Does everyone have to take sannyasa to go back to Godhead?
So thank you very much for your attention and participation Hare Krishna Question from Anuj Prabhu Does everyone have to take sannyas Whichever the ashram that person may be previously So that the person can go back to Godhead Answer, no, not at all If everyone had to take sannyas to go back to Godhead Then all women, they wouldn't be able to go back to Godhead Because as per the four ashramas, women don't take sannyas So then sannyas is actually a material designation Just as Pralacharik, Rajastha, Vanaprastha or Brahman, Shatya, Vaishya This is a material designation And material designation has got nothing to do with spiritual advancement Certain material designations may be more favorable for making spiritual advancement But it's not that automatically by accepting a particular material designation One makes spiritual advancement, no It's a facility for making spiritual advancement And generally, so somebody is a sannyasi That means that person has already made some spiritual advancement That's how that person has been able to renounce the world So it's indicative of advancement But it's not necessary for advancement And it's certainly not necessary to go back home, back to Godhead This is a Mayavadi conception That dandagrahanamatrena naro narayanabhavit Just by taking sannyas, a person becomes liberated And this was a notion that Srila Prabhupada strongly critiqued He said this is not true, this is not based on scripture Actually one gets liberated, one goes back to Godhead By one's advancement in consciousness Not just by one's advancement in the Varanashram system So Srila Prabhupada, actually sannyas is like the third diksha Harinam diksha is first diksha, Brahman diksha is second diksha And sannyas is third diksha Prabhupada even said that the Brahman diksha is also not essential for going back to Godhead Actually it is not the Gayatri mantra that takes us back to Godhead It is the Hare Krishna mahamantra And of course the Hare Krishna mahamantra induces bhakti in our heart And the remembrance of Krishna that takes us back to Godhead Love for Krishna But essentially even a person who is first initiated That person can also go back to Godhead So it is certainly not necessary that everybody has to take sannyas Actually everybody has to, in principle, take sannyas from this world In the sixth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that This one is yoga rudha, situated at an advanced level in yoga When sarva sankalpa sannyasi One who gives up sankalpa refers to the desires for material enjoyment So one who gives up all desires for material enjoyment That person becomes very advanced in yoga and eventually attains liberation So Krishna doesn't say over here sarva karma sannyasi Sarva sankalpa sannyasi So whichever ashram we are in we can become purified And as we become purified more and more Our attraction to Krishna will increase more and more And if by that attraction to Krishna we develop adequate amount of love for Krishna Then Krishna will take us back to Godhead Whichever ashram we are in So we shouldn't think that everyone has to take sannyas For the sake of speaking in spiritual advance For the sake of going back to Godhead At the same time we should, because it is a part of the culture And generally those who have taken sannyas have renounced the world So we respect sannyasis They are offered special respect in the Varnashram culture But definitely sannyas being a designation connected with the Varnashram system Is not transcendental And we have Chaitanya Mahaprabhu clearly saying That I am not a yati He was actually a sannyasi But he is telling us what is the consciousness of a person Who is actually a pure devotee So a person renounces even the title of renunciation A person doesn't think I am a sannyasi He says I am the servant of the servant of the Lord of the Gopis It is that consciousness of being servant of Krishna that will take us back to Godhead Not the sannyas ashram Thank you.