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Renunciation and the Duty to Serve One's Parents

Q: If a sadhak’s parents are elderly and there is no one to take care of them except the sadhak, is it appropriate for the sadhak to leave them against their wishes and go to solitude to engage in devotion to God? A: It is the first and foremost duty of every human being to serve their parents. [A son should serve and care for his parents as long as they are alive. The same is true for a daughter until she gets married. After marriage, she must serve her parents-in-law like her own parents.]   This is ordained by the scriptures. In the life stories of various pure devotees, it can be seen that they served their parents with utmost commitment before attaining pure Bhakti for their Lord. Those sadhaks who do not serve their parents and leave them disappointed at home do not progress much in the Bhakti path even while living in the forest. If the parents are very hostile to the Bhakti path and do not let the sadhak engage in Bhakti at all, then the sadhak can leave them because dev
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Renunciation: The Ripe Time to enter Sannyas Ashram

    [It is important to understand that in Gaudiya Sampradaya, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu strictly forbid Vaishnavas to accept Vedic Sannyas order. So, here, we are talking about entering the renunciate life which involves accepting Babaji vesa.] In Srimad Bhagavatam (5 th  canto, 1 st  chapter), Sri Shukadeva Goswami describes the story of Maharaj Priyavrata. Maharaj Priyavrata realized that the attachment to material pleasures is the root cause of entanglement in Maya. Once a person gets entangled in worldly issues, it is very difficult for him to engage in devotion to God. Maya is very powerful. She is capable of deluding even highly enlightened Gyanis and Yogis. Therefore, he decided to leave Grihastha Ashram while he was still unmarried and go to the forest to do bhajan. He wanted to enter Sannyas Ashram and dedicate his life exclusively to the devotion of God.   Brahma, the Creator of the three worlds, came to know that Maharaj Priyavrata wanted to leave Grihastha Ashram an

Renunciation: The Finer Points of Detachment Part 2

    Q: Householder sadhaks typically face a very difficult situation when their family members are not devotees. Due to opposing interests, the sadhak becomes distressed and is unable to do bhajan peacefully. The family members are unable to understand his yearning for spiritual advancement and Bhakti. On one hand, their harsh words and unfavourable behaviour make him feel unsupported and attacked, and on the other hand, he worries that his family members are committing Aparadhas by creating obstacles in his bhajan. But he is unable to make his family members understand why he is doing bhajan and wants to become detached from worldly relationships and pleasures. What should such a sadhak do?   A: The situation is indeed difficult but one who truly wants to attain Krishna Bhakti in this very lifetime will not be concerned about any worldly issues. He understands that by the will of Krishna and according to the results of his previous actions, such obstacles come to deter him from