(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 20 March 2013, Cape Town, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 8.12.7)
One can take out insurance, there is no harm in that. As long as one is trying to keep the body alive then there are some measures to be taken, some calculation is required. We are not propagating that everyone should go for the ultimate level of selflessness. We should make arrangements for our material security so that we are peaceful and that we can practise our devotional service without being in anxiety and without being distracted.
Prabhupada wrote in the Srimad Bhagavatam, in the first canto, that sannyasis would go into the forest to become abhayaṁ, fearless. Sannyasis have two main duties abhayaṁ sattva-saṁśuddhiḥ – one has to become fearless and the other one is to cultivate transcendental knowledge. So for a sannyasi to have health insurance or travel insurance may not rhyme with the traditionally principles of dharma.
