Material bondage is that family affection. It is not that one has to give up this procedure. No, that is not. The Vedic civilization is so nice that you accept the platform which is suitable for you: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. The spiritual . . . these are called āśrama. Āśrama means where spiritual culture is practiced. That is called āśrama. Perhaps you know this āśrama word. Āśrama means . . . it is not a place for sense gratification; it is a place for advancing in Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is āśrama.
So there are four āśramas for your spiritual cultivation: brahmacārī, gṛhastha . . . gṛhastha is also āśrama, family. That is also āśrama. If the gṛhastha life is meant for cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is all right. This is āśrama. Gṛhastha āśrama, then retired life, vānaprastha. Although gṛhastha āśrama is allowed, but not for all the time, that up to the death. No. That is not allowed. After fiftieth year . . . twenty-five years to fiftieth year the young man's spirit is there, the sex power is strong, so the gṛhastha-āśrama is a concession for satisfying sex, that's all. But not more than fifty years. Then you must give up. That is the Vedic civilization. You accept gṛhastha āśrama. Up to twenty-fifth year you remain a brahmacārī, learn from guru how to become brahmacārī, gurukula. Brahmacārī gurukule vasan dānta, how to practice self-control, sense control. A brahmacārī is forbidden to see even young girl. Even the spiritual master's wife is young . . . sometimes spiritual master is considered as mother. Ādau mātā guru-patnī. There are seven mothers. So real mother, ādau mātā. Guru-patnī, the spiritual master's wife, she is also mother. Ādau mātā guru-patnī brāhmaṇī. The wife of a brāhmaṇa is mother. Actually every woman is mother. That is moral instruction. Mātṛvat para-dāreṣu. Anyone, any woman who is not your wife . . . except your wife, everyone, every woman is to be considered as mother. This is education.