Go to Vanipedia | Go to Vanisource | Go to Vanimedia


Vaniquotes - the compiled essence of Vedic knowledge


Householder (Other Books)

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter Intoduction:

If we wish to become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, we have to give up the shackles of māyā. Or, if we remain with māyā, we should live in such a way that we will not be subject to illusion, as did the many householders among Lord Caitanya's closest devotees. With His followers in the renounced order, however, Lord Caitanya was very strict. He even banished Junior Haridāsa, an important kīrtana leader, for glancing lustfully at a woman. The Lord told him, "You are living with Me in the renounced order, and yet you are looking at a woman with lust." Other devotees of the Lord had appealed to Him to forgive Haridāsa, but He replied, "All of you can forgive him and live with him. I shall live alone." On the other hand, when the Lord learned that the wife of one of His householder devotees was pregnant, He asked that the baby be given a certain auspicious name.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter Intoduction:

On the other hand, when the Lord learned that the wife of one of His householder devotees was pregnant, He asked that the baby be given a certain auspicious name. So while the Lord approved of householders having regulated sex, He was like a thunderbolt with those in the renounced order who tried to cheat by the method known as "drinking water under water while bathing on a fast day." In other words, He tolerated no hypocrisy among His followers.

From the Caitanya-caritāmṛta we learn how Lord Caitanya taught people to break the shackles of māyāand become immortal. Thus, as mentioned above, the title may be properly translated as "the character of the living force in immortality." The supreme living force is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is also the supreme entity.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter Intoduction:

Finally Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī offers his blessings to his readers in the name of the Gopīnātha Deity, who is Kṛṣṇa as master and proprietor of the gopīs. When Kṛṣṇa played upon His flute, all the gopīs, or cowherd girls, were attracted by the sound and left their household duties, and when they came to Him, He danced with them. These activities are all described in the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. These gopīs were childhood friends of Kṛṣṇa, and many were married, for in India the girls are generally married by the age of twelve. The boys, however, are not married before eighteen, so Kṛṣṇa, who was fifteen or sixteen at the time, was not married. Nonetheless, He called these girls from their homes and invited them to dance with Him. That dance is called the rāsa-līlā dance, and it is the most elevated of all the Vṛndāvana pastimes. Kṛṣṇa is therefore called Gopīnātha because He is the beloved master of the gopīs.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 2:

"Whatever I am doing to become free from material attachment is all Your mercy," Sanātana replied. The Lord was very much pleased with him, and they discussed spiritual advancement.

Previous to this meeting between Lord Caitanya and Sanātana Gosvāmī, the Lord had met a householder devotee named Rāmānanda Rāya. At that meeting, which is discussed in a later chapter, Lord Caitanya asked Rāmānanda Rāya questions, and Rāmānanda replied as if he were the Lord's teacher. However, in this case Sanātana put questions to the Lord, and the Lord answered them.

The instructions of Lord Caitanya to Sanātana Gosvāmī are very important for people in general. The Lord taught him the process of devotional service, which is the constitutional occupation of every living entity. Because this is so, it is every man's duty to advance in spiritual science.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 6:

With each queen, Kṛṣṇa Himself was in a different form, acting in different ways. In one form He was talking with His wife, in another form He was petting His children, and in another form He was performing some household duty. These different activities are conducted by the Lord when He is in His "emotional" forms, which are known as vaibhava-prakāśa expansions. Similarly, there are other unlimited expansions of Kṛṣṇa's forms, but even when they are divided or expanded without limit, they are still one and the same. There is no difference between one form and another. That is the absolute nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 11:

There are four social divisions of human society: the brāhmaṇas, or intellectuals; the kṣatriyas, or administrators; the vaiśyas, or businessmen and farmers; and the śūdras, or laborers. There are also four spiritual orders, or āśramas: the brahmacārīs, or students; the gṛhasthas, or householders; the vānaprasthas, or retired persons; and the sannyāsīs, or those in renounced life. Regardless of one's social or spiritual position, however, one who is lacking in devotional service, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, cannot be released from material bondage, even if he executes his prescribed duty. On the contrary, he will glide down to hell due to material consciousness. Therefore, whoever is engaged in his occupational or spiritual duty must simultaneously cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness in devotional service if he wants liberation from the material clutches.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 11:

"My dear Rahūgaṇa, no one can attain the perfected stage of devotional service without being favored by a great soul, a pure devotee. No one can attain the perfectional stage simply by following the regulative principles of scriptures, or by accepting the renounced order of life, or by prosecuting the prescribed duties of householder life, or by becoming a great student of spiritual science, or by accepting severe austerity and penances for realization." Similarly, when the atheist Hiraṇyakaśipu asked his son Prahlāda Mahārāja how he had attained such a devotional attitude, the boy replied, "As long as one is not favored by the dust of the feet of pure devotees, one cannot even touch the path of devotional service, which is the solution to all the problems of material life." (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.5.32)

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 13:

Thus they are satisfied. Any devotee who renders such devotional service dedicates his life and body for the purpose of the Lord.

King Bharata (after whom India is called Bhārata-varṣa) was also a pure devotee, and at an early age he left his household life, his beautiful devoted wife, his sons, friends and kingdom just as if they were stool. This is typical of a person who has developed bhāva in the course of his devotional service. Such a devotee always thinks of himself as the most wretched, and his only satisfaction is in thinking that some day or other Kṛṣṇa will be kind enough to favor him by engaging him in devotional service. In the Padma Purāṇa another instance of pure devotion is found. There it is recorded that King Bhagīratha, although the most elevated of human beings, was begging from door to door and was even praying to the caṇḍālas, the lowest members of human society.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 17:

Lord Caitanya wanted to accept all kinds of agnostics, atheists, skeptics and unfaithfuls and swallow them in the flood of love of God. Therefore He accepted the renounced order of life to attract all these forces.

Lord Caitanya remained a householder until His twenty-fourth year, and in the twenty-fifth year of His life He accepted the renounced order. After accepting the renounced order (sannyāsa), He attracted many other sannyāsīs. When He had been spreading the saṅkīrtana movement as a family man, many Māyāvādī sannyāsīs did not take His movement very seriously, but after the Lord accepted the sannyāsa order of life, He delivered not only Māyāvādī sannyāsīs but speculative students, atheists and those who were attached to fruitive activities and unnecessary criticism. The Lord was so kind that He accepted all these people and delivered to them the most important factor in life: love of God.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 18:

Śaṅkarācārya's injunction was that a sannyāsī should always study the Vedānta and that he should be satisfied by simply having one cloth and nothing more. Because Lord Caitanya neither studied the Vedānta formally nor ceased from singing and dancing, He was criticized by all the sannyāsīs at Benares, as well as by their householder followers.

When Lord Caitanya received news of this criticism from His students and disciples, He simply smiled and started for Mathurā and Vṛndāvana. When He returned to Benares on His way from Mathurā to Jagannātha Purī, He stayed at the house of Candraśekhara, who was considered a śūdra because he was a clerk. In spite of this, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu made His residence at his home. Lord Caitanya made no distinctions between brāhmaṇas and śūdras; He accepted anyone who was devoted.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 27:

A civilized society should be organized so that people follow the prescribed rules and regulations for their particular class. At the same time, for spiritual advancement they should follow the four stages of āśrama, namely student life (brahmacarya), householder life (gṛhastha), retired life (vānaprastha) and renounced life (sannyāsa).

Rāmānanda Rāya stated that those who strictly follow the rules and regulations of these eight social divisions can actually satisfy the Supreme Lord, and one who does not follow them certainly spoils his human form of life and glides down toward hell. One can peacefully achieve the goal of human life simply by following the rules and regulations which apply to oneself. The character of a particular person develops when he follows the regulative principles in accordance with his birth, association and education.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 29:

A pure devotee who is always engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can sacrifice everything for the service of the Lord. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Lord Caitanya, Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, or a person who is following the principles of householder life, as well as one following the principles of the renounced life in the line of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, is a devotee and cannot be compared with professional men.

When one is freed from all material contaminations, any one of the relationships with Kṛṣṇa is transcendentally relishable. Unfortunately, those who are inexperienced in the transcendental science cannot appreciate the different relationships with the Supreme Lord. They think that all such relationships arise from māyā. The author of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta has given a nice example concerning these relationships.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 30:

Although Lord Caitanya was born in a high brāhmaṇa family and was situated in the highest perfectional stage of sannyāsa, He nonetheless showed by His behavior that even an elevated person would not hesitate to take lessons from Rāmānanda Rāya, although Rāmānanda appeared as a householder situated in a social status beneath that of a brāhmaṇa.

Thus Lord Caitanya clearly showed that a sincere student never cares whether his spiritual master is born in a high brāhmaṇa family or kṣatriya family, or whether he is a high-grade sannyāsī, a brahmacārī or whatever. Whoever can teach one about the science of Kṛṣṇa is to be accepted as a guru.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion Preface:

Driven by affection for his wife and children, a family man works day and night. A philanthropist works in the same way for love of the greater family, and a nationalist for the cause of his country and countrymen. That force which drives the philanthropist, the householder and the nationalist is called rasa, or a kind of mellow (relationship) whose taste is very sweet. Bhakti-rasa is a mellow different from the ordinary rasa enjoyed by mundane workers. Mundane workers labor very hard day and night in order to relish a certain kind of rasa which is understood as sense gratification. The relish or taste of the mundane rasa does not long endure, and therefore mundane workers are always apt to change their position of enjoyment. A businessman is not satisfied by working the whole week; therefore, wanting a change for the weekend, he goes to a place where he tries to forget his business activities.

Nectar of Devotion 2:

his regulative principle is applicable to all varṇas and āśramas, the castes and occupations of life. There are four varṇas, namely the brāhmaṇas (priests and intellectuals), the kṣatriyas (warriors and statesmen), the vaiśyas (businessmen and farmers) and the śūdras (laborers and servants). There are also four standard āśramas, namely brahmacarya (student life), gṛhastha (householder), vānaprastha (retired) and sannyāsa (renounced). The regulative principles are not only for the brahmacārīs (celibate students) to follow, but are applicable for all. It doesn't matter whether one is a beginner—a brahmacārī—or is very advanced—a sannyāsī. The principle of remembering the Supreme Personality of Godhead constantly and not forgetting Him at any moment is meant to be followed by everyone without fail.

Nectar of Devotion 4:

In this same prayer, there is another passage, in which it is said, "My dear Lord Dāmodara, once when You were playing as a naughty boy in the house of Nanda Mahārāja, You broke the box containing yogurt, and because of that, mother Yaśodā considered You an offender and tied You with rope to the household grinding mortar. At that time You delivered two sons of Kuvera, Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, who were staying there as two arjuna trees in the yard of Nanda Mahārāja. My only request is that by Your merciful pastimes You may similarly deliver me."

The story behind this verse is that the two sons of Kuvera (the treasurer of the demigods) were puffed up on account of the opulence of their father, and so once on a heavenly planet they were enjoying themselves in a lake with some naked damsels of heaven. At that time the great saint Nārada Muni was passing on the road and was sorry to see the behavior of the sons of Kuvera.

Nectar of Devotion 7:

Lord Caitanya was once asked by one of His householder devotees what the general behavior of a Vaiṣṇava should be. In this connection, Lord Caitanya replied that a Vaiṣṇava should always give up the company of nondevotees. Then He explained that there are two kinds of nondevotees: one class is against the supremacy of Kṛṣṇa, and another class is too materialistic. In other words, those who are after material enjoyment and those who are against the supremacy of the Lord are called avaiṣṇava, and their company should be strictly avoided.

Nectar of Devotion 11:

Under these prescribed duties of varṇa and āśrama there are many activities which belong to devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Those devotees who are householders accept Vedic ritualistic performances as well as the prescribed duties of devotional service, because both are meant for satisfying Kṛṣṇa. When householder devotees perform some Vedic ritualistic duties, they do so to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. As we have previously discussed, any activity aiming at satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead is considered devotional service.

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī describes one who is fit for becoming engaged in devotional service. He says that persons who are neophytes and who have developed a little love of Godhead are not interested in the activities of sense gratification, in proportion to their devotion. But if there is still some attraction for sense gratifying activities, then the result of such activities should be offered to Kṛṣṇa. This is also called engagement in the service of the Lord, with the Lord as the master and the worker as the servant.

Nectar of Devotion 11:

Full self-surrender, therefore, means not only surrendering one's self as spirit soul, but also surrendering one's mind and body to the service of the Lord. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung a nice song in this connection. While offering himself as a fully surrendered soul, he said, "My mind, my household affairs, my body, whatever is in my possession, my dear Lord, I offer to You for Your service. Now You can do with them as You like. You are the supreme possessor of everything, so if You like You can kill me, or if You like You can give me protection. All authority belongs to You. I have nothing to claim as my own."

Nectar of Devotion 13:

And His whole body is illuminated by the moonlight in the sky."

The purport of this verse is that if someone becomes attached to the śrī-mūrti, or Deity of Kṛṣṇa, by worshiping at home, then he will forget his relationships of so-called friendship, love and society. Thus it is the duty of every householder to install Deities of the Lord at home and to begin the process of worshiping along with all of his family members. This will save everyone from such unwanted activities as going to clubs, cinemas and dancing parties, and smoking, drinking, etc. All such nonsense will be forgotten if one stresses the worship of the Deities at home.

Nectar of Devotion 30:

Nanda Mahārāja, the father of Kṛṣṇa, used to think, "In my pasturing ground the goddess of fortune is personally present, and I possess more than ten hundred thousand cows, which loiter here and there. And above all, I have a son like Kṛṣṇa, who is such a powerful, wonderful worker. Therefore, even though I am a householder, I am feeling so satisfied!" This is an instance of mental endurance resulting from the absence of all distress.

In another instance a devotee says, "I am always swimming in the nectarean ocean of the pastimes of the Personality of Godhead, and as such I have no more attraction for religious rituals, economic development, sense gratification or even the ultimate salvation of merging into the existence of Brahman." This is an instance of the mind's endurance due to achieving the best thing in the world. The best thing in the world is absorption in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Nectar of Devotion 30:

"When Kṛṣṇa first came from His kingdom, Dvārakā, to Indraprastha, the young females of the city became so eager to see Him that even at night, when they were lying down with their husbands, they could not restrain their eagerness. Even though they were not properly dressed and although their hair was loose and there were many household duties to perform, they still gave up everything and immediately went into the street to see Kṛṣṇa." This is an instance of eagerness in ecstatic love.

In his book Stavāvalī, Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī has prayed for the mercy of Rādhārāṇī, who was so captivated by the flute vibrations of Kṛṣṇa that She immediately asked information of His whereabouts from residents in the Vṛndāvana forest. Upon first seeing Kṛṣṇa, She was filled with such ecstatic love and pleasure that She began to scratch Her ears.

Nectar of Devotion 31:

Actually eight different symptoms comprised the mental condition of Kaṁsa. This is another instance of an aggregate of symptoms in hopeless ecstatic love.

One householder devotee once said, "My Lord, I am so wretched that these two eyes are never desiring to see the glorious city of Mathurā. Therefore, my eyes are actually condemned. I am nicely educated, but my education has simply been used in government service. I have not considered formidable time, stronger than anything else, which creates and annihilates everything. To whom shall I leave all of my wealth and fortune? I am becoming older and older. What shall I do? Shall I execute devotional service from here at home? This I cannot do, because my mind is being attracted by the transcendental land of Vṛndāvana."

Nectar of Devotion 33:

After seeing Kṛṣṇa, Jaratī sometimes said, "O You thief of young girls' properties! I can distinctly see the covering garment of my daughter-in-law on Your person." Then she cried very loudly, addressing all the residents of Vṛndāvana to inform them that this son of King Nanda was setting fire to the household life of her daughter-in-law.

Similar ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa in anger was expressed by Rohiṇī-devī when she heard the roaring sound of the two falling arjuna trees to which Kṛṣṇa had been tied. The whole neighborhood proceeded immediately toward the place where the accident had taken place, and Rohiṇī-devī took the opportunity to rebuke mother Yaśodā as follows: "You may be very expert in giving lessons to your son by binding Him with rope, but don't you look to see if your son is in a dangerous spot? The trees are falling on the ground, and He is simply loitering there!"

Nectar of Devotion 35:

The best example of saintly persons situated in the śānta-rasa are Sanaka, Sanātana, Sananda and Sanat-kumāra, the Kumāra brothers. These four saintly persons (known as Catuḥ-sana) are sons of Lord Brahmā. After their birth, when they were ordered by their father to become householders and increase human society, they refused the order. They said that they had already decided not to become entangled with family life; they would rather live as saintly brahmacārīs for their own perfection. So these great saints have been living for millions of years now, but still they appear to be just like boys of four or five years. Their complexions are very fair, there is an effulgence in their bodies, and they always travel naked. These four saintly persons almost always remain together.

Nectar of Devotion 43:

When Akrūra was present in Vṛndāvana and was narrating the activities of Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā, mother Yaśodā was informed that Kṛṣṇa had married so many queens and was very busy there in His householder affairs. Hearing this, mother Yaśodā lamented how unfortunate she was that she could not get her son married just after He passed His kaiśora age and that she therefore could not receive both her son and daughter-in-law at her home. She exclaimed, "My dear Akrūra, you are simply throwing thunderbolts on my head!" These are signs of lamentation on the part of mother Yaśodā in separation from Kṛṣṇa.

Nectar of Devotion 44:

Rādhārāṇī told Her companion, "My dear friend, I was just going to the bank of the Yamunā, and all of a sudden a very nice boy whose complexion is like a dark blue cloud became visible in front of My eyes. He glanced over Me in a way that I cannot describe. But since this has occurred, I am sorry that I can no longer engage My mind in the duties of My household affairs." This is an instance of preliminary attraction for Kṛṣṇa. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Tenth Canto, Fifty-third Chapter, verse 2, Kṛṣṇa told the messenger brāhmaṇa who came from Rukmiṇī, "My dear brāhmaṇa, just like Rukmiṇī I cannot sleep at night, and My mind is always fixed on her. I know that her brother Rukmī is against Me and that due to his persuasion My marriage with her has been cancelled." This is another instance of preliminary attraction.

Nectar of Instruction

Nectar of Instruction 1, Purport:

When a man is properly mature, he can marry according to the rules and regulations of the śāstras and use his genitals for begetting nice children. That is legal and religious. Otherwise, he may adopt many artificial means to satisfy the demands of the genitals, and he may not use any restraint. When one indulges in illicit sex life, as defined by the śāstras, either by thinking, planning, talking about or actually having sexual intercourse, or by satisfying the genitals by artificial means, he is caught in the clutches of māyā. These instructions apply not only to householders but also to tyāgīs, or those who are in the renounced order of life. In his book Prema-vivarta, Chapter Seven, Śrī Jagadānanda Paṇḍita says:

Nectar of Instruction 3, Purport:

Furthermore, in order to be successful in devotional service one must give up the association of undesirable people. This includes karmīs, jñānīs, yogīs and other nondevotees. Once Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was asked by one of His householder devotees about the general principles of Vaiṣṇavism, as well as the general routine activities of the Vaiṣṇava, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately replied, asat-saṅga-tyāga,—ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra: (CC Madhya 22.87) "Characteristically, a Vaiṣṇava is one who gives up the association of worldly people, or nondevotees." Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has therefore recommended, tāṅdera caraṇa sevi bhakta-sane vāsa: one has to live in the company of pure devotees and execute the regulative principles laid down by the previous ācāryas, the six Gosvāmīs (namely, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī and Śrī Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī). If one lives in the association of devotees, there is little chance of associating with nondevotees.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 6:

She recited all the holy names of Viṣṇu so that He might save the child. Vedic culture has taken advantage of keeping cows and chanting the holy name of Viṣṇu since the beginning of history, and persons who are still following the Vedic ways, especially the householders, keep at least one dozen cows and worship the Deity of Lord Viṣṇu, who is installed in their house. Persons who are advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness should take instruction from this pastime and also be very much interested in cows and the holy name of Viṣṇu.

The elder gopīs of Vṛndāvana were so absorbed in affection for Kṛṣṇa that they wanted to save Him, although there was no need to, for He had already protected Himself. They could not understand that Kṛṣṇa was the Supreme Personality of Godhead playing as a child. After performing the formalities to protect the child, Mother Yaśodā took Kṛṣṇa and let Him suck her breast.

Krsna Book 7:

One day, shortly after the ceremony, when Mother Yaśodā was patting her baby on her lap, the baby felt too heavy, and being unable to carry Him, she unwillingly placed Him on the ground. After a while, she became engaged in household affairs. At that time, a servant of Kaṁsa's known as Tṛṇāvarta, as instructed by Kaṁsa, appeared there in the shape of a whirlwind. He picked the child up on his shoulders and raised a great dust storm all over Vṛndāvana, covering everyone's eyes. Within a few moments the whole area of Vṛndāvana became so densely dark that no one could see himself or anyone else. During this great catastrophe, Mother Yaśodā could not see her baby, who had been taken away by the whirlwind, and she began to cry very piteously. She fell down on the ground exactly like a cow who has just lost her calf.

Krsna Book 8:

He received Garga Muni with the feeling of one who is worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He offered him a nice sitting place, and when he sat down, Nanda Mahārāja offered him a warm reception. Addressing him very politely, he said, “My dear brāhmaṇa, your appearance in a householder's place is only to enlighten. We are always engaged in household duties and are forgetting our real duty of self-realization. Your coming to our house is to give us some enlightenment about spiritual life. You have no other purpose in visiting householders.” Actually, a saintly person or a brāhmaṇa has no business visiting householders, who are always busy in the matter of dollars and cents. The only reason saintly persons and brāhmaṇas go to the place of a householder is to enlighten him. If it is asked, “Why don’t the householders go to a saintly person or a brāhmaṇa for enlightenment?” the answer is that householders are very poor-hearted.

Krsna Book 8:

Generally householders think that engaging in family affairs is their prime duty and that self-realization or enlightenment in spiritual knowledge is secondary. Out of compassion only, saintly persons and brāhmaṇas go to householders' homes.

Nanda Mahārāja addressed Garga Muni as one of the great authorities in astrological science. The foretellings of astrological science, such as the occurrence of solar or lunar eclipses, are wonderful calculations, and by this particular science a person can understand the future very clearly. Garga Muni was proficient in this knowledge. By this knowledge one can also understand what his previous activities were that are causing him to enjoy or suffer in this life.

Nanda Mahārāja also addressed Garga Muni as "the best of the brāhmaṇas." A brāhmaṇa is one who is expert in the knowledge of the Supreme.

Krsna Book 8:

Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were so restless that Their mothers, Yaśodā and Rohiṇī, would try to protect Them from cows, bulls, monkeys, water, fire and birds while they were executing their household duties. Always being anxious to protect the children and to execute their duties, they were not very tranquil. In a very short time, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma began to stand up and slightly move on Their legs. When Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma began to walk, other friends of the same age joined Them, and together They gave the highest transcendental pleasure to the gopīs, specifically to Mother Yaśodā and Rohiṇī.

Krsna Book 8:

We do not know what kind of boys these are, but even without ornaments They spread some kind of effulgence so that even in darkness They can see everything.” Then Mother Yaśodā would inform them, "All right, keep your butter and yogurt carefully so that They may not reach it." In reply to this, the gopīs said, "Yes, actually we do so, but because we are sometimes engaged in our household duties, these naughty boys enter our house somehow or other and spoil everything. Sometimes, being unable to steal our butter and yogurt, out of anger They pass urine on the clean floor and sometimes spit on it. Now just see how your boy is hearing these complaints. All day He simply makes arrangements to steal our butter and yogurt, and now He is sitting just like a very silent good boy. Just see His face." When Mother Yaśodā thought to chastise her boy after hearing all the complaints, she saw His pitiable face, and smiling, she did not chastise Him.

Krsna Book 9:

Once upon a time, seeing that her maidservant was engaged in different household duties, Mother Yaśodā personally took charge of churning butter. And while she churned butter, she sang the childhood pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and enjoyed thinking of her son.

The end of her sari was tightly wrapped while she churned, and on account of her intense love for her son, milk automatically dripped from her breasts, which moved as she labored very hard, churning with two hands. The bangles and bracelets on her hands tinkled as they touched each other, and her earrings and breasts shook. There were drops of perspiration on her face, and the flower garland which was on her head scattered here and there.

Krsna Book 9:

After binding her son, Mother Yaśodā engaged herself in household affairs. At that time, bound up to the wooden mortar, Kṛṣṇa could see a pair of trees before Him which were known as arjuna trees. The great reservoir of pleasure, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, thus thought to Himself, "Mother Yaśodā first of all left without feeding Me sufficient milk, and therefore I broke the pot of yogurt and distributed the stock butter in charity to the monkeys. Now she has bound Me up to a wooden mortar. So I shall do something more mischievous than before." And thus He thought of pulling down the two very tall arjuna trees.

Krsna Book 10:

A very opulent man does not allow anyone to enter his house; therefore, the saintly person cannot enter. According to the Vedic system, a saintly person takes the position of a mendicant so that on the plea of begging something from the householder, he can enter any house. The householder, who has usually forgotten everything about spiritual advancement because he is busy maintaining family affairs, can be benefited by the association of a saintly person. There is a great chance for the poor man to become liberated through association with a saint. Of what use are persons who are puffed up with material opulence and prestige if they are bereft of the association of saintly persons and devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead?

Krsna Book 11:

On hearing the statement of Upananda, all the cowherd men immediately agreed. "Let us immediately go there." Everyone then loaded all their household furniture and utensils onto the carts and prepared to go to Vṛndāvana. All the children, women and old men of the village were arranged on seats, and the cowherd men equipped themselves with bows and arrows to follow the carts. All the cows and bulls were placed in the front along with their calves, and the men, with their bows and arrows, surrounded the herds and carts and began to blow on their horns and bugles. In this way, with tumultuous sound, they started for Vṛndāvana.

And who can describe the damsels of Vraja? They were all seated on the carts and were very beautifully dressed with ornaments and costly saris.

Krsna Book 12:

Aghāsura was instigated by Kaṁsa, so he had come with determination. Aghāsura also thought that when he would offer grains and water in memory of his brother and sister and kill Kṛṣṇa and all the cowherd boys, then automatically all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana would die. Generally, for the householders, the children are the life and breath force. When all the children die, then naturally the parents also die on account of strong affection for them.

Aghāsura, thus deciding to kill all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, expanded himself by the yogic siddhi called mahimā. The demons are generally expert in achieving almost all kinds of mystic powers. In the yoga system, by the perfection called mahimā-siddhi, one can expand himself as he desires. The demon Aghāsura expanded himself up to eight miles and assumed the shape of a very fat serpent. Having attained this wonderful body, he stretched his mouth open just like a mountain cave.

Krsna Book 17:

Although Garuḍa did not try to retaliate, the Muni was not saved from his offensive act against a great Vaiṣṇava personality. Due to this offense, Saubhari fell down from his yogic position and afterwards became a householder, a sense enjoyer in the material world. The falldown of Saubhari Muni, who was supposed to be absorbed in spiritual bliss by meditation, is an instruction to the offender of Vaiṣṇavas.

When Kṛṣṇa finally came out of Kāliya's lake, He was seen by all His friends and relatives on the bank of the Yamunā. He appeared before them nicely decorated, smeared all over with candana pulp, bedecked with valuable jewels and stones, and almost completely covered with gold.

Krsna Book 20:

The killing of Pralambāsura and the devouring of the devastating forest fire by Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma became household topics in Vṛndāvana. The cowherd men described these wonderful activities to their wives and to everyone else, and all were struck with wonder. They concluded that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were demigods who had kindly come to Vṛndāvana to become their children. In this way, the rainy season ensued. In India, after the scorching heat of the summer, the rainy season is very welcome. The clouds accumulating in the sky, covering the sun and the moon, become very pleasing to the people, and they expect rainfall at every moment. After summer, the advent of the rainy season is considered to be a life-giving source for everyone.

Krsna Book 20:

He becomes jolly, like newly grown plants and grass. Sometimes it is seen that cranes and ducks meander continually on the banks of the lakes and rivers, although the banks are filled with muddy garbage and thorny creepers. Similarly, persons who are householders without Kṛṣṇa consciousness are constantly tarrying in material life, in spite of all kinds of inconveniences. In family life, or any life, one cannot be perfectly happy without being Kṛṣṇa conscious. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura prays that he will have the association of a person—either a householder or a man in the renounced order of life—who is engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord and is always crying the holy name of Lord Caitanya. For the materialistic person, worldly affairs become too aggressive, whereas to a person who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, everything appears to be happily situated.

Krsna Book 23:

They were just like great sages who, by their advancement of knowledge, merge into the existence of the Supreme. As the Supersoul living in everyone's heart, Lord Kṛṣṇa could understand their minds; they had come to Him despite all the protests of their relatives, fathers, husbands and brothers, and despite all the duties of household affairs. They came just to see Him, who was their life and soul. They were exactly following Kṛṣṇa's instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā: one should surrender to Him, giving up all varieties of occupational and religious duties. He therefore began to speak to them, smiling very magnificently. It should be noted in this connection that when Kṛṣṇa entered into the wives' hearts and when they embraced Him and felt the transcendental bliss of being merged with Him, the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa did not lose His identity, nor did the individual wives lose theirs. The individuality of both the Lord and the wives remained, yet they felt oneness in existence.

Krsna Book 23:

"My dear wives of the brāhmaṇas," Kṛṣṇa said, "you can now return to your homes. Engage yourselves in sacrificial activities and in the service of your husbands and household affairs so that your husbands will be pleased with you and the sacrifice which they have begun will be properly executed. After all, your husbands are householders, and without your help how can they execute their prescribed duties?"

The wives of the brāhmaṇas replied, “Dear Lord, this sort of instruction does not befit You. Your eternal promise is that You will always protect Your devotees, and now You must fulfill this promise. Anyone who comes and surrenders unto You never goes back to the conditioned life of material existence. We expect that You will now fulfill Your promise.

Krsna Book 29:

"O dear Kṛṣṇa," they continued, “You are the supreme instructor. There is no doubt about it. Your instructions to women to be faithful to their husbands and merciful to their children, to take care of household affairs and to be obedient to the elder members of the family, are surely just according to the tenets of the śāstras. But we know that one may perfectly observe all these instructions of the śāstras by keeping oneself under the protection of Your lotus feet. Our husbands, friends, family members and children are all dear and pleasing to us only because of Your presence, for You are the Supersoul of all living creatures. Without Your presence, one is worthless. When You leave the body, the body immediately dies, and according to the injunction of the śāstras, a dead body must immediately be thrown into a river or burned.

Krsna Book 39:

Some of them became so aggrieved that their faces turned black and they began to breathe warmly and had palpitations of the heart. They discovered that their hair and clothes immediately loosened. Hearing the news that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were leaving for Mathurā, others, who were engaged in household duties, stopped working, as if they had forgotten everything, like a person who is called forth to die and leave this world at once. Others immediately fainted due to separation from Kṛṣṇa. Remembering His attractive smile and His talks with them, the gopīs became overwhelmed with grief. They all remembered the characteristics of the Personality of Godhead, how He moved within the area of Vṛndāvana and how, with joking words, He attracted all their hearts. Thinking of Kṛṣṇa and of their imminent separation from Him, the gopīs assembled together with heavily beating hearts.

Krsna Book 45:

They also learned how to paint tilaka on the face by making different kinds of dots on the forehead and cheeks. Then They learned the art of making paintings on the floor with a liquid paste of rice and flour; such paintings are very popular at auspicious ceremonies performed at household affairs or in the temple. They learned how to make a resting place with flowers and how to decorate clothing and limbs with colorful paintings. They also learned how to set valuable jewels in ornaments. They learned the art of ringing waterpots. Waterpots are filled with water to a certain measurement so that as one beats on the pots, different tones are produced, and when the pots are beaten together they produce a melodious sound. They also learned how to splash water in the rivers or lakes while taking a bath among friends. They learned how to decorate with flowers. This art of decorating can still be seen in various temples of Vṛndāvana during the summer season.

Krsna Book 47:

And so a man, after enjoying his girlfriend, gives up his connection with her.” In this way, all the gopīs indirectly accused Kṛṣṇa by citing many examples.

Uddhava understood that the gopīs of Vṛndāvana were all simply absorbed in the thought of Kṛṣṇa and His childhood activities. While talking about Kṛṣṇa with Uddhava, they forgot all about their household business. They even forgot about themselves as their interest in Kṛṣṇa increased more and more.

One of the gopīs, namely Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, was so much absorbed in thoughts of Kṛṣṇa by dint of Her personal touch with Him that She actually began to talk with a bumblebee which was flying there and trying to touch Her lotus feet. While the other gopīs were talking with Kṛṣṇa's messenger Uddhava, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī took that bumblebee to be a messenger from Kṛṣṇa and began to talk with it as follows:

Krsna Book 58:

We know very well that the great mystics who always engage in meditation to capture You do not find it easy to obtain such grace, nor can they draw any personal attention from You. I cannot understand why You are so kind to us. We are not yogīs; on the contrary, we are attached to material contaminations. We are householders dealing in politics, worldly affairs. I do not know why You are so kind to us.”

Being requested by King Yudhiṣṭhira, Kṛṣṇa agreed to stay in Hastināpura for four months during the rainy season. The four months of the rainy season are called Cāturmāsya. During this period, the generally itinerant preachers and brāhmaṇas stop at a certain place and live under rigid regulative principles. Although Lord Kṛṣṇa is above all regulative principles, He agreed to stay at Hastināpura out of affection for the Pāṇḍavas.

Krsna Book 59:

In their dealings as husband and wife, Kṛṣṇa and His queens would smile, talk, joke, embrace and so on, and their conjugal relationship ever-increasingly developed. In this way, Kṛṣṇa and the queens enjoyed transcendental happiness in their household life. Although each and every queen had thousands of maidservants engaged for her service, the queens were all personally attentive to serving Kṛṣṇa. Each one of them used to receive Kṛṣṇa personally when He entered the palace. They engaged in seating Him on a nice couch, worshiping Him with all kinds of paraphernalia, washing His lotus feet with Ganges water, offering Him betel nuts and massaging His legs. In this way, they gave Him relief from the fatigue He felt after being away from home. They fanned Him nicely, offered Him fragrant essential floral oil, decorated Him with flower garlands, dressed His hair, asked Him to lie down to take rest, bathed Him personally and fed Him palatable dishes.

Krsna Book 59:

They engaged in seating Him on a nice couch, worshiping Him with all kinds of paraphernalia, washing His lotus feet with Ganges water, offering Him betel nuts and massaging His legs. In this way, they gave Him relief from the fatigue He felt after being away from home. They fanned Him nicely, offered Him fragrant essential floral oil, decorated Him with flower garlands, dressed His hair, asked Him to lie down to take rest, bathed Him personally and fed Him palatable dishes. Each queen did all these things herself and did not wait for the maidservants. In other words, Kṛṣṇa and His different queens displayed on this earth an ideal household life.

Krsna Book 60:

O perfection of love, I never expected that your condition would be like this. I expected that you would cast your unblinking glance upon Me in retaliation and that I would thus be able to see your beautiful face in that angry mood.

"My dear beautiful wife, you know that because we are householders we are always busy in many household affairs and long for a time when we can enjoy some joking words between us. That is our ultimate gain in household life." Actually, householders work very hard day and night, but all fatigue of the day's labor is minimized as soon as they meet, husband and wife together, and enjoy life in many ways. Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted to exhibit Himself as being like an ordinary householder who delights himself by exchanging joking words with his wife. He therefore repeatedly requested Rukmiṇī not to take those words very seriously.

Krsna Book 60:

“My dear Lord, You have advised me to select one of the princes such as Śiśupāla, Jarāsandha or Dantavakra, but what is their position in this world? They are always engaged in hard labor to maintain their household life, just like the bulls working hard day and night with an oil-pressing machine. They are compared to asses, beasts of burden. They are always dishonored like dogs, and they are miserly like cats. They have sold themselves like slaves to their wives. Any unfortunate woman who has never heard of Your glories may accept such a man as her husband, but a woman who has learned about You—that You are praised not only in this world but in the halls of the great demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva—will not accept anyone besides You as her husband.

Krsna Book 60:

According to Vedic culture, although polygamy is allowed, none of one's wives should be ill-treated. In other words, one may take many wives only if he is able to satisfy all of them equally as an ideal householder; otherwise it is not allowed. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the world teacher; therefore, even though He had no need for a wife, He expanded Himself into as many forms as He had wives, and He lived with them as an ideal householder, observing the regulative principles, rules and commitments in accordance with the Vedic injunctions and the social laws and customs of society. For each of His 16,108 wives, He simultaneously maintained different palaces, different establishments and different atmospheres. Thus the Lord, although one, exhibited Himself as 16,108 ideal householders.

Krsna Book 64:

They were equally friendly to everyone; above all, they were young and quite fit to act as qualified brāhmaṇas. Besides the cows, they were also given land, gold, houses, horses and elephants. Those who were not married were given wives, maidservants, grain, silver, utensils, garments, jewels, household furniture, chariots, etc. This charity was nicely performed as a sacrifice according to the Vedic rituals. The King also stated that not only had he bestowed gifts upon the brāhmaṇas, but he had performed other pious activities, such as digging wells, planting trees on the roadside and installing ponds along the highways.

The King continued: “In spite of all this, unfortunately one of the brāhmaṇas' cows that I had given in charity chanced to enter amongst my other cows. Not knowing this, I again gave it in charity, to another brāhmaṇa.

Krsna Book 69:

When the great sage Nārada heard that Lord Kṛṣṇa had married sixteen thousand wives after He had killed the demon Narakāsura, sometimes called Bhaumāsura, he was astonished that Lord Kṛṣṇa had expanded Himself into sixteen thousand forms and married these wives simultaneously in different palaces. Being inquisitive as to how Kṛṣṇa was managing His household affairs with so many wives, Nārada, desiring to see these pastimes, set out to visit Kṛṣṇa's different homes. When Nārada arrived in Dvārakā, he saw gardens and parks full of various flowers of different colors, and also orchards overloaded with a variety of fruits. Beautiful birds were chirping, and peacocks crowed delightfully. There were ponds full of blue and red lotus flowers, and some of these ponds were filled with varieties of lilies. The lakes were full of nice swans and cranes, and the voices of these birds resounded everywhere. In the city there were as many as 900,000 great palaces built of first-class marble, with gates and doors made of silver.

Krsna Book 69:

There were many maidservants, all of whom were decorated with gold necklaces, bangles and beautiful saris. There were also many menservants, nicely dressed in cloaks and turbans and jeweled earrings. Beautiful as they were, the servants were all engaged in different household duties.

Nārada saw that Lord Kṛṣṇa was sitting with Rukmiṇīdevī, the mistress of that particular palace, who was holding the handle of a cāmara whisk. Even though there were many thousands of maidservants equally beautiful and qualified and of the same age, Rukmiṇīdevī personally was engaged in fanning Lord Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, worshiped even by Nārada, yet as soon as Kṛṣṇa saw Nārada enter the palace, He got down immediately from Rukmiṇī’s bedstead and stood up to honor him.

Krsna Book 69:

The Lord again worshiped him with as much paraphernalia for reception as He had used in the palace of Rukmiṇī. After worshiping him properly, Lord Kṛṣṇa acted as if He did not know what had happened in the palace of Rukmiṇī. He therefore told Nārada, “My dear sage, when Your Holiness comes here, you are full in yourself. Although We are householders and are always in need, you don’t require anyone's help, for you are self-satisfied. Under the circumstances, what reception can We offer you, and what can We possibly give you? Yet, since Your Holiness is a brāhmaṇa, it is Our duty to offer you something as far as possible. Therefore, I beg you to please order Me. What can I do for you?”

Krsna Book 69:

Saint Nārada entered each and every one of the sixteen thousand residential palaces of the queens of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and in each of them he found Kṛṣṇa engaged in different ways.

In one palace he found Kṛṣṇa offering oblations to the sacrificial fire and performing the ritualistic ceremonies of the Vedas as enjoined for householders. In another palace he found Kṛṣṇa performing the pañca-yajña sacrifice, which is compulsory for a householder. This yajña is also known as pañca-sūnā. Knowingly or unknowingly, everyone, especially the householder, commits five kinds of sinful activities. When we receive water from a water pitcher, we kill many germs that are in it. Similarly, when we use a grinding machine or eat food, we kill many germs. When sweeping a floor or igniting a fire we kill many germs, and when we walk on the street we kill many ants and other insects. Consciously or unconsciously, in all our different activities, we are killing.

Krsna Book 69:

Therefore, it is incumbent upon every householder to perform the pañca-sūnā sacrifice to rid himself of the reactions to such sinful activities.

In one palace Nārada found Lord Kṛṣṇa feeding brāhmaṇas after performing ritualistic yajñas. In another palace Nārada found Kṛṣṇa silently chanting the Gāyatrī mantra, and in a third he found Him practicing fighting with a sword and shield. In some palaces Lord Kṛṣṇa was found riding on horses, elephants or chariots and wandering hither and thither. Elsewhere He was found lying down on His bedstead taking rest, and somewhere else He was found sitting in His chair, being praised by the prayers of His different devotees. In some of the palaces He was found consulting with ministers like Uddhava on important matters of business. In one palace He was found surrounded by many young society girls, enjoying in a swimming pool.

Krsna Book 69:

Somewhere Lord Kṛṣṇa was found enjoying the company of a particular wife by exchanging joking words with her. Somewhere else He was found engaged with His wife in religious ritualistic functions. Since it is necessary for householders to increase their financial assets for various expenditures, Kṛṣṇa was found somewhere engaged in matters of economic development. Somewhere else He was found enjoying family life according to the regulative principles of the śāstras.

In one palace He was found sitting in meditation as if concentrating His mind on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is beyond these material universes. Meditation, as recommended in authorized scripture, is meant for concentrating one's mind on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu. Lord Kṛṣṇa is Himself the original Viṣṇu, but because He played the part of a human being, He taught us definitely by His personal behavior what is meant by meditation.

Krsna Book 69:

Somewhere the Lord was seen performing different types of sacrifices to satisfy the demigods, who are only His qualitative expansions. Somewhere He was seen engaged in public welfare activities, establishing deep wells for the water supply, rest houses and gardens for unknown guests, and great monasteries and temples for saintly persons. These are some of the duties enjoined in the Vedas for householders for fulfillment of their material desires. Somewhere Kṛṣṇa was found as a kṣatriya king engaged in hunting animals in the forest and riding on a very beautiful Sindhī horse. According to Vedic regulations, the kṣatriyas were allowed to kill prescribed animals on certain occasions, either to maintain peace in the forests or to offer the animals in the sacrificial fire. Kṣatriyas are allowed to practice this killing art because they have to kill their enemies mercilessly to maintain peace in society. In one situation the great sage Nārada saw Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and master of mystic powers, acting as a spy by changing His usual dress in order to understand the motives of different citizens in the city and the palaces.

Krsna Book 69:

I am therefore personally executing such religious principles in order to teach the whole world how to act. My dear son, it is My desire that you not be bewildered by such demonstrations of My internal energy.”

The Supreme Personality of Godhead was engaged in His so-called household affairs in order to teach people how one can sanctify one's household life although one may be attached to the imprisonment of material existence. Actually, one is obliged to continue the term of material existence because of household life. But the Lord, being very kind upon householders, demonstrated the path of sanctifying ordinary household life. Because Kṛṣṇa is the center of all activities, the life of a Kṛṣṇa conscious householder is transcendental to Vedic injunctions and is automatically sanctified.

Krsna Book 69:

Lord Kṛṣṇa behaved by His personal example as if He were very much attached to the four principles of civilized life, namely religion, economic development, sense gratification and salvation. These four principles of material existence are necessary for the spiritual advancement of human society, and although Lord Kṛṣṇa had no need to do so, He exhibited His household activities so that people might follow in His footsteps for their own interest. Lord Kṛṣṇa satisfied the sage Nārada in every way. Nārada was very much pleased by seeing the Lord's activities in Dvārakā, and thus he departed.

In narrating the activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā, Śukadeva Gosvāmī explained to King Parīkṣit how Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, descends to this material universe by the agency of His internal potency and personally exhibits the principles which, if followed, can lead one to achieve the ultimate goal of life.

Krsna Book 69:

All the queens in Dvārakā, more than sixteen thousand in number, engaged their feminine attractive features in the transcendental service of the Lord by smiling and serving, and the Lord was pleased to behave with them exactly like a perfect husband enjoying household life. One should know definitely that such pastimes cannot be performed by anyone but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is the original cause of the creation, maintenance and dissolution of the whole cosmic manifestation. Anyone who attentively hears the narrations of the Lord's pastimes in Dvārakā or supports a preacher of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement will certainly find it very easy to traverse the path of liberation and taste the nectar of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And thus he will be engaged in Lord Kṛṣṇa's devotional service.

Krsna Book 70:

From the previous chapter it is clear that no one can act the way Lord Kṛṣṇa does. We should clearly note this fact: the activities of the Lord should be followed, but they cannot be imitated. For example, Kṛṣṇa's ideal life as a householder can be followed, but if one wants to imitate Kṛṣṇa by expanding into many forms, that is not possible. We should always remember, therefore, that Lord Kṛṣṇa, although playing the part of a human being, simultaneously maintains the position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We can follow Lord Kṛṣṇa's dealings with His wives as an ordinary human being, but His dealings with more than sixteen thousand wives at one time cannot be imitated. The conclusion is that to become ideal householders we should follow in the footsteps of Lord Kṛṣṇa as He displayed His daily activities, but we cannot imitate Him at any stage of our life.

Krsna Book 70:

Despite Śrīmatī Rukmiṇīdevī’s disgust, Lord Kṛṣṇa would immediately get up from bed exactly on the appearance of brāhma-muhūrta. An ideal householder should learn from the behavior of Lord Kṛṣṇa how to rise early in the morning, however comfortably he may be lying in bed embraced by his wife.

After rising from bed, Lord Kṛṣṇa would wash His mouth, hands and feet and would immediately sit down and meditate on Himself. This does not mean, however, that we should also sit down and meditate on ourselves. We have to meditate upon Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. That is real meditation. Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa Himself; therefore He was teaching us that brāhma-muhūrta should be utilized for meditation on Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.

Krsna Book 70:

By such meditation Kṛṣṇa would feel very much satisfied, and similarly we will also feel transcendentally pleased and satisfied if we utilize the brāhma-muhūrta period to meditate on Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and if we think of how Śrī Rukmiṇīdevī and Kṛṣṇa acted as ideal householders to teach the whole human society to rise early in the morning and immediately engage in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is no difference between meditating on the eternal forms of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and chanting the mahā-mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa. As for Kṛṣṇa's meditation, He had no alternative but to meditate on Himself. The object of meditation is Brahman, Paramātmā or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but Kṛṣṇa Himself is all three: He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān; the localized Paramātmā is His plenary partial expansion; and the all-pervading Brahman effulgence is the personal rays of His transcendental body.

Krsna Book 70:

After His meditation, the Lord would regularly bathe early in the morning with clear, sanctified water. Then He would change into fresh clothing, cover Himself with a wrapper and engage in His daily religious functions. Out of His many religious duties, the first was to offer oblations into the sacrificial fire and silently chant the Gāyatrī mantra. Lord Kṛṣṇa, as the ideal householder, executed all the religious functions of a householder without deviation. When the sunrise became visible, the Lord would offer specific prayers to the sun-god. The sun-god and other demigods mentioned in the Vedic scriptures are described as different limbs of the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and it is the duty of the householder to offer respects to the demigods and great sages, as well as the forefathers.

Krsna Book 70:

The regulative principle by which the demigods and forefathers are worshiped is called tarpaṇa, which means "pleasing." One's forefathers may have to take a body on another planet, but by performance of this tarpaṇa system they become very happy wherever they may be. It is the duty of the householder to make his family members happy, and by following this tarpaṇa system he can make his forefathers happy also. As the perfect exemplary householder, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa followed this tarpaṇa system and offered respectful obeisances to the elderly, superior members of His family.

His next duty was to give cows in charity to the brāhmaṇas. Every day Lord Kṛṣṇa used to give many groups of 13,084 cows. Each of the cows was decorated with a silken cover and pearl necklace, their horns were covered with gold plating, and their hooves were silver-plated. All of them were full of milk, due to having their first-born calves with them, and they were very tame and peaceful.

Krsna Book 71:

When the young girls in every house heard that Lord Kṛṣṇa, the only object worth seeing, was passing on the road, they were very eager to see this all-famous personality. Their hair loosened, and their tightened saris became slack due to their hastily rushing to see Him. They gave up their household engagements, and those who were lying in bed with their husbands immediately left them and came directly down onto the street to see Lord Kṛṣṇa. The procession of elephants, horses, chariots and infantry was very crowded; some of the girls, being unable to see properly in the crowd, got up on the roofs of the houses. Pleased to see Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa passing with His thousands of queens, they showered flowers on the procession, embraced Lord Kṛṣṇa within their minds and gave Him a hearty reception. When they saw Him in the midst of His many queens, like the full moon situated amidst many luminaries, they began to talk amongst themselves.

Krsna Book 72:

Bhīmasena, Arjuna and Lord Kṛṣṇa then started together for Girivraja, the capital city of Jarāsandha, dressing themselves in the garb of brāhmaṇas. This was the plan devised by Uddhava before Lord Kṛṣṇa started for Hastināpura, and now it was given practical application.

King Jarāsandha was a very dutiful householder, and he had great respect for the brāhmaṇas. He was a great fighter, a kṣatriya king, but he was never neglectful of the Vedic injunctions. According to the Vedic injunctions, the brāhmaṇas are considered to be the spiritual masters of all other castes. Lord Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna and Bhīmasena were actually kṣatriyas, but they dressed themselves as brāhmaṇas, and at the time when King Jarāsandha was to give charity to the brāhmaṇas and receive them as guests, they approached him.

Krsna Book 80:

This detachment means complete control of the senses, which are always attracted by material enjoyment. The senses of the devotee become purified, and in that stage the senses are engaged in the service of the Lord. That is the complete field of devotional service.

Although the brāhmaṇa friend of Lord Kṛṣṇa was a householder, he was not busy accumulating wealth for very comfortable living; therefore he was satisfied by the income which automatically came to him according to his destiny. This is the sign of perfect knowledge. A man in perfect knowledge knows that one cannot be happier than he is destined to be. In this material world, everyone is destined to suffer a certain amount of distress and enjoy a certain amount of happiness. The amount of happiness and distress is already predestined for every living entity. No one can increase or decrease the happiness of the materialistic way of life.

Krsna Book 80:

Lord Kṛṣṇa is the only shelter for personalities like you because you are fully surrendered unto Him. You are saintly, learned and fully in control of your senses. Under the circumstances, Lord Kṛṣṇa is your only shelter. Please, therefore, go to Him. I am sure that He will immediately understand your impoverished position. You are a householder; therefore without money you are in distress. But as soon as He understands your position, He will certainly give you sufficient riches so that you can live very comfortably. Lord Kṛṣṇa is now the King of the Bhoja, Vṛṣṇi and Andhaka dynasties, and I have heard that He never leaves His capital city, Dvārakā. He is living there without outside engagements. He is so kind and liberal that He immediately gives everything, even His personal self, to any person who surrenders unto Him. Since He is prepared to give Himself personally to His devotee, there is nothing wonderful in giving some material riches.

Krsna Book 80:

In this material world, persons who are not attached to material opulence are very rarely found. Such unattached persons haven’t the least desire to accumulate wealth and prosperity for sense gratification, but sometimes they are found to collect money just to exhibit the exemplary life of a householder. They show how by proper distribution of wealth one can become an ideal householder and at the same time a great devotee. Such ideal householders are to be considered followers of My footsteps. I hope, My dear brāhmaṇa friend, that you remember all those days of our school life when you and I were living together at the boarding school. Actually, whatever knowledge you and I received in life was accumulated in our student life.

Krsna Book 80:

One should utilize the first part of life in becoming a bona fide student, receiving adequate knowledge and keeping oneself in the vow of brahmacarya, so that one may completely devote his life for the service of the spiritual master without indulging in sense gratification. A brahmacārī is meant to lead a life of austerities and penance. The householder is meant to live a regulated life of sense gratification, but no one should remain a householder for the third stage of life. In that stage, one has to return to the austerities and penances formerly practiced in brahmacārī life and thus relieve himself of the attachment to household life. After being relieved of his attachments to the materialistic way of life, one may accept the order of sannyāsa.

Krsna Book 80:

According to the Vedic system, a gift is offered to the spiritual master, which is called guru-dakṣiṇā. Then the disciple should take to householder life and accept a wife according to religious rites.”

These instructions given by Lord Kṛṣṇa while talking with His friend the learned brāhmaṇa are very good for the guidance of human society. A system of human civilization that does not promote varṇa and āśrama is nothing but a polished animal society. Indulgence in sex life by a man or woman living single is never acceptable in human society. A man should strictly follow the principles of brahmacārī life or, with the permission of the spiritual master, should get married. Single life with illicit sex is animal life, for the animals have no such institution as marriage.

Krsna Book 82:

The gopīs continued: "Dear Kṛṣṇa, we are always busy in our family affairs. We therefore request that You remain within our hearts as the rising sun. That will be Your greatest benediction." The gopīs are always liberated souls because they are fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They only pretended to be entangled in household affairs in Vṛndāvana. Because of their separation from Kṛṣṇa, He might have asked them to return with Him to His capital city, Dvārakā. But the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, the gopīs, were not interested in the idea of going with Kṛṣṇa to Dvārakā. They wanted to remain busy in Vṛndāvana and thus feel the presence of Kṛṣṇa in every step of their lives. They immediately invited Kṛṣṇa to come back to Vṛndāvana. This transcendental emotional existence of the gopīs is the basic principle of Lord Caitanya's teaching.

Krsna Book 84:

Lord Viṣṇu is the beneficiary of the results of all sacrificial performances. Great personalities and sages who are able to see everything clearly through the eyes of the revealed scriptures and possess vision of the three phases of the time element, namely past, present and future, have unanimously recommended that to purify the dust of material contamination accumulated in the heart and to clear the path of liberation and thereby achieve transcendental bliss, one must please Lord Viṣṇu. For everyone living as a householder in one of the higher social orders (brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya and vaiśya), this worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, who is known as Puruṣottama, the original person, is recommended as the only auspicious path.

Krsna Book 84:

Therefore, to get liberation from this bondage, one has to sacrifice his honestly earned riches for the satisfaction of Lord Viṣṇu.

“The only process to counteract all sorts of material desires is to engage oneself in the devotional service of Lord Viṣṇu. In this way a self-controlled person, even while remaining in householder life, should give up the three kinds of material desires, namely the desire for the acquisition of material opulences, for the enjoyment of wife and children, and for elevation to higher planets. Eventually he should give up householder life and accept the renounced order, engaging himself completely in the devotional service of the Lord. Everyone, even if born in a higher status as a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya or vaiśya, is certainly indebted to the demigods, to the sages, to the forefathers and to other living entities, and in order to liquidate all these debts, one has to perform sacrifices, study the Vedic literature and generate children in religious householder life. If somehow one accepts the renounced order of life without liquidating these debts, he certainly falls down from his position.

Krsna Book 86:

Mahārāja Parīkṣit was very eager to hear more about Kṛṣṇa, and so, after finishing the narration of Arjuna's kidnapping Subhadrā, Śukadeva Gosvāmī began to narrate another story, as follows.

There was a householder brāhmaṇa in the city of Mithilā, the capital of the kingdom of Videha. This brāhmaṇa, whose name was Śrutadeva, was a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Because he was fully Kṛṣṇa conscious and always engaged in the service of the Lord, he was completely peaceful in mind and detached from all material attraction. He was very learned and had no desire other than to be fully situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Although in the order of householder life, he never took great pains to earn anything for his livelihood; he was satisfied with whatever he could achieve without much endeavor, and somehow or other he lived in that way. Every day he would get the necessities of life in just the quantity required, and not more. That was his destiny. The brāhmaṇa had no desire to get more than what he needed, and thus he was peacefully executing the regulative principles of a brāhmaṇa's life, as enjoined in the revealed scriptures.

Krsna Book 86:

The brāhmaṇa's wife cooked simple foods like rice and dāl, and Lord Kṛṣṇa and His followers were very much pleased to accept them because they were offered in devotional love. When Lord Kṛṣṇa and His associates were fed in this way, the brāhmaṇa Śrutadeva was thinking thus: "I have fallen into the deep, dark well of householder life and am the most unfortunate person. How has it become possible that Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His associates, the great sages, whose very presence makes a place as sanctified as a pilgrimage site, have agreed to come to my place?" While the brāhmaṇa was thinking in this way, the guests finished their lunch and sat back very comfortably. At that time, the brāhmaṇa Śrutadeva and his wife, children and other relatives appeared there to render service to the distinguished guests. While touching the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the brāhmaṇa began to speak.

Krsna Book 87:

In this way they give saintly association to one another and thus advance. So that every living entity can take advantage of the association of Kṛṣṇa conscious persons, such great devotees open temples and āśramas where Kṛṣṇa's devotees assemble. By such association, people can develop more and more in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Such advancement is not possible in ordinary household life, which is devoid of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

The personified Vedas continued: “Dear Lord, there are two classes of transcendentalists, the impersonalists and the personalists. The opinion of the impersonalists is that this material manifestation is false and that only the Absolute Truth is factual. The view of the personalists, however, is that the material world, although very temporary, is nevertheless not false but factual.

Krsna Book 87:

The human form of body is a special chance in which the developed form of consciousness can be utilized.

Sometimes the Māyāvādī philosophers push forward the argument that if this material world is truth, then why are householders advised to give up their connection with this material world and take sannyāsa? But the Vaiṣṇava philosophers' view of sannyāsa is not that because the world is false one must therefore give up material activities. The purpose of Vaiṣṇava sannyāsa is to utilize things as they are intended to be utilized. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has given transcendentalists two formulas for dealing with this material world. When a Vaiṣṇava renounces the materialistic way of life and takes to sannyāsa, it is not on the conception of the falsity of the material world but to devote himself fully to engaging everything in the service of the Lord.

Krsna Book 87:

When a man is sleeping, everyone sees that he is present within the room, but actually the man himself is not within that body, for while sleeping a man forgets his bodily existence, although others may see that his body is present. Similarly, a liberated person engaged in devotional service to the Lord may be seen by others to be engaged in the household duties of the material world, but since his consciousness is fixed in Kṛṣṇa, he does not live within this world. His engagements are different, exactly as the sleeping man's engagements are different from his bodily engagements. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that a devotee engaged full time in the transcendental loving service of the Lord has already surpassed the influence of the three modes of material nature. He is already situated on the Brahman platform and is in the transcendental realm, although he appears to be living within the body or within the material world.

Krsna Book 89:

They were all unique and have no parallel in the history of the world. All these pastimes prove fully that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yet while present within this material world He played just like an ordinary man with many worldly duties. He played the part of an ideal householder possessing more than 16,000 wives, 16,000 palaces and 160,000 children, and in that role He performed many sacrifices just to teach the royal order how to live in the material world for the welfare of humanity. As the ideal Supreme Personality, He fulfilled the desires of everyone, from the brāhmaṇas, the highest persons in human society, down to the ordinary living entities, including the lowest of men. Just as King Indra is in charge of distributing rain all over the world to satisfy everyone in due course, so Lord Kṛṣṇa satisfies everyone by pouring down His causeless mercy. His mission was to give protection to the devotees and to kill the demoniac kings.

Krsna Book 90:

The entire process of austerity and penance is meant to detach one from the material world and enhance one's attachment to Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa is the shelter of all persons advancing in self-realization. As an ideal householder, He lived with His wives and performed the Vedic rituals just to show less intelligent persons that the Supreme Lord is never impersonal. Kṛṣṇa lived with wives and children in all opulence, exactly like an ordinary conditioned soul, just to teach those souls who are actually conditioned that they must enter into the family circle of Kṛṣṇa, where He is the center. For example, the members of the Yadu dynasty lived in the family of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa was the center of all their activities.

Krsna Book 90:

Renunciation is not as important as enhancing one's attachment to Kṛṣṇa. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is especially meant for this purpose. We are preaching the principle that it does not matter whether a man is a sannyāsī or gṛhastha (householder). One simply has to increase his attachment for Kṛṣṇa, and then his life is successful. Following in the footsteps of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, one can live with his family members or within the society or nation, not for the purpose of indulging in sense gratification but to realize Kṛṣṇa by advancing in attachment for Him. There are four principles of elevation from conditioned life to the life of liberation, which are technically known as dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa (religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation). If one lives a family life following in the footsteps of Lord Kṛṣṇa's family members, one can achieve all four of these principles of success simultaneously by making Kṛṣṇa the center of all activities.

Krsna Book 90:

Such bābājīs do not know that if one is engaged in preaching, or in glorifying the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the good reputation of a preacher automatically follows one. One should not, therefore, prematurely give up the honest life of a householder to lead a life of debauchery in Vṛndāvana. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī’s recommendation to leave home and go to the forest in search of Kṛṣṇa is not for immature persons. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was mature. Even in his householder life, or from the very beginning of his life, he worshiped Lord Kṛṣṇa's mūrti. In his childhood he worshiped the Deity of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and later, although he was a householder, he was always detached, and therefore when he got the notice of his death, he immediately gave up all connection with household life and sat down on the bank of the Ganges to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the association of devotees.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.6:

The followers of the varṇāśrama way of life, or sanātana-dharma, are now being called Hindus. Their forefathers, especially those who belonged to the upper castes—the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, and vaiśyas—centered their lives on Lord Viṣṇu. In every stage of life, especially in the householder stage, people worshiped Lord Viṣṇu in their homes, performing devotional service for His satisfaction. A few very devoted souls continue to do so even today. They collect money only for the Lord's service. The money buys grains and vegetables, which they cook with devotion and then offer to Lord Viṣṇu. Later the devotees honor this prasādam, the Lord's mercy in the form of food, by eating it. In all these activities Lord Viṣṇu is the enjoyer, and one seeks to please Him. In the past, the times were conducive to such activities, and even now they are practiced in many places. Actually, such devotional service is applicable to everyone, to all places, and to all times.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.6:

Such is not the law of providence. The law of God is such that it punishes the killers of both man and animals; both acts of murder are penalized. The atheists deny the existence of God because in this way they think they can commit sins unhindered. But all the revealed, authorized scriptures say that by killing innocent creatures, the householders commit many sins willingly or unwillingly while performing their normal daily activities. To get release from these sins, the householders are enjoined to perform certain sacrifices. Foremost of these is to eat and honor the remnants of food offered to Lord Viṣṇu. As for those selfish householders who cook food only for their own sensual pleasure and not for the service of Lord Viṣṇu, they have to suffer all the sinful reactions incurred while cooking and eating. This is the law of providence. Therefore, to get rid of these sins, the followers of the Vedic religion dedicate their household activities to Lord Viṣṇu's service.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.7:

Previously, sages arranged for Lord Viṣṇu's Deity to be worshiped in practically every household, thereby creating the atmosphere for people to become karma-yogīs. Similarly, it is now urgent that similar arrangements be made to worship and serve Lord Viṣṇu in the huge factories, mercantile firms, hospitals, and so on. This can firmly establish true equality among men under a spiritual banner. Lord Nārāyaṇa is not poor; He is the Supreme Lord of Lords. And hence attempts to say that the poor people are "Nārāyaṇas" is foolish. Rather, by widely organizing the worship and service of the Lord, one can greatly benefit everyone, including the poor. The Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests Himself in many forms, but the sages have chosen three of His multifarious forms to serve and worship as the Deity. They are Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa, Sītā-Rāma, and Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. These three Deity couples are widely worshiped all over the Indian subcontinent.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.7:

The Communists and Socialists are spending money, intelligence, and even lives propagating their "isms"; the Bolsheviks revolted, disrupting the entire land of Russia and promising to fulfill the people's dream of a prosperous household life on a mass scale; the workers' unions are constantly at odds with the employers. All these complicated problems have one simple solution: everyone should perform karma-yoga, or work meant to please the Supreme Lord.

The endeavors human beings have made to establish a close and harmonious relationship with one another have culminated in the United Nations. This organization is based on the concept of the family unit. The gradual expansion of the family unit to a large community, to a village, to a state, to a country, and finally to a continent has given the clue for the formation of the United Nations.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.3:

If they live according to the scriptural injunctions pertaining to their particular varṇa, then they can accrue piety. Similarly, if the members of the four āśramas—namely, the brahmacārīs (celibate students), gṛhasthas (householders), vānaprasthas (pilgrims), and sannyāsīs (renunciants)—also act in conformity with the scriptural edicts, they too acquire immense piety. But when the ill influence of Kali-yuga corrupts this varṇāśrama system, human society is beset by all sorts of degradations. As a result, the living entities are punished by a variety of natural calamities caused by the illusory potency of the Lord. When the citizens abide by the rules of the king, the kingdom runs smoothly and everyone is prosperous and content. But when the demoniac population of thieves, rogues, and criminals steadily increases, the kingdom is filled with chaos and terror.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.4:

O king! A person with little piety can never develop faith in Lord Govinda, His mercy, His holy name, or His pure devotees.

Most householders desire material gain. Nowadays especially, everyone is feeling the pinch of poverty. The ordinary man thirsts for money solely to enjoy his senses. Once a person falls into the useless company of sense gratifiers, he spends his wealth on fineries, gold, and women. With more wealth, he seeks adoration and distinction, and along with these he gets mansions, cars, and so on. There is only one interest in this endeavor, and that is to enjoy the senses. Persons whose only goal in life is to gratify the senses were referred to earlier as the less intelligent fruitive workers, or karmīs. If any among them happen to have some piety, then this select group will not merely fritter away all their time in titillating their senses, but will spend some time worshiping the Supreme Lord. Although these elite karmīs do not associate with the pure devotees of the Lord, they call themselves spiritualists. Actually, they harbor the desire to gratify their carnal desires.

Message of Godhead

Message of Godhead 2:

Those in the three higher social orders—namely, the brāhmaṇas (the instructive order), the kṣatriyas (the administrative order), and the vaiśyas (the productive order)—all used to lead the life of Vaiṣṇavism, or centering every action upon the Supreme Deity, Viṣṇu. In all the four spiritual orders—the student, the householder, the retired, and the renounced—and especially the householder order, Viṣṇu was being worshiped. The brāhmaṇa householders, particularly, used to worship Viṣṇu without fail, and even now the descendants of those brāhmaṇas continue to worship Viṣṇu daily as their family Deity.

These spiritually cultured people used to do everything for the sake of Viṣṇu. They used to earn wealth according to their capacity for the service of Viṣṇu. With their earnings they used to acquire eatables, and the eatables were cooked for the worship of Viṣṇu.

Message of Godhead 2:

Unfortunately, those who cook food not for offering to Viṣṇu, but only for satisfying their senses, have to undergo punishments for all the sins they have committed consciously or unconsciously, while discharging prescribed duties. For this reason, the worship of Viṣṇu still goes on in the households of the followers of sanātana-dharma, and especially in the households of the brāhmaṇas.

Therefore, those who are leaders of their respective countries and communities should first be sure to satisfy Viṣṇu, for their own benefit and for the benefit of those whom they profess to lead. All leaders should ponder how they can discharge their duties by satisfying the transcendental senses of Viṣṇu, for what the leaders do will be imitated by their followers. Therefore, the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, advises Arjuna as follows: "What is done by the leader is followed by the ordinary man.

Message of Godhead 2:

Such spiritualized persons alone can show actual sympathy to the fallen in terms of the individual, the place, and the time. And in spite of performing apparently material activities, such spiritualized persons are free from the bondage of work. This process is explained in the seventh verse of the fifth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā: "Householders who perform their work with a view to transcendental results, out of sympathy for all others, are really eligible to become public leaders. All others who claim to be public leaders are mistaken."

The enemies of the karma-yogīs—who generally perform all works for self-satisfaction or sense gratification, and who are not in touch with the Supreme Spirit by the transcendental relationship of service—sometimes pose themselves as working according to the desire of the supreme will.

Light of the Bhagavata

Light of the Bhagavata 17, Purport:

The duty of sages and saints is to go from door to door and thus enlighten the householders in spiritual knowledge. Householder life is compared to a dark well. In a dark well the frog cannot see the free light of the open sky. The dark well of householder life kills the soul. One should therefore get out of it so that he may see the light of spiritual vision. Saints and sages mercifully try to uplift fallen souls from the dark well of householder life. An enlightened householder therefore takes pleasure in the appearance of such saints and sages at his house. The mind of the householder who is a conditioned soul is always disturbed by the threefold miseries of material life. Everyone wants to be happy in his householder life, but the laws of nature do not allow one to become happy in material existence, which is like a spontaneous forest fire.

Light of the Bhagavata 17, Purport:

They are always anxious for the welfare of the fallen souls, who are attached to the false enjoyment of materialistic life, in which they forget their eternal relation with God.

It is the duty of the saints and sages to enlighten the fallen souls, and reciprocally it is the duty of the householder to receive the saints and sages cordially, as the peacock dances in ecstasy at the presence of clouds in the sky. The fire of threefold miseries experienced by materialistic men can be extinguished only by the cloud of mercy of the saints and sages who can pour down the water of transcendental messages to put an end to the miseries of the householders.

Light of the Bhagavata 19, Purport:

The forgetful householder life of the conditioned soul is a soul-killing dark well. This is the opinion of Śrī Prahlāda Mahārāja, the celebrated devotee of the Lord. Too much attachment for hearth and home is never recommended by a self-realized soul. Therefore the span of human life should be methodically divided.

The first stage is called the brahmacarya-āśrama, or the order of life in childhood, when the man-to-be is trained in the ultimate goal of life. The next stage is the gṛhastha-āśrama, in which the man is trained to enter into the Transcendence. Then comes the vānaprastha-āśrama, the preliminary stage of renounced life. The last stage recommended is the sannyāsa order, or the renounced order of life. In this way one accepts a gradual process of spiritual activities for the ultimate goal of liberation.

Light of the Bhagavata 19, Purport:

Unfortunately, for want of sufficient culture of the human spirit, no one wants to give up the householder life, even though it is full of pinpricks and mud. And those who are too attached amidst the pinpricks of muddy householder life are compared to the cranes that stand on the bank of the river for some sense enjoyment despite all the inconveniences there. We should always remember that the society, friendship, only shadowy representations of the real society, friendship, and love reciprocated in the kingdom of God. There is no reality in the conditioned life of material existence, but because of our ignorance we are attached to the mirage. The idea of society, friendship, and love is not at all false, but the place where we search for it is false.

Light of the Bhagavata 19, Purport:

Unfortunately, for want of sufficient culture of this spirit, the materialistic man always sticks to this false place in spite of all its turmoils. It is said that a man should give up the order of householder life at the age of fifty. But in this era of ignorance even an old man wants to rejuvenate his bodily functions, put on artificial teeth, and make a pretense of youthful life, even on the verge of death. Cranelike politicians especially are too much attached to the false prestige of position and rank, and so they always seek reelection, even at the fag end of life. These are some of the symptoms of an uncultured life.

Light of the Bhagavata 31, Purport:

As the white clouds no longer bear the burden of water in the autumn sky, the student finds that the troubles of drawing water for the master become a burdenless job if the student, by the grace of his master, attains to spiritual knowledge.

Householders who beget children without restriction, like weeds in the rainy season, become solitary as soon as they attain to the stage of devotional service. The family planning of a godless civilization cannot check weedlike unwanted population. People should learn to check sex life by voluntary restraint. This voluntary restraint is possible when one is dovetailed with the service of the Lord. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā. Well-situated devotees of the Lord refrain from materialistic sense enjoyment, for they are attracted by the beauty of the Transcendence. Forcible restraint by regulative family planning or similar artificial means cannot work very long; one must be attracted by the Transcendence.

Light of the Bhagavata 32, Purport:

As long as one is attached to the so-called responsibilities of family burdens, he is always full of cares and anxieties about meeting his family expenses. The four orders of social life, as designed in the varṇāśrama system, are very scientific and cooperative. In student life one is taught the primary principles of the human form of life. One who enters the householder's life can execute the duties of a family man because he has already been trained for this job in the brahmacarya-āśrama. And after fifty years of age the householder retires from family life and prepares for the life of sannyāsa.

Light of the Bhagavata 32, Purport:

One who enters the householder's life can execute the duties of a family man because he has already been trained for this job in the brahmacarya-āśrama. And after fifty years of age the householder retires from family life and prepares for the life of sannyāsa.

The householder is duty-bound to maintain the members of all three of the other āśramas, namely the brahmacārīs, the vānaprasthas, and sannyāsīs. In this way, every member of society was given a chance to retire for a higher order of spiritual culture, and the householders neglected no one. The brahmacārīs, vānaprasthas, and sannyāsīs all curtailed their necessities to the minimum, and therefore no one would begrudge maintaining them in the bare necessities of life.

Light of the Bhagavata 32, Purport:

In Kali-yuga, however, the entire system has gone topsy-turvy. The student lives in luxury at the expense of the father or the father-in-law. When the educated, indulgent student becomes a householder by the strength of university degrees, he requires money by all means for all kinds of bodily comfort, and therefore he cannot spare even a penny for the so-called vānaprasthas and sannyāsīs. The vānaprasthas and sannyāsīs nowadays are those who were unsuccessful in family life. Thus the so-called sannyāsīs try to construct another home in the name of the sannyāsa-āśrama and glide down into all sorts of luxury at the expense of others. So all these varṇas and āśramas have now become so many transcendental frauds.

Light of the Bhagavata 34, Purport:

As already mentioned, the human life must be divided into four component parts: the student life, the householder life, the preparative life, and the life of dedication to the service of the Lord. One must retire from all sorts of family life, big or small, at the age of fifty, and thus prepare for the next life. That is the process of human culture. The householders are allowed a pension from service so that they can live for a higher cultural life. But foolish men, reluctant even to accept this pension, want to artificially increase the duration of their life. Such foolish men should take lessons from the drying pools of water and should know, in their own interests, that life is eternal, continuing even after death. Only the body changes, whether spiritually or materially. An intelligent man should be careful to know what sort of body is going to be awarded him, and thus he must prepare for a better life in other planets, even if he is reluctant to go back to Godhead.

Page Title:Householder (Other Books)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:26 of Jun, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=109, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:109