Canto 11: General HistoryChapter 18: Description of Varṇāśrama-dharma

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.18.13

iṣṭvā yathopadeśaḿ māḿ

dattvā sarva-svam ṛtvije

agnīn sva-prāṇa āveśya

nirapekṣaḥ parivrajet

SYNONYMS

iṣṭvā — having worshiped; yathā — according to; upadeśam — scriptural injunctions; māmMe; dattvā — having given; sarva-svam — all one possesses; ṛtvijeto the priest; agnīn — the sacrificial fire; sva-prāṇe — within oneself; āveśya — placing; nirapekṣaḥ — without attachment; parivrajet — one should take sannyāsa and set off.

TRANSLATION

Having worshiped Me according to scriptural injunctions and having given all one's property to the sacrificial priest, one should place the fire sacrifice within oneself. Thus, with the mind completely detached, one should enter the sannyāsa order of life.

PURPORT

One cannot maintain the sannyāsa order of life unless one gives up all materialistic association and engages exclusively in devotional service to the Supreme Lord. Any material desire will gradually prove to be a stumbling block in the prosecution of renounced life. Therefore, a liberated sannyāsī must vigilantly keep himself free from the weeds of material desires, which surface principally in the form of attachment to women, money and reputation. One may possess a beautiful garden filled with fruits and flowers, but without vigilant maintenance the garden will be overrun by weeds. Similarly, one who achieves a beautiful state of Kṛṣṇa consciousness takes the sannyāsa order of life, but if he does not vigilantly and painstakingly keep his heart clean, there is always the danger of a relapse into illusion.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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