Voluntary austerity and forced austerity

Varnasrama-dharma is a system prescribed in the Vedas to regulate human activities. It is not spiritual in itself, but serves as a stepping stone for one trying to practice spiritual principles.

In the Srimad Bhagavatam (10.10.15) is mentioned: "A poverty-stricken man must automatically undergo austerities and penances because he does not have the wealth to possess anything. Thus his false prestige is vanquished. Always in need of food, shelter and clothing, he must be satisfied with what is obtained by the mercy of providence. Undergoing such compulsory austerities is good for him because this purifies him and completely frees him from false ego."

In his purport, Srila Prabhupada reinforces this point, mentioning that "A saintly person voluntarily accepts a state of poverty just to become free from material false prestige. Many great kings left their princely standard of living and went to the forest to practice austerity according to Vedic culture, just to become purified. But if one who cannot voluntarily accept such austerity is put into a situation of poverty, he automatically must practice austerity."

From this verse and its purport, we can take two interesting points:

1- Austerity is important (or even necessary) for advancing in spiritual life.

2- If we don't accept austerities voluntarily, we will end up having to accept forced hardships due to the influence of material nature.

Due to the laws of Karma and other influences, no one can go through the material existence without experiencing hardships. People experience different types of pain, hardships, and discomfort. A celebrity may not have to suffer from the bites of mosquitoes and other insects like a poor person living in a village, but may have to deal with the continuous gossip and cruel statements from people on social media, which can be even more disturbing. A rich person will not experience scarcity of food, but still, he may have to experience hunger due to diets, anorexia, or digestive problems, and so on. We face different types of difficulties in life, and some difficulties can be considered worse than others, but we all get our share.

Materialistic people suffer due to their past actions, under the influence of Karma, but as devotees, we are supposed to be under the protection of Krsna. Thus, when we face difficulties, we may question: Why is Krsna making me go through this? Did I commit some offense? I'm not being a good devotee? Krsna doesn't love me?

The answer to these questions is also given in the verse. Yes, Krsna loves us, and that's exactly why He empowers the material nature to make us go through difficulties in life: to help us curb our false ego and understand that this material world is not such a happy place. That's like a bitter medicine that parents have to give to a diseased child.

The solution, if we don't want to be forced to take the bitter medicine later in life, is to cure our disease voluntarily. Funny as it may seem, the process to cure the disease involves exactly what we want so desperately to avoid: austerity.

Except for taking prasadam, practically any valuable spiritual activity involves some sacrifice. To chant japa, we need to sacrifice our time, attention, and so on. Going on parikrama often involves a difficult trip, austere accommodations, unfamiliar food, the possibility of becoming diseased at some point, etc. To give donations, we have to sacrifice our money, to distribute books we need to accept so many difficulties, and so on. Living a simple life, controlling our eating, fasting on Ekadasis, and other similar choices are yet more examples of voluntary austerities that involve some momentary discomfort.

The question is that all these activities help to cure our material disease. The discomfort we accept does not go in vain: it goes to our transcendental account. Not only that, but it also works as a substitutive: since we are already doing voluntary austerity ourselves, the material nature can go easy on us, understanding that our disease is already being treated.

There is, however, a trap that is to fall into the idea of doing austerities as a form of self-accomplishment, as a way to reinforce our ego, instead of as offerings to Krsna. As Vaishnavas, we are not in favor of self-torment. We accept certain material inconveniences with a purpose, like fasting on Ekadasis, but we don't do austerities just for the sake of testing ourselves. As Krsna warns in the Bhagavad-Gita (17.18-19): "Penance performed out of pride and for the sake of gaining respect, honor and worship is said to be in the mode of passion. It is neither stable nor permanent. Penance performed out of foolishness, with self-torture or to destroy or injure others, is said to be in the mode of ignorance."

As with most things in spiritual life, there is a correct way to perform austerities, following the instructions of our previous acaryas. There are certain days where we can gain benefit by fasting and performing other activities (such as Ekadasis), and when we understand the value of such opportunities, we can follow them happily, understand it as an opportunity to make faster spiritual advancement, and not as just a chore to do grudgingly.

As a conclusion, we can choose to do some voluntary austerity now, using our younger years to curb our ego, control our senses, and advance spiritually, or we may try to live the easy life now and be forced to take some bitter medicine later on. It's a personal choice.