{"id":2854,"date":"2007-02-08T16:40:34","date_gmt":"2007-02-08T15:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=2854"},"modified":"2007-08-10T16:05:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-10T15:05:00","slug":"life-begins-at-fifty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=2854","title":{"rendered":"Life begins at fifty!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Janananda das<\/strong><\/p>\n

VANAPRASTHA chit chat<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Prabhus,
\nPlease accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
\nThis letter is a request to its readers to be as kind as to reply to me on the following topics regarding the Vanaprastha ashram in ISKCON. This letter is more of a feeler. We would very much appreciate feedback from young and old. <\/p>\n

PANCASORDHVAM VANAM VRAJET<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cVedic authority says that a householder must leave home after his fiftieth year. One must leave his family life and enter the forest after the age of fifty.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How is this relevant in our present society?<\/strong><\/p>\n

PURPOSES OF THIS LETTER:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 To gain a deeper understanding of what vanaprastha ashram is
\n\u2022 To create awareness
\n\u2022 To understand the value of it in our society
\n\u2022 To facilitate the vanaprasthas both spiritually and materially
\n\u2022 To give guidelines to vanaprasthas
\n\u2022 To outline the purposes of vanaprastha ashram<\/p>\n

HOW TO WORK TOWARDS THIS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 More dialogue and communication in the form of newsletters and literature
\n\u2022 To open up a forum for dialogue
\n\u2022 To conduct seminars and discussions on the subject
\n\u2022 To establish a vanaprastha ashram(s) somewhere
\n\u2022 Produce a vanaprastha manual
\n\u2022 Keep a database of devotees in the vanaprastha order
\n\u2022 To create awareness
\n\u2022 Discuss with individuals within and without ISKCON<\/p>\n

I would very much appreciate as much feedback as possible on this to help us to get a broader more sastrically correct and applicable presentation. Don\u2019t forget this is an ashram for both men and women. Sometime they will be together sometimes they will be alone. <\/p>\n

MAYAPUR INSTITUTE OF HIGHER EDUCATION (M.I.H.E) SEMINARS FEBRUARY 2007 \u201cLIFE BEGINS AT FIFTY\u201d<\/strong>
\n– conducted by Janananda das<\/p>\n

This is the title of the seminar presentation planned for this coming Mayapur Festival from 16th till 19th February. There will be 4 sessions dealing with more or less the following topics:<\/p>\n

DAY 1. General overview of the meanings of vanaprastha and its relevance in today\u2019s society<\/p>\n

DAY 2. Does everyone have to take vanaprastha and if so when?<\/p>\n

DAY 3. What do vanaprasthas do? where do they live? Etc..<\/p>\n

DAY 4. Practical details and help in making the transition. General follow up
\nOther topics. \u2013 economics, health, follow on, Prabhupada as a vanaprastha, traditional vanaprastha, the family, and lots more. <\/p>\n

We will try to provide ramps for the wheel chairs.<\/p>\n

BACKGROUND:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reaching 50 years of age my hair was going very grey.
\nI had lost most of my teeth. Wrinkles appeared here and there. This body was no more youthful and was losing its attraction. Not that it had any anyway.<\/p>\n

I started to wonder about the statements in scripture which Prabhupada has mentioned many times like (pancasordhvam vanam vrajet) Vedic authority says that a householder must leave home after his fiftieth year. One must leave his family life and enter the forest after the age of fifty. <\/p>\n

I compiled many of the statements which Srila Prabhupada made about Vanaprastha and tried to put them in some kind of practical form. The result was a preliminary manuscript on Vanaprastha. In the year 2000, I presented to the GBC the need to seriously discuss the vanaprastha ashram and its relevance to ISKCON. The GBC were into it but they left it to me to follow up on. Of the devotees I consulted with quite a few were interested and sympathetic but few were very serious. The GBC suggested we form a committee but it never got off the ground for various reasons. Rough manuscripts on vanaprastha were given or sent to several devotees but there was very little if any response.<\/p>\n

In our busy life we may not have time for these things. I didn\u2019t pursue the issue very much further except for the occasional seminar, lecture, and discussion here and there. Other angles, references and understandings cropped up over the years.<\/p>\n

All said and done the reality still remains. Most devotees reach a certain age when they are faced with certain psychological and physical changes and we could probably as a society put more energy into this to formulate some guidelines for devotees reaching this stage. <\/p>\n

Now the time has come to revive the vanaprastha discussions. I am proposing to start a website of blog for ongoing discussion and enlightenment – hopefully leading to something more solid and practical for devotees wishing to practice vanaprastha.<\/p>\n

VANAPRASTHA QUOTES:<\/strong>
\nThere are many references throughout Prabhupada\u2019s writings and discussions \u2013 here are a few:<\/p>\n

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.18.1 – Purport:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cVanaprastha is intended as a gradual transition from materialistic family life to the stage of complete renunciation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 24.259:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNarada Muni then advised the hunter, \u2018Return home and distribute whatever riches you have to the pure brahmanas who know the Absolute Truth. After you have distributed all your riches to the brahmanas, you and your wife should leave home, each of you taking only one cloth to wear.\u2019<\/p>\n

Purport
\nThis is the process of renunciation at the stage of vanaprastha. After enjoying householder life for some time, the husband and wife must leave home and distribute their riches to brahmanas and Vaisnavas. One can keep his wife as an assistant in the vanaprastha stage. The idea is that the wife will assist the husband in spiritual advancement. Therefore Narada Muni advised the hunter to adopt the vanaprastha stage and leave home. It is not that a grhastha should live at home until he dies.
\nVanaprastha is preliminary to sannyasa. In the Krishna consciousness movement there are many young couples engaged in the Lord\u2019s service. Eventually they are supposed to take vanaprastha, and after the vanaprastha stage the husband may take sannyasa in order to preach. The wife may then remain alone and serve the Deity or engage in other activities within the Krsna consciousness movement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nSrimad Bhagavatam 3.24.41 – Purport:<\/strong> <\/p>\n

“Going to the forest is compulsory for everyone. It is not a mental excursion upon which one person goes and another does not. Everyone should go to the forest at least as a vanaprastha. Forest-going means to take one-hundred-percent shelter of the Supreme Lord, as explained by Prahlada Maharaja in his talks with his father.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Your servant,
\nJanananda das \u2013 Janananda@yahoo.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"HareBy Janananda das<\/strong><\/p>\n

This letter is a request to its readers to be as kind as to reply to me on the following topics regarding the Vanaprastha ashram in ISKCON. This letter is more of a feeler. We would very much appreciate feedback from young and old. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,79,76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-janananda-das","category-janananda-gosvami","category-newsletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}