LIFE BEGINS AT FIFTY

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LIFE BEGINS AT FIFTY!

VANAPRASTHA cit chat-Janananda das

 

 

Dear prabhus

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

This letter is a request to it's readers to be as kind as to reply to me on

the following topics regarding the Vanaprastha ashram in ISKCON. This letter

is more of a feeler. We would very much appreciate feedback from young and

old.

 

 

PANCASORDHVAM VANAM VRAJET

"Vedic authority says that a householder must leave home after his fiftieth

year. One must leave his family life and enter the forest after the age of

fifty."

How is this relevant in our present society?

 

 

PURPOSES of this letter:

" To gain a deeper understanding of what vanaprastha ashram is

" To create awareness

" To understand the value of it in our society

" To facilitate the vanaprasthas both spiritually and materially.

" To give guidelines to vanparasthas

" To outline the purposes of vanaprastha ashram

 

HOW TO WORK TOWARDS THIS

" More dialogue and communication in the form of newsletters and

literature

" To open up a forum for dialogue

" To conduct seminars and discussions on the subject

" To establish a vanaprastha ashram(s) somewhere

" Produce a vanaprastha manual

" Keep a data base of devotees in the vanaprastha order

" To create awareness

" Discuss with individuals within and without ISKCON.

 

I would very much appreciate as much feedback as possible on this to help

us to get a broader more sastrically correct and applicable presentation.

Don't forget this is an ashram for both men and women. Sometime they will be

together sometimes they will be alone.

 

M.I.H.E. (Mayapura Institute of Higher education) SEMINARS FEBRUARY 2007

"LIFE BEGINS AT FIFTY"

 

This is the title of the seminar presentation planned for this coming

Mayapura Festival from 16th till 19th February. There will be 4 sessions

following more or less the following topics:

 

DAY 1. General overview of the meanings of vanaprastha and it's relevance

in today's society

DAY 2 does everyone have to take vanaprastha and if so when

DAY 3 what do vanaprastha do where do they liveii.

DAY 4 practical details and help in making the tracisiton. General follow up

 

Other topics. - economics, health, follow on, Prabhupada as a vanaprastha,

traditional vanaprastha, transitioning, the family, and lots more.

We will try to provide ramps for the wheel chairs.

 

 

 

When I reached my 50th year my hair was going very grey. I had lost most of

my teeth. Wrinkles appeared here and there. I could see this body was no

more youthful and was losing its attraction. Not that it had any anyway.

I started to wonder about the statements in scripture which Prabhupada has

mentioned many times like (pancasordhvam vanam vrajet) Vedic authority says

that a householder must leave home after his fiftieth year. One must leave

his family life and enter the forest after the age of fifty.

 

I compiled many of the statements which Srila Prabhupada made about

Vanaprastha and tried to put them in some kind of practical form. The result

was a preliminary manuscript on Vanaprastha. In the year 2000 I presented

to the GBC the need to seriously discuss the vanaprastha ashram and it's

relevance to ISKCON. The GBC were into it but they left it to me to follow

up on. Of the devotees I consulted with quite a few were interested and

sympathetic but few were very serious. The GBC suggested we form a committee

but it never got off the ground for various reasons. I sent my rough

manuscript to several devotees whom I thought would be interested but got

very little if any response.

In our busy life we may not have time for these things. I didn't pursue the

issue very much further except for the occasional seminar, lecture, and

discussion here and there. I tried to note down any further references as

they appeared.

All said and done the reality still remains. Most devotees reach a certain

age when they are faced with certain psychological and physical changes and

we could probably as a society put more energy into this to guide the

devotees in the right way.

Now the time has come to revive the vanaprastha discussions. I am proposing

to start a Website of Blog for ongoing discussion and enlightenment.

Hopefully leading to something more solid and practical for devotees wishing

to practice vanaprastha.

One clear thing I discovered in conducting seminars on the topic and having

informal discussions is that there are many aspects to this ashram and it

may not be quite as straight forward as the Vedic system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VANAPRASTHA QUOTES:

There are many references throughout Prabhupada's writings and discussions -

here are a few:

 

 

11.18.1 Purport: "Vänaprastha is intended as a gradual transition from

materialistic family life to the stage of complete renunciation.

 

Madhya 24.259

"Närada Muni then advised the hunter, 'Return home and distribute whatever

riches you have to the pure brähmanas who know the Absolute Truth. After you

have distributed all your riches to the brähmaëas, you and your wife should

leave home, each of you taking only one cloth to wear.'

PURPORT

This is the process of renunciation at the stage of vänaprastha. After

enjoying householder life for some time, the husband and wife must leave

home and distribute their riches to brähmanas and Vaisnavas. One can keep

his wife as an assistant in the vänaprastha stage. The idea is that the wife

will assist the husband in spiritual advancement. Therefore Närada Muni

advised the hunter to adopt the vänaprastha stage and leave home. It is not

that a grhastha should live at home until he dies. Vänaprastha is

preliminary to sannyasa. In the Krsna consciousness movement there are many

young couples engaged in the Lord's service. Eventually they are supposed to

take vänaprastha, and after the vänaprastha stage the husband may take

sannyäsa in order to preach. The wife may then remain alone and serve the

Deity or engage in other activities within the Krsna consciousness movement.

 

SB 3.24.41. Purport: "Going to the forest is compulsory for everyone. It is

not a mental excursion upon which one person goes and another does not.

Everyone should go to the forest at least as a vanaprastha. Forest-going

means to take one-hundred-percent shelter of the Supreme Lord, as explained

by Prahlada Maharaja in his talks with his father."