“Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu further advised the brahmana Kurma, ‘If you follow this instruction, your materialistic life at home will not obstruct your spiritual advancement. Indeed, if you follow these regulative principles, we will again meet here, or, rather, you will never lose My company.’” (Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya 7.129)

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कभु ना बाधिबे तोमार विषय-तरङ्ग
पुनरपि एइ ठाञि पाबे मोर सङ्ग”

kabhu nā bādhibe tomāra viṣaya-taraṅga
punarapi ei ṭhāñi pābe mora saṅga”

1. A birthday

“This is not just any day. It marks the moment of your birth. The time that you first appeared in this world. Well, not precisely the time, but the day within the calendar year. Our lives changed forever. Consider how many lives you have impacted since then. Mostly in a positive way. Just kidding, it has all been positive. We are so blessed to know you.

“Therefore, the birthday must have an accompanying celebration. We are inviting your closest friends and family. They are travelling from far and wide to attend. They will not miss it for the world. We will hire the best chef to prepare only the tastiest dishes. We will complete the festivities with the cutting of a beautiful cake. There is no option to refuse this invitation. We are going to celebrate and there is nothing you can do about it.”

2. Premium bedsheets

“You know, I heard about this on a commercial playing on the radio. The host of the program also endorsed them. I never previously gave much thought to the quality of bedsheets before. Whatever is for sale on the shelves at the local department store. I might skim through the specifications, such as dimensions and the thread count, but I had no higher expectations based on the distinctions.

“Well, I ordered these premium sheets. They arrived in special packaging. It was so nicely done that I was hesitant to rip anything apart. It was this beautiful box; as if I were receiving a sacred heirloom passed down within a family. Let me tell you, these bedsheets are indeed amazing. They are worth the extra cost. I am a satisfied customer.”

3. A new smartphone

“They must have hired a top design firm to create the packaging. It is so special that you want to hold onto it, afterwards. I think these will be valuable several decades later. They are almost like souvenirs, since the smartphone is a game-changing invention. Years down the line people will wonder how society ever functioned without them.”

4. A diamond ring

“I always save the box. My husband presented this to me as an anniversary gift. It is so special. I want to show it to all of my friends and family. I will never forget how it was delivered to me. A total surprise. He did not have to go this far, but the gesture means everything to me.”

5. A visit from a foreign leader

“Nope, we have to turn around. That road is closed. Actually, that entire half of the city is shut off. No traffic coming in or going out. There is some big foreign dignitary visiting. The leaders are sparing no expense. They even swooped aside the homeless population, which has been ever-increasing due to the horrible government policies. I guess the community can look terrible any other time of the year, but not when someone important is visiting.”

…

Within the tradition of sanatana-dharma, and particularly when the system of varna and ashrama is followed, it is seen that the most respected within society tend to be those who have the least. Comparing the net worth, in tallying the possessions to carry when travelling from place to place, the sannyasis are still held in the highest regard.

A person may argue as to the need:

“Why should someone have to renounce family life? Just what are they trying to prove by boasting about how little they possess? Are they not still human beings on the inside? Do they not enjoy the taste of food after intense hunger? Do they not feel refreshed from rest during sleep? Don’t tell me that they don’t eat or sleep. No one is going to believe that.”

A principle or truth should stand on its own. This is in terms of validity. For example, there is the truth in math of adding two units to an existing two units. This always results in four units. This principle holds true in any period of time, in any place of residence. Whether a reputed mathematician presents the principle or some vagrant living on the street should enlighten me as to the truth, the principle always stands.

In the same way, the scientific principles that serve as the basis of sanatana-dharma apply no matter the institution. Suddenly turning into a sannyasi, changing clothes, leaving behind home and family, travelling from place to place, and speaking to others on the need for following dharma does not have an impact on the principles themselves.

At the same time, from the above review we see that important items often have accompanying decorations. These are like embellishments or honors. They accompany the item due to the very value of that item. The people who are aware of that value do not want the importance diminished. They do not want the experience cheapened, such that others will fail to show the appropriate level of seriousness.

In this regard, the sannyasa ashrama helps in the presentation. It is like an ornamentation to the delivery. It is undoubtedly true that a person who has renounced material life will be taken more seriously when describing the principles of jnana and vairagya to others. After all, if in the external sense a person is fully bound to enjoying the senses, others might consider their appeal towards yoga to be hypocritical in nature.

This truth of human tendencies, the nuance to interactions, further glorifies the impact of the historical figure known as Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He created a mechanism whereby even those outside of the sannyasa ashrama could flourish in their distribution of the sacred wisdom originating in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Shri Krishna, who once famously shared that wisdom with the disciple named Arjuna.

राज-विद्या राज-गुह्यं
पवित्रम् इदम् उत्तमम्
प्रत्यक्षावगमं धर्म्यं
सु-सुखं कर्तुम् अव्ययम्

rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaṁ
pavitram idam uttamam
pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ
su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam

“This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.2)

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu declared that any person can become a guru, on His order, by sharing Krishna-upadesha. These are the instructions of Shri Krishna. A person can share this wisdom with the people that they meet, in whichever direction they may happen to travel. I might not be taken as seriously as a person officially renounced from material life, but I have the backing of the most merciful Lord Chaitanya, who allowed so many fallen souls to be liberated even amidst the generally inauspicious conditions of the dark age of Kali.

In Closing:

Stuck in area dark and cold,
With repeated miseries untold.

How the family then to renounce?
Vairagya cannot even pronounce.

But Mahaprabhu with firm backing,
That even if sannyasa lacking.

A guru can surely become,
Sharing upadesha to all and one.

Categories: the five

Tags: celebration, hare krishna, holiday, poem, poems, poetry, utsava