Priya Kunj Ras

  Once a sadhak enters the renunciate life, he has to live under the guidance of his Gurudev and serve his Gurudev according to His instructions. He should not live independently regardless of how knowledgeable he is about the Bhakti path. When he becomes qualified to do bhajan in solitude independently, his Gurudev will Himself instruct him to do so. But before that, if he lives independently without His Gurudev’s (or an enlightened Sadhu’s) guidance, he will go astray due to his materialistic samskaras hidden in his heart. The kind of Vairagya the sadhak should practice while living in Grihastha is different from the kind of Vairagya he should practice while living in the renunciate life. THE HOUSEHOLDER LIFE Those who are living in Grihastha have to avoid worldly pleasures physically and mentally as much as possible. Physically, they have to avoid the association of materialistic people and live in solitude in their own homes (and not go to the forest) as much as possible. Men

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

    [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