Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 11 - Chapter 18

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 1 Sanskrit: श्रीभगवानुवाचवनं विविक्षु: पुत्रेषु भार्यां न्यस्य सहैव वा ।वन एव वसेच्छान्तस्तृतीयं भागमायुष: ॥ १ ॥ ITRANS: śrī-bhagavān uvācavanaṁ vivikṣuḥ putreṣubhāryāṁ nyasya sahaiva vāvana eva vasec chāntastṛtīyaṁ bhāgam āyuṣaḥ Translation: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: One who desires to adopt the third order of life, vānaprastha, should enter the forest with a peaceful mind, leaving his wife with his mature sons, or else taking her along with him....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 2 Sanskrit: कन्दमूलफलैर्वन्यैर्मेध्यैर्वृत्तिं प्रकल्पयेत् ।वसीत वल्कलं वासस्तृणपर्णाजिनानि वा ॥ २ ॥ ITRANS: kanda-mūla-phalair vanyairmedhyair vṛttiṁ prakalpayetvasīta valkalaṁ vāsastṛṇa-parṇājināni vā Translation: Having adopted the vānaprastha order of life, one should arrange one’s sustenance by eating uncontaminated bulbs, roots and fruits that grow in the forest. One may dress oneself with tree bark, grass, leaves or animal skins. Purport: A renounced sage in the forest does not kill animals, but rather acquires skins from animals who have suffered natural death....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 3 Sanskrit: केशरोमनखश्मश्रुमलानि बिभृयाद् दत: ।न धावेदप्सु मज्जेत त्रिकालं स्थण्डिलेशय: ॥ ३ ॥ ITRANS: keśa-roma-nakha-śmaśru-malāni bibhṛyād dataḥna dhāved apsu majjetatri kālaṁ sthaṇḍile-śayaḥ Translation: The vānaprastha should not groom the hair on his head, body or face, should not manicure his nails, should not pass stool and urine at irregular times and should not make a special endeavor for dental hygiene. He should be content to take bath in water three times daily and should sleep on the ground....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 4 Sanskrit: ग्रीष्मे तप्येत पञ्चाग्नीन् वर्षास्वासारषाड्‍जले ।आकण्ठमग्न: शिशिर एवंवृत्तस्तपश्चरेत् ॥ ४ ॥ ITRANS: grīṣme tapyeta pañcāgnīnvarṣāsv āsāra-ṣāḍ jaleākaṇtha-magnaḥ śiśiraevaṁ vṛttas tapaś caret Translation: Thus engaged as a vānaprastha, one should execute penance during the hottest summer days by subjecting oneself to burning fires on four sides and the blazing sun overhead; during the rainy season one should remain outside, subjecting oneself to torrents of rain; and in the freezing winter one should remain submerged in water up to one’s neck....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 5 Sanskrit: अग्निपक्वं समश्न‍ीयात् कालपक्व‍मथापि वा ।उलूखलाश्मकुट्टो वा दन्तोलूखल एव वा ॥ ५ ॥ ITRANS: agni-pakvaṁ samaśnīyātkāla-pakvam athāpi vāulūkhalāśma-kuṭṭo vādantolūkhala eva vā Translation: One may eat foodstuffs prepared with fire, such as grains, or fruits ripened by time. One may grind one’s food with mortar and stone or with one’s own teeth. Purport: In Vedic civilization it is recommended that at the end of one’s life one should go to a holy place or forest for spiritual perfection....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 6 Sanskrit: स्वयं सञ्चिनुयात् सर्वमात्मनो वृत्तिकारणम् ।देशकालबलाभिज्ञो नाददीतान्यदाहृतम् ॥ ६ ॥ ITRANS: svayaṁ sañcinuyāt sarvamātmano vṛtti-kāraṇamdeśa-kāla-balābhijñonādadītānyadāhṛtam Translation: The vānaprastha should personally collect whatever he requires for his bodily maintenance, carefully considering the time, place and his own capacity. He should never collect provisions for the future. Purport: According to Vedic regulations, one practicing austerity should collect only what he requires for immediate use, and upon receiving gifts of foodstuff he should immediately give up that which he has previously collected, so that there will be no surplus....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 7 Sanskrit: वन्यैश्चरुपुरोडाशैर्निर्वपेत् कालचोदितान् ।न तु श्रौतेन पशुना मां यजेत वनाश्रमी ॥ ७ ॥ ITRANS: vanyaiś caru-puroḍāśairnirvapet kāla-coditānna tu śrautena paśunāmāṁ yajeta vanāśramī Translation: One who has accepted the vānaprastha order of life should perform seasonal sacrifices by offering oblations of caru and sacrificial cakes prepared from rice and other grains found in the forest. The vānaprastha, however, may never offer animal sacrifices to Me, even those sacrifices mentioned in the Vedas....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 8 Sanskrit: अग्निहोत्रं च दर्शश्च पौर्णमासश्च पूर्ववत् ।चातुर्मास्यानि च मुनेराम्नातानि च नैगमै: ॥ ८ ॥ ITRANS: agnihotraṁ ca darśaś capaurṇamāsaś ca pūrva-vatcāturmāsyāni ca munerāmnātāni ca naigamaiḥ Translation: The vānaprastha should perform the agnihotra, darśa and paurṇamāsa sacrifices, as he did while in the gṛhastha-āśrama. He should also perform the vows and sacrifices of cāturmāsya, since all of these rituals are enjoined for the vānaprastha-āśrama by expert knowers of the Vedas....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 9 Sanskrit: एवं चीर्णेन तपसा मुनिर्धमनिसन्तत: ।मां तपोमयमाराध्य ऋषिलोकादुपैति माम् ॥ ९ ॥ ITRANS: evaṁ cīrṇena tapasāmunir dhamani-santataḥmāṁ tapo-mayam ārādhyaṛṣi-lokād upaiti mām Translation: The saintly vānaprastha, practicing severe penances and accepting only the bare necessities of life, becomes so emaciated that he appears to be mere skin and bones. Thus worshiping Me through severe penances, he goes to the Maharloka planet and then directly achieves Me....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 10 Sanskrit: यस्त्वेतत् कृच्छ्रतश्चीर्णं तपो नि:श्रेयसं महत् ।कामायाल्पीयसे युञ्ज्याद् बालिश: कोऽपरस्तत: ॥ १० ॥ ITRANS: yas tv etat kṛcchrataś cīrṇaṁtapo niḥśreyasaṁ mahatkāmāyālpīyase yuñjyādbāliśaḥ ko ’paras tataḥ Translation: One who with long endeavor executes this painful but exalted penance, which awards ultimate liberation, simply to achieve insignificant sense gratification must be considered the greatest fool. Purport: Although the process of vānaprastha described by Lord Kṛṣṇa is so glorious that even the consolation prize is promotion to Maharloka, one who consciously performs this process for such promotion to heaven is certainly the greatest fool....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 11 Sanskrit: यदासौ नियमेऽकल्पो जरया जातवेपथु: ।आत्मन्यग्नीन् समारोप्य मच्चित्तोऽग्निं समाविशेत् ॥ ११ ॥ ITRANS: yadāsau niyame ’kalpojarayā jāta-vepathuḥātmany agnīn samāropyamac-citto ’gniṁ samāviśet Translation: If the vānaprastha is overtaken by old age and because of his trembling body is no longer able to execute his prescribed duties, he should place the sacrificial fire within his heart by meditation. Then, fixing his mind on Me, he should enter into the fire and give up his body....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 12 Sanskrit: यदा कर्मविपाकेषु लोकेषु निरयात्मसु ।विरागो जायते सम्यङ् न्यस्ताग्नि: प्रव्रजेत्तत: ॥ १२ ॥ ITRANS: yadā karma-vipākeṣulokeṣu nirayātmasuvirāgo jāyate samyaṅnyastāgniḥ pravrajet tataḥ Translation: If the vānaprastha, understanding that even promotion to Brahmaloka is a miserable situation, develops complete detachment from all possible results of fruitive activities, then he may take the sannyāsa order of life. Purport:

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 13 Sanskrit: इष्ट्वा यथोपदेशं मां दत्त्वा सर्वस्वमृत्विजे ।अग्नीन् स्वप्राण आवेश्य निरपेक्ष: परिव्रजेत् ॥ १३ ॥ ITRANS: iṣṭvā yathopadeśaṁ māṁdattvā sarva-svam ṛtvijeagnīn sva-prāṇa āveśyanirapekṣaḥ parivrajet Translation: Having worshiped Me according to scriptural injunctions and having given all one’s property to the sacrificial priest, one should place the fire sacrifice within oneself. Thus, with the mind completely detached, one should enter the sannyāsa order of life....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 14 Sanskrit: विप्रस्य वै सन्न्यसतो देवा दारादिरूपिण: ।विघ्नान् कुर्वन्त्ययं ह्यस्मानाक्रम्य समियात् परम् ॥ १४ ॥ ITRANS: viprasya vai sannyasatodevā dārādi-rūpiṇaḥvighnān kurvanty ayaṁ hy asmānākramya samiyāt param Translation: “This man taking sannyāsa is going to surpass us and go back home, back to Godhead.” Thus thinking, the demigods create stumbling blocks on the path of the sannyāsī by appearing before him in the shape of his former wife or other women and attractive objects....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 15 Sanskrit: बिभृयाच्चेन्मुनिर्वास: कौपीनाच्छादनं परम् ।त्यक्तं न दण्डपात्राभ्यामन्यत् किञ्चिदनापदि ॥ १५ ॥ ITRANS: bibhṛyāc cen munir vāsaḥkaupīnācchādanaṁ paramtyaktaṁ na daṇḍa-pātrābhyāmanyat kiñcid anāpadi Translation: If the sannyāsī desires to wear something besides a mere kaupīna, he may use another cloth around his waist and hips to cover the kaupīna. Otherwise, if there is no emergency, he should not accept anything besides his daṇḍa and waterpot....