How to not get trapped in the name of 'yukta-vairagya'

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This means that if a devotee has the opportunity to utilize anything in the

service of Krsna, he should do so, even if such an object is usually used for

materialistic purposes. This is called yukta-vairagya. Devotees use all kinds

of machines, collect and spend millions of dollars, engage women, form

international organizations-all for the service of Krsna.

 

Still, we have to be careful. Srila Prabhupada used to quote the Bengali saying

"Fish, but don't touch the water." There is danger at every step in the

material world. If we forget the connection with Krsna, we will become lured

into material consciousness again. Srila Prabhupada: "In the material world,

all distresses are due to extravagance." Money and power can be intoxicating,

management can give rise to the illusion that "I am the doer, I am the

controller," and machines can fascinate. We may consider ourselves strong, but

Srila Prabhupada knew all our weaknesses.

 

Therefore he stressed that we must regularly hear and chant about Krsna, so as

to keep the right perspective. For a devotee to progress, he must hear and

chant sufficiently. Even if he is absorbed in service, that is not enough.

Hearing and chanting must be there, with quality and in sufficient quantity.

 

By working for work's sake, taking pleasure from manipulating money and

machines, one's consciousness may end up like a materialist's. So many devotees

in the past have become diverted from the goal of life or lured into

unnecessarily opulent living in the name of yukta-vairagya. The distinction

between the moods of renunciation and enjoyment may sometimes be very subtle,

but the attitude makes the difference between a karmi and a devotee; one wants

to enjoy, the other wants to serve. There must be a spirit of vairagya before

there is any question of yukta-vairagya.

 

The ability to utilize material opulence in Krsna's service without becoming

affected is possible for advanced devotees. So brahmacaris especially should

practice yukta-vairagya with great restraint, under the guidance of an expert

spiritual master, tending always towards austerity and self-denial rather than

comfortable living, within the parameters given by Srila Prabhupada:

 

Books are the Basis

Preaching is the Essence

Utility is the Principle

Purity is the Force.

 

>From BIKC by HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami