Householder

[Nanda Kumar]

>What defines a householder?  family, a job, social responsibilities.  Can
>any of these be done in a selfless way?  I think not.  Imagine a parent
>for instance who didn't care if his children came home at night or not.
>He would be condemned as irresponsible not hailed as a sannyasi.

Does caring for others mean Selfishness? With respect to a jnani being a
householder, just because he must not have any attatchments, doesn't
mean, he can forego his duty. The Bhagavat Gita lays much emphasis on
this. A householder's duty is to take care of his family. And a jnani, who
is also a householder, would do all his duties without being really
attatched to anything (atleast theoritically it's possible, and by practice I
hope it should be practically possible too). And going by what I
understand of the term 'Anandam', which means happiness, happiness
out of love with everything 'Brahman', a householder who is a jnani,
would love his family, just the same way he loves everything else in the
Universe (as he sees Brahman in everything).

I would be obliged if somebody could eloborate on this (Giridhar, are you
there?).