Varṇāśrama-dharma

ājñāyaivaṁ guṇān doṣān mayādiṣṭān api svakān

ājñāyaivaṁ guṇān doṣān mayādiṣṭān api svakān |
dharmān santyajya yaḥ sarvān māṁ bhajet sa ca sattamaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.11.32; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.62; Bhakti Sandarbha: 200; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.8.62)

“[Śrī Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava:] Fully understanding qualities and faults in this manner, one who shall completely relinquish all one’s own dharmas even though [they are] instituted by me and worship me is also the best of the sat.”

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anādi-pravṛtti-śīlānāṁ pravṛtti-saṅkocāya āśramāḥ śāstreṇa vihitāḥ

anādi-pravṛtti-śīlānāṁ pravṛtti-saṅkocāya āśramāḥ śāstreṇa vihitāḥ | atas tad-vidhāne na tasya tātparyaṁ kintu tat-saṅkoca eva | tā hi brahma-rati-pratibandhikā bhavanti | ye tūpakṣīṇa-pravṛttayo brahmaika-ratās teṣāṁ na kiñcid āśramaiḥ phalam iti nairāśramyaṁ varīyaḥ |
(Govinda-bhāṣya on Vedānta-sūtra: 3.4.39)

“The āśramas [i.e., brahmacarya, gārhasthya, etc.] are enjoined by the śāstra for those possessed of a beginningless disposition towards active engagement (pravṛtti) [i.e., towards attached involvement in worldly affairs and experience of worldly objects] for the purpose of the diminution of that active engagement (pravṛtti). Thus, its [i.e., the śāstra’s] aim (tātparya) is not in enjoinment [alt., execution] of that [i.e., its aim is not to perpetuate attached engagement with the worldly (pravṛtti)] but [rather] only in the diminution of that [i.e., of pravṛtti] since those [i.e., the āśramas] become impediments to Brahma-rati [i.e., loving attachment to Bhagavān, when they not observed as a secondary, subordinate aspect of the pursuit of Brahma-rati, if at all]. For those who are attached only to Brahman and in whom active engagement (pravṛtti) has vanished, there is no gain whatsoever by means of [observance of] the āśramas. Thus, being without an āśrama is better [for them].”

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jñāna-niṣṭho virakto vā mad-bhakto vānapekṣakaḥ

jñāna-niṣṭho virakto vā mad-bhakto vānapekṣakaḥ |
sa-liṅgān āśramāṁs tyaktvā cared avidhi-gocaraḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.18.28)

“One who is detached and fixed in jñāna, or, one who is disinterested and my bhakta, shall relinquish the duties of one’s āśrama along with their paraphernalia and proceed outside the scope of injunctions.”

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sva-pāda-mūlaṁ bhajataḥ priyasya

sva-pāda-mūlaṁ bhajataḥ priyasya
tyaktānya-bhāvasya hariḥ pareśaḥ |
vikarma yac cotpatitaṁ kathañcid
dhunoti sarvaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.5.42; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.550; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.71; Bhakti Sandarbha: 173; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.144)

“Situated in the heart of a dear worshiper of the soles of his own feet by whom regard for any other has been relinquished, Hari, the Supreme Lord, washes away all wrongful action [on the part of his worshiper] which may somehow come about.”

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mayoditeṣv avahitaḥ sva-dharmeṣu mad-āśrayaḥ

mayoditeṣv avahitaḥ sva-dharmeṣu mad-āśrayaḥ |
varṇāśrama-kulācāram akāmātmā samācaret ||
anvīkṣeta viśuddhātmā dehināṁ viṣayātmanām |
guṇeṣu tattva-dhyānena sarvārambha-viparyayam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.10.1–2)

“[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava:] Attentive to one’s dharmas as stated by me and desireless, one whose shelter is in me should observe the conduct of one’s varṇa, āśrama, and family. [Thus] Being of highly purified mind, one should repeatedly observe the reversal of all the endeavors based on thought of real existence in regard to qualities [in objects of the senses] of embodied beings whose minds are [fixed] upon objects of the senses.”

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brahmacaryaṁ samāpya gṛhī bhavet

brahmacaryaṁ samāpya gṛhī bhavet, gṛhī bhūtvā vanī bhavet, vanī bhūtvā pravrajet, yadi vetarathā brahmacaryād eva pravrajet gṛhād vā vanād vā | atha punar avratī vā vratī snātako vāsnātako votsannāgnir anagniko vā, yad ahar eva virajyet tad ahar eva pravrajet |
(Jābāla Upaniṣad: 4; cited in Govinda-bhāṣya on Vedānta-sūtra 3.4.49)

“After completing brahmacarya, one may become a householder. After having become a householder, one may become a vanaprastha. After having become a vanaprastha, one may roam [i.e., become a sannyāsī], yet after brahmacarya itself one may roam, or after household life, or after vanaprastha. Furthermore, be one a non-student or student [i.e., one who has never gone to school to be trained in brahmacarya or one who is presently in school observing brahmacarya], be one a graduate or a non-graduate [i.e., a graduate of brahmacarya or not], and be one of extinguished fire or no fire [i.e., be one someone who has ceased to maintain the sacred fire sustained in homes by couples after marriage because one’s wife has expired or one has left one’s wife, or be one someone who has never married and thus never maintained the sacred fire], on the very day one may [i.e., should happen to] become detached, on that very day one may roam [i.e., one should leave and take sannyāsa].”

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devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṝṇāṁ

devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṝṇāṁ
na kiṅkaro nāyam ṛṇī ca rājan |
sarvātmanā yaḥ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ
gato mukundaṁ parihṛtya kartam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.5.41)

“O King, one who has forsaken one’s duties and taken shelter completely in the ultimate shelterer, Mukunda, is neither a servant of, nor a debtor to, the devas, the ṛṣis, [other] living beings, relatives, humanity, or ancestors.”

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tasmāt tvam uddhavotsṛjya codanāṁ praticodanām

tasmāt tvam uddhavotsṛjya codanāṁ praticodanām |
pravṛttiñ ca nivṛttiñ ca śrotavyaṁ śrutam eva ca ||
mām ekam eva śaraṇam ātmānaṁ sarva-dehinām |
yāhi sarvātma-bhāvena mayā syā hy akuto-bhayaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.12.14–5)

“Therefore, O Uddhava, abandoning injunctions and prohibitions [i.e., the injunctions and prohibitions given in the Śruti and the Smṛti], engagement and resignation [i.e., the dharmas of a gṛhastha and of a sannyāsī], and that which is to be heard and that which has been heard [i.e., all that pertains to such dharmas and the injunctions and prohibitions related to them in śāstra; alt., all else that is to be heard from śāstra, that is, all that is said in śāstra related to the jñāna-mārga], you should take shelter exclusively in me alone, the Ātmā of all embodied beings, with the full existence of your self. With me [i.e., thus becoming situated in my shelter], be completely fearless.”

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ājñāyaivaṁ guṇān doṣān mayādiṣṭān api svakān

ājñāyaivaṁ guṇān doṣān mayādiṣṭān api svakān |
dharmān santyajya yaḥ sarvān māṁ bhajet sa ca sattamaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.11.32)

“[Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava:] One who fully understands the merits [of following] and transgressions [caused by neglect] related to one’s own [varṇa and āśrama] dharmas and, although they are instituted by me, completely gives up all of them and serves me is also the best of sādhus.”

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