People are generally enamored of the fruitive results of worldly activity and mental speculation. They generally desire to be promoted to heavenly planets, merge into the existence of Brahman, or keep themselves in the midst of family life, enchanted by the pleasures of the tongue and genitals. The great sage Narada clearly instructs King Barhisman not to remain his entire life in the grhastha-asrama. Being in the grhastha-asrama means being under the control of ones wife. One has to give up all this and put himself into the asrama of the paramahamsa, that is, put himself under the control of the spiritual master. The paramahamsa-asrama is the asrama of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, under whom the spiritual master has taken shelter. The symptoms of the bona fide spiritual master are stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.3.21):

A paramahamsa is one who has taken shelter of the Parabrahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If one takes shelter of the paramahamsa spiritual master, gradually, through training and instruction, he will become detached from worldly life and ultimately return home, back to Godhead. The particular mention of anganasramam asattama-yutha-gatham is very interesting. The whole world is in the clutches of maya, being controlled by woman. Not only is one controlled by the woman who is ones wife, but one is also controlled by so many sex literatures. That is the cause of ones being entangled in the material world. One cannot give up this abominable association through ones own effort, but if one takes shelter of a bona fide spiritual master who is a paramahamsa, he will gradually be elevated to the platform of spiritual life.

The pleasing words of the Vedas that inspire one to elevate oneself to the heavenly planets or merge into the existence of the Supreme are for the less intelligent who are described in Bhagavad-gita as mayayapahrta jnanah (those whose knowledge is taken away by the illusory energy). Real knowledge means understanding the miserable condition of material life. One should take shelter of a bona fide liberated soul, the spiritual master, and gradually elevate himself to the spiritual platform and thus become detached from the material world. According to Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, hamsa-saranam refers to the cottage in which saintly persons live. Generally a saintly person lives in a remote place in the forest or in a humble cottage. However, we should note that the times have changed. It may be beneficial for a saintly persons own interest to go to the forest and live in a cottage, but if one becomes a preacher, especially in Western countries, he has to invite many classes of men who are accustomed to living in comfortable apartments. Therefore in this age a saintly person has to make proper arrangements to receive people and attract them to the message of Krsna consciousness. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, perhaps for the first time, introduced motorcars and palatial buildings for the residence of saintly persons just to attract the general public in big cities. The main fact is that one has to associate with a saintly person. In this age people are not going to search out a saint in the forest, so the saints and sages have to come to the big cities to make arrangements to receive the people in general, who are accustomed to the modern amenities of material life. Gradually such persons will learn that palatial buildings or comfortable apartments are not at all necessary. The real necessity is to become free from material bondage in whatever way possible. According to the orders of Srila Rupa Gosvami:

One should not be attached to material opulence, but material opulence may be accepted in the Krsna consciousness movement to facilitate the propagation of the movement. In other words, material opulence may be accepted as yukta-vairagya, that is, for renunciation.