He said that every man should execute his particular duty of life. That is called dharma. Now, we manufacture our duty, that is another thing, but according to śāstra, just like Kṛṣṇa says, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). Duty means according to this cātur-varṇyaṁ, four varṇas and four āśramas. That is called dharma, sādharma. The brāhmaṇa must execute his brahminical duties, a kṣatriya must execute his kṣatriya duties, similarly vaiśya, a śūdra, a brahmacārī, a gṛhastha, a vānaprastha, sannyāsī. That is called dharma. This is material dharma, this is not spiritual dharma. Material dharma means so long we are under the concept of this body, there are certain duties. That is called material dharma.
Sannyasa (Lectures, SB cantos 4 - 12)
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Tittenhurst, London, September 12, 1969:
You are falsely thinking that your leadership is very much needed. No. I was thinking. When I was householder, several times there was indication given by my Guru Mahārāja that I should give up family life and become a sannyāsī and preach this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. In several way there was hints from my spiritual master, but still, I was not willing. I was thinking, "If I go away, then my family, my sons, my daughters, they will suffer."
Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Tittenhurst, London, September 12, 1969:
Then he retires. The husband and wife goes from one pilgrimage to another, in this way travels. Because the children are grown up. And when the husband is completely free from all family attachment, he takes sannyāsa. This is the process. Brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. So this Mahārāja Ṛṣabhadeva, before retirement it is the duty of the father to give instructions how to look after family affairs, their personal affair, their spiritual advancement, everything, so here Ṛṣabhadeva is instructing, "My dear sons, do not think that this particular body, human body, is equal to the body of the cats and dogs and hogs.
Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Delhi, November 28, 1975:
This is creation of God, cātur-varṇyaṁ: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. This is called varṇa, and as spiritual cultivation, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. So our civilization, Vedic civilization, means varṇāśrama-dharma, following the four principles of varṇas and four principles of āśrama. The ultimate goal is God realization.
Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- London (Tittenhurst), September 13, 1969:
Just like according to Vedic system there are brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa—four divisions of the society. Brahmacārī, vānaprastha. Brahmacārī means student life, vānaprastha means retired life, and sannyāsa means renounced life. For them the minimum necessities of life is prescribed. And they should be automatically minimum because they are ordered to beg from door to door and live. The brahmacārī is meant for begging.
Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:
The animals also, they are assured, everyone is assured. And even human being, just like sannyāsīs, they are also assured. Just like when I came to your country, there was no friend, there was no relative, but assurance was there that "I am going for Kṛṣṇa's business. So there is some provision, never mind where it is."
Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:
If a sannyāsī, you'll find from Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is going from village to village, but any village he goes... Generally, the sannyāsī goes to a temple because temple is meant for the traveling sannyāsī. And as soon as one sannyāsī... Still this custom is prevalent in India, as soon as somebody sees a sannyāsī has come in a temple, somebody from the village, not somebody, but many will come, "Sir, you can take your lunch at my place." So there is no scarcity. Many people will come to invite you still.
Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:
Therefore, a sannyāsī is advised to accept prasādam in the house of a brāhmaṇa, because a brāhmaṇa is supposed to be, become very pious. If you take foodstuff from impious men, then that means you are taking share of his impious activities. But a saintly person, they can digest, but if (they) cannot digest, then you have to suffer. This is the process.
Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:
Sometimes we have to do it, but that is against principle. We should not accept food anywhere and everywhere, unless he is pious. The brāhmaṇas are supposed to be pious; therefore, a sannyāsī is advised to accept food, luncheon in the brāhmaṇa family. And brāhmaṇa family, still, not all, a few families still in India, they worship regularly Nārāyaṇa-śilā, śalagrāma-śilā.
Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Bombay, March 25, 1977:
As soon as we say, "Here is an āśrama," we understand that there is consciousness of Kṛṣṇa. So brahmacārī āśrama, gṛhastha āśrama, vānaprastha āśrama, sannyāsa āśrama, make it āśrama and follow the rules and regulations of āśrama. Then it is all right. Otherwise you are bound up by the laws of nature.
Lecture on SB 5.5.1-8 -- Stockholm, September 6, 1973:
So Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī, in the beginning he was accepting that four hundred rupees, but what he was doing, he was spending by inviting all the sannyāsīs, including Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So gradually Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī said that all his men, father's men, "You better go home. I don't want your assistance. I don't want this money.
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- London, September 17, 1969:
This is called sadācāra, clean habit. Anything beyond this: unclean habit. Here it is stated, sādhava. Sādhava means sadācāra, clean habit. Then it is said, ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthāḥ. Now this mahātmā is specifically indicated for a sannyāsa, a perfect sannyāsī, renounced order. Their characteristics is that. And another mahātmā... Suppose one is in household life. Question may be whether a mahātmā can be in the household life or not.
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- London, September 17, 1969:
So Caitanya Mahāprabhu does not say that one has to become in the renounced order or sannyāsī, then he becomes a mahātmā. No. We also do not propagate such idea. At least, I am not doing that. I am creating householder, ideal householder. And my ideas are being fruitful. Here in London I sent six householders, and they are doing nice, sincerely they are working. Therefore I am very much proud of them.
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- London, September 17, 1969:
So here is also the statement that even... It's not required that sannyāsī is only mahātmā, but a gṛhastha can be, is also mahātmā. So gṛhastha-mahātmā, his symptoms are described: ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthāḥ. Their only business is to please Kṛṣṇa. That is the first qualification. They have no other business. Ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthāḥ. Then how they deal with others? A gṛhastha has to live... A sannyāsī may live alone in forest or in Himalaya or in a secluded place in Vṛndāvana or somewhere, but a gṛhastha, he has to deal with ordinary persons, so many others, businessmen or ordinary people.
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 11, 1975:
They may rise up to the paraṁ padam, brahma-pada, but anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ, because they could not take up the service of the lotus feet of the Lord, they fall down. There are many instances, many sannyāsīs. They give up this world as mithyā and again come to politics, again come to philanthropic work.
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 11, 1975:
That is not recommended in the Vedic śāstra (laughter). Especially Śaṅkarācārya, he would not accept anyone unless he accepts sannyāsa. He never accepts anybody.
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 12, 1975:
Go means cow, and kharaḥ means ass. So we must understand what we are. Kṛṣṇa... Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught this. He said, "I am not brāhmaṇa. I am not kṣatriya. I am not vaiśya. I am not śūdra. I am not brahmacārī. I am not sannyāsī." "Not, not," neti, neti. "Then what you are?" Gopī-bhartuḥ pāda-kamalayor dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (CC Madhya 13.80). This is self-realization.
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975:
There are four grades of life: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. The description already given, it is meant for mendicant who have nothing to do with material affairs or household life, renounced order, sannyāsī. It, that is applicable to them.
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975:
Another, that gṛhastha, householder... It is not that simply sannyāsī, renounced order, those who have renounced this material connection, they can become great soul. Not necessarily. Even those who are in family life, living with wife, children, friends, they can also become great soul.
Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975:
Therefore Kṛṣṇa instructed Arjuna that "Arjuna, I am instructing this mystery of Bhagavad-gītā unto you." Arjuna might have said that "Why you are giving me instruction? I am neither sannyāsī, nor a very learned scholar in Vedānta or... I am gṛhastha, householder, a politician, in royal family. So why You have selected me?" Bhakto 'si: "Because you are My devotee." So this is wanted. Bhakto 'si priyo 'si (BG 4.3). Not only ordinary friend; very dear friend. So if you become dear friend like Arjuna of Kṛṣṇa, or God, then in whatever position you remain, you are mahātmā, great soul.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Hyderabad, April 15, 1975:
So such person described here, because the recommendation is mahat-sevā. So it does not mean mahat is only to be found in among the sannyāsīs, or fire circle, brāhmaṇas. No. Mahat can be found in other circle also, but what is the qualification? The qualification is ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā. His only business is to keep friendly relationship with Kṛṣṇa. That is the first qualification.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Hyderabad, April 15, 1975:
The first-class example is Arjuna. He was a military man, a politician, and gṛhastha, kṣatriya, not brāhmaṇa, not sannyāsī, but still Kṛṣṇa accepts him. Sakhā ceti, for you are my dear friend bhakto 'si sakhā ceti. "You are not only My devotee, you are My best friend," Kṛṣṇa says. Although he is gṛhastha, a military man, and as kṣatriya, still Kṛṣṇa accepts him that "I shall speak to you the mystery of Bhagavad-gītā, because you are My dear friend and bhakta."
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Hyderabad, April 15, 1975:
It doesn't matter whether he is a sannyāsī or gṛhastha. So any gṛhastha, whose only aim is how to keep friendship with Kṛṣṇa, he is also mahat, mahātmā. He also mahat, because the recommendation, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes (SB 5.5.2). One has to take shelter of a mahātmā, and serve him with surrender, then his path of liberation will be open. So, if somebody says—I think the other day somebody was questioning—that "If I cannot contact sannyāsī because I am gṛhastha, I am family man, so how my path of liberation will be open?" Yes, that is possible provided you find amongst your society a person like this, ye va mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Hyderabad, April 15, 1975:
So if you want to find out a mahātmā within the society, not as a renounced sannyāsī, then these are the symptoms. There are other symptoms. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4), that we shall describe later on. These are the general symptoms of a mahātmā gṛhastha.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Hyderabad, April 15, 1975:
That business can be done very perfectly well when, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes, when we associate with mahātmā. It doesn't matter whether he's a sannyāsī or gṛhastha, he must be mahātmā. Mahātmā means one who has got relationship with Kṛṣṇa. That is described in the Bhagavad..., mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, bhajanty ananya-manaso (BG 9.13), that is mahātmā. You cannot stamp anybody and become a mahātmā. No. Mahātmā's sign is, mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, bhajanty ananya-manaso (BG 9.13). He has no other business.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Hyderabad, April 15, 1975:
It doesn't matter whether you are in family or without family. It doesn't matter. Just like I have given already example. Arjuna, he is a family man, he is not a sannyāsī. Not only family man, a military man, and politician, but he was prepared to sacrifice everything for Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. If you do not become a family man, so what is the gain there? Or if you remain a sannyāsī, if you have no Kṛṣṇa consciousness, just like you said, "So many swamis they want to become Kṛṣṇa instead of becoming devotee of Kṛṣṇa." So this kind of sannyāsī is also useless.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Hyderabad, April 15, 1975:
Any condition of life, if you remain fixed-up with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is your perfection of life. Yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei 'guru' haya (CC Madhya 8.128). Anyone who is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious and fixed-up in devotional service, knowing fully well what is Kṛṣṇa, he is guru. It doesn't matter whether he is a sannyāsī, or gṛhastha or brāhmaṇa, and śūdra. It doesn't matter. Is that all right? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Vrndavana, October 25, 1976:
Kṛṣṇa wants that te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim, ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ. Then who will deliver these pāpa-yoni? If "I am a big sannyāsī and big devotee, I do not go out side Vṛndāvana, I do not go outside India. I am jagat-guru..." "Have you seen jagat?" "No. I'm self-made jagat-guru." This is going on. Cheating. This cheating is going on.
Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Vrndavana, October 25, 1976:
So these mahātmās, tyāgīs. Generally, they are sannyāsīs. And so far other mahātmās also, it does not mean only the sannyāsī can be mahātmā. No. Gṛhasthas also can be mahātmā. How gṛhasthas can be mahātmās, that is explained in the next verse: ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā. His only business is to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That is... Otherwise, here it is said, jāyātmaja-rātimatsu gṛheṣu. He has no interest in so-called family life, wife, children, friends, and nationality.
Lecture on SB 5.5.4 -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1976:
The main business is how far one is devoted to Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. It doesn't mean that one has to become a sannyāsī or one has to remain a gṛhastha. There are four āśramas. You should accept whichever is suitable for you, but the business is how to serve Kṛṣṇa. That's If you find that remaining as a gṛhastha, you can serve more Kṛṣṇa, that's all right.
Lecture on SB 5.5.4 -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1976:
He never says that only the sannyāsīs should be guru: kṛṣṇa bhajanete nāhi yāti-ulādi-vicāra; or becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, there is no such distinction of caste, creed, position.
Lecture on SB 5.5.8 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1976:
He thinks that this family, this husband and wife, children and home, that is everything. That is called gṛhamedhi. But gṛhastha means he is as good as a sannyāsī. Gṛhe tiṣṭhati 'pi gṛhastha (?). He is suitable..., he is not suitable to become a brahmacārī, because every facility is there, but regulated. And one who follows the regulative principles, he is āśrama. Either it is gṛhastha āśrama or sannyāsa āśrama, the same thing. Āśrama means—very easily understood in India, there is discussion—the place where the spiritual culture is cultivated, that is called āśrama.
Lecture on SB 5.5.8 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1976:
What is the difference between the āśrama and ordinary home? Ordinary home means the..., without any regulative principles, and āśrama means real purpose is self-realization, development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But if one is unable to accept sannyāsa āśrama or brahmacārī āśrama, that is gṛhastha āśrama. Not that animal āśrama.
Lecture on SB 5.5.8 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1976:
So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, therefore He has said, "If we are eager for advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then we can stay in any āśrama. It doesn't matter." Either gṛhastha āśrama or sannyāsa āśrama, it doesn't matter.
Lecture on SB 5.5.8 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1976:
Who can become guru? Generally a brāhmaṇa, a sannyāsī, that is, that is, they are forced. Brāhmaṇa is the guru of other varṇas, and sannyāsī is the guru for all varṇāśrama. This is... But Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that is social system. If there is a brāhmaṇa, if there is a sannyāsī, one should accept, give preference to him, to accept guru.
Lecture on SB 5.5.8 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1976:
He shall be guru." Not that particularly because one is born in a brāhmaṇa family or one has taken sannyāsa, he is immediately by the dress, or by birth, one can become guru. No. That is going on. Now it is diminishing. Formerly, in India it was the practice. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "It doesn't matter." Kibā vipra, kibā śūdra. Vipra means brāhmaṇa, and śūdra means the fourth class, less than the vaiśyas. So kibā vipra, kibā śūdra, nyāsī kene naya. Nyāsī means sannyāsī.
Lecture on SB 5.5.8 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1976:
Never mind nyāsī, or without nyāsī, because śūdra cannot be sannyāsī. Without becoming brāhmaṇa, there is no question of becoming sannyāsa. In the Śaṅkara-sampradāya they are very strict. Unless one is born in a brāhmaṇa family, he is not awarded the sannyāsa. That is the stricture. But according to our Vaiṣṇava, according to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, pāñcarātrikī-viddhi, if there is little tendency of the person to become devotee, he is given the chance. Never mind he's born in a śūdra family, a caṇḍāla family.
Lecture on SB 5.5.8 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1976:
That is sanctioned in the śāstra: kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ, ye 'nye ca pāpā (SB 2.4.18). Anyone. Kṛṣṇa also says, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ (BG 9.32). So Nārada Muni, he is a great devotee, he has given allowance to everyone to become a brāhmaṇa, to become a sannyāsī. First of all he must be trained up to become a brāhmaṇa, then sannyāsī. This is a fact. Without becoming a brāhmaṇa, there is no question of sannyāsa.
Lecture on SB 5.5.8 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1976:
This is the big plan. Otherwise there is no need of the varṇāśrama. Varnāśrama means to train the candidates gradually to become free from this entanglement of man and woman. This is the basic principle. Yoga system is also the same thing. Jñānī, that is also same. Karma also. The karma-kāṇḍīya vicāra, that is also, one has to take sannyāsa at the ultimately, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13), gradually, if one cannot take it immediately.
Lecture on SB 5.5.9 -- Vrndavana, October 31, 1976:
This is very important point. Therefore according to Vedic civilization, one is trained up how to give up this ideas, concoction. That is brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, ultimately sannyāsa. No more. And ultimately, sannyāsa also is not the perfectional stage. Sannyāsa is also practice, how to come to the perfectional stage. The perfectional stage is to be engaged practically, not theoretically, engaged in the service of the Lord, according to his capacity. Not that everyone will be able to do everything, that is not required.
Lecture on SB 5.5.10-13 -- Vrndavana, November 1, 1976:
If you, by good fortune, if you get the association of a guru, qualified haṁsa, paramahaṁsa... Paramahaṁsa guru means sannyāsī's last stage is paramahaṁsa. Kuṭīcaka, bahūdaka, parivrājakācārya, and paramahaṁsa, these are the different stages. When one takes sannyāsa, he lives outside the village in a kuṭī, in a cottage, and the family members goes and delivers him the food, because he is not practiced.
Lecture on SB 5.5.10-13 -- Vrndavana, November 1, 1976:
Then when he becomes experienced, then he does not accept food from one, either his own home or one home. He takes foodstuff from many homes: "Give me a little piece of cāpāṭi." So somebody gives half, because they are also not overburdened. If they have to deliver, so many sannyāsīs come, and sumptuous food, then how the gṛhastha will provide? Therefore though... They do not overburden. There may be other sannyāsīs, therefore little only. Madhupuri. The Gosvāmīs practiced this madhupuri in Vṛndāvana.
Lecture on SB 5.5.15 -- Vrndavana, November 3, 1976:
We have become so rascal: "There is no God," "There is no...," "These are all," what is called, "mythology." "These are mythology ideas—there is God and there is sin, there is pious activities." Big, big sannyāsīs, they are asking that "Don't care for all this, 'There is God, there is sinful, there is pious.' You can do whatever you like because you are yourself God. This is... There is no pāpa-puṇya. You are immune from pāpa-puṇya because you are God."
Lecture on SB 5.5.18 -- Vrndavana, November 6, 1976:
In the Western countries we are seeing so many so-called rascal gurus go there and cheat the public because the Europeans, Americans, they have got some conviction that India has got some spiritual knowledge, so anyone goes as a sannyāsī, as a swami, they expect to get something from them. So they gather round them. But these rascals cheat them.
Lecture on SB 5.5.29 -- Vrndavana, November 16, 1976:
Everyone is the same. Now they are trying for classless society. Classless society means śūdra. So how a śūdra can be equal to the brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya? But if you earn money, then you are more than brāhmaṇa, you are more than a sannyāsī. This is Kali-yuga. So therefore people are after money only.
Lecture on SB 5.5.30 -- Vrndavana, November 17, 1976:
So it is for the learned scholars. But we must understand the purport. Ṛṣabhadeva is parivrājakācārya. This is called parivrājakācārya. We have heard this name, parivrājakācārya. Sannyāsī's third stage is parivrājakācārya, and the fourth stage is paramahaṁsa. Kuṭīcaka, bahūdaka, parivrājakācārya, and then paramahaṁsa. So avadhūta. We have already understood, avadhūta: no conception, no bodily conception, completely.
Lecture on SB 5.5.30 -- Vrndavana, November 17, 1976:
Very small, the spirit soul, he'll come out. Aṇimā, laghimā, prāpti, siddhi, there are eight kinds of... He can do that. There was one sannyāsī, Trailinga Swami in Benares. He was sitting on the road naked. The police objected. So several times he was taken and put into the police custody, but he came out. Again he was sitting.
Lecture on SB 5.5.33 -- Vrndavana, November 20, 1976:
Karma-yoga means one who has got attachment for producing something, working something. So Kṛṣṇa said that "Yes, you can do, but," yat karoṣi yaj juhoṣi yad aśnāsi yat tapasyasi kuruṣva tad mad-ar... (BG 9.27), "the result you must give to Me." Anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ, sa sannyāsī (BG 6.1).
Lecture on SB 5.5.33 -- Vrndavana, November 20, 1976:
So anyone who does not take the result of his karma, then he is sannyāsī. Suppose you earn... You are a businessman. You have earned two lakhs of rupees, but give it to Kṛṣṇa. Anāśritaḥ karma-phalam. Otherwise what you will do with these two lakhs of rupees? If you don't take it, will you throw it away? "No, why shall I throw it? It should be utilized for Kṛṣṇa."
Lecture on SB 5.5.34 -- Vrndavana, November 21, 1976:
Dakṣa Mahārāja is called Dakṣa means he was very expert in begetting children and maintaining them. That is Dakṣa Mahārāja. He was begetting children, many thousands, and Nārada used to visit and make them sannyāsī. That was Nārada's business. So, and Dakṣa in Kali-yuga, that is not very easy thing, to beget many thousands of children and maintain them and get them married and their children, their children. Because this is the happiness of home life.
Lecture on SB 5.5.34 -- Vrndavana, November 21, 1976:
So anyone who can maintain like this himself, his children, with wife and eating, āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunam, then he is expert. And if he becomes a sannyāsī, brahmacārī, does not take part in these stereotyped activities, then he is useless, escaping from the world, escaping. They do not take the responsibility. But that is not the fact.
Lecture on SB 5.6.2 -- Vrndavana, November 24, 1976:
Even Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He's God Himself, but still, to teach us, He was observing the regulative principles of a sannyāsī very, very strictly. These things, to teach us... Similarly, Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he's called Brahma-Haridāsa.
Lecture on SB 5.6.2 -- Vrndavana, November 24, 1976:
Yajña, dāna. Brahmacārī should offer yajña, gṛhastha should give in charity, and sannyāsī, vānaprastha, should undergo tapasya. Yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma. We should not give up this, these things. "Because I have become sannyāsī—I have given up my family—therefore I give up also all other regulative principles." No. That you cannot. The sannyāsī means... Sannyāsī, they have got also rules and regulation. Caitanya Mahāprabhu very rigidly followed. He did not lie down even on a quilt, only one naked cloth. He did not use... And no woman should come to offer Him obeisances very near.
Lecture on SB 5.6.2 -- Vrndavana, November 24, 1976:
Therefore in the śāstra it is forbidden that Kali-yuga is very difficult to follow the rules and regulation of a sannyāsī; therefore better not to accept sannyāsa. Kalau pañca vivarjayet. Sannyāsaṁ pala-paitṛkam devareṇa sutotpattiṁ kalau pañca vivarjayet (CC Adi 17.164). Instead of becoming a false sannyāsī, do not accept sannyāsa. This is the injunction of the śāstra. But for preaching work we have to get the help of some sannyāsī, but we should remember that we are in Kali-yuga. We should not be sentimentally very much anxious—"Please give me sannyāsa, give me sannyāsa"—and then fall down and go to hell. That is not good. That is not good. If one is able to strictly follow the sannyāsa rules and regulation, he should take. Otherwise, Kṛṣṇa has said that sannyāsa, real sannyāsa, means one who does not take any remuneration for his service to Kṛṣṇa. That is sannyāsa. Anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ sa sannyāsī (BG 6.1). "It is my duty. I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. To serve Kṛṣṇa is my duty." Kāryam: "I must do it." Actually that mentality is sannyāsa. It doesn't matter whether we have changed the dress or not, but if we decide it, that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa; my only duty is to serve Kṛṣṇa," that is sannyāsa.
Lecture on SB 5.6.2 -- Vrndavana, November 24, 1976:
So better we should try to stay in this determination than to accept the sannyāsa order by changing the dress and then again we fall down. That is not very good. There are instances like that, but it is not at all good. We should not trust the mind.
Lecture on SB 5.6.6 -- Vrndavana, November 28, 1976:
So therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended, kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. By His practical life, when Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī criticized Him that "You are a sannyāsī, and You do not read Vedānta and You simply chant and dance..." This was the question. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied that "My Guru Mahārāja found Me a great fool.
Lecture on SB 5.6.6 -- Vrndavana, November 28, 1976:
This śloka can be applicable to Caitanya Mahāprabhu's life. He also became a sannyāsī, ārya-vacasā. One brāhmaṇa cursed him. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, to receive some blessings from the brāhmaṇas, when He was boy He was voluntarily trying to give some service to the brāhmaṇas who were engaged in bathing in the Ganges.
Lecture on SB 5.6.6 -- Vrndavana, November 28, 1976:
Then You'll never be happy in Your family life." "Yes, this is the..." (laughter) "This is all right." So therefore He took sannyāsa. Arya-vacasā yad agād araṇyam. Similarly, Lord Rāmacandra, ārya-vacasā yad agād araṇyam. These are the characteristic of the Personality of Godhead. Try to follow Them, not imitate, but follow them.
Lecture on SB 5.6.7 -- Vrndavana, November 29, 1976:
If one is not Vaiṣṇava, don't be liberal, that "Oh, what is the wrong? He is talking Bhāgavatam." But he does not know who can speak Bhāgavatam. Here in Vṛndāvana there is a big Māyāvādī sannyāsī. He speaks on Bhāgavatam and speaks all nonsense, but there is a big crowd go to hear him. Yes.
Lecture on SB 6.1.6-8 -- New York, July 21, 1971:
The vimūḍhān... Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahataḥ: "They have created unnecessary burden on their shoulder simply for temporary happiness." Temporary happiness. Therefore, in the Vedic civilization, a sannyāsa, renounced order of life, is recommended for prosecuting spiritual life absolutely without any anxiety.
Lecture on SB 6.1.7 -- Honolulu, May 8, 1976:
If I contemplate something sinful by my mind, then we become affected. Therefore we must keep always sinless. Kaya-mana-vākya. This sannyāsa tridaṇḍa... There are three rods within the stick or the cover, three daṇḍas. Not three, four. Three is kaya—body, mind, kaya, mana, and words, and one he is personally. Therefore there are four sticks within the daṇḍa. Those who have taken sannyāsa, they know it.
Lecture on SB 6.1.12 -- Honolulu, May 13, 1976:
Civilization, the first of all, to learn how to observe celibacy, to come to the point, no sex life. That is perfect civilization: no sex life. Therefore in the Vedic civilization you'll find the human society is divided into four orders and four spiritual or..., material and spiritual, varṇāśrama. Varṇa and āśrama. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa.
Lecture on SB 6.1.13-14 -- New York, July 27, 1971:
One who has control, deha, the body, vāk, the words, buddhi, intelligence—they are dhīra. So this tridaṇḍī. This tridaṇḍī-sannyāsa means to become dhīra, controlling śarīra; deha, the body; vāk, words; and intelligence. These things should be utilized. How? By dhīra, those who are dhīra. Dharmajña. One who knows actually the principle of religion.
Lecture on SB 6.1.13-14 -- Honolulu, May 14, 1976:
This is called jñāna. With knowledge one has to respect. That is called tapasya. With knowledge. Otherwise, to become attracted, that is not unnatural. Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to say... He was sannyāsī. He said that "Even if I see a doll made of wood, a beautiful woman, My mind becomes agitated." So what to speak of us? So this is the example.
Lecture on SB 6.1.13-14 -- Honolulu, May 14, 1976:
As the sannyāsī knows what is the aim of life, similarly, a gṛhastha also may know. So such gṛhastha, sex life is allowed, who knows the aim of life. And one who does not know the aim of life, simply enjoys sex, he is called gṛhamedhi. These two words are there. In Sanskrit literature every word has got particular meaning, particular thought.
Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- New York, August 1, 1971:
So here it is said that even if you perform austerity, penances, the worldly circumstances are so implicated that it will involve you some way or other again into the material modes of nature. There are many instances. Many sannyāsīs, they give up this world as mithyā, all false. "Let me take to Brahman." But again they become implicated to philanthropic work, welfare activities. If this world is false, why you are attracted to the welfare activities? If it is false in your opinion... We say it is not false.
Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- Auckland, February 22, 1973:
Just like here in these devotees, our society. This is penance. They are observing brahmācārya, no illicit sex. That is brahmācārya. Or there is no sex at all. The sannyāsī, brahmacārī, they observe completely celibacy life. And those who are gṛhastha, they have regulated sex life. That is brahmācārya. And as soon as you become brahmacārī, your mind becomes controlled. As soon as your senses are engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, your senses are controlled.
Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- Auckland, February 22, 1973:
I am not a kṣatriya. I am not a vaiśya. I am not a śūdra. I am not a sannyāsī. I am not a brahmacārī." These are all upādhi. Then what You are, Sir? Gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ: (CC Madhya 13.80) "I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa." This is called upādhi-less, or free from all designation. When we become free from all designation, then, in that purified state, if we engage ourself in Kṛṣṇa activities, that is our success of life.
Lecture on SB 6.1.17 -- Denver, June 30, 1975:
These are the characteristics of sādhu, not a sādhu having a dress like a sannyāsī and accompanied by three dozen women. No. Sādhavaḥ, their business is to preach.
Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Indore, December 13, 1970:
So there was one Ajāmila at that time, but you will find many Ajāmilas like that at the present moment because it is the age of Kali. There was one Rāvaṇa. In the dress of a sannyāsī he kidnapped Lord Rāmacandra's wife, and nowadays you will find many Rāvaṇas like that. You see? The so-called sannyāsīs, their business is to... This tendency is always there, but according to the age, sometimes it is very prominent and sometimes not so prominent. But this material world is so contaminated.
Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Indore, December 13, 1970:
Just like "This Kurukṣetra, this body, and this means..." I, in a... Long ago in Bombay this Akṣajānanda explaining one śloka. I just forget, but I remember his interpretation, that "When I am satisfied, God is satisfied." He explained like that. And he is passing on as a great scholar and great sannyāsa. He said like that: "When I am satisfied, God is satisfied—because I am God." We say, "When God is satisfied, then I am satisfied." If you say that "When the finger is satisfied, the whole body is satisfied," it is possible?
Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Chicago, July 6, 1975:
Eight thousand rupees for his personal expenditure. So he was utilizing that money by inviting sannyāsīs of Jagannātha Purī. There were many sannyāsīs. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu was also being invited. So after a few days, there was no invitation. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu inquired His secretary that "Why Raghunātha does not invite?" So he replied that "He refused to take his father's contribution." So Caitanya, "Oh, it is very nice."
Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Honolulu, May 22, 1976:
It is not that one has to give up this procedure. No. That is not. The Vedic civilization is so nice that you accept the platform which is suitable. The brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa... The spiritual... These are called āśrama. Āśrama means where spiritual culture is practiced. That is called āśrama. Perhaps you know this āśrama word. Āśrama means it is not a place for sense gratification; it is a place for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is āśrama.
Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Honolulu, May 22, 1976:
So evaṁ nivasatas tasya lālayānasya. Lālayānasya tat-sutān. So without understanding what is the duty of human being, because he is fallen... We should not bother for maintaining our family and children till the time of death. No. Up to twenty-five years. A brahmacārī is trained to refrain from sex life, that is brahmacārī, celibacy. But if he is still not able, then he is allowed to accept gṛhastha life. There is no cheating, hypocrisy, that I proclaim myself as brahmacārī or sannyāsī and I secretly do all nonsense. This is hypocrisy. The hypocrisy life will not make one advanced in spiritual life.
Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Honolulu, May 22, 1976:
There are four āśramas: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. Whichever āśrama is suitable for you, you accept, but sincere. Don't be hypocrite. If you think that you want sex, all right. You marry and remain like a gentleman. Don't be hypocrite. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement.
Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Honolulu, May 22, 1976:
Parāṁ paraṁ jigamiṣor bhava... Niṣkiñcanasya bhajanonmukhasya parāṁ param... Therefore voluntarily Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted sannyāsa. He was very nicely situated in his family life, and He was family man, He married twice. One wife died and He married again. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught us not to become, but when He took sannyāsa He was very, very strict. No woman could come very near to Him. From distance.
Lecture on SB 6.1.23 -- Honolulu, May 23, 1976:
The Vedic civilization is so nice that you accept the platform which is suitable for you, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. The spiritual... These are called āśrama. Āśrama means where spiritual culture is practiced. That is called āśrama. Perhaps you know this āśrama word. Āśrama means... It is not a place for sense gratification.
Lecture on SB 6.1.23 -- Honolulu, May 23, 1976:
A brahmacārī is trained to refrain from sex life. That is brahmacārī, celibacy. But if he is still not able, then he is allowed to accept gṛhastha life. There is no cheating, hypocrisy, that I proclaim myself as brahmacārī or sannyāsī, and I secretly do all nonsense. This is hypocrisy. The hypocrisy life will not make one advance in spiritual life.
Lecture on SB 6.1.23 -- Honolulu, May 23, 1976:
So our request is, don't be hypocrite. There are four āśramas, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. Whichever āśrama is suitable for you, you accept, but sincere. Don't be hypocrite. If you think that you want sex, all right, you marry and remain like a gentleman. Don't be hypocrite. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement.
Lecture on SB 6.1.23 -- Honolulu, May 23, 1976:
Therefore voluntarily Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted sannyāsa. He was very nicely situated in His family life. When He was family man, He married twice. One wife died; He married again. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught us not to become... But when He took sannyāsa, He was very, very strict. No woman could come very near to Him. From distance... This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching. So you have to follow strictly the rules and regulation.
Lecture on SB 6.1.24 -- Chicago, July 8, 1975:
If you are inconvenienced to accept sannyāsa or brahmacārī life, remain in household life, but the purpose is the same, to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If one is in the family life and is trying to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is called gṛhastha, and his family life is called gṛhastha-āśrama. Just like sannyāsa-āśrama. Āśrama means where there is activities, spiritual. That is called āśrama. So if you remain as gṛhastha or family man, there is no harm. But utilize for advancement of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Lecture on SB 6.1.24 -- Chicago, July 8, 1975:
The husband and wife goes out of home and travels in many holy places to associate with holy man and take his instruction just to prepare for sannyāsa. So when one is fully equipped in knowledge, then he asks his wife to go to home to be taken care of by the elderly children, and he becomes a sannyāsī. This is called varṇāśrama-dharma. This is real purpose of life. Four varṇas, four classes of men, up to fourth class, not up to tenth class. And then spiritual life: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa.
Lecture on SB 6.1.24 -- Chicago, July 8, 1975:
So Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately said, eho bāhya, āge kaha āra. In this age it is not possible, varṇāśrama-dharma. So āge kaha āra: "If you know something better than this, you say." So in this way Rāmānanda Rāya recommended that karma-tyāga, sannyāsa, so many stages. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu went on saying, eho bāhya āge kaha āra: "This is useless now.
Lecture on SB 6.1.24 -- Chicago, July 8, 1975:
The purport is that all these processes recommended in the śāstra, varṇāśrama-dharma, acceptance of sannyāsa, or other, karma-tyāga, miśra, karma-miśra-jñāna... There are so many things.
Lecture on SB 6.1.24 -- Chicago, July 8, 1975:
So there are so many different processes recommended in the śāstra: varṇāśrama-dharma, karma-tyāga, karma-sannyāsa, jñāna-miśra-bhakti, karma-miśra-bhakti. So all of them were rejected by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But when He quoted this verse... What is this? Jñāne prayāsam. People are trying to understand the Absolute Truth by speculation, according to one's knowledge. The so-called philosopher, theosophists, theologists, these are useless. You cannot speculate to understand the Absolute Truth. That is not possible.
Lecture on SB 6.1.24 -- Chicago, July 8, 1975:
"Just hear the message of God." "From whom?" San-mukharitām: "through the mouth of the devotees." Not professional, not gramophone—through the mouth of, through the lips of real devotee. "So then? Next? I will have to become sannyāsa or gṛhastha or what?" "No." Sthāne sthitāḥ: "You remain wherever you are. Either you are a gṛhastha or a vānaprastha, or apart from that, either you are a medical man or engineer or politician or businessman or shopkeeper—something your position is there—so you remain in that." Sthāne sthitāḥ: "You remain in your position.
Lecture on SB 6.1.26 -- Honolulu, May 26, 1976:
Therefore the training from the very beginning, brahmacārī. Brahmacārī is instructed in such a way that he'll remain brahmacārī throughout the whole life. A brahmacārī is open to accept either a gṛhastha āśrama or vānaprastha āśrama or sannyāsa āśrama, but the guru advises, "Better remain all through brahmacārī. No botheration."
Lecture on SB 6.1.26 -- Honolulu, May 26, 1976:
If we understand it is sex, therefore we have to cut down the sex desire gradually by becoming brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. This is the process. Otherwise, if I do not know what is the cause of my material bondage, then how we can take remedy? This is the cause, puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etam. The desire is there.
Lecture on SB 6.1.27 -- Indore, December 15, 1970:
So when he enters life, although he accepts wife and children, he cannot forget Kṛṣṇa. Therefore his household life also continues Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Naturally, at the age of fifty he leaves the family connection and accepts the vānaprastha. And then, when he is fully trained, he accepts sannyāsa.
Lecture on SB 6.1.27 -- Indore, December 15, 1970:
So why should bother about my food? That is śaraṇāgati. When a man becomes śaraṇāgata, he knows perfectly well that "Somehow or other there is my food." A sannyāsī... sannyāsī means sat nyāsa, to fully surrender to Kṛṣṇa. But the sannyāsīs, they misuse in another way. Actually sannyāsa means to fully surrender. Nowadays in India there are so many sannyāsīs, some three million sannyāsīs. They are wandering all over the country. They have no food problem. Still, although India is considered to be poverty-stricken. Either sannyāsī or gṛhastha, nobody has to have problem. You have created such... Simply artificially you have created such problem.
Lecture on SB 6.1.31 -- San Francisco, July 16, 1975:
So three things: one thing, that at home no rascal should be received or given credit... According to Vedic system, at home a sannyāsī is welcome, a brāhmaṇa is welcome. Because they will give good instruction, so they are welcome. Just like when Gargamuni came to Mahārāja Nanda, Nanda Mahārāja's house, how nice reception he gave him. That is the... Especially... Of course, any guest is welcome, but especially a brāhmaṇa, a sannyāsī, is very well received. Still in Indian village, if a sannyāsī goes, he has no problem for eating or staying, residence.
Lecture on SB 6.1.31 -- San Francisco, July 16, 1975:
Take prasādam." So because... Why this system? Because sannyāsī means he will give good instruction, spiritual knowledge. But that is his business, parivrājakācārya, wandering all over the world and giving good instruction. Therefore parivrājaka. Parivrājaka means wandering, and ācārya means teacher. Parivrājakācārya. This is sannyāsī's business. So they must be well received. At the present moment, if a sannyāsī is trying to enter in some householder's house, immediately the doorman, "Please get out. Get out. Get out." Because some of the sannyāsīs, they have taken this dress as a means of livelihood. But still in the village, any sannyāsī—he may be a cheater, still he is welcome. In the cities, of course, in India, they are now doubtful, "Whether he is actually sannyāsī or to fill up his belly he has taken this dress?" So this is the formula. So very learned men, the... generally, the sannyāsī and brāhmaṇas, they should be worshiped, not the fools and rascals.
Lecture on SB 6.1.34-39 -- Surat, December 19, 1970:
We do not indulge in so-called sannyāsī or brahmacārī. If one is unable, he must become a gṛhastha, live like a gṛhastha, and not that "I pose myself as a brahmacārī or a sannyāsī, but I have got illicit sex life secretly." This is markaṭa-vairāgya. Markaṭa-vairāgya is not wanted. Real vairāgya. Real vairāgya means one who can sacrifice everything for Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 6.1.34-39 -- Surat, December 19, 1970:
It doesn't matter whether I like it or not, but Kṛṣṇa wants it. Therefore I must do it." That is called anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ, sa sannyāsī. He is sannyāsī. Na niragnir na cākriyaḥ. Niragnir and akriya. Akriya means they are freed, all kinds of fruitive activities. So they are not sannyāsīs, they are not yogis, but a yogi is he who gives away the result of his activities to Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 6.1.37 -- San Francisco, July 19, 1975:
So you have to fight with these owls. You must be very strong, especially the sannyāsīs. We have to fight with the owls. We have to open their eyes by force from this, with machine. (laughter) So this is going on. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a fight against all the owls.
Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- Los Angeles, June 6, 1976:
Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, eho bāhya, "It is not very important nowadays." Yes, eho bāhya, āge kahe āra, "If you know something more, better than this..." Then he... Karma-tyāga, sannyāsa, so many, step by step, he said, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu denied, "Yes, it is right, but it is not very important." Then Caitanya Mahāprabhu said..., uh, Rāmānanda Rāya said, quoting from the Vedas, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtāṁ (sthāne sthitāḥ) śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṇ-manobhir (ye) prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyām. "If you want to know who is God, what is God, then give up your, this speculative endeavor."
Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- Los Angeles, June 6, 1976:
This hearing, becoming humble and meek... And if we hear from the devotee who is actually self-realized, one who has seen God through the śāstra, if you hear from him... And never mind what you are. You may be a brāhmaṇa, you may be kṣatriya, you may be śūdra, you may be sannyāsī, you may be so on, so on, you may be American, you may be Indian, whatever you may be, that doesn't matter. Remain in your place. Sthāne sthitāḥ. Simply hear.
Lecture on SB 6.1.44 -- Los Angeles, June 10, 1976:
So it is the explanation of Vedānta. Bhāṣyaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇām **. Vedānta's another name is Brahma-sūtra. In India there are Māyāvādī sannyāsīs. They advertise themselves as the Vedāntists, "one who knows Vedānta." But actually they do not know Vedānta. Real Vedānta is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, because this is commentary. Bhāṣya ayaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇām. Brahma-sūtra is Vedānta.
Lecture on SB 6.1.55 -- London, August 13, 1975:
Therefore many sannyāsīs, they give up the brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. I mean to... Māyāvādī sannyāsī. Again they fall down in this mithyā jagat. They come for political work, they come for social work, daridra-nārāyaṇa-seva and this and that. That's all.
Lecture on SB 6.1.56-57 -- Bombay, August 14, 1975:
This is also one of the items of Vedic culture. Atithi-satkāra. So the sannyāsīs especially, they are begging from door to door. So they have no fixed up program in which door he will go on which date. No. Anywhere they approach. Therefore atithi means generally the brahmacārī and the sannyāsa. Brahmacārī is also begging alms from door to door, and a sannyāsī also allowed, but door to door does not mean that he would collect more than is necessity. But he does not cook. A sannyāsī goes to a pure householder's life, er, home, because generally in a brāhmaṇa's house or kṣatriya or vaiśya... But not to a śūdra. This is restriction.
Lecture on SB 6.1.56-57 -- Bombay, August 14, 1975:
So also in kṣatriya family also. So these sannyāsīs go to a brāhmaṇa family because it is known fact the brāhmaṇas are engaged in worshiping Viṣṇu.
Lecture on SB 6.1.56-57 -- Bombay, August 14, 1975:
Guru, agni, and atithi. Atithi is a sannyāsīs. They are coming to a brāhmaṇa's house for one capātī. They don't want more. They are called mādhu-karī. Mādhu-karī means mādhu... Mādhu is collected by drops, not in lump. The, what is called, bees? Honey bees? What is called? No, honey, and bees, what is called? Mādhumakṣi? Bumblebees. Yes.
Lecture on SB 6.1.56-57 -- Bombay, August 14, 1975:
So a brāhmaṇas and kṣatriya, er, sannyāsīs, although they are meant for collecting, they do not collect heavy at a place. Little. Because they are collecting not for his sense gratification. He is collecting for satisfying Kṛṣṇa. So everyone is given chance, that "You give little. You give little. You give little," and whole thing is engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. And just like here we have got the container of flour and container of rice.
Lecture on SB 6.1.56-57 -- Bombay, August 14, 1975:
Out of that, little, if it is put into the temple, he does not feel any burden. Therefore the collection... Sannyāsī, brahmacārī collects little, little, little from everywhere. That is called mādhukāri, exactly following the footsteps of mādhukāra, bumblebees.
Lecture on SB 6.1.56-62 -- Surat, January 3, 1971, at Adubhai Patel's House:
One must practically apply the knowledge, not like armchair politician or armchair Vedantist, smoking cigarette and reading Vedānta. This kind of study of Vedas is useless. Now, we have seen so many sannyāsīs, so-called sannyāsīs, talking on Vedānta and smoking at the same time. You see? So Ajāmila was not like that. He was a scholar in the Vedic literature. Ayaṁ hi śruta-sampannaḥ śīla-vṛtta-guṇālayaḥ. And he was very well behaved and reservoir of all good qualities. Guṇālayaḥ. Dhṛta-vrataḥ, and avowed to follow the regulative principles.
Lecture on SB 6.1.66 -- Vrndavana, September 2, 1975:
Just like he was living with the śūdrāṇī—he was not married—as friend. So even śūdra's marriage there is. For the śūdra there is one āśrama—that is gṛhastha āśrama. And for the brāhmaṇas, four āśramas: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. This is for the brāhmaṇas. For the kṣatriya: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, and vānaprastha. For the vaiśyas: brahmacārī and gṛhastha. And for the śūdras: no brahmacārī, only family life, and that also sometimes without marriage.
Lecture on SB 6.2.1 -- Vrndavana, September 5, 1975:
Therefore, according to Vedic civilization, when one is fifty years old, above that, he must give up family life. No more. Then sannyāsa. Not that up to the point of death one should remain a gṛhastha. No. If he wants to become free from anxiety, that is... Otherwise anxiety. Tat sādhu maye asura-varya dehināṁ sadā samudvigna-dhiyām. Dehinām, one who has accepted this material body, he must be always restless with anxiety.
Lecture on SB 6.2.2 -- Vrndavana, September 6, 1975:
The brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, and brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. This is the conception of human civilization, Aryan civilization. There are Aryans and non-Aryans. Aryan means who follow the varṇāśrama-dharma. They are Aryans. In India they were following strictly this varṇāśrama-dharma; therefore they were Aryans.
Lecture on SB 6.2.4 -- Vrndavana, September 8, 1975:
The brāhmaṇa, the saintly person, the sannyāsī, the rājarṣi. This is required. Imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that the Bhagavad-gītā was taught to the rājarṣi, not to the third-class men. Rājarṣi, rāja and ṛṣi at the same time. Although king, but they were saintly king, just like Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, the ideal king.
Lecture on SB 6.2.4 -- Vrndavana, September 8, 1975:
"A sannyāsī means a rod." These are the explanations. And a very expert man means kuṭumba, dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇam. If anyone can maintain a family—family means one wife and one or two children—then he is to be considered very expert, successful because... Therefore you will find in these days—no wife, no children, no family. In Western countries they take dog as the best friend, and television. That's all.
Lecture on SB 6.2.14 -- Vrndavana, September 17, 1975:
So association is so important thing. You boys and girls in your country, you were so luxuriously living. Why you have left everything and you are after a beggar sannyāsī? It is the association. The association is so strong.
Lecture on SB 6.2.14 -- Vrndavana, September 17, 1975:
There are many sannyāsīs who are brahmavādī. So as soon as they feel "Ahaṁ brahmāsmi," they are no more in anxiety of this material world. And if you increase that—Brahman, Paramātmā, Bhagavān That simple Brahman realization, it is knowledge that "I am not this, but I am that." Neti. But that knowledge will not be sufficient.
Lecture on SB 6.2.14 -- Vrndavana, September 17, 1975:
Our nature is to search after ānanda. So simply Brahman realization will not give you ānanda. Therefore we see sometimes big, big sannyāsīs, they gave up this world as brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā, but because they could not get ānanda, they come down again.
Lecture on SB 6.2.15 -- Vrndavana, September 18, 1975:
When Caitanya Mahāprabhu was questioned by Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī at Benares, follower of Śaṅkara philosophy, that... There was meeting between Caitanya Mahāprabhu... Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not like to meet the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs. He used to live alone. But sometimes these Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they were criticizing Him that "This Bengali sannyāsī comes from Bengal, and He does not indulge in reading Brahma-sutra or Vedānta-sūtra. He dances and chants with some ecstatic people. What kind of sannyāsī He is? A sannyāsī is meant for studying Vedānta-sūtra, Sāṅkhya philosophy." Some of them were very learned scholars. There's no doubt about it.
Lecture on SB 6.2.15 -- Vrndavana, September 18, 1975:
He was known as Nimāi Paṇḍita. "And You have taken sannyāsa. So instead of reading Sāṅkhya philosophy and Vedānta-sūtra, You are simply chanting and dancing with some fanatics. What is this?" This was the question. Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied that "Sir, if I reply your question candidly, please do not be sorry."
Lecture on SB 6.2.15 -- Vrndavana, September 18, 1975:
So there was very long discussion, and all the sannyāsīs, sixty thousand sannyāsīs, they were convinced about Caitanya Mahāprabhu's philosophy, His explanation of the Upaniṣad. So it is not that the Caitanya Mahāprabhu's sampradāya is simply chanting and dancing. If required, they are prepared to answer all Vedic discussion. They are prepared.
Lecture on SB 6.2.15 -- Vrndavana, September 18, 1975:
But if one thinks like Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, that "These people simply chant and dance..." Sometimes one sannyāsī accused us like that. Germany or some...? That Bharati? So we answered them that "Come on. We have got at least seventy-five books, four hundred pages each, to teach you Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Come on." So we are prepared. It is not that. We are the followers of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He was chanting and dancing, but when there was Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, when there was Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, He discussed Vedānta very elaborately, not with fools and rascals. A paṇḍita like Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, a sannyāsī like Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī who knew what is Vedānta, what is Vedas—then we are prepared, because we know certainly.
Lecture on SB 6.2.17 -- Vrndavana, September 20, 1975:
Kṛṣṇa also says that... What is that verse? I just forget. That tapasya, dāna, vrata... Just like one has taken sannyāsa. Sannyāsa means he has given up all these obligatory ceremonies. But Kṛṣṇa says that "Even if you have taken sannyāsa, you cannot give up these processes." What is that? "Tapasya, dāna, and vrata." It is pāvanāni manīṣiṇām. Even if you have become manīṣi, very exalted great sage, still, you should continue this tapasya.
Lecture on SB 6.2.24-25 -- Gorakhpur, February 13, 1971:
We shall simply chant the Vedic mantra." Of course, they cannot do it properly. That is also gone. Simply as a formality, they ignite some fire and hither and thither, some mantra—finished. (laughter) Especially in this age, these sacrifices are not possible. Our... There is a sannyāsī leader, many sannyāsī leaders, they attract people by this performance of yajña, although in this age yajña is not possible because there is no yajñic brāhmaṇa.
Lecture on SB 6.3.12-15 -- Gorakhpur, February 9, 1971:
Everything depending on Kṛṣṇa, and he spends money like that. Paṭhana-pāṭhana yajana-yājana dāna-pratigraha. The brāhmana is, I mean to say, allowed. A brāhmaṇa is allowed to take charity from others—a sannyāsī and a brāhmaṇa. No other is allowed. Nowadays it is come, daridra-nārāyaṇa. Daridra. "The poor man become Nārāyaṇa; therefore he should be served." This nonsensical theory has come up by some nonsense. But actually a qualified brāhmaṇa should be given charity. A sannyāsī, Vaiṣṇava, should be given charity. That is sāttvika charity. And rājasika charity means to open hospital, schools. These are rājasika charity. And tāmasika charity means without any discrimination, a Bowery man given one rupee and immediately purchase a bottle of wine. So this is tāmasika charity. By tāmasika charity, one is degraded.
Lecture on SB 6.3.12-15 -- Gorakhpur, February 9, 1971:
Just like Rāmānanda Rāya. He was accompanied by very, very learned men, learned brāhmaṇas. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when he met Caitanya Mahāprabhu and both of them embraced and were crying in ecstasy, the brāhmaṇas, the smārta-brāhmaṇas, they could not understand that "Why this great personality, governor...? He is so great and simply by embracing a sannyāsī he is crying. And why this sannyāsī... It is understood that He is coming from a brāhmaṇa family. And He has taken such a great personality. Why He is crying by embracing Rāmānanda?" They could not understand. And as soon as Lord Caitanya saw that the smārtas are puzzled, He stopped.
Lecture on SB 6.3.12-15 -- Gorakhpur, February 9, 1971:
There are many mental speculator, just like Aurobindo Ghosh. So he speculated. He understood that there are activities even after liberation, but he could not understand Kṛṣṇa, so hard it is. Others, the so-called sannyāsīs, just like Ramatirtha or Vivekananda, they could not approach even, in the modern age. And the Aurobindo, he approached up to the Brahman liberation, but he could not approach to the understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Lecture on SB 6.3.16-17 -- Gorakhpur, February 10, 1971:
That has been practically experienced. In our country many many, very, very big swamis, they attain perfection and realize that he is Brahman. But after a time again comes down to this material field of worker, opening hospital, schools. So these Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they say that the world is false. Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. So if the world is false, then why they come down to open schools and colleges and hospitals? That means they could not stay in the Brahman atmosphere for want of activity. Therefore this devotional service is Brahman activity.
Lecture on SB 6.3.18-19 -- Gorakhpur, February 12, 1971:
Just like we are practically following. We are giving equal rights to everyone. Either gṛhastha or brahmacārī or sannyāsī, the main center is Kṛṣṇa. One who is advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is all right. It doesn't matter what he is. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's recommendation.
Lecture on SB 7.5.1, Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, January 12, 1973:
They were lower class and they, after Aurangzeb's propaganda of Obzevier(?) tax, some of them or more of them, they became Mussulmans. This is the historical fact. So why they were not reclaimed again? Reclaimed. Of course, some of the sannyāsīs, they tried to reclaim, but that was not the proper way; therefore it was failure.
Lecture on SB 7.5.1, Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, January 12, 1973:
Even big, big advanced spiritually sannyāsī, they are thinking that "I am Kṛṣṇa. I am Kṛṣṇa. Why shall I go to serve Kṛṣṇa? This is slave mentality. Just become Kṛṣṇa. I am Kṛṣṇa. Now I am in māyā; I am not Kṛṣṇa. But as soon as my māyā is over, then I become Kṛṣṇa." Then the question is this: "If you are Kṛṣṇa, why māyā covered you? Then māyā is greater than Kṛṣṇa."
Lecture on SB 7.5.22-30 -- London, September 8, 1971:
Cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is āśrama. Therefore it is called brahmacārī-āśrama, gṛhastha-āśrama, vānaprastha-āśrama, sannyāsa-āśrama. This is varṇāśrama, four varṇas and four āśramas. We are wrongly called Hindus. This is a wrong designation given by the Muhammadans. We don't find this word in any Vedic literature, "Hindu." It is a foreign word. Real word is varṇāśrama. Varnāśramācāravatā puruṣeṇa parā pumān.
Lecture on SB 7.5.22-30 -- London, September 8, 1971:
Four varṇas means brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, and four āśrama means brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. One who follow this system of civilization, they are called varṇāśramī. So the "Hindus" is a foreign name given to these Indians by the neighborhood Muhammadans. Actually, Hindu is not to be found. So when we call ourselves Hindus, that is misconception of Indian civilization.
Lecture on SB 7.5.23-24 -- Vrndavana, March 31, 1976:
This teaching we have got from the greatest authority, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He said that "I am not a brāhmaṇa; I am not a kṣatriya; I am not a vaiśya; I am not a śūdra; neither I am a brahmacārī or gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. I am simply servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa (CC Madhya 13.80)." Gopī-bhartur pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Boston, May 8, 1968:
Just like somebody is brāhmaṇa, executing the duties of abrāhmaṇa, somebody is executing the duty of a kṣatriya, somebody is executing the duty of avaiśya, or a śūdra, or a brahmacārī, or a sannyāsī, vānaprastha. There are eight divisions. So Nārada Muni says that if one gives up his occupational duty, specific duty either as a brahmacārī or sannyāsī or gṛhastha or brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya, he gives up Why he gives up? Tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ harer (SB 1.5.17). By sentiment or by association, he becomes encouraged that "I shall take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:
Now we have general tendency... The Śaṅkarācārya said... He was walking on the street, a sannyāsī. The sannyāsī's business is to walk from village to village, town to town, and approach the householder as beggar: "Mother, give me something to eat." He's not a beggar, but he takes the position of beggar. Because everyone is charitably disposed, he thinks proud, "Oh, here is a nice beggar, sannyāsī, let me give him something." But the sannyāsī's desire is to introduce himself as a beggar so that the householder can take up the advantage that "Here is a sannyāsī. Please come on." Naturally he'll ask something, "Swamiji, what is this? What is this?" So he'll get some opportunity to speak something.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 12, 1968:
There is one verse in Bhāgavatam. One devotee, he has taken sannyāsa. Sannyāsa means the renounced order of life. Just like as you see me by my dress, this is called sannyāsa. Sannyāsa means... This is Sanskrit word, sat-nyāsa. This is sannyāsa. Sat means the Supreme, the Absolute Truth. And nyāsa means renounced. One who has renounced everything for the service of the Supreme, he is called a sannyāsa. Sannyāsa does not mean a particular type of dress or particular type of beard. Sannyāsa means you can become a sannyāsī even with your, this coat-pant.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 12, 1968:
It doesn't matter, provided you have dedicated your life for the service of God. That is called sannyāsa. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said, anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ, sa sannyāsī, sa sannyāsī sa yogi ca na cānya akriya (BG 6.1). The meaning of this verse is that anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ. Everyone is working in this material world for some salary or for some remuneration, but if one works not for salary or for remuneration but as a matter of duty... Anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryam. Kāryam means "It must be done."
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 12, 1968:
Karma karoti yaḥ: "In such a way, if somebody acts, then sa sannyāsī, he is sannyāsī." Just try to understand. Anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ. You are doing some work. Why you are doing some work? Either for some salary or for some profit or for some gain. Otherwise nobody is working uselessly. He must have some gain. But one who does not utilize that gain for his sense gratification but works as a matter of duty, kāryaṁ karma karoti sa sannyāsī sa yogi ca. Such person is actually a sannyāsī and yogi.
You have heard the name of yogi. Yogi means that he has no other business. The sannyāsī and yogi is the same because yogi has no other business.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Hong Kong, April 18, 1972:
Actually our real position is followers of the varṇāśrama-dharma. Four varṇas and four āśramas. This is the stepping stone for civilized life, varṇāśrama. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra; and brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. This system of social order, I mean to say, spiritual and material, it is so systematically done that one who follows this system, automatically he becomes at the end Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is the highest objective.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Vrndavana, December 2, 1975:
This is social division, and there is a spiritual division: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. This is compulsory regulation for becoming human being. Without varṇāśrama institution there is no recognition of human being. Without being trained up in the varṇāśrama system there is no question of becoming human being.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Madras, January 2, 1976:
Acyutānanda: One more question, last question. Is it necessary that a person should pass through the three āśramas, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, before coming to sannyāsa?
Prabhupāda: That is the normal rules and regulation, that especially brāhmaṇa, he must go through the four āśramas, first of all become brahmacārī, then gṛhastha, then vānaprastha, then take sannyāsa. This is for the brāhmaṇas. And for the kṣatriyas, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, and vānaprastha. And for the vaiśyas, brahmacārī, gṛhastha. And for the śūdras, only gṛhastha. This is the process.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Madras, January 2, 1976:
So in this way, step by step, Caitanya Mahāprabhu... This varṇa, āśrama, dharma, karma-tyāga, karma-sannyāsa, and karma-miśra-bhakti, jñāna-miśra-bhakti—everything was described by Rāmānanda Rāya, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu not rejected. He said, "It is all right, but if you know something better..." Then at last, when Rāmānanda said... (aside:) Stop it. When Rāmaṇanda said that, quoting one verse from Śrīmad-Bhagavatam, sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ, that it doesn't matter what you are.
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Madras, January 2, 1976:
So because he was a śūdra by birth and Caitanya Mahāprabhu was not only very exalted position, brāhmaṇa and sannyāsī... So Caitanya Mahāprabhu was questioning and he was answering, so he felt little hesitation, that "Sir, You are so exalted. I am a gṛhastha and a politican, and how can I..." Immediately Caitanya Mahāprabhu encouraged him, "No, no, no, don't hesitate."
- kibā śūdra kibā vipra nyāsī kene naya
- ye kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei 'guru' haya
He said, "Don't hesitate. It doesn't matter whether he is a gṛhastha or sannyāsī or brāhmaṇa or śūdra. If he knows Kṛṣṇa, he is guru." He is guru. That is wanted. We are teaching that Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Lecture on SB 7.6.2 -- Vrndavana, December 3, 1975:
Therefore you will find the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs—they come again to serve humanity, to serve animals, to serve, this, that, country, society. This is Māyāvāda. Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. He could not stay in the exalted post of being servitor and the served.
Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Montreal, June 16, 1968:
A sannyāsī is supposed to wander from one country, one village to another. So he is lamenting, bālas tāvad kridāsaktaḥ: "Oh, boys are playing. They are not being trained in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The youths, they are very much enjoying.
Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Toronto, June 19, 1976:
In the Aryan civilization there is a system of four divisions of social order and four division of spiritual order. Social order is brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra. And spiritual order: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. Therefore what is going on at the present moment as Hindu... This word you won't find in the Vedic literature. Varnāśrama. This is real Vedic system, varṇāśrama.
Lecture on SB 7.6.5 -- Vrndavana, December 7, 1975:
Formerly big, big kings, everyone—compulsory retirement, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. Vanam means go to the forest. One who goes to the forest, he is called vānaprastha. From vana, the word vana, has come vānaprastha. Pañcāśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet, that "After fifty years of age one must go to the forest for meditation, for tapasya, austerity." And when he is perfectly trained up... This training is given from brahmacārī life, gṛhastha life also, but people are not taking training.
Lecture on SB 7.6.6 -- Vrndavana, December 8, 1975:
This is not Vedic civilization. Vedic civilization is that brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. You must be prepared, especially the higher castes, especially the brāhmaṇas. The brāhmaṇas must observe the four adhyātmika principle: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha... Brāhmaṇa, they do not go even to the gṛhastha life. Remain brahmacārī. But even he goes, only for twenty-five years.
Lecture on SB 7.6.6 -- Vrndavana, December 8, 1975:
So divide this varṣa-śatam, hundred years: twenty-five years, brahmacārī; twenty-five years, gṛhastha; twenty-five years, vānaprastha; and last twenty-five years, sannyāsa. That is real civilization, not that no brahmacārī, no vānaprastha, no sannyāsa, simply gṛhastha. They are not gṛhastha.
Lecture on SB 7.6.6 -- Vrndavana, December 8, 1975:
They are called gṛhamedhi. And gṛhastha means gṛhastha-āśrama. Gṛhamedhi-āśrama nei. Gṛhamedhi, only gṛhamedhi. And gṛhastha-āśrama. Gṛhastha-āśrama means it is as good as other āśrama, sannyāsa-āśrama, gṛhastha-āśrama. If he lives according to the regulative principle, that is āśrama. That is also not for all the time, only for twenty-five years.
Lecture on SB 7.6.6 -- New Vrindaban, June 22, 1976:
So actually this life is meant for this purpose. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). There is no other purpose. All other activities secondary. So those who are very much advanced in spiritual life, just like the brāhmaṇas, the sannyāsīs, they did not bother about what to eat, where to sleep. Sex life is completely forgotten.
Lecture on SB 7.6.6 -- New Vrindaban, June 22, 1976:
They conquered over eating, sleeping. Mating, there was no question: they were sannyāsīs, renounced order of life. And defense also, there was no question because they depended on Kṛṣṇa, the most powerful defender. So there was no question of defense. Simply two things, eating and sleeping. And that they also conquered. Nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau cātyanta-dīnau ca yau. So spiritual life means you have to control. That is called gosvāmī.
Lecture on SB 7.6.6-9 -- Montreal, June 23, 1968:
They are called varṇa and āśrama. In the Bhagavad-gītā also, you will find, cātur-varṇyaṁ māyā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). Four divisions of society, for spiritual advancement and for material advancement both. For spiritual advancement, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa.
Lecture on SB 7.6.6-9 -- Montreal, June 23, 1968:
Anyway, the vānaprastha, when the gentleman is completely educated for renouncing this world, then he sends back the wife to grown-up boys and he takes sannyāsa. This is sannyāsa dress. This is preparing, not... Preparing is finished. Sannyāsa means he should distribute spiritual knowledge from door to door. That is his business. He has no family attraction, he has nothing to think for his maintenance, because the society is advised to take care of brahmacārī, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa.
Lecture on SB 7.6.6-9 -- Montreal, June 23, 1968:
Just see. This is spiritual communism. One section of people, the householders, they have to maintain the three other divisions. We have divided the society into four divisions: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. Only the gṛhasthas are allowed to make money, to earn money. But the brahmacārī and the vānaprastha and sannyāsī is to live at the cost the gṛhasthas. Brahmacaris shall go from door to door and beg alms and bring it for the spiritual master. The spiritual master is a sannyāsī.
Lecture on SB 7.6.8 -- Vrndavana, December 10, 1975:
People will not get alms. Alms, to beg from door to door, and live on alms and begging, this will not be possible. Nobody will give alms. Suppose there is ten rupees' kilo rice, and if a sannyāsī goes to a gṛhastha, "Give me some alms, rice," they'll consider in terms of price, "So much rice I have to give.
Lecture on SB 7.6.8 -- New Vrindaban, June 24, 1976:
Then these impediments, gṛheṣu saktasya pramattasya. Anyone who is..., all the karmīs, they are attached to this family life, but family life is good provided there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Gṛhe vā vanete thāke, hā gaurāṅga bole dāke. It doesn't matter, either he is in family life or he's in sannyāsī life, if he's a devotee, then his life is successful.
Lecture on SB 7.6.9 -- Vrndavana, December 11, 1975:
At home, the most affectionate mother, and the most beautiful young wife, Viṣṇu-priyā—He renounced everything. Tyaktvā su-dustyaja-surepsita-rājya lakṣmīṁ dharmiṣṭha ārya-vacasā yad agād araṇyam (SB 11.5.34). He became sannyāsa. In full young time, twenty-four years, having nice wife at home, very affectionate mother, they're very, mother end wife, they take care of very nicely. The home appears to be very, very happy home due to mother and due to wife.
Lecture on SB 7.6.9 -- New Vrindaban, June 25, 1976:
So this is human civilization. Gṛhastha. That also allowed only for a few years. Not few years. Formerly, as we have calculated that people used to live for hundred years, so twenty-four years, twenty-five years, brahmacārī; twenty-five years, gṛhastha; twenty-five years, vānaprastha; and last twenty-five years, sannyāsa. Ultimately sannyāsī, training. So in these four āśramas, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa, in three āśramas, there is no sex life. Brahmacārī, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. Only gṛhastha allowed sex life. That is also restricted only for begetting children.
Lecture on SB 7.6.9-17 -- San Francisco, March 31, 1969:
To make these things out of sight, out of mind, one is recommended that after fiftieth year one must retire from this family life, and when he is still more advanced, he should take sannyāsa and completely, cent percent, devote his life for cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So he's giving very nice example.
Lecture on SB 7.6.10 -- Vrndavana, December 12, 1975:
Even though he is educated so, if he is found unable, then he is allowed to marry. That also not for many years. To remain in the household life for twenty-five years, then compulsory, I mean to say, separation, pañcāśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet. Then when the mind is settled up, he is awarded sannyāsa. This is the system.
Lecture on SB 7.6.10 -- Vrndavana, December 12, 1975:
All these Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they are very learned, but they'll never accept that God has form. They say it is kalpanā, it is imagination. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has designated them very, very dangerous, these Māyāvādīs. He has therefore strictly forbidden, māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa: (CC Madhya 6.169) If you hear this Māyāvādī speaking, then your future is doomed. You are finished.
Lecture on SB 7.6.11-13 -- New Vrindaban, June 27, 1976:
One side jñānam, in His teaching to Rūpa Gosvāmī, teaching to Sanātana Gosvāmī, teaching to, talking with Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, talking with Rāmānanda Rāya. We have given all these things in our Teachings of Lord Caitanya. So that is jñānam. And by His example in His own life, taking sannyāsa, He is teaching vairāgya. Jñāna and vairāgya, these two things are required.
Lecture on SB 7.6.15 -- New Vrindaban, June 29, 1976:
So a gṛhastha, of course, required to accumulate some money because he's living with family, but so far brahmacārī, vānaprastha and sannyāsī is concerned, they should not keep any money. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was so strict that his personal servant, one day he was taking after eating a little, what is called, myrobalum (indistinct), haritaki.
Lecture on SB 7.6.15 -- New Vrindaban, June 29, 1976:
So Śukadeva Gosvāmī has recommended that, that "Do not be anxious." That verse, now I forget, it is in the Second Canto... I forget that verse, but Śukadeva Gosvāmī said that "Don't stock, don't beg. Kṛṣṇa will provide everything, everyone." So except gṛhastha, the brahmacārī, vānaprastha and sannyāsī, they should simply depend on Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 7.7.29-31 -- San Francisco, March 15, 1967, (incomplete lecture):
Of course, in India still, the system is there that in the four kinds of social orders, the brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa... There are four divisions in the social order. First the righteous, pious students-students with purified life and a spiritual education. That is called brahmacārī. Then gṛhastha, family life, living with wife and children.
Lecture on SB 7.7.29-31 -- San Francisco, March 15, 1967, (incomplete lecture):
That is called brahmacārī. Then gṛhastha, family life, living with wife and children. Then vānaprastha, retired life. Then sannyāsa, renounced life. So these gṛhasthas are meant for maintaining three other āśramas. A gṛhastha, a householder, because he's given the license for sense enjoyment, therefore he has to compensate his sensual gratification by giving charities to other three āśramas. Brahmacārī, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. So the system is any brahmacārī or any sannyāsī goes to a householder, "Mother, give me some alms. I am brahmacārī," (s)he will at once give. At once give. So this is the system.
Lecture on SB 7.9.3 -- Mayapur, February 10, 1976:
Whatever Rāmānanda Rāya was proposing, "This is the beginning of bhakti..." He suggested varṇāśrama-dharma, karma-tyāga, karma-sannyāsa, even full surrender, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). All, everything, Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, eho bāhya āge kaha: "These are external formality. If you know something better than this, please explain."
Lecture on SB 7.9.3 -- Mayapur, February 10, 1976:
So one should become very humble and meek. It doesn't matter where he is situated, either this institutionally, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. Even one has taken sannyāsa, he should remain always humble. So never we should think that "I have become very big personality." That was the instruction of my Guru Mahārāja, that baḍa vaiṣṇava—"I am very big Vaiṣṇava. Everyone should come and obey my orders"—this is condemned position.
Lecture on SB 7.9.3 -- Mayapur, February 10, 1976:
Sthāne... It doesn't require to change. There are so many questions sometimes: whether it is necessary to take sannyāsa and It is... By the routine work, it is necessary. But if one is serious, so for him it is not necessary—ahaituky apratihatā—because for a serious student of devotion, Kṛṣṇa is in his hand. So anyway, even if you are a sannyāsī or gṛhastha or vānaprastha, it doesn't matter. You should remain very humble. That is required. Sthāne sthitāḥ. And you should hear from the realized soul in humbleness. Then the Kṛṣṇa, the great, He will be conquered by you.
Lecture on SB 7.9.7 -- Mayapur, February 14, 1976:
Just like if I offer you that if you do this work, I shall give you immediately fifty thousand rupees. So, who will believe me? "This man is a beggar, sannyāsī, how he'll give fifty thousand rupees?" So there is no śraddhā. But we cannot do so with reference to Kṛṣṇa.
Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Calcutta, March 5, 1972:
Just like as you go to the moon planet but if you cannot stay there, you must have to come down again to this planet; similarly, one may rise up to the Brahman platform, paraṁ-pada, which is called paraṁ-pada, but if you cannot stay there, then again you fall down. Just like many so-called sannyāsīs, they rise to the brahma-pada, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, but because they cannot stay there, they come down again to this material world and they are busy for opening hospitals, schools, and philanthropism.
Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Calcutta, March 5, 1972:
So brahma-pada, you can rise up. But if you do not engage yourself in the service of Bhagavān, then again you come down. āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Because they could not engage their service to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, therefore, these so-called sannyāsīs again come down to this material platform and engage their service to the mithyā.
Lecture on SB 7.9.9 -- Montreal, July 6, 1968:
Formerly the brāhmaṇas, real brāhmaṇas, they refused to take any charity from others, even up to this date, because according to Vedic system, when charity was to be given, it is to be given to the brāhmaṇas or the sannyāsīs. That is real charity. Datavyam. They should be given. Because they are always engaged in Brahman, therefore charity given to a brāhmaṇa or a sannyāsī goes to Brahman. That is the idea.
Lecture on SB 7.9.9 -- Mayapur, February 16, 1976:
The gṛhastha must give in charity. Yajña, dāna and tapaḥ. And those who are vānaprastha and sannyāsī, they should practice tapasya, austerities. Yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-kriyā na tyājyaṁ kāryam eva tat. Because you have taken sannyāsa, you cannot give up these things, yajña-dāna-tapaḥ. It must continue.
Lecture on SB 7.9.10 -- Montreal, July 10, 1968:
So to come to this platform of confidence or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is training. That training is called viddhi-mārga, regulative principles, following the regulative principles. So this whole varṇāśrama system, Vedic system, the different caste—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, a brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa—they are very scientifically designed to elevate one gradually to the standard of "no fear," "fearfulnessless," no more fear, confident.
Lecture on SB 7.9.10 -- Mayapur, February 17, 1976:
So how it is given up? When one becomes devotee. Manye tad-arpita-mano-vaca. One who has given everything to Kṛṣṇa, the, our sannyāsa, tri-daṇḍa, that is tad-arpita-mano-vaca. Tri-daṇḍa means "I am accepting, my Lord, three kinds of chastisement from You, that I dedicate my body, my mind and my vaca, my words." This is called tri-daṇḍa. You should understand, those who are sannyāsīs, tri-daṇḍa-sannyāsī. The Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they take one daṇḍa.
Lecture on SB 7.9.10 -- Mayapur, February 17, 1976:
They say that without becoming a Hindu or born in India, nobody can become brāhmaṇa, nobody can become sannyāsī. But here is the proof. In the śāstra it says, śvapacaṁ variṣṭham. The dog-eater is also highly praised. When? Tad-arpita-mano-vacana: "When he sacrifices everything—his body, his mind, his words—only for Kṛṣṇa." This is called tri-daṇḍa-sannyāsa. So why the low-grade man cannot be offered tri-daṇḍa if he is qualified? If he has dedicated everything to Kṛṣṇa, why he should be prohibited? No. That is not the śāstric injunction.
Lecture on SB 7.9.11 -- Montreal, August 17, 1968:
There is a story that some sannyāsī went to a householder, because a sannyāsī goes to householder for begging. They are begging also like that. They are not beggars, but they introduce as beggar so that the householder may receive and take some advantage of his knowledge. He is not beggar. So one beggar went to a householder, and the housewife said, "Oh, this beggar has come from door to door. Give him some ashes." So the sannyāsī replied, "All right. Give me some ashes. Just begin your charity."
Lecture on SB 7.9.11 -- Montreal, August 17, 1968:
The more you give to God, the more you become benefited. It is your interest. But the foolish persons, they do not know it. Therefore God, like Bali Mahārāja, He goes, like Vāmanadeva, He goes to beg from Bali Mahārāja. And His representative, devotees of God, sannyāsīs, they also go to beg: "My dear sir, give us some contribution for our temple." It is not that he's beggar.
Lecture on SB 7.9.11-13 -- Hawaii, March 24, 1969:
Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Haridāsa Ṭhākura, because he was born in a Muhammadan family, he would go... Caitanya Mahāprabhu transferred Himself to Jagannātha Purī after taking sannyāsa. So he requested Caitanya Mahāprabhu, "My dear Lord, You are going to Jagannātha Purī. What will be my fate?" "Oh, you also come there. You live with Me."
Lecture on SB 7.9.12 -- Mayapur, February 19, 1976:
Three meanings of ātmā. So sarvātmanā. Your body the other day I explained, karmaṇā manasā vācā: "By your working capacity, by your mind, by your words..." This is called tri-daṇḍa. We Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī, we take three daṇḍa. This is three, karmaṇā manasā vācā: by activities, by mind and by words.
Lecture on SB 7.9.19 -- Mayapur, February 26, 1976:
Let me take sannyāsa. That's all." (laughter) That is intelligence. (laughter) You cannot give protection to your family, to your society. To your... No, you cannot give. That is not possible. They must die. They must be captured by the network of māyā. You cannot save them. If you want to save them, then make them Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Lecture on SB 7.9.37 -- Mayapur, March 15, 1976:
This sattva-guṇa... Just like sometimes we experience that one person is elevated to the brahminical principle, sannyāsī principle, but all of a sudden he falls down, he becomes a demon. We have got experience. He becomes demon. Very high... So this material world is so contaminated that even you are on the sattva-guṇa, there is chance of being contaminated by the rajas-tamo guṇa. The struggle is there. Therefore we have to become very, very careful. Or Kṛṣṇa will help. If you want to remain in sattva-guṇa, in purity, then Kṛṣṇa will help.
Lecture on SB 7.9.39 -- Mayapur, March 17, 1976:
If there is no botheration, why they are killing their own child? There is botheration. Sex life is botheration. Therefore it should be controlled, undoubtedly. And the last control is to become a sannyāsī, bās. Āra na re bāpa:(?) "No more."
Lecture on SB 7.9.46 -- Vrndavana, April 1, 1976:
He can accept immediately sannyāsa āśrama. But if he is unable to do that, the brahmacārī, the guru orders him, "All right, you take a good wife and be satisfied and have family life up to fifty years. Then you give it up." Not that it is essential; one has to marry. This is a concession for sex life, that's all.
Lecture on SB 7.9.48 -- Vrndavana, April 3, 1976:
That is special, because Kṛṣṇa came here and displayed His pastimes, a special significance. But wherever you are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is Vṛndāvana. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Wherever He was going He said that "It is Vṛndāvana." After taking sannyāsa He was in Bengal, and He was thinking the Ganges as Yamunā.
Lecture on SB 7.9.53 -- Vrndavana, April 8, 1976:
If you have got Kṛṣṇa, there is no need of tapasya. You are free. And nārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim. And if you cannot understand Kṛṣṇa, then what is the use of your becoming so much religious, austere sannyāsī and yogi? The whole nonsense. All nonsense. Yadi... Ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim, nārādhito yadi haris tapasā... There is no meaning of tapasya if you cannot see Kṛṣṇa. And if you can see Kṛṣṇa, there is no meaning of tapasya.
Lecture on SB 7.9.55 -- Vrndavana, April 10, 1976:
So we never use car for sense gratification. Nirbandhe kṛṣṇa sambandhe yukta-vairāgyam ucyate, prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari... A sannyāsī is supposed to walk. But if somebody criticizes, "Sir, why you are flying on airplane?" no, that is our not principle. The Jain sannyāsīs, they never use cars. Now they have begun. Because I am traveling all over the world, now the Jains, they are also. (laughter) But our philosophy is different. We are preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Suppose I have to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness in Europe or America. So because a sannyāsī has to walk, therefore I shall walk throughout the whole life to go to America? This is foolishness.
Lecture on SB 7.12.2 -- Bombay, April 13, 1976:
Four āśramas-brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa. So the beginning of life is brahmacārī, how to remain a celibate. It is very scientific. People have neglected this culture and they are suffering. It is so essen... Because they do not know what is the aim of life, so in the Bhagavad-gītā all these people have been described as mūḍha, rascals.
Lecture on SB 7.12.4 -- Bombay, April 15, 1976:
Although this culture—brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsī—is Indian culture, unfortunately we have given up. Varnāśrama-dharma, varṇa, four varṇas and four āśramas, they're simply giving up. No more brāhmaṇa, no more kṣatriyas, no more vaiśyas, no more śūdras. They are less than śūdras. Pañcama. Less then śūdra means caṇḍāla. Kirāta-hūṇāndra-pulinda-pulkaśāḥ. There are so many divisions of caṇḍālas. Pañcama.
Lecture on SB 7.12.5 -- Bombay, April 16, 1976:
They are simply eating. Gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām, mahad-vicalanaṁ nṛṇāṁ gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. The householders especially, they have become very cripple-minded. In the śāstra it is said that sannyāsīs, brahmacārīs, they are supposed to be maintained by the gṛhastha as their children. As they are maintaining their own children—there is no disgust—similarly, if a brahmacārī or a gṛhastha comes..., brahmacārī or sannyāsī, so he should not be refused. Give something. If you give little rice, that is also good, but don't refuse. This is Vedic system. Bhaikṣyam. When this is stopped, that is called durbhikṣa. When this alms collection is impossible, that is called durbhikṣa. Even brahmacārī and sannyāsīs cannot get any alms.
Lecture on SB 7.12.5 -- Bombay, April 16, 1976:
So durbhikṣa means these brahmacārīs, sannyāsīs, they should go to every householder's house and take some alms. When this is refused, that means we are calling durbhikṣa, scarcity of food grain. It should be given. That is... A small collection, it is going to the temple for offering prasādam to the Lord and the prasādam to the Vaiṣṇavas, brāhmaṇas.
Lecture on SB 7.12.5 -- Bombay, April 16, 1976:
In the beginning it was said, vasan dānto guror hitam. Everything, all collection, either in cash or kind, that is for the benefit of guru, not the personal benefit. No. Therefore only the gṛha, I mean to say, sannyāsīs and the brahmacārīs, they can beg. They can collect, not others. That is prohibited. Sāyaṁ prātaś cared bhaikṣyam gurave tan nivedayet.
Lecture on SB 7.12.5 -- Bombay, April 16, 1976:
This is different days. So it is very difficult to introduce the original way of brahmacarya, vānaprastha, sannyāsa, and gṛhastha. Everything has topsy-turvied. But there is only one way. That is there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that "Although this age is full of faults..." Kalau doṣa-nidhe rājan. The Śukadeva Gosvāmī said, "My dear King, Parīkṣit Mahārāja, I have described so many faults of this age, and you must be perplexed.
Lecture on SB 7.12.6 -- Bombay, April 17, 1976:
This is life. Not that extravagant life is life. That is the present position of India, that we have lost our own culture. Brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsī—this is compulsory. Every child should be trained up as brahmacārī. Then, when he is completely trained up, if he still likes to get into married life or householder life, which is a concession for sex life... It is not required.
Lecture on SB 7th Canto -- Calcutta, March 7, 1972:
Because unless one comes to the institute of varṇāśrama-dharma—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacārī, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa, gṛhastha—they are not considered as civilized. So he began from this, Rāmānanda Rāya. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu said eho bāhya āge kaha, "This is external. If you know something more, you can explain."
Lecture on SB 7th Canto -- Calcutta, March 7, 1972:
One's business should be that he may not change his position. Means he may remain a gṛhastha, he may remain a brāhmaṇa or śūdra or a sannyāsī, it doesn't matter. In whatever position he is, he is all right. The only business is that you should not be proud of mental speculation, jñāna-tyāga. You have to give up this practice of mental speculation, but you try to understand the Supreme Lord by hearing from a realized soul.
Lecture on SB 7th Canto -- Calcutta, March 7, 1972:
A brāhmaṇa or a kṣatriya or a vaiśya or a śūdra or a brahmacārī or a gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsī, they are divided according to the quality. According to the quality. Never says janma. Quality. So here also it is said viprād dvi-ṣaḍ-guṇa-yutād. Dvi means double, twice, and ṣaḍ means six, then means twelve. Twelve kinds of qualities a brāhmaṇa meets. The twelve kinds of qualities are also mentioned here.
Lecture on SB 7th Canto -- Calcutta, March 7, 1972:
He was a great scholar, Bṛhaspati. He is considered to be incarnation of Bṛhaspati, the learned scholar of heaven. And still, when he argued with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu about Vedānta-sūtra, he was defeated. He was defeated and then he became His disciple. Similarly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu had talks with Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, another Māyāvādī sannyāsī scholar. So He also explained Vedānta-sūtra.
Lecture on SB 7th Canto -- Calcutta, March 7, 1972:
So Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī followed strictly the Rūpa Gosvāmī. Just like Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī introduced that a sannyāsī should go for begging alms in motorcar. In motorcar. They should live in palatial buildings.
Lecture on SB 12.2.1 -- San Francisco, March 18, 1968:
A men sannyāsī, his dress is different. A brahmacārī, his dress is different. So by the dress one can understand that who is who. That is the system. So that dress is offered by the spiritual master after qualified. Just like if a girl is married, then his (her) dress is offered during the marriage ceremony.
Lecture on SB 12.2.1 -- San Francisco, March 18, 1968:
Simply by dress. Suppose... Just like sannyāsī. Because a sannyāsī has to dress himself in these saffron-color garments, so sannyāsī has the privilege, if he goes to a householder's house, he is very respectfully received, and if he wants something, the householder gives him. That is the system.
Lecture on SB 12.2.1 -- San Francisco, March 18, 1968:
Āśrama means... There are four āśramas: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsī. They have got different dresses. But they have got different duties also. But in the Kali-yuga, simply by dress one should be known that either he is a sannyāsī or a brahmacārī or gṛhastha.
| Page Title: | Sannyasa (Lectures, SB cantos 4 - 12) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Gopinath |
| Created: | 30 of Jun, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=200, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 200 |