Shloka 1

Vānaprastha-vidhi and Sannyāsa-dharma: Austerity, Detachment, and the Paramahaṁsa Ideal

Devanagari script

श्रीभगवानुवाच वनं विविक्षु: पुत्रेषु भार्यां न्यस्य सहैव वा । वन एव वसेच्छान्तस्तृतीयं भागमायुष: ॥ १ ॥

Transliteration

śrī-bhagavān uvāca vanaṁ vivikṣuḥ putreṣu bhāryāṁ nyasya sahaiva vā vana eva vasec chāntas tṛtīyaṁ bhāgam āyuṣaḥ

Translation

အမြင့်မြတ်ဆုံး ဘုရားသခင်က မိန့်တော်မူသည်—ဝါနပရಸ್ಥ အာရှ్రమ (တတိယအဆင့်) ကို လိုလားသူသည် စိတ်ငြိမ်သက်စွာ တောသို့ ဝင်ရမည်။ မိမိ၏ ဇနီးကို အရွယ်ရောက်သားများထံ အပ်နှံထားနိုင်သကဲ့သို့၊ သို့မဟုတ် သူမကိုပါ အတူခေါ်သွားနိုင်ပြီး၊ အသက်တာ၏ သုံးပုံတစ်ပုံကို တောထဲတွင်ပင် နေထိုင်ရမည်။

Synonyms

• श्री-भगवान्: the Blessed Lord
• श्री-भगवान्: Karta (कर्ता/subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: श्री (प्रातिपदिक) + भगवान् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन; कर्मधारयः (श्रीमान् भगवान्)

• उवाच: said
• उवाच: Kriya (क्रिया/predicate)
• Type: Verb
• Root: वच् (धातु)
• Form: लिट् (perfect), परस्मैपद; प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन

• वनम्: forest
• वनम्: Karma (कर्म/object of wishing to enter)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; द्वितीया, एकवचन

• विविक्षुः: desiring to enter
• विविक्षुः: Karta (कर्ता; agent described)
• Type: Verb
• Root: वि + विश् (धातु)
• Form: इच्छार्थक कृदन्त (तुमुन्-अर्थे उ/उष्-प्रत्यय; desiderative participle), पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन; ‘entering-wishing’

• पुत्रेषु: among the sons / to the sons
• पुत्रेषु: Adhikarana (अधिकरण/location—‘among/with sons’)
• Type: Noun
• Root: पुत्र (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; सप्तमी (7th/locative), बहुवचन

• भार्याम्: wife
• भार्याम्: Karma (कर्म/object of placing)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भार्या (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: स्त्रीलिङ्ग; द्वितीया, एकवचन

• न्यस्य: having entrusted/placed
• न्यस्य: Purvakala-kriya (पूर्वकाल-क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: नि + अस्/स्य (धातु √अस् ‘to place/throw’; ल्यप्)
• Form: क्त्वान्त/ल्यप्-अव्ययकृदन्त (gerund), ‘having placed/entrusted’

• सह: together with
• सह: Sahakaraka (सहकारक/association)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: सह (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; सहार्थक (preposition-like)

• एव: indeed/just
• एव: Nipata (निपात/emphasis)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; अवधारण (emphasis)

• वा: or
• वा: Nipata (निपात/option)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: वा (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; विकल्पार्थक (disjunctive particle)

• वने: in the forest
• वने: Adhikarana (अधिकरण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वन (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; सप्तमी, एकवचन

• एव: only/indeed
• एव: Nipata (निपात/emphasis)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव (अव्यय)
• Form: अव्यय; अवधारण

• वसेत्: should dwell
• वसेत्: Kriya (क्रिया/prescription)
• Type: Verb
• Root: वस् (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (optative), परस्मैपद; प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन

• शान्तः: peaceful, self-controlled
• शान्तः: Karta-anvaya (कर्ता-विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शान्त (कृदन्त; शम् धातु)
• Form: क्त (past participle), पुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा, एकवचन; विशेषण (of the dweller)

• तृतीयम्: third
• तृतीयम्: Karma-anvaya (कर्म-विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तृतीय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; द्वितीया, एकवचन; विशेषण (भागम्)

• भागम्: portion
• भागम्: Karma (कर्म/object—extent)
• Type: Noun
• Root: भाग (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग; द्वितीया, एकवचन

• आयुषः: of life
• आयुषः: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/genitive)
• Type: Noun
• Root: आयुस् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग; षष्ठी, एकवचन

Purport

In Kali-yuga a human being generally cannot live more than one hundred years, and even this is becoming most unusual. A man who has a reasonable expectation of living for one hundred years may adopt the vānaprastha order at the age of fifty, and then at the age of seventy-five he may take sannyāsa for complete renunciation. Since in Kali-yuga very few people live for one hundred years, one should adjust the schedule accordingly. Vānaprastha is intended as a gradual transition from materialistic family life to the stage of complete renunciation.

FAQs

What does the Srimad Bhagavatam say about retiring to the forest (vanaprastha)?

In this verse, Lord Kṛṣṇa instructs that one who wishes to withdraw from household life should go to the forest, arranging proper care for one’s wife (entrusting her to adult sons or taking her along), and live there peacefully for the third stage of life.

Why does Lord Kṛṣṇa describe vanaprastha duties in the 11th Canto (Uddhava Gita)?

In the Uddhava Gita, Kṛṣṇa summarizes dharma and the path of inner renunciation for spiritual readiness; vanaprastha is presented as an orderly transition from household responsibilities to detachment and God-centered living.

How can this teaching be applied in modern life without literally going to a forest?

One can adopt the essence of vanaprastha by simplifying life, reducing possessions and social entanglements, ensuring family duties are responsibly arranged, and increasing time for sādhana—hearing, chanting, prayer, and contemplation—while cultivating peace and self-control.