74 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 9, Ch. 19

freed from material contamination. Therefore, if one is at all interested
in being freed from the bondage of repeated birth, death, old age and
disease, after a certain age one must go to the forest. Paricdasordhvarh
vanam vrajet. After fifty years of age, one should voluntarily give up
family life and go to the forest. The best forest is Vrndavana, where one
need not live with the animals but can associate with the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead, who never leaves Vrndavana. Cultivating Krsna
consciousness in Vrndavana is the best means of being liberated from
material bondage, for in Vrndavana one can automatically meditate upon
Krsna. Vrndavana has many temples, and in one or more of these tem-
ples one may see the form of the Supreme Lord as Radha-Krsna or
Krsna-Balarama and meditate upon this form. As expressed here by the
words brahmany adhydya, one should concentrate one’s mind upon the
Supreme Lord, Parabrahman. This Parabrahman is Krsna, as confirmed *
by Arjuna in Bhagavad-gitd (pararh brahma param dhaéma pavitram
paramam bhavan). Krsna and His abode, Vrndavana, are not different.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, arddhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad-
dhéma vrndaévanam. Vrndavana is as good as Krsna. Therefore, if one
somehow or other gets the opportunity to live in Vrndavana, and if one is
not a pretender but simply lives in Vrndavana and concentrates his mind
upon Krsna, one is liberated from material bondage. One’s mind is not
purified, however, even in Vrndavana, if one is agitated by lusty desires.
One should not live in Vrndavana and commit offenses, for a life of
offenses in Vrndavana is no better than the lives of the monkeys and
hogs there. Many monkeys and hogs live in Vrndavana, and they are
concerned with their sexual desires. Men who have gone to Vrndavana
but who still hanker for sex should immediately leave Vrndavana and
stop their grievous offenses at the lotus feet of the Lord. There are many
misguided men who live in Vrndavana to satisfy their sexual desires, but
they are certainly no better than the monkeys and hogs. Those who are
under the control of mayd, and specifically under the control of lusty
desires, are called maya-mrga. Indeed, everyone in the conditional stage
of material life is a maéya-mrga. It is said, méya-mrgam dayitayepsitam
anvadhavad: Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu took sannydsa to show His
causeless mercy to the mdyd-mrgas, the people of this material world,
who suffer because of lusty desires. One should follow the principles of
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and always think of Krsna in full Krsna con-
