Text 34] The Behavior of a Perfect Person 125

ksatriyas; there are only so-called workers and a flourishing mercantile
class who have no goal in life.

According to Vedic civilization, the ultimate perfection of life is to take
sannyasa, but at the present moment people do not know why sannydsa
is accepted. Because of misunderstanding, they think that one accepts
sannydsa to escape social responsibilities. But one does not accept
sannyasa to escape from responsibility to society. Generally one accepts
sannyasa at the fourth stage of spiritual life. One begins as a brahmacari
then becomes a grhastha, a vanaprastha and finally a sannydsi to take
advantage of the duration of one’s life by engaging oneself fully in self-
realization. Sannydsa does not mean begging from door to door to ac-
cumulate money for sense gratification. However, because in Kali-yuga
people are more or less prone to sense gratification, immature sannydsa
is not recommended. Srila Rapa Gosvami writes in his Nectar of Instruc-
tion (2):

atyaharah praydsas ca
prajalpo niyamégrahah
Jana-sangas ca laulyam ca

sadbhir bhaktir vinasyati

“One’s devotional service is spoiled when he becomes too entangled in
the following six activities: (1) eating more than necessary or collecting
more funds than required; (2) overendeavoring for mundane things
that are very difficult to obtain; (3) talking unnecessarily about mun-
dane subject matters; (4) practicing the scriptural rules and regulations
only for the sake of following them and not for the sake of spiritual ad-
vancement, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and
working independently or whimsically; (5) associating with worldly-
minded persons who are not interested in Krsna consciousness; and
(6) being greedy for mundane achievements.” A sannydsi should have
an institution meant to preach Krsna consciousness; he need not ac-
cumulate money for himself. We recommend that as soon as money ac-
cumulates in our Krsna consciousness movement, fifty per cent of it
should be invested in printing books, and fifty per cent for expenditures,
especially in establishing centers all over the world. The managers of the
Krsna consciousness movement should be extremely cautious in regard
to this point. Otherwise money will be the cause of lamentation, illusion,
