One Sanyasi, a very great Gaudiya Vaishnava was telling me, “That real opulence is renunciation. That is the highest opulence for a devotee.” He said “when you see a King with a crown and you see a Sanyasi with a danda, which is more opulent? The Sanyasi. This is real opulence. This is real beauty in the eyes of one who is transcendental in vision.” So, of course this does not necessarily mean that we should all become Sanyasis. But we have to have our standards properly focused in life. We have to know that Bhakti, love is the real standard of success and material sense gratification is the standard of degradation. Whether you are a King living in the wealthiest conditions like Maharajas Yudhistir, Maharaj Priyavrata, Maharaj Rishabhadev, they were glorious Kings but they were not attached. They were attached to God. They were accepting those facilities only in their service to the Lord. You don't have to give away these things. But we have to give away our worldly attachment for sense gratification knowing that it is the most stumbling block and obstacle for our advancement in devotional service.

Renunciation is the Real Opulence

Ananta Govinda Das · Capital Kirtan Day 2 · 3.20.22

Their vision is based on faith in God. Their vision is, that Krishna is perfect and complete, that Krishna is the supreme controller of all controllers, that I am his servant. And whether I am educated or uneducated does not matter. What really matters is what I do have I dedicate in the loving service of the lord. Whether one is a scholar or whether one is illiterate, from the point of view of God makes absolutely no difference.

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Radhanath Swami is a Vaishnava sanyassi (a monk in a Krishna-bhakti lineage) and teacher of the devotional path of Bhakti-yoga. He is author of The Journey Home, a memoir of his search for spiritual truth. His teachings draw from the sacred texts of India such as The Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and Ramayana, and aim to reveal the practical application of the sacred traditions, while focusing on the shared essence which unites apparently disparate religious or spiritual paths.
Born Richard Slavin, on December 7, 1950, in his teens he came to confront a deep sense of alienation from suburban Chicago life and the civil injustices of mid-century America. At the age of nineteen, while on a summer trip to Europe, his internal struggles culminated in a commitment to search for God wherever it might lead him. Meditating on the Isle of Crete, he felt a supernatural calling and the next morning set off alone to find spiritual India. The Journey Home documents his odyssey as a penniless hitch-hiker though Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and finally India. There he lived as a wandering ascetic, first amongst the forest dwelling Himalayan yogis and later amongst a wide variety of gurus and spiritual practitioners throughout India and Nepal. Ultimately, he was led to the holy town of Vrindavan, where he found his path amongst the Bhakti-yogis.
In Vrindavan he found the teacher he was searching for in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), and representative of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, (the Krishna-bhakti tradition stemming from the 16th century mystic avatar Sri Chaitanya). In choosing Bhaktivedanta Swami, as his guru, Radhanath Swami felt compelled to shear his matted locks and reenter Western society with a mission to share the sacred wisdom he had received. This return exemplifies the form of devotional yoga which is at the heart of Radhanath Swami’s teachings, a spiritual practice expressed as tangible action meant to bring about personal fulfillment and benefit the world.
At the the age of 31 he took the monastic vows of a Vaishnava sanyassin and became known as Radhanath Swami.
Today Radhanath Swami travels regularly throughout India, Europe and North America, sharing the teachings of Bhakti-yoga. He resides much of the year at the Radha Gopinath Ashram in Chowpatty, Mumbai. For the past twenty-five years he has guided the community’s development and has directed a number of acclaimed social action projects including Midday Meals, which daily serves more than 260,000 plates of sanctified vegetarian food to the children of the slums of Mumbai. He has also worked to establish missionary hospitals and eye camps, eco-friendly farms, schools and ashrams, an orphanage, and a number of emergency relief programs throughout India.


Renunciation is the Real Opulence

Radhanath Swami

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