As long as 5,000 years ago, the sages insisted heavily on the importance invaluable to sever all ties with the family when one has reached a certain stage in one's life. The education and training of the men of the time was done in this direction and all could not do but bow to it, leave their families and devote themselves entirely to spiritual realization to return to God, to his original home. No king or gentleman would have continued to live with the family until the last moment of his life, for his behavior would have been held to be suicidal, and contrary to the pursuit of human perfection, which represents his true interest. This principle is still in force in India, and recommended to all, so that they can be torn from their entanglement in the family, and give themselves fully to the devotional service offered to Lord Krishna, because it is about there in a perfectly authorized way. As the Lord teaches, everyone should become his devotee, at least in the last stage of his life. And a sincere soul should, for its own sake, abide by this instruction of the Lord.
The principles of eternal religion direct us to withdraw from family life after the first half of our life has elapsed, and then to devote ourselves to spiritual realization. The second part of our existence should be used to undertake spiritual cultivation in a then favorable feeling of loving and devotional service offered to the Supreme Lord, Krishna.
The Lord teaches: Seek direct refuge in God, the Sovereign Person, who is in the heart of every being, through the practice of devotional service.
One can be in direct contact with God, the Supreme Person, by being fully aware of Krishna, and thus rediscover one's eternal relationship with Him, seeing in Him the Lover, the Supreme Soul, the Son, Friend or Master. It is possible to reestablish one's relationship of absolute love with the Supreme Lord in many ways, and the resulting feeling represents true oneness.
In the spiritual world, servant and master are one; this is called the absolute level. Although it is a relationship between servant and master, both evolve on the same level. This is what is meant by unity.
Happy are those who surrender themselves to Krishna, God, the Supreme Person, and serve him with love and devotion, for the Lord will reveal himself to them even for a short time.
The Lord said to them:
I am afraid that you may not see Me again in this life. Those who are not entirely cleansed of all material stain, or whose devotional service turns out to be incomplete, these know Me with difficulty.
Only once have I shown Myself to you, and it was so that your attraction for Me, for the more you thirst for Me, the more material desires in you will dissipate. In serving the Absolute Truth, a devotee sees, even after a few days his intelligence fixated on