The Vānaprastha Adventure, Installment 10
After Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu married, he started a school to make some money.1 Brahmacārīs don’t have to bother about such things. But for a householder, money is required.2 And if we have that part of our life in place, we can focus on the spiritual.
Too often, though, devotees spend their whole time working and never have enough money to do much more than stay afloat. They are caught in a cycle of “work, make money, spend money, and work.” So when the time comes for retirement they are still paying off debts or have expenses looming and little or no money saved.
But there are sound ways to manage one’s personal finances so that one can live decently and, Kṛṣṇa willing, have money saved for the time of retirement, or at least be free from debts.
One of my vānaprastha godbrothers (I’m preserving his anonymity) wrote me that he and his wife took that approach. “We were always revisiting our finances. We arrived at our goal late since we started late in household life, but we transitioned nicely, appeasing our children with assets and keeping sufficient funds for the beginning years of vānaprastha.”3
A householder should think, “At the age of about fifty we’ll want to retire.” And so gṛhasthas should have a sensible financial plan. This doesn’t require that one earn a huge salary. What it requires is that one manage one’s money wisely. (Younger gṛhasthas, especially, can most benefit from this.)
Among other points, householders are best advised to learn to be frugal. Householders who keep their living expenses low can meet their expenses more easily—and more easily save money for the future. My vānaprastha friend Murāri Gupta Dāsa also cautions against taking long-term bank loans after one reaches the age of thirty or thirty-five, loans one would still have to make payments on in the time meant for retirement.
Knowing how to organize our finances
Though much of financial planning is intuitive (like “Don’t spend more money than you have”), householders desiring to put together a sensible plan could benefit from expert guidance. In India Ānand Vṛndāvan Dāsa and in America Vaṁśīdhārī Gopāla Dāsa have given seminars on financial planning for devotees. The seminars are available online, and I recommend them for all gṛhastha devotees. Such a seminar alone might be enough to get you well on your way.4
Especially in the West, the society of devotees is unlikely to provide much of a traditional support system. Sons may not be willing or able to support their mothers. Gṛhastha communities may not feel responsible for supporting vānaprasthas. So it’s sensible for gṛhastha men and their wives to give thought to financial planning, especially for providing for the wives when they become elderly. Health insurance can also be part of that planning.
We should know, however, that things may not work out according to our plans. Śrīla Prabhupāda himself went through financial reverses in his family life, and our own financial plans may fall apart as well. Material nature being what it is, the material side of our life may turn topsy-turvy despite all our plans. It shouldn’t turn topsy-turvy because we’ve been lazy, aimless, negligent, reckless, or simply in the dark about how to organize our finances. But if despite our best efforts and most prudent plans things don’t work out or Kṛṣṇa smashes us, so be it. Then we will simply have to depend on Kṛṣṇa (on whom, in any circumstance, we should always depend). We should know that we are always dependent and Kṛṣṇa is always dependable.5
Nārada and the hunter
Vānaprastha life, therefore, shouldn’t be contingent on our having money stashed away. It’s not that if I’ve made myself a financial cushion, then I can accept vānaprastha life, otherwise not.
In this regard, the example of the hunter who became a devotee by the grace of Nārada Muni is relevant.6 Nārada told him, “Stop killing animals. And you don’t need that bow. You can throw it away.”
“Then how will I live?”
“Yes, you just plant a tulasī and make a little cottage and live in the cottage with your wife and worship tulasī.”
“How will I eat?”
“I’ll send you food. Don’t worry.”
The hunter accepted Nārada’s instructions.
When the local people found out that the hunter had become a sādhu, they would come to see him, and they would naturally bring some grains or fruits or vegetables as a contribution. So the hunter got more than he and his wife could use. When he next met Nārada, Nārada asked him, “Is everything all right?”
“Yes, everything’s all right, but you’re sending so much food we don’t know what to do with it all.”
So Krishna arranged for the hunter. And Kṛṣṇa can arrange for us as well. As Śrīla Prabhupāda points out, Kṛṣṇa provides for all the animals and insects—for all the elephants, all the ants—so why not for us? Vānaprastha life means, in part, developing confidence that Krishna will protect me and Kṛṣṇa will maintain me.7
Finally, depending on Kṛṣṇa
This confidence, too, deserves to guide our planning. And so too should the understanding that finally everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. It’s not that we should give ourselves to Kṛṣṇa and our money all to our families. Śrīla Prabhupāda often cited the example of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, who upon retiring from government service gave fifty percent of his accumulated money for the service of the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas, gave twenty-five percent for his family members, and kept twenty-five percent against emergencies. Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote, “Krishna wants to see that the life is sacrificed, but also accumulation, money, should be given to Krishna. Life to Krishna and money to wife is not a good decision.”8
Śrīla Prabhupāda disparaged the course of accumulating wealth, bestowing a fortune on one’s family, reserving a meager portion for the service of Kṛṣṇa, and then retiring to Vṛndāvana with an annuity for oneself. Śrīla Prabhupāda mentioned that in Vṛndāvana there are many retired men who have given, say, ninety-nine percent of their money to their families and kept one percent in aaśvinoḥ—of Aśvinī-kumāra bank account to provide themselves a monthly income. This, Śrīla Prabhupāda said, they call “perfect Vṛndāvana living.” But Śrīla Prabhupāda took a dim view of it.9 If we dedicate nearly everything for our family and only a few rupees for Kṛṣṇa, he said, Kṛṣṇa will reciprocate accordingly. And again, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that rather than arrange to retire to Vṛndāvana and have our family send us money, we should develop exclusive dependence on Kṛṣṇa. “Completely dependent on Kṛṣṇa. Ekānta. That is perfection.”10
Nor should one view Vṛndāvana, the place of the six Gosvāmīs, as a place to retire in luxury. The Gosvāmīs lived there in a mood of austerity and surrender. When Śrīla Prabhupāda retired to Vṛndāvana he lived there not to enjoy peace and comfort but to serve, and finally to move out and spread Kṛṣṇa’s message.
Notes:
1 “Being a married man, He went to eastern Bengal on the banks of the Padma for acquirement of wealth.” Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: His Life and Precepts, excerpted as the Prologue for Teachings of Lord Caitanya.
2 Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu himself said (of Vāsudeva Daṭṭa):
‘gṛhastha’ hayena iṅho, cāhiye sañcaya
sañcaya nā kaile kuṭumbha-bharaṇa nāhi haya
“Being a householder, he needs to save some money. Unless one saves money, it is not possible to maintain one’s family.” (Cc. Madhya 15.95)
3 Personal communication, February 3, 2024.
4 Anand Vrindavan Das, “Financial Planning & Spiritual Planning” (mostly in Hindi), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trw6PS7QqQk. Vamsidhari Gopal Dāsa, “Financial Planning for Devotees,” five parts (in English), starting with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgC4h2QPFRU. Both devotees have other videos online about these topics.
5 I heard Śrīla Prabhupāda say this, and he also states it in his purport to Bhāgavatam 1.8.38.
6 The story is told in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 24.229‒282.
7 Rakṣiṣyatīti viśvāso goptṛtve varaṇaṁ tathā. Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 11.676, quoted in Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, 18.66, purport. See also Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s songs in Śaraṇāgati under the heading ‘Avaśya Rakṣibe Kṛṣṇa’-Viśvāsa, Pālana (“Faith in Kṛṣṇa as Protector”).
8 Letter to Rūpānuga Dāsa, February 21, 1976. The advice pertained to another devotee, not Rūpānuga himself.
9 See Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lecture of May 1, 1971, and Hari Śauri Prabhu’s diary entry for March 5, 1976. In Twenty-six Qualities of a Devotee, chapter 9, concerning akiñcana, Satsvarūpa Dāsa Goswami also refers to comments from Śrīla Prabhupāda about this.
10 Lecture by Śrīla Prabhupāda on Bhāgavatam 1.15.50, December 27, 1973.
This is part of a draft
This is an excerpt from a new book I have in the works—The Vānaprastha Adventure, a guide to retirement in spiritual life. While I’m working on it, I’ll be posting my draft here, in installments. I invite your comments, questions, and suggestions.
You must be logged in to post a comment.