Why proper varnāśrama can be the key for spreading Krsna Consciousness

In one sense, varnāśrama is secondary, since the most important is devotion to Krsna. On the other hand, it can be the key for spreading Krsna Consciousness.

When Srila Bhaktivinoda Thākura was leaving the planet, he made the famous statement that he was leaving with his mission unfinished, for he had spoken about pure devotion to Krsna, but he was not able to establish varnāśrama. Similarly, although Srila Prabhupada spent most of his time writing and speaking about devotion to Krsna, he also spoke about the importance of varnāśrama and left the mission of establishing it on a worldwide basis to his disciples and followers.

In one sense, varnāśrama is secondary, since the most important is devotion to Krsna. If one becomes a pure devotee, there is no need to supplement his devotion with anything else. The problem is that 99.99% of the population of the planet is not ready to become pure devotees, at least not right now. What to say about people from outside, even inside our own movement, pure devotees are a minority. Most of us are just struggling to chant and perform spiritual activities while navigating the complexities of our material desires and attachments.

Most people are only interested in religiosity as just a means to assist them in dealing with the complexities of life, such as stress and loneliness, and attaining peace and happiness, and even this is becoming rare, as economic development becomes prominent as a means to solve problems, replacing God.

In other words, for most people, material life is primary and religiosity is interesting only to the extent it helps them to solve material problems. They can agree to follow some form of spiritual process only to the extent it helps them in their material pursuits. We can see one example of this in the popularity of yoga exercises, often combined with some form of impersonal philosophy and health habits. This is one example of religiosity (or pseudo-religiosity, as one could argue) that becomes attractive to people because it helps them to solve some aspect of their material problems.

Most people will reject any form of religiosity that undermines their material happiness. We can also see this practically: while most people can appreciate the chanting of the mahā-mantra, especially when performed in an artistic way, most are not interested in following the form principles or other rules that restrict their sense gratification.

If a choice has to be made, most people will choose a comfortable life, whatever the spiritual cost, instead of an austere life that would lead them back to Godhead.

How does this rant connect with varnāśrama? The point is that, if we come to finally understand varnāśrama, giving up the Sharīʿa-law-style implementations, coming to a practical model that effectively helps people to live in a peaceful, healthy, and happy way, we will finally come to something that we will not have to push into people, but that instead, will make people come to us.

The day we can come up with a format that transforms our communities into places where people can live peacefully and happily, instead of places plagued with abuse where devotees often live in fear of what new hurdles the management may bring upon them, that will be the day when people will start asking to join us, instead of the opposite.

In other words, to be able to convince the masses to adopt Krsna Consciousness, we need to find ways of providing them a way of life that allows them to live a peaceful and happy life that will at the same time give them facilities to serve Krsna and advance in the spiritual path. There’s precisely where the idea of varnāśrama comes to the rescue.

We normally see varnāśrama as just a set of rules, but it goes a lot beyond that. When properly understood and implemented, varnāśrama is the blueprint for constructing a society that is not only materially prosperous but also spiritually conducive. Different from mere capitalism, which is a system flawed in many ways, varnāśrama is a system that combines material progress and well-being with an environment that is favorable to spiritual progress. That’s a system that allows one to have a peaceful and prosperous life and, at the same time, serve Krsna.

Our understanding of varnāśrama is still very embryonic. We still see it as an oppressive system or as an unnecessary nuisance, and not as what it really is. That’s probably the reason we have trouble developing most of our communities. The day someone finds the secret formula of how to implement varnāśrama in our age and use it to create prosperous societies where people can have their material needs satisfied in a way that is conducive to their Krsna Consciousness, our movement will be able to finally grow at a sustainable rate. When this day comes, we will know that the start of the Golden Age will be near.

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