teach people, He visited bhauma-vrindavana, Vrindavana-dhama in this material world. In this way the Lord instructed everyone to visit Vrindavana-dhama, which is a very holy place.
Materialists consider Vrindavana-dhama an unclean city because there are many monkeys and dogs there, and along the bank of the Yamuna there is refuse. Some time ago, a materialistic man asked me, “Why are you living in Vrindavana? Why have you selected such a dirty place to live after retiring?” Such a person cannot understand that the earthly Vrindavana-dhama is always a representation of the original Vrindavana-dhama. Consequently Vrindavana-dhama is as worshipable as Lord Krishna. Aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad-dhama vrindavanam: according to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s philosophy, Lord Sri Krishna and His abode, Vrindavana, are equally worshipable. Sometimes materialistic people who have no spiritual understanding go to Vrindavana as tourists. One who goes to Vrindavana with such materialistic vision cannot derive any spiritual benefit. Such a person is not convinced that Krishna and Vrindavana are identical. Since they are identical, Vrindavana is as worshipable as Lord Krishna. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s vision (mora-mana—vrindavana) is different from the vision of an ordinary materialistic person. At the Ratha-yatra festival, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, absorbed in the ecstasy of Srimati Radharani, dragged Lord Krishna back to Vrindavana-dhama. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu spoke of this in the verses beginning ahus ca te (Madhya 13.136).
In Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.84.13) it is stated:
yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke, sva-dhih kalatradishu bhauma ijya-dhih
yat-tirtha-buddhih salile na karhicij, janeshv abhijneshu sa eva go-kharah
“A human being who identifies the body made of three elements with his self, who considers the by-products of the body to be his kinsmen, who considers the land of birth as worshipable, and who goes to a place of pilgrimage simply to take a bath rather than meet men of transcendental knowledge there is to be considered like an ass or a cow.”
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu personally renovated Vrindavana-dhama and advised His chief disciples, Rupa and Sanatana, to develop it and open it to attract the spiritual vision of the general populace. At present there are about five thousand temples in Vrindavana, and still our society, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, is constructing a huge, magnificent temple for the worship of Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama, along with Radha-Krishna and Guru-Gauranga. Since there is no prominent Krishna-Balarama temple in Vrindavana, we are attempting to construct one so that people will be attracted to Krishna-Balarama, or Nitai-Gauracandra. Vrajendra-nandana yei, saci suta haila sei. Narottama dasa Thakura says that Balarama and the son of Maharaja Nanda have advented Themselves as Gaura-Nitai. To propagate this fundamental principle, we are establishing a Krishna-Balarama temple to broadcast to the world that worship of Gaura-Nitai is the same as worship of Krishna-Balarama. (Cc. Madhya 16.281)
The great sage Maitreya continued: The instruction of Dhruva Maharaja’s mother, Suniti, was actually meant for fulfilling his desired objective. Therefore, after deliberate consideration and with intelligence and fixed determination, he left his father’s house.
PURPORT
Both the mother and the son were lamenting Dhruva Maharaja’s having been insulted by his stepmother and his father’s not having taken any step on this issue. But mere lamentation is useless—one should find out the means to mitigate one’s lamentation. Thus both mother and son decided to take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord because that is the only solution to all material problems. It is indicated in this connection that Dhruva Maharaja left his father’s capital city to go to a secluded place to search out the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is the instruction of Prahlada Maharaja also that if one is seeking peace of mind he should free himself from all contamination of family life and take shelter of the Supreme Godhead by going to the forest. To the Gaudiya Vaishnava this forest is the forest of Vrinda, or Vrindavana. If one takes shelter of Vrindavana under Vrindavanesvari, Srimati Radharani, certainly all the problems of his life are solved very easily. (SB 4.8.24)