47 verses
The Supreme Lord said: One who desires to be a vānaprastha should enter the forest with a peaceful mind, leaving his wife with his mature sons, or else taking her along with him, and spend a third of his life there.
One should arrange ones sustenance by eating uncontaminated bulbs, roots and fruits that grow in the forest. One should dress in tree bark, grass, leaves or animal skins.
Vasīta means should wear.
The vānaprastha should not cut the hair on his head, body or face, should not manicure his nails, should not pass stool and urine at irregular times, and should not clean his teeth. He should bathe in water three times daily and should sleep on the ground.
He should not clean his teeth. Three times a day he should submerge himself in water like a pestle (dunking and not scrubbing).
He should execute penance during the hottest summer days by subjecting himself to burning fires on four sides and the blazing sun overhead; during the rainy season he should remain outside, subjecting himself to torrents of rain; and in the winter he should remain submerged in water up to his neck.
He may eat food cooked by fire such as grains, or fruits ripened by time. He may grind his food with mortar and stone or with his own teeth.
He can grind food with mortar and pestle or use his teeth as a mortar.
The vānaprastha should personally collect whatever he requires for his bodily maintenance, carefully considering the time, place and his own strength. He should never collect provisions for the future.
He should collect his own food for living, and not hoard food for another time. But he should consider time, place and strength. In a difficult place, dangerous time, or weakened state, he could save food. The rule is not absolute.
The vānaprastha should perform seasonal sacrifices by offering oblations of caru and sacrificial cakes prepared from rice and other grains found in the forest. He should never offer me animal sacrifices mentioned in the Vedas.
Kāla-coditān means sacrifices at various seasons such as āgrayaṇa, offered at the end of the monsoon.
The vānaprastha should perform the agnihotra, darśa and paurṇamāsa sacrifices, as he did while in the gṛhastha-āśrama. He should also perform the vows and sacrifices of cāturmāsya, since all of these rituals are enjoined for the vānaprastha-āśrama by knowers of the Vedas.
These sacrifices are prescribed for the vānaprastha by the knowers of the Vedas.
The vānaprastha, practicing severe penances, becomes so emaciated that he appears to be mere skin and bones. Thus worshiping me who am penance personified, he goes to Maharloka and eventually attains liberation.
Having attained Maharloka (ṛṣi-lokāt), he eventually attains liberation (mām upaiti).
One who with difficulty executes this painful but exalted penance for insignificant material pleasure must be considered the greatest fool.
The person who practices these austerities with material desires is criticized.
If the vānaprastha, because of his trembling body and old age, is no longer able to execute his prescribed duties, he should place the sacrificial fires within his heart by meditation. Then, fixing his mind on me, he should enter into the fire.
Akalpaḥ means being incapable.
When the vānaprastha becomes detached from all planets attained by actions, understanding that even promotion to Brahmaloka is a miserable situation, he may give up the sacrificial fires of vānaprastha life and take the sannyāsa order of life.
Karma-vipākeṣu means attained by actions.
Having worshiped me according to scriptural injunctions and having given all his property to the sacrificial priest, he should place the fires within himself. Thus, with the mind completely detached, he should enter the sannyāsa order of life.
According to scriptures, one should worship me by śrāddhāṣṭaka and prājāpatya sacrifices. .
This man is going to surpass us and attain the supreme Brahman. Thus thinking, the devatās create stumbling blocks on the path of the sannyāsī by appearing before him in the shape of his former wife or other women and attractive objects.
He should not pay attention to the obstacles. The devatās appear as his wife and others because they fear he will surpass them and attain the supreme Brahman.
If the sannyāsī desires to wear something besides a mere kaupīna, he may use another cloth around his waist to cover the kaupīna. Having taken the sannyāsa vow, if there is no emergency, he should not accept anything besides his stick and water pot.
The actions of the sannyāsī are described. If he desires to wear cloth other than the kaupīna, he should only wear a piece of cloth to cover the kaupīna. When he accepts the vow of sannyāsa, renouncing everything (tyaktam), he does not accept anything accept the water pot and stick.
His steps are purified by his glance. His water is purified by his straining cloth. His words are purified by truth. His actions are purified by his mind.
He who has not accepted the three internal daṇdas of avoiding useless speech, avoiding useless activities and controlling the life air can never be considered a sannyāsī merely because of his carrying an external daṇda.
Silence is control of words. Giving up action is control of the body. Controlling breath is control of the mind. He who does not have these three controls or internal daṇòas is not a sannyāsī, O Uddhava.
Rejecting houses of ill repute, he should approach without previous calculation seven houses from any of the four varṇas and be satisfied with that which is obtained there by begging.
One should not approach houses known for impurity. Among the brāhmaṇas one should approach those who maintain themselves by donations, teaching, performing sacrifice and taking grains from the field or market floor. One should not plan beforehand which houses will be good for accepting food.
Taking the food gathered through begging, he should leave the populated areas and go to a reservoir of water. There, performing ācamana, in silence he should purify the food and distribute portions. He should eat everything he has begged, leaving no remnants.
One should distribute part of the food to Viṣṇu, Brahmā, the sun and living entities. One should not leave remnants and keep them for eating later.
With no material attachment, with senses fully controlled, fully determined, satisfied in realization of Paramātmā and enjoying pastimes with Paramātmā, he should travel about the earth alone, seeing with equal vision everywhere.
He should be satisfied in realizing Paramātmā (ātmā-rataḥ). He has pastimes with the Paramātmā (ātma-krīòaḥ). He is endowed with determination (ātmā-vān)
Dwelling in a safe and solitary place, his mind purified by constant thought of me, the sage should contemplate that the jīva is non-different from me.
He contemplates that the jīva (ātmānam) is not different from Paramātmā. This is done in order to attain sāyujya-mukti.
By steady knowledge, a sage should repeatedly ascertain the cause of the souls bondage and liberation. Bondage occurs when the senses are deviated to sense gratification, and complete control of the senses constitutes liberation.
He should repeatedly consider (anvīkṣeta) the cause of the souls bondage and liberation.
Therefore, completely controlling the five senses and the mind by thoughts of me, the sage, having experienced spiritual bliss within the self, should live with detachment from insignificant material enjoyment.
Śad-vargam means the group of six senses.
The sage should travel to sanctified places, rivers, mountains and forests. He should enter the cities, towns and pasturing grounds and approach ordinary working men only to beg his bare sustenance.
He should beg from the hermitage of a vānaprastha, since, by accepting food picked from the fields, the antaḥkaraṇa becomes pure and one becomes freed from illusion.
He should do this because by taking food obtained from the fields his antaḥ-karaṇa becomes pure.
He should never see as ultimate reality those material things which will perish. With consciousness free from attachment to this world and the next, he should withdraw from all activities meant for material progress.
How can one give up sweets and develop an inclination for coarse grains collected from the field? One should not see things like food substantial, since they will be destroyed. Being unattached to this world and the next one should become disinterested in activities to attain those things.
He should logically consider the universe, as well as the mind, speech and life air, to be ultimately products of māyā, situated in the Lord. Thus situated in the self, rejecting them all, he should never think of them.
One should establish by logic that all things in the world are the products of the guṇas of māyā (māyā iti). The logic is as follows. The effects are actually nothing but the cause. They are all one with Paramātmā. Therefore one does not think of them as individual objects of any value.
A person fixed in jñāna and detached from external objects, or my devotee who is detached even from desire for liberationboth should reject the āśrama duties based on external rituals or paraphernalia and conduct themselves beyond the range of rules.
The mature jñānī and the niṣkāma devotee are beyond the rules of varṇāśrama. The mature jñānī, devoid of expectations of even good position, should reject the rules. Complete indifference to things (anapekṣakaḥ) is not possible for the devotee who has not developed prema. Thus the devotee who has developed prema gives up the āśramas along with the all signs of āśramas (such as the stick and water pot). The devotee who has not developed prema (who is not anapekṣakaḥ) gives up the actions of the āśramas but not its external signs. However, for the devotees in general, giving up the actions of his sva-dhārma takes place to some degree from the beginning of bhakti:
āvat karmāṇi kurvīta na nirvidyeta yāvatā
mat-kathā-śravaṇādau vā śraddhā yāvan na jāyate
As long as one is not satiated by fruitive activity and has not awakened his taste for devotional service hearing and chanting, one has to act according to the regulative principles of the Vedic injunctions. SB 11.20.9
Because the matured jñānī and the prema-bhakta have no tendency for sin, there is no fear of bad conduct. Thus they do not have to follow rules.
Although most wise, the paramahaṁsa should play like a child; although most expert, he should behave like an incompetent person; although most learned, he should speak like an insane person; and although a scholar learned in Vedic regulations, he should behave in an unrestricted manner.
Fearing disturbance from getting recognition from the public, he does not reveal himself. Though learned in the meaning of the Vedas (naigamaḥ) he does not follow the rules.
A devotee should never engage in the rituals mentioned in the karma-kāṇòa section of the Vedas, nor should he take up the marks of a Buddhist, or become involved in logic. He should never take any side whatsoever in useless arguments.
Though he should hide himself, he should not do certain activities. He should not become involved in explaining karma-kāṇòa or take up the symbols of a Buddhist (pāśaṇòī). He should not involve in logical arguments, or take sides in arguments with dry philosophies like vivarta-vāda.
A saintly person should never let others disturb him and, similarly, should never disturb other people. He should tolerate the insults of others and should never insult anyone. He should never create hostility with anyone for the sake of the material body, for he would thus be no better than an animal.
Ativādān means insults.
The one Paramātmā is situated within all material bodies and within everyones soul, just as the moon is reflected in innumerable reservoirs of water. Every material body is the effect of Paramātmā.
The way to avoid having enemies is described. Paramātmā is in all beings such as humans or animals and in the jīva (ātmani), just as the moon is perceived as a reflection in water by its rays. Because the cause is in the effects, the moon is in all the reflections. By seeing Paramātmā in aÿl jīvas, there is no cause for enmity, from the spiritual point of view. Because all bodies are non-different from Paramātmā, being his effects, there is no cause for enmity, from the point of view of the body.
If at times one does not obtain proper food one should not be depressed, and when one obtains sumptuous food one should not rejoice. Being fixed in determination, one should understand both situations to be under the control of karma.
One should not rejoice or lament since both getting and not getting are under the law of karma (daiva-tantritam).
If required, one should endeavor to get sufficient foodstuffs, because it is always necessary and proper to maintain one life. When one is fit, one can contemplate spiritual truth, and by understanding the truth one is liberated.
If one receives nothing by begging, one should endeavor for some food. One should endeavor for just enough food, because one should maintain life. By that, one can contemplate the truth. From the truth one attains liberation.
A sage should accept the food, clothing and beddingbe they of excellent or inferior qualitythat come of their own accord.
Because of not making effort what he receives may be tasty or insipid. But the sage should not rejoice or refuse what he receives by expressing himself with words.
Just as I, the Supreme Lord, execute regulative duties by my own free will, similarly, the jñānī should maintain general cleanliness, perform ācamana, take bath and execute other regulative duties, not by force, but by his own free will.
One should not perform actions by force of the rule. One should not servant of the rule, but rather perform the acts by previous habit or by free will.
The jñānī does not explain about difference at all, since difference is destroyed by realization of me. Sometimes however, before the body is given up, this false perception recurs. But after death he merges with me.
The cause of the jñānī not being a slave to rules is explained. He does not perceive difference (vikalpa ākhyāḥ). by words he may not express difference since he says that ātmā is the universe, but does he not think in terms of difference? That perception is destroyed by direct realization of me. Is it not partially destroyed? Sometimes before he leaves the body there is false perception which was previously annulled.
One who is detached from material enjoyment, knowing its result to be miserable, and who desires spiritual perfection, but who has not seriously considered Paramātmā, should approach a wise guru.
Having describes the activities of a person who has attained knowledge, Kṛṣṇa describes the activities of a person desiring to attain knowledge. The person who has not considered Paramātmā (ajijñāsita-mad dharmaḥ) should approach a guru.
Until a devotee has clearly realized Brahman, he should continue with great faith and respect, and without envy, to render personal service to the guru, who is nondifferent from me.
The guru is my form.
surān ātmānam ātma-sthaṁ nihnute māṁ ca dharma-hā avipakva-kaṣāyo smād amuṣmāc ca vihīyate
One who has not controlled the six forms of illusion (lust, anger, greed, excitement, false pride and intoxication), whose intelligence, the leader of the senses, is extremely attached to material things, who is bereft of knowledge and detachment, who adopts the sannyāsa order of life to make a living, who deceives the devatās, ātmā and Paramātmā, thus ruining all religious principles, and who is still infected by material contamination, is deviated and lost both in this life and the next.
Two verses criticize the sannyāsī of bad conduct. His intelligence is uncontrolled (pracaṇòa-indriya-sārathiḥ) and takes sannyāsa to make a living. He deceives the devatās who should be worshipped, his own ātmā and me, situated within all beings. As a result of that deception he is lost in this life and the next.
The main duties of a sannyāsī are equanimity and nonviolence, whereas the duties of the vānaprastha are austerity and philosophical understanding of the difference between the body and soul. The main duties of a householder are to give shelter to all living entities and to perform sacrifices, and the main duty of the brahmacārī is serving the guru.
The main activities of the four āśramas are stated.
As well, the householder may approach his wife for sex only at the time prescribed for begetting children. Otherwise, the householder should practice celibacy, austerity, cleanliness of mind and body, satisfaction, and friendship toward all living entities. Worship of me is to be practiced by all human beings, regardless of social or occupational divisions.
Other duties of the householder are pointed out. Śaucam includes absence of attachment and other negative qualities. The method of the householders brahmacarya is described: he should approach his wife while she is fertile. However, everyone must worship me since I give life to all of varṇas and āśramas. Without that worship all varṇas and āśramas are useless. It is said:
mukha-bāhūru-pādebhyaḥ puruṣasyāśramaiḥ saha
catvāro jajñire varṇā guṇair viprādayaḥ pṛthak
Each of the four social orders, headed by the brāhmaṇas, was born through different combinations of the modes of nature, from the face, arms, thighs and feet of the Supreme Lord in his universal form, along with the āśramas.
ya eṣāṁ puruṣaṁ sākṣād ātma-prabhavam īśvaram
na bhajanty avajānanti sthānād bhraṣṭāḥ patanty adhaḥ
If any of the members of the four varṇas and four āśramas fail to worship or disrespect the Lord, who is the source of their own creation, they will fall down from their āśrama. SB 11.5.3-4
One who worships me by his prescribed duties, having no other object of worship, and who understand I am in all beings including the devatās, achieves firm bhakti to me.
By this method, by necessarily worshipping me in the varṇas and āśramas, understanding the superiority of my worship, worshipping me as the principal part of ones sva-dharma, without material desire, one attains śānta-bhakti.1 How can one practice pure bhakti in sva-dharma, since it includes worship of devatās and Pitṛs? That person should think of me in all beings, including the devatās and Pitṛs, as the Paramātmā.
O Uddhava! One who worships me with unfailing bhakti attains me as the Lord of all worlds, the cause of creation and destruction, and Brahman.
By that bhakti, some also attain me as the Lord of all planets. I, the giver of power equal to my own, give him liberation in the form of sārṣṭi. Some attain me as the cause of all creation and destruction. I create for them the bliss of jñāna and yoga-siddhis that he desires, and I destroy saṁsāra for him. Some attain me as Brahman. I give them impersonal liberation.
Thus, one who has purified his existence by execution of his prescribed duties, who fully understands my supreme position and who is endowed with scriptural and realized knowledge, very soon achieves me.
Kṛṣṇa summarizes this section.
Following rules of varṇāśrama with a little mixture of bhakti produces impersonal liberation.
Having spoken of mixed bhakti (where bhakti is more prominent than jñāna), Kṛṣṇa now describes secondary bhakti (where jñāna is more prominent than bhakti). Activities of varṇāśrama with offerings to me produce impersonal liberation (niḥśreaysa-karaḥ).
O saintly Uddhava! I have now described to you, just as you inquired, the means by which my devotee, perfectly engaged in his prescribed duty, can attain me.
Thus ends the commentary on the Eighteenth Chapter of the Eleventh Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.
The Eighteenth Chapter describes life of the vānaprastha and sannyāsī and as well the general description of a devotee without āśrama. In sequence, first the vānaprastha is described. He should remain a vānaprastha till the age of seventy-five years. Then he is qualified for sannyāsa.