*What is Renunciation?

*In the Bhagavad-gita (6.1-2) Krishna

gives His definition:

*“One who is unattached to the fruits

of his work and who works as he is

obligated is in the renounced order of

life, he is the true mystic, not he who

lights no fire and performs no duty.

*What is called renunciation you

should know to be the same as yoga,

or linking oneself with the Supreme,

O son of Pandu, for one can never

become a yogi unless he renounces

the desire for sense gratification.”

*False Renunciation

*The Supreme Lord also warns us of

false renunciation in Bhagavad Gita:

*3.4: “Not by merely abstaining

from work can one achieve

freedom from reaction, nor by

renunciation alone can one attain

perfection.”

*3.6: “One who restrains his senses

of action but whose mind dwells on

sense objects certainly deludes

himself and is called a pretender.”

*Attachment and Detachment

*The twin cousins of renunciation

*Detachment from sense gratification means giving up

our pride, false ego and temporary allurements of this

material world

*However, detachment, on its own, creates a vacuum,

because it is the nature of the soul to always be active –

Bhagavad Gita 3.5: “Everyone is forced to act helplessly

according to the qualities he has acquired from the

modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain

from doing something, not even for a moment...”

*Therefore, genuine renunciation is achieved when one

detaches from the path of enjoying one’s senses for

one’s gratification to attach oneself on the path of

satisfying the Supreme Lord – by devotional service

*Higher Taste – Genuine Renunciation

*Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 2.59

vishayā vinivartante

nirāhārasya dehinah

rasa-varjam raso 'py asya

param drishtvā nivartate

*The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.

*When we renounce voluntarily, we give up a lesser cause for a higher cause

*Implicit in this renunciation is another cousin – austerity (tapasya) - voluntarily accepting trouble for spiritual advancement

*Detachment by Force of Time?

*Detachment by Volunteering?

*Detachment By Force Of Time

*SB 3.30.2: Whatever is produced by the materialist with great pain and labor for so-called happiness, the Supreme Personality, as the time factor, destroys, and for this reason the conditioned soul laments.

*SB 3.30.3: The misguided materialist does not know that his very body is impermanent and that the attractions of home, land and wealth, which are in relationship to that body, are also temporary. Out of ignorance only, he thinks that everything is permanent.

*The instructive episode of Dhrtarastra

*Vyasadev, according to wishes of Satyavati, visited Princess Ambika. When she saw his dreadful and forbidding appearance, with burning eyes, in her frightened state, she closed her eyes and dared not open them. Hence her son, Dhrtarashtra, was born blind

*After the death of Pandu, he assumed the throne of Hastinapura, and, with his wife, the powerful and ascetic Gandhari, bore 100 sons and one daughter, known as the Kauravas

*Dhrtarastra’s physical blindness extended to him being blind to his sons’ cruel and demonic natures, and, despite outwardly being diplomatic and sympathetic to the Pandavas, did not wish to relinquish and renounce his right to the throne

*The aftermath of the Mahabharata War, however, decimated the cruel and adharmic power of the Kauravas, leaving Dhrtarastra and Gandhari mourning for the loss of their sons and destruction of their throne and their dynasty

*The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, having performed His transcendental pastimes, and assured, by His supreme will, that the world would be ruled by the virtuous and devotional Pandavas, wound up His pastimes, and left for His eternal abode, Goloka Vrndavan, together with the members of His Yadu dynasty

*Aftermaths of Mahabharata

*The great Pandava King Yudhisthiraascended to the throne of Hastinapura and justly and wisely ruled the known world, bringing peace and devotion to the Supreme Lord, in his kingdom

*Despite the atrocities committed by the Kauravas on the Pandavas, Yudhisthirta, being dharma personified, and whose enemy was never born, nevertheless maintained Dhrtarastha in royal honour, with his own throne, and regarded the blind ex-king as an elder.

*Dhrtarastra’s failure to renounce

*Srila Prabhupada in 1.13.18 purport:

“..With all these imperial ambitions, Dhrtarastra wanted to become a king, and he contrived all sorts of intrigues in consultation with his brother-in-law Sakuni. But everything failed by the will of the Lord, and at the last stage, even after losing everything, men and money, he wanted to remain as king, being the eldest uncle of Yudhisthira...and he happily passed his numbered days in the illusion of being a king or the royal uncle of Yudhisthira...”

*Vidura – the Compassionate devotee of the Lord

*The history of Vidura - none other than Yamaraj, the superintendent of death and mahajana, devotee of the Supreme Lord

*Vidura left the Kauravas after being thrown out by Duryodhana – he travelled to all the places of pilgrimages, and learnt the science of devotion from Maitreya Muni

*When news of the decimation of the Kuru dynasty reached him, he, as a compassionate devotee and true well wisher of his elder brother, returned to Hastinapura to help his brother cut the bonds of his attachment to the material throne that was not even his

*SB 1.13.17: Insurmountable, eternal time imperceptibly overcomes those who are too much attached to family affairs and are always engrossed in their thought.

*SB 1.13.18: Mahātmā Vidura knew all this, and therefore he addressed Dhritarāshtra, saying: My dear King, please get out of here immediately. Do not delay. Just see how fear has overtaken you.

*Vidura returns to Hastinapura

*SB 1.13.19: This frightful situation cannot be remedied by any person in this material world. My lord, it is the Supreme Personality of Godhead as eternal time [kāla] that has approached us all.

*SB 1.13.20: Whoever is under the influence of supreme kāla [eternal time] must surrender his most dear life, and what to speak of other things, such as wealth, honor, children, land and home.

*SB 1.13.21: Your father, brother, well-wishers and sons are all dead and passed away. You yourself have expended the major portion of your life, your body is now overtaken by invalidity, and you are living in the home of another.

*SB 1.13.22: You have been blind from your very birth, and recently you have become hard of hearing. Your memory is shortened, and your intelligence is disturbed. Your teeth are loose, your liver is defective, and you are coughing up mucus.

*SB 1.13.23: Alas, how powerful are the hopes of a living being to continue his life. Verily, you are living just like a household dog and are eating remnants of food given by Bhīma.

*SB 1.13.24: There is no need to live a degraded life and subsist on the charity of those whom you tried to kill by arson and poisoning. You also insulted one of their wives and usurped their kingdom and wealth.

*SB 1.13.25: Despite your unwillingness to die and your desire to live even at the cost of honor and prestige, your miserly body will certainly dwindle and deteriorate like an old garment.

*SB 1.13.26: He is called undisturbed who goes to an unknown, remote place and, freed from all obligations, quits his material body when it has become useless.

*SB 1.13.27: He is certainly a first-class man who awakens and understands, either by himself or from others, the falsity and misery of this material world and thus leaves home and depends fully on the Personality of Godhead residing within his heart.

*Vidura’s grave warning to his brother

*Vidura finally advised his brother:

*SB 1.13.28: Please, therefore, leave for the North immediately, without letting your relatives know, for soon that time will approach which will diminish the good qualities of men.

*SB 1.13.29: Thus Mahārāja Dhritarāshtra, the scion of the family of Ajamīdha, firmly convinced by introspective knowledge [prajñā], broke at once the strong network of familial affection by his resolute determination. Thus he immediately left home to set out on the path of liberation, as directed by his younger brother Vidura.

*The pure association of Vidura purified the muddied heart of Dhrtarastra and he leaves the palace for the North, without looking back. His chaste wife, Gandhari, followed him

*Narada’s instructionson the forcible nature of time in this world

*Yudhisthira Maharaj, the morning after, entered the palace to pay respects to his aunt and uncle, and discovered them missing

*Anxious and blaming his treatment of them to be the reasons for their departure, he laments, when Narada Muni arrives

*SB 1.13.41: Śrī Nārada said: O pious King, do not lament for anyone, for everyone is under the control of the Supreme Lord. Therefore all living beings and their leaders carry on worship to be well protected. It is He only who brings them together and disperses them.

*SB 1.13.43: As a player sets up and disperses his playthings according to his own sweet will, so the supreme will of the Lord brings men together and separates them.

*SB 1.13.46: This gross material body made of five elements is already under the control of eternal time [kāla], action [karma] and the modes of material nature [guna]. How, then, can it, being already in the jaws of the serpent, protect others?

*Dhrtarastra’s determined Departure from this material world

*Narada informs Yudhisthira that, by the banks of the place known as Saptasrota by the sacred river Ganges deep in the Himalayas, the blind king has sat down to perform severe penances and control of his mind and senses by practice of yogic process of breathing and negation

*SB 1.13.57: O King, he will quit his body, most probably on the fifth day from today. And his body will turn to ashes.

*SB 1.13.58: While outside observing her husband, who will burn in the fire of mystic power along with his thatched cottage, his chaste wife will enter the fire with rapt attention.

*SB 1.13.59: Vidura, being affected with delight and grief, will then leave that place of sacred pilgrimage.

*The Voluntary & GloriousRenunciation of Yudhisthira Maharaj

*Soon after, Arjuna went to see the Supreme Lord in His abode of Dwaraka-dham

*A few months passed, and Arjuna did not return.

*Yudhisthira Maharaj, meanwhile, became anxious when he saw disturbing omens boding inauspiciousness, in the kingdom, characterised by the deteriorating morality, and increasing quarrel and hypocrisy, of his subjects

*Arjuna brings news of the departure of the Supreme Lord

*When Arjuna finally returned to

Hastinapura, Yudhisthira Maharaj

immediately saw that his

dejection was unprecedented –

his head was down and tears

glided from his lotus eyes

*After carefully querying Arjuna on

the cause of his dejection and

depression, Yudhisthira Maharaj

hears that the Supreme Lord had

wound up His pastimes on earth

and ascended to His eternal

abode, along with His associates,

the Yadu dynasty

*Arjuna remembers the Lord

*SB 1.15.6: I have just lost Him whose separation for a moment would render all the universes unfavorable and void, like bodies without life.

*SB 1.15.19: Generally both of us used to live together and sleep, sit and loiter together. And at the time of advertising oneself for acts of chivalry, sometimes, if there were any irregularity, I used to reproach Him by saying, "My friend, You are very truthful." Even in those hours when His value was minimized, He, being the Supreme Soul, used to tolerate all those utterings of mine, excusing me exactly as a true friend excuses his true friend, or a father excuses his son.

*SB 1.15.20: O Emperor, now I am separated from my friend and dearmost well-wisher, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore my heart appears to be void of everything. In His absence I have been defeated by a number of infidel cowherd men while I was guarding the bodies of all the wives of Krishna.

*Arjuna expresses his great gratitude to the Supreme Lord

*SB 1.15.17: It was by His mercy only that my enemies neglected to kill me when I descended from my chariot to get water for my thirsty horses. And it was due to my lack of esteem for my Lord that I dared engage Him as my chariot driver, for He is worshiped and offered services by the best men to attain salvation.

*SB 1.15.21: I have the very same Gāndīva bow, the same arrows, the same chariot drawn by the same horses, and I use them as the same Arjuna to whom all the kings offered their due respects. But in the absence of Lord Krishna, all of them, at a moment's notice, have become null and void. It is exactly like offering clarified butter on ashes, accumulating money with a magic wand or sowing seeds on barren land.

*The formula to renounce pain and hurt in this material world

*The Pandavas, like all of us, experienced great pain and loss, both in

the Mahabharat war, and then, when the Supreme Lord departed

*Yet, by intense remembrance of the activities and pastimes of the

Supreme Lord, they became purified, pacified and renounced

* SB 1.15.25-26: O King, as in the ocean the bigger and stronger aquatics swallow up the smaller and weaker ones, so also the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to lighten the burden of the earth, has engaged the stronger Yadu to kill the weaker, and the bigger Yadu to kill the smaller.

* SB 1.15.27: Now I am attracted to those instructions imparted to me by the Personality of Godhead [Govinda] because they are impregnated with instructions for relieving the burning heart in all circumstances of time and space.

* SB 1.15.28: Sūta Gosvāmī said: Thus being deeply absorbed in thinking of the instructions of the Lord, which were imparted in the great intimacy of friendship, and in thinking of His lotus feet, Arjuna's mind became pacified and free from all material contamination.

* SB 1.15.29: Arjuna's constant remembrance of the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Krishna rapidly increased his devotion, and as a result all the trash in his thoughts subsided.

* SB 1.15.30: Because of the Lord's pastimes and activities and because of His absence, it appeared that Arjuna forgot the instructions left by the Personality of Godhead. But factually this was not the case, and again he became lord of his senses.

*Upon hearing this, Yudhisthira Maharaj decided

to renounce and return home back to Godhead

*Maharaj Yudhisthira wisely renounces his kingdom

*Yudhisthira Maharaj had all the riches and material wealth, name, fame and power at his disposal

*He was also young and had many more years to enjoy the delights of his kingdom

*However, the Pandavas are eternally devotees of the Lord, and, upon hearing of His departure, thought it wise for them to renounce this material name and fame, and active household life and attach themselves firmly in devotional service to the Lord

*Renunciation with Responsibility

*Maharaj Yudhisthira trained his grandson the great Pariksit, to be the future emperor, and when he saw that Pariksit was more than ready with all necessary qualification of a devotee king, Yudhisthira enthroned him as emperor of the world

*Genuine renunciation constitutes responsible planning and succession, and not shirking of one’s material duties

*Yudhisthira Mahraj and the Pandavas thus renounced their kingdom, when their plates were full

*Renouncing for a Higher cause

*Yudhisthira Mahraj and the Pandavas relinquished their garments, belts and ornaments of the royal order and became completely disinterested and unattached to everything

*SB 1.15.43: After that, Mahārāja Yudhishthira dressed himself in torn clothing, gave up eating all solid foods, voluntarily became dumb and let his hair hang loose. All this combined to make him look like an urchin or madman with no occupation. He did not depend on his brothers for anything. And, just like a deaf man, he heard nothing.

*SB 1.15.44: He then started towards the north, treading the path accepted by his forefathers and great men, to devote himself completely to the thought of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And he lived in that way wherever he went.

*Seeing their elder brother set the example of renunciation, the younger Pandavas followed in the footsteps of their elder brother

*There they meditated on the lotus feet of the Lord without interruption and experienced great bliss

*Remarkably, on account of their genuine renunciation and acceptance of devotional service, they all attained spiritual sky in their very same bodies

*Individual Final Journey

*Conclusion - I

*SB 1.15.51: The subject of the departure of the sons of Pāndu for the ultimate goal of life, back to Godhead, is fully auspicious and is perfectly pure. Therefore anyone who hears this narration with devotional faith certainly gains the devotional service of the Lord, the highest perfection of life.

*Śrī Īśopanishad 1

īśāvāsyam idam sarvam

yat kiñca jagatyām jagat

tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā

mā gridhah kasya svid dhanam

*Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.

*Time factor in this world will force us to renounce even if we try our best to hold on that which we are attached to

*Nothing in this world belongs to us – everything is coming from Him – in this way, devotees of the Lord are peaceful and naturally detached

*They exhibit the caretaker mentality and the train platform philosophy!

*Conclusion - II

*Dhrtarashtra tried very hard to hold on to a kingdom he lost – result was he was miserable in his last few days – living a life of illusion

*It was only the mercy of his genuinely renounced brother that drew him to renounce

*Yet, because he spent a lifetime in attachment, his departure was laborious and troublesome

*Final Conclusion

*Yudhisthira Maharaj’s only asset in this world was his devotion to the Lord

*Therefore, when time came for him to renounce, it was very natural, because his senses were always engaged to serving the Lord first.

*Yet, Yudhisthira Mahraj did not shirk his responsibilities – he responsibly handed over a glorious kingdom to PariksitMaharaj, and only then did he renounce.

*In our lives, too, we should understand that Krsna is the proprietor, the enjoyer and the true friend of ours

*In this way, we will become devoted to Him, and renunciation becomes the natural by-product of sincere devotional service.

*Be Dhrtahari and not Dhrtarasthra!

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare |Hare Rāma Hare Rāma

Rāma Rāma Hare Hare ||