So the ācāryas give this example as a bad character woman who has got attachment for other's husband, she always thinks, at the same time, shows her husband that she is very much busy in the family affairs so that her husband may not doubt her character. So as she is always remembering the time of meeting with her lover at night, in spite of doing all this household work very nicely, similarly one has to remember the supreme husband, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, always in spite of doing his material duties very nicely. That is possible. It requires a strong sense of love. When you have got a strong sense of love for the Supreme Lord, then it is possible that we can go on discharging our duty, at the same time remember the Lord. So we have to develop that sense. Just like Arjuna was always thinking of Lord. He, out of twenty-four hours, not for a second he could forget Kṛṣṇa. Constant companion of Kṛṣṇa. At the same time, a warrior. Lord Kṛṣṇa did not advise Arjuna to give up his fighting, go to the forest, go to the Himalaya and meditate.
Householder (Lectures, BG)
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Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
This material life is a concession to us, given by God, for gratifying our senses. This is material life. Kṛṣṇa does not want that you become entangled in this material world. That He doesn't want. Why He should want? Kṛṣṇa... Just like you produce your sons, children. Why? To remain in household life, enjoy in the company of wife, children, friends. This is... One can understand. Why I take so much responsibility of family? I was alone. Why I get married? Why I beget children? Why I make friends? Because I want to enjoy. So Kṛṣṇa is also a person. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He has produced so many children, these living entities. Why? To enjoy along with them. Just try to understand the psychology. Yato vā imāni bhūtāni jayante, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Where this idea came from, that "I shall be happy within society, friendship and love, children?" Wherefrom this idea came? Where is the origin?
They're saintly persons. They are not ordinary, this drunkard king, that "I have got so much money. Let me drink and let there be dancing of the prostitute." Not like that. They were ṛṣi. Although they were king, they were ṛṣis. That kind of king wanted, rājarṣi. Then people will be happy. In Bengali there is a proverb, rājara pāpe rāja naṣṭa gṛhiṇī doṣe gṛhastha bhraṣṭa (?). In gṛhastha life, in household life, if the wife is not good, then nobody will be happy in that home, gṛhastha life, household life. Similarly, in a kingdom, if the king is impious, then everything, everyone will suffer. This is the problem.
Paśyāmi viparītāni. This is his problem. And to solve this problem, Arjuna became the disciple of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa advised him this Bhagavad-gītā, and that is the prelude. Unless Arjuna plays like that, ordinary man...
Anyone, everyone wants to be happy with this Gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittaiḥ (SB 5.5.8), household life, and having some land. In those days there was no industry. Therefore industry is not meant. Land. If you get land, then you can produce your food. But actually that is our life. Here in this village we find so much land lying vacant, but they are not producing their food. They make their food the cows, poor cows, to kill them and eat them. This is not Gṛha-kṣetra. You become gṛhastha, but you produce your food from the land, Gṛha-kṣetra. And when you produce food, then beget children, Gṛha-kṣetra-suta-āpta-vitta. In India in village, there is, still the system is amongst the poor men, the cultivators, that if the cultivator cannot provide to keep a cow, he will not marry.
Nowadays, they do not go. They do not believe even. They have given up everything. Due to unwanted children, they don't care for it, what is family, what is piṇḍa-udaka. Simply eat, drink, be merry, and enjoy, that's all. But you see 5000 years, Arjuna... Arjuna was not a brāhmaṇa, neither a sannyāsī. A gṛhastha, householder, and a, in royal order. He's on the battlefield. He's not a Vedantist. But just see how his knowledge is perfect. This is Vedic culture. One may not be a brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa is very advanced. Satya śama dama titikṣa (BG 18.42). But even kṣatriyas, they are also so advanced, so advanced we can see that he is hearing Bhagavad-gītā from Kṛṣṇa in the battlefield. How much time you can spare in the battlefield? The talk took place between the two soldiers when he was just going to throw his arrow. Śāstra sampate. Just we going to... He became very compassionate: "Kṛṣṇa, I have to kill my own kinsmen." And he's describing. He's describing, "What kind of sinful activities I am going to do."
In this way, he's trained up very nicely. And even after training, if he appears to be attached to this material world, he's allowed to go home and marry. And some of the brahmacārīs are allowed to remain naiṣṭhika-brahmacārī, without going home and accepting a wife. But one who cannot, he's allowed to accept wife and become a householder and remain there for twenty-five years. Because generally, the brahmacārī was going home at the age of twenty-four years, twenty-five years. So after marriage, he may get a child. So living there for twenty-five years, means the child is grown up. Then the husband and wife takes leave, not leaving for good, but vānaprastha, traveling in pilgrimages like Vṛndāvana, Prayāga. That was the system. And after two months, again he comes back and remains home for another two months. Again goes out. In this way, the whole process is how to give up attachment from this family life, from this world. And when he's trained up fully, he takes sannyāsa. That is our Vedic system.
Under the circumstances that would be another kind of defeat. All these considerations by Arjuna definitely proved that he was not only a great devotee of the Lord but that he was also highly enlightened and had complete control over his mind and senses. His desire to live by begging although he was born in the royal household is another sign of detachment. He was fully in the quality of forbearance as all these qualities combined with his faith in the words of instruction of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, his spiritual master, give evidence. It is concluded that Arjuna was quite fit for liberation. Unless the senses are controlled, there is no chance of elevation to the platform of knowledge, and without knowledge and devotion there is no chance of liberation. Arjuna was competent in all these attributes over and above his enormous attributes in his material relationships."
So dehinām... Dehinām means one who has accepted this material body. So we are accepted, mean... "Accepted" means we have done something by which we have been forced to accept, forced to accept. Just like if we are put into the prison house, the prison house has got separate dress. So when you are put into the prison house, you have to keep aside your own household dress, and you have to take that particular dress. If you say, "No, no. I cannot accept this dress. I am a gentleman. I have got costly dress. I shall put on that," no, you must, forced. Similarly, we, we living entities, we are forced to accept different kind of dress. There are 8,400,000 kinds of dresses like this body. And your body, my body, you see? Now we are here, several ladies and gentlemen, but you'll find that nobody's body will be similar to the other's body. God's arrangement is so nice that everyone has got his particular body according to his work. It is so nice arrangement. You see. You'll find millions of persons, and everyone you'll find different from the other.
Nandarāṇī: When householder women raise their children in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this seems to be an indirect service for Kṛṣṇa. Should they try to serve Him more directly by, you know, maybe cooking in the temple or being, you know, something like this, more directly, or is raising children and just having the household function, is that enough service? Is that enough service?
Prabhupāda: Yes, the thing is we should be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Just like electrification. Touching electricity by one wire, another joining another, another wire, if the touch is there factual, then the electricity is everywhere. Similarly if our Kṛṣṇa consciousness is rightly connected, then there is no question of direct or indirect. Because absolute world there is no difference. As soon as it is touched with the direct connection... That is called disciplic succession. Because the connection is coming down one after another, so if we touch here, the spiritual master who is connected by the same way, then the electric connection is there. There is no question of direct or indirect.
Tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ hareḥ. This dharma means according to social and spiritual position. Somebody is brahmacārī, somebody is householder, somebody is vānaprastha, somebody is sannyāsī, somebody is brāhmaṇa, somebody kṣatriya, somebody's vaiśya, somebody's śūdra. This is Vedic division of social and spiritual life. So each position has got different types of occupational duties. These are mentioned in the Bhāgavata. Brāhmaṇa has got to do: śamaḥ damaḥ śaucaṁ titikṣā. Kṣatriya-śauryaṁ vīryaṁ yuddhe cāpalāyanam. In this way, there are some prescribed duties. But these are all material considerations. People cannot even follow systematically the material system so that you can live peacefully so long you are in this material world. The modern civilization is so condemned.
Praṇaśyati means "It is lost." "The spiritual path is lost by the second six principles." And what are these? Now, atyāhāra. Atyāhāra means to eat more than what you need or to accumulate more than what you need. Āhāra means eating, and āhāra means accumulation. So, of course, any householder, he requires some deposit in the bank for emergency. That is, of course, allowed for householders. But just for us, we are sannyāsī; we are renounced order of... We haven't got to accumulate any money. You see? That is the system of Indian philosophy. But those who are householder, family men, they may have some deposit for emergency. Otherwise, those who are renounced order, those who are brahmacārī, for them to keep money separately for his maintenance or for accumulating bank balance is not allowed. Atyāhāra. Similarly, āhāra, eating. You have to eat only things which can maintain your body properly. Now, say, for human being.
So we have to become the rod in the hand of the Supreme. Then all the reaction of our work will be... I will not be responsible for the reaction. The Lord will be responsible for that. That is the system. Yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañjaya.
Now, for a householder, according to our Vedic system... I have already described to you the four divisions of social system and four division of spiritual orders. Now, all the social system and orders, they are so designed that everyone is working for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord. In a higher section of the social order, just like the brāhmaṇas and the kṣatriyas and the vaiśyas, the system is that in every household they establish the Deity, I mean to..., the form of the Supreme Lord. Either in picture or in idol, they establish that. Now, what is the function in your household affairs? You have got wife, you have got children, and you require some money. And the activities in householder affair is that you have to get some store from the market, and they are brought in your house, and they are stocked, and in due time they are cooked, and you take your foodstuff and then go to your work. This is generally the whole system of household work.
The whole idea is that "The proprietor of this house is the Supreme Lord, and we are all workers." The whole idea is "The proprietor is the Supreme Lord, and we are all workers." Now, I am going to my office, to my work, to earn some money, because without money my household affairs cannot be run. So I am thinking that "This money is required; otherwise God's service will be stopped." So in earning that money in my office or in my workshop, my God consciousness is there. Therefore, even in earning, whatever may be the process, you are yoga-sthaḥ; you are situated in yoga. Now, you get your money. Then you go to the market. You are thinking, "Oh, this is a very nice thing. Oh, it can be offered to Lord Kṛṣṇa. It can be offered to Lord Kṛṣṇa." Just like sometimes you bring some fruits for me, thinking, out of your love, "Oh, Swamiji will take this and he will like it." So the consciousness is love.
So that means there is God consciousness, that "This thing is being cooked for the Lord." The cooking will go on. If you don't think of God, you require cooking because you want to eat. The cooking is there in the program. But if you think that this cooking is done for God, then your God consciousness is there. The cooking you cannot avoid. As a householder you have to cook for yourself, you have to cook for your children, you have to cook for somebody else or for your own self. Just like I am cooking. I have no here family or children, but I am cooking for myself. So cooking you cannot stop. But if you cook with the understanding that "This foodstuff is being cooked for the Lord. The Lord may be offered first; then we shall take," this is God consciousness. This is God consciousness. But is it very difficult thing? Anyone can accept this. Anyone can do it. It is not... Because your cooking business is not stopped. Simply the mode of thinking has to be changed. That's all. A small technique, that "I am earning for God. I am cooking for God.
What profit you get? For the bodily enjoyment? For sense enjoyment? Oh, sacrifice it. Sacrifice it. You know that there is a word, yajña, sacrifice. Sacrifice means—it is a common word—that you dedicate, you dedicate your life for the service of the Lord, this life. You'll not be sufferer. What is there, suffering? Now just the prescription or the formula I have just cited before you that your householder life... Now, you are doing everything. You are earning money; you are getting from the store; you are cooking. Everything... Nothing is stopped. Simply change your mentality, that everything is being done for God. It is not at all difficult. Simply we have to adopt it. We have to adopt it. So kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ. Now, if you think, "Oh, why...? I am earning for my palatable dishes. Why shall I offer it to God? This is there are so many, I mean to say, encumbrances. I am not going to do," then you become kṛpaṇa, miser. But if you be a brāhmaṇa... Brāhmaṇa means udāra, liberated, liberal, not liberated, liberal. The opposite word of kṛpaṇa is liberal.
Therefore in social, social, I mean to say, engagement, according to Vedic injunction, especially for the brahmacārīs, especially for the brahma... Not only brahmacārīs. Brahmacārī means student life, and other three orders of life means vānaprastha, retired life, and sannyāsa life, these three orders of life are restricted from associating with women. Only householders, those who are married, they are simply allowed to associate with women. And others, just like the brahmacārī, the vānaprastha, the sannyāsa, they are strictly restricted from association of woman. And that stricture is said like this:
Renunciation is the fourth order of life according to Vedic civilization. Just like we are a sannyāsī. So we were also householder. I have got my wife, still living. I have got my children. But I have been able to come to this stage of renunciation forgetting my all relationship with my wife and children and family and home because I was trained gradually. I was trained as brahmacārī, as gṛhastha by the mercy of our spiritual master. Therefore I don't feel anything. But abruptly, if we take to sannyāsa order, then... We have seen many persons abruptly taking or without understanding the self-realization process. He fails. He again comes back to the materialistic way of life in a different form. Suppose he begins in philanthropic work, some hospitalizing or opening educational institution.
"How can I kill my family members, this fight?" And when he became Kṛṣṇa conscious, "Never mind, I shall kill all of them." This is called sacrifice. This is Kṛṣṇa conscious. He sacrificed all sentiments, all connection, everything for Kṛṣṇa. That is called sannyāsa, real sannyāsa. Although he was a warrior, a fighter, a householder having more than dozen wives, but he was sannyāsa. Because he sacrificed everything for Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. That is Kṛṣṇa conscious.
So everyone can test how far he has advanced simply by this, "How far I have become prepared to sacrifice everything for Kṛṣṇa?" He doesn't require to take certificate from others. He can test himself, "How far I am prepared?" Then it is all right. This is the standard. All right. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. (devotees offer obeisances) You are not getting another mṛdaṅga? You have no money?
Prabhupāda: Svārtha-gati, svārtha-gati. Yes.
Sudāmā: "...or goal of self-interest is to reach Viṣṇu. The whole varṇa and āśrama system is designed to help us reach this goal of life. A householder can also reach this destination by regulated service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. For self-realization one can live a controlled life as prescribed in the śāstras and continue carrying out his business without attachment, and that will lead him gradually to the progressive path. Such a sincere person who follows this method is far better situated than the false pretender who adopts show-bottle spiritualism to cheat the innocent public. A sincere sweeper in the street is far better than the charlatan meditator who works only for the sake of making a living."
Prabhupāda: Yes. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that don't accept spiritual life for living. Just like we are sending the saṅkīrtana party. If we take it, "Oh, it is very easy method for living without working. We are getting money for our livelihood," this is not wanted. If your spiritual life is for...
Just like according to Vedic system, begging is allowed. Begging allowed for whom? For the brāhmaṇas, for the sannyāsīs, for the brahmacārīs, because they collect money, beg from door to door for their benefit. Suppose a brahmacārī is going to a householder's place or a storekeeper's place, "Give us some contribution." He is not collecting that money for his livelihood. He's quite competent to work. But that one dollar which he contributes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, it is good for him. At least, some portion of his energy goes to Kṛṣṇa. That is the philosophy. Not that "Some way or other, I may collect some money and live very comfortably." No. We cannot do that. But you can accept Kṛṣṇa's prasāda. That is a different thing. But for personal comfort you have to work.
Why? Because that killing and this killing is not the same thing. So one who cannot engage himself cent percent in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, let him remain in his own position and try to sacrifice for Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa as far as possible.
The prescription is for the gṛhasthas, for the householder, as exemplified by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī that his income was divided into four parts. Fifty percent for Kṛṣṇa, twenty-five percent for the family and twenty-five percent for his personal reserve fund. That he showed us example how a gṛhastha should live. Not that out of hundred dollars, ninety-nine percent for my wife, and one percent for Kṛṣṇa. No. Not like that. One should sacrifice at least fifty percent. If he cannot sacrifice this... Brahmacārīs, sannyāsīs, they have sacrificed their everything, cent percent. The gṛhastha, they cannot do that. Because they have got wife, children. Therefore fifty percent.
These things are not to be renounced. If somebody says, "Oh, I have renounced the world," that does not mean you can renounce the service of the Lord. No.
Even if you are a sannyāsī, you have to work for Kṛṣṇa. Either you are a sannyāsī or you are a householder or brahmacārī, you have to work for Kṛṣṇa. But the advantage of sannyāsī is that because he has no encumbrances behind, he is detached from family relationship, he has full time service for Kṛṣṇa. Similarly brahmacārī, one who is not married, simply working under the order of the spiritual master, he has also cent percent time to work. So these are the secrets, that one has to work for Kṛṣṇa. Either he's a brahmacārī or sannyāsī, it doesn't matter, or householder. Otherwise he'll be captured by māyā. Go on.
Just like Arjuna. What was he? He was a military man. He was not a sage. He was not a learned brāhmaṇa. He was ordinary, royal family, belonging to a royal family, kingly order, and a householder, family man, having children, wife, and a military man. But what...? How Arjuna became the greatest devotee of Lord. The Lord certifies, bhakto 'si priyo 'si me: (BG 4.3) "My dear Arjuna, you are my very dear friend as well as a great devotee." Now, what is the reason? He was not a sannyāsī. He was not a Vedantist. He was not a philosopher, nothing of the sort. Still, you will find in the Fourth Chapter, Lord says, "Oh, my dear Arjuna, you are very dear to Me, and you are My great devotee."
So it is not very difficult thing. Very easy. Simply we have to learn how to reach that stage of life.
You haven't got to change anything. The same thing, example, that Arjuna was a military man, a householder, a family man, before hearing Bhagavad-gītā, and he remained the same family man, the same military man, but he became a great devotee of the Lord. That technique we have to learn. That technique is that Arjuna, in the beginning, he did not like to fight because he wanted to gratify his senses. He thought that "I shall be happy if I do not fight with my kinsmen because in the fighting my kinsmen will die and I shall be sorry. So what is the use of fighting like this?" That means the whole thing, whole program, is according to his own sense gratification.
And he was passing naked, and the girls who were taking bath, naked on the river, they saw that innocent person, so they did not cover their body. But when the father was passing, such a learned sage, old man, Vyāsadeva, who is the author of all Vedic literatures—he is not an ordinary man. But because he was a worldly man, a householder, the girls, after seeing him, covered their body. That story the other day we have narrated before you. So the stage of Śukadeva Gosvāmī is ātma-rati, self-satisfied, doesn't care for anything of the world. He is aloof from the world. We should not imitate Śukadeva Gosvāmī and become naked. (chuckles)
Just like matriculation examination, school-leaving examination, then you enter into college, and then get your graduate, become a graduate, and then post-graduate, so the Bhagavad-gītā is just entrance for, entrance examination for spiritual education. It is not very... It is written for the common men, common men, common men, householders, less intelligent men, woman class, like that.
And originally the Veda is one, Yajur Veda. And because it was very difficult to understand... Veda was spoken by Lord Himself to Brahmā. So seeing, foreseeing the condition of the present age, Vyāsadeva divided four Vedas, one Veda into four. The original Veda is Yajur Veda. Then he divided into Sāma, Yajur, Ṛk, Atharva. Then again the Vedic literatures were explained in Purāṇas, eighteen Purāṇas. Then Mahābhārata. Then again he summarized all the Vedic knowledge into Vedānta-sūtra, Vedānta-sūtra, summarized.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī is the ideal person. He was living naked, and in the early in the morning he would stand up in any householder's door. Because in India still, I think here also the system is there, those who have got private cows, they milk the cow early in the morning. Early in the morning if the cow is milked, it gives the proper quantity of milk. That is the system, before sunrise. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī and... The whole day's business was that he would go to a householder. Because in India still the system is a householder keeps at least, in the village, at least ten to twelve cows. But he hasn't got to pay anything for keeping these. The cows go to the pasturing ground and in the evening comes back. And some grass, dry grass which is by-product of the grains, that is offered to her, and instead of, in place she offers milk. So milk in the village, still it is available very easily, without any expenses.
Now Śukadeva Gosvāmī, because his whole day's business was just to stand before a householder's door because every householder milking. And people know that this swamiji or this sage has come to take some milk. "Oh Bābā, whatever you want you take." So what? Say one pound or less than one pound drinks and goes away. The whole day was finished business. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī was doing like that. He wouldn't go anywhere, and simply, early in the morning he would stand before a householder's door and take little milk and the whole day he would travel naked.
One who possesses full wealth, full wealth, and full strength, full fame, full beauty, full knowledge and full renunciation—He is God.
So Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa proved. When Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was present amongst ourselves, from the history we can see that... If we have to believe the history, then He was in full in everything. He was full in everything. So far as a householder also, when Lord Kṛṣṇa displayed His capacity as a householder... You will be surprised. Perhaps most of you know that He married 16,108 wives. Sixteen thousand... So somebody may be surprised that "How a person can marry 16,108 wives?" Yes. A ordinary person like us or a little more strong person, that is not possible. But when the word omnipotency is applied... God is called omnipotency, so for Him nothing is impossible. So if we have to believe the history, then Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa married 16,108 wives, and He built 16,108 palaces also, well-decorated, fully equipped, all-marble palaces.
Just like we are, taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the plowing or producing foodstuff because our business is that we can go anywhere, ask or begging a half cāpāṭi or one-fourth cāpāṭi. In four or five houses we can collect. Especially in India still, they will be glad. If a sannyāsī goes to a householder house and asks, "Give me something, a little bit of cāpāṭi," they will immediately give. So there is no need of making a big plan of agricultural activities.
We have no need, but still, we have to do that. That is, it is said, kuryāt: "He must do it." Kuryāt, this word is used that "You must." I can say that "What is the necessity of my big agricultural program? I can go anywhere, ask a little cāpāṭi." No, we have to do it. Why? Kuryād vidvāṁs tathā asaktaḥ. A learned person, they'll do that, but asakta, no attachment. The karmīs, they do... Even nonsense things, they are very much attached to it.
Just like we are sannyāsī, or a brāhmaṇa. We are allowed to beg. We are not, of course, begging as professional beggar, but we introduce ourself as beggar. The Vedic culture is that a sannyāsī, when he comes to beg in a householder's house, he receives him very respectfully, and whatever he wants, they want to supply. But they do not want anything, but the introduction is that they take this opportunity of sitting in a householder's home and talk about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is their real business. They are not beggars.
Anyway, this begging business is not for a householder or a military man. Therefore Kṛṣṇa say that "Don't try to imitate the business of a sannyāsī or a brāhmaṇa. You are kṣatriya. Your duty is to fight, so you should follow your own prescribed duty. Don't try to imitate others."
And how one can become free? This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I am neither Indian, I am neither American, I am neither white, I am neither black, I am neither Christian, I am neither Hindu, Muhammadan. Caitanya Mahāprabhu described Himself like that. He said, "I am not a brāhmaṇa, I am not a kṣatriya, I am not a vaiśya, I am not a śūdra, I am not a brahmacārī, I am not a householder, I am not a vānaprastha, or I am not a renounced order sannyāsī." Then what You are? Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (CC Madhya 13.80). "I am the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa." This should be my real identification. This is very good identification. In Kṛṣṇa consciousness we address our contemporaries as "prabhu." Prabhu means master. And the real idea is that "You are my master, I am your servant." Just the opposite number. Here, in the material world, everyone wants to place himself as the master. "I am your master, you are my servant." That is the mentality of material existence.
I must timely raise Kṛṣṇa." Always taking care, always anxious that "Kṛṣṇa may not be in danger. Kṛṣṇa is crawling. He may not go to the water. He may not be attacked by the monkey. He may not be..." So many. She's always anxious. She's doing her household work, but she's always anxious how to protect Kṛṣṇa. So she is thinking, she is thinking that "Unless I give protection to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa may be facing with so many dangers." But Kṛṣṇa is doing His business.
Rādhārāṇī, uh, Mother Yaśodā, keeping Kṛṣṇa underneath the cart, and Kṛṣṇa is breaking the cart, killing the Śakaṭāsura. And Mother Yaśodā thinking Kṛṣṇa is saved. Then when the cart was broken, the utensils scattered, and she became anxious. This is Kṛṣṇa's enjoyment, to deal with His devotee in different rasas and enjoy. Sākhya... Śānta dāsya sākhya mādhurya vātsalya. In this way Kṛṣṇa is always enjoying. He has no other business than enjoyment.
That means "It doesn't matter whether he is a householder or a swami, renounced order, or a brāhmaṇa or a śūdra or a lowborn, whatever he is. That doesn't matter. If he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa, he is a bona fide spiritual master, if he simply knows the science of Kṛṣṇa." This is cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma (BG 4.13). It is the quality.
Just like if I go to a medical man or a lawyer, we go there for his qualification. We don't ask him, "Well, sir, are you Christian? Are you Jew or Indian or American or a brāhmaṇa?" No. We are concerned with the qualification. It doesn't matter what he is. He may be an American, he may be an Indian, he may be Christian, he may be Jew, he may be Hindu or Mohammedan. Doesn't matter. He's a practiced medical practitioner, so he's a qualified man. I have gone there for my treatment.
Similarly, Lord Caitanya also says the same thing, and Kṛṣṇa also says the same thing. Never it is, He is stressing on birth.
A brahmacārī is trained up from the very beginning how to become a sannyāsī at the end of life. How he is trained up? He is trained up to collect for guru alms. Everywhere the brahmacārī would go to householder, and they ask, "Mother, give us some alms for my Guru Mahārāja." And the ladies would give him. Because everyone's son goes to the gurukula. So there was no hesitation. And the brahmacārī would collect and bring it in the āśrama, and then he should live just like a menial servant. He may be a king's son or a very learned brāhmaṇa's son, but when he lives at gurukula, he has to work.
And ordinary worker, they get some salary for serving the master, they are called śūdras. So in this way everybody has got his duty. The brāhmaṇa has got his duty, the kṣatriya has got his duty, the vaiśya has got his duty, and the śūdras also, they have got also duty. Similarly, brahmacārī, he has got his duty. And the gṛhastha, householder, they have got their duties. And vānaprastha, retired life, they have got their duties, and the sannyāsī, renounced order of life, they have got their duties. The first division called varṇa: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. And the second division is called āśrama. So Vedic civilization means varṇa and āśrama, the human society divided into varṇas and āśramas. So everyone has got his particular duty.
This is the Vedic injunction. Śakti, śakti means energy, and śaktimat, śaktimat means the person who has got the energy. So abheda, they are nondifferential. You cannot differentiate between the energy and the energetic. Just like electric powerhouse. The energy is electricity. Now, from the electricity energy we are working so many things. So far our household affairs are concerned, by the same electric energy we are getting heat and we are getting also cold. In the refrigerator we see everything is cold. In the heater we find everything is hot, warm. But the same energy is working. So one who knows that this is the electrical energy that is working in a different way, for him, there is no superior or inferior. That is called jñāna. If we are on the platform of knowledge, then there is no distinction between matter and spirit.
Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, "I shall explain Bhagavad-gītā because you are My bhakta." Bhakto 'si priyo 'si (BG 4.3). So who can understand Bhagavad-gītā unless he is a bhakta of Kṛṣṇa?
And therefore Kṛṣṇa selected Arjuna. Arjuna was not a Vedantist. He was a householder, kṣatriya, fighter, soldier. A soldier is not expected to be Vedantist, and neither very much well-versed in all the Vedic literature. That is not the business of kṣatriya. That is the business of a brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa is paṇḍita. But kṣatriya is not supposed to become a paṇḍita. But still, Kṛṣṇa selected him. Kṛṣṇa, "Arjuna I shall speak to you the same old story which I spoke to..." Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). "That is now lost. Therefore I shall revive it again, and I shall speak to you, because you are My bhakta, you are My friend."
The students are recommended to sacrifice, especially to sacrifice sense gratification.
The students are... Formerly, they were in the guru-gṛha, spiritual master's place, and they had to undergo severe types of regulation. So a brahmacārī is expected to go to every householder and beg. There was no system of schooling, there was no system for payment. The spiritual master, the teacher, he did not accept any payment in pound shilling pence. That was not accepted because mostly brāhmaṇas, they used to become the teachers. So they were not accepting any salary. The brāhmaṇas are forbidden to accept any service.
So the education was free. So every student, education was free. And village to village education was... So in former days—even fifty years before I have seen in villages—there was some small school, and all the villages boys, they were coming and taking education.
This is the point.
So yajña-dāna, this is also sacrifice, sacrifice. So yajña-dāna and tapaḥ. Tapaḥ means penance. So the students are meant for sacrifice, and the gṛhasthas, the householders, are meant for giving in charity, and so far we are concerned, just like sannyāsīs, we are meant for tapasya, penance. We should undergo all kinds of difficulties for spreading the knowledge that we have acquired. That is the proper sannyāsī. A sannyāsī, a renounced order of, I mean to say, man who is in the renounced order of life, his business is that his acquired knowledge, his experienced knowledge, should be distributed to the public. So according to the varṇāśrama-dharma, the brahmacārīs and the vānaprastha and the sannyāsīs...
Now, suppose if there are hundred person in a society, twenty-five percent students, twenty-five percent retired life, and twenty-five percent sannyāsa, renounced order of life. Now, out of 100 persons, seventy-five percent, they are engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord. The rest twenty-five percent who are gṛhasthas, they are meant for sacrificing fifty percent of their income for this seventy-five percent. That is the whole program of varṇāśrama-dharma. That is a kind of spiritual communism.
Hearing is the basic principle for understanding, and therefore the pure brahmacārī engages fully in harer nāmānukīrtanam—chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord. He restrains himself from the vibrations of material sounds and his hearing is engaged in the transcendental sound vibration of Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, the householders, who have some license for sense gratification, perform such acts with great restraint. Sex life, intoxication and meat-eating are general tendencies of human society, but a regulated householder does not indulge in unrestricted sex life and other sense gratification. Marriage on principles of religious life is therefore current in all civilized human society because that is the way for restricted sex life. This restricted unattached sex life is also a kind of yajña because the restricted householder sacrifices his general tendency towards sense gratification for higher transcendental life."
"Never mind whether he's a brāhmaṇa or a śūdra or a sannyāsī or a householder. Never mind what he is. That doesn't matter. If he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa, then he is the bona fide spiritual master." He is the bona fide spiritual master. So here this Bhagavad-gītā is the science of Kṛṣṇa. Every one of you, if you study Bhagavad-gītā very scrutinizingly, with all your arguments, with all your sense, with all your philosophical knowledge... Because it is said here, tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena (BG 4.34).
Not that you have to submit yourself blindly. Although your spiritual master may be self-realized and experienced in the Absolute Truth, still, you have to question. You have to understand from him all critical points by your intelligent questions. That is allowed. So it doesn't matter. If anyone is able to answer about the science of Kṛṣṇa, he is spiritual master. He is spiritual master. It doesn't matter where he's born or what he is, whether he's a brāhmaṇa, or a śūdra, or an American or an Indian or whatever he is. Never mind.
This ignorance of the so-called student of Bhagavad-gītā can be removed by the gradual acceptance of the principles of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is awakened by different, by different types of sacrifices to the demigods, sacrifice to Brahman, sacrifice in celibacy, sacrifice in household life, sacrifice in control of the senses, sacrifice in practicing mystic yoga, sacrifice in penance, sacrifice of material possessions, sacrifice in studying the Vedas, and sacrifice in observing the scientific social institution of varṇāśrama-dharma, or the divisions of the human society. All of these are known as sacrifice, and all of them are based on regulative action. And within all these sacrifices, the important factor is self-realization. One who seeks that objective is the real student of the Bhagavad-gītā."
Brahmacārī means from the beginning or from five years to twenty-five years one has to live in the house of the spiritual master for being trained up. That is called brahmacārī.
And after one has full training, then he comes home and he gets himself married. That is called gṛhastha, householder life.
Then, after the age of fifty years, he leaves. He gives up the family, not exactly gives up family connection, just tries to remain aloof from the family. So the husband and wife, they, entrusting the whole thing to the grown-up boys, they go out of home and travel in so many holy places and, after traveling, say, for six months, again comes home for, remains for one month, and then again goes away. That is the... That stage is called vānaprastha.
Then, when the man is completely detached from family affection, he takes sannyāsa. This is called sannyāsa. We have no connection with family.
This is very nice point. Try to understand. The sannyāsī... Just like we are sannyāsī. According to our Vedic system, we are allowed to beg alms from the householders. The social system, the varṇāśrama institution, is so made that the brahmacārī, vānaprastha, and the sannyāsī, and the gṛhastha... Gṛhastha means the householder. Now, the brahmacārī will beg from the householder, the vānaprastha will beg from the householder, and the sannyāsī also beg from the householder. So householder is the only earning member who will feed all these three different status of social orders. But in the Kali-yuga, in this age, some unscrupulous persons, they are taking advantage of this dress because this dress is not very costly. Any kind of cotton cloth, you take, two paisa worth from, or two cent worth, and color, and you get it orange-colored and put on.
Therefore he gave preference to working order than this sannyāsa order. Lord Caitanya also, He also said that in this age sannyāsa is not recommended.
And if you question me that "Swamiji, why you have taken sannyāsa?" You may ask that question. Yes. So I may tell you frankly that I had no desire to accept this sannyāsa. I never dreamt in my householder... I was a householder. I never dreamt. But circumstantially I was forced to accept the sannyāsa dress just to become a preacher. You see? That is a long history. Sannyāsa, (chuckles) but I was forced some way or other to accept the sannyāsa. Of course, as far as possible, I am following the rules and regulations of a sannyāsī, as far as possible.
There is another instance in a Bengali poetry, gṛhe vā vanete thāke, sadā gaurāṅga bole ḍāke, that "A man may be situated as a householder or a man may be situated as a renounced order in life. That doesn't matter. If he is attached with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is the perfect man." So here is the indication. "So Arjuna, you are asking what is the difference between the karma-yoga and sannyāsa. Oh. So there is no such difference. Better if you become a karma-yogī." Karma-yoga, meaning "You simply work for Kṛṣṇa." "Then you are better than a sannyāsa." Because a sannyāsī is living at the expense of the society, but a man who is fully alert that "Whatever I am earning and whatever I am doing, oh, it is all meant for Kṛṣṇa," oh, he is the practical man. He's a practical man.
In our line of disciplic succession, ācārya, there was one Rūpa Gosvāmī. Rūpa Gosvāmī, he was formerly the minister of a very big estate. Then he renounced his family life and joined Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and became a mendicant. Now, of course, nowadays people are not so much fond of mendicant. But formerly, any householder, they would go to some sage, some saintly person, and offer some service, "Sir, what can I serve for you." Oh, that was the system. So one big merchant. He belonged to Sindhi, Sindh Province, which is now in Pakistan. He approached Rūpa Gosvāmī and offered that "Swamiji, I want to make some service. Please give me direction. How can I serve you?" So he was a very big man. So Rūpa Gosvāmī asked him that "Yes, if you have got money, then engage it in the service of Kṛṣṇa according to your position." So he built a very nice temple. That temple... If you go sometimes to India, that is a very remarkable temple.
There is no distinction. There is no distinction, and you derive the same profit. That is recommended. So here also, Kṛṣṇa says, ekaṁ sāṅkhyaṁ ca yogaṁ ca yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati. So therefore we have to accept the favorable circumstances. In this age, in this difficult age, if we find the same result by being Kṛṣṇa conscious and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, then I, we should take advantage of it. Why should we stick to certain other principles? That is also good. That's all right, but this is favorable in the present circumstances. That is the point.
- sannyāsas tu mahā-bāho
- duḥkham āptum ayogataḥ
- yoga-yukto munir brahma
- na cireṇādhigacchati
- (BG 5.6)
Sannyāsa... Suppose if you simply renounce the world for your certain difficulty... "The worldly life, household life, is very difficult to maintain. Now let, let me become a sannyāsī. I'll go door to door and beg and I'll have..."
We are just like in the matter of increasing our temperature. We are thinking that by increasing the temperature we shall be happy. We do not know that by increasing temperature we shall never be happy. We have to decrease the temperature. There is a very nice story. Perhaps I have many times told you, that there was a householder, a very rich man. His wife was sick and the maidservant was also sick. So the gentleman called for a doctor, and the doctor treated both the patients, and the doctor said that "Your wife has got 98 temperature, nothing serious. But your maidservant, she has got 104 temperature, so she should be taken care of." Now, the housewife, she became angry. She told the doctor, "Oh, I am the head of the family. I have got only 98 temperature? And my maidservant has got 104? So you are not a doctor!" So that is going on. From 104 we want to increase. 107 degrees and death will come. So the modern civilization is increasing the temperature. So we have come to the point of 107 degree-atom bomb.
You see? You are spirit soul, how you can stop yourself silent? That is not possible. Arjuna refused. And you'll find in this chapter when Arjuna was recommended, "My dear Arjuna, you meditate." He immediately refused. "My dear Kṛṣṇa, it is not possible for me. It is not possible for me." That is actual fact. How it is possible for him? He was a householder man, he wanted kingdom, he wanted to rule over the country. Where is the time for his meditation? He flatly refused. "My dear Kṛṣṇa, it is not possible for me." He said that controlling the mind: vāyor iva suduṣkaram. "It is as difficult as to control the air." That is a fact. You have to engage the mind in Kṛṣṇa. Then it is controlled. Otherwise, artificially you cannot control. It is impossible. Arjuna said, what to speak of others. Who is Arjuna? Personally talking with Kṛṣṇa. Do you think he is ordinary man? He said that it is impossible. Vāyor iva suduṣkaram.
So now, anyone who thinks that "Service of Kṛṣṇa, or service of the Lord, is my duty, duty," he is the man in perfect knowledge. Sa sannyāsī. Sa sannyāsī ca yogī ca. And he's actually yogi. We have heard the names of so many yogis, but here Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "He is actual yogi." Who? "Who has surrendered himself fully unto Me and he is engaged in My service as a matter of duty." That's all. Sa sannyāsī ca yogī ca na niragnir na cākriyaḥ. Na niragniḥ. Niragniḥ means "those who have left home." In the varṇāśrama-dharma, one who is a householder, he has to perform daily yajña. So there is fire. Fire. Still we find in the Parsis, they are fire worshipers. So this fire worship is recommended in Vedic literature. So gṛhasthas, or the householders, they are expected to offer, I mean to say, sacrifice in the fire daily.
So the whole yoga system means to make the mind strong. Not to deviate from the Supreme. That is perfection of yoga system. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18). One should fix up, just like Ambarīṣa Mahārāja fixed up his mind only on Kṛṣṇa. And there was a fight between a great yogi, aṣṭāṅga-yogī, Durvāsā Muni. Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, he was a king, he was a householder, he was pound shilling man. Householder means he has to take account of pound, shilling, pence. Dollars, cents. King, he was actually king. So Durvāsā Muni was a great yogi. He was envious of this king. That, "How is that, I am so great a yogi, I can travel in the space, and this man is ordinary king, he cannot show such jugglery of yoga system, but still people honors him most. Why? I shall teach him some lesson." So he picked up some quarrel with the king, that's a long story, I shall state it some other day, so after all he was defeated. And he was directed by Nārāyaṇa to take shelter of the feet of the king, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa. These instances we see from authoritative scripture.
Unless it cannot be saṁsthām. So here it is clearly said that mat-saṁsthām adhigacchati. One attains to the kingdom of God where spiritual varieties are there. They are not variety-less. Otherwise, the Lord would not have said that saṁsthām. There is a regular establishment. Just like you have got a regular establishment in your household affairs, similarly, the Lord has a regular household establishment in the spiritual world. Mat-saṁsthām adhigacchati. If... These processes are simply to qualify himself to enter into that establishment. That's all. We are all belong to that establishment, but being forgetful, we are now in this material world.
Just like sometimes some of us becomes crazy and he is, goes to the lunatic asylum, similarly, those who become crazy, such spiritual identities, they are put into this lunatic asylum. It is called material world. This is a sort of lunatic asylum. Everything is being done not very sanely. (laughter) You see? (chuckling) So we have to get out of this lunatic asylum and enter into the kingdom of God, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Śīlavatī: Yet the other day you were extolling the virtues of household life and you said, and you named some of the great ācāryas that were householders and you said...
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is bhakti-yoga. In this ordinary yoga system as it will be explained in this chapter, one has to strictly follow the life of celibacy. But in the bhakti-yoga system the whole idea is that you have to fix up your mind in Kṛṣṇa. So whatever position, householder life does not mean to indulge in sex enjoyment. A householder may have wife, may have sex life, but that is for having children only, that's all. A householder does not mean he gets license to legalize prostitution. That is not householder. Householder can simply have sex life to beget nice child, that's all, no more. That is householder life; completely controlled. Householder does not mean whenever he has got this machine and he can use it. No. Householder, husband and wife, both Kṛṣṇa conscious, engaged in Kṛṣṇa conscious business, but when they require a child, Kṛṣṇa conscious, that's all. That is also voluntary contraceptive method. One or two or three children, that's all, no more. So householder life does not mean sex life without any restriction.
Where is the cure? The whole system is restriction. Tapo divyam (SB 5.5.1). Just to concentrate one's activities in austerities, penances, for transcendental realization. That is human form of life.
But there are different orders of social society: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. The whole process is to restrict. But gṛhastha, householder means giving a little license who cannot completely restrict sex life. That's all. Gṛhastha does not mean unrestricted sex life. If you have known this married life like that, that's a wrong conception. You have to control if you want to get out of this diseased condition of life. You cannot get out of disease and unrestrictedly go on enjoying your senses. No. That is not possible. Yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). Those who are indulging unrestrictedly in sense enjoyment civilization, that is not good. Because that will lead him to accept next again this material body.
Just like if you have got attachment for your lover, you always think of him. That is..., is lover consciousness. There is a very—this is natural—a Sanskrit verse in which it is stated that a woman who has got another lover besides her husband, she shows very attentive for her household duties, but she is always thinking when she will meet at night her lover. (aside:) Please sit properly. So as it is possible that in spite of our all engagements, if I love somebody I think of him always, materially it is possible, why not spiritually? That is the whole teaching of Bhagavad-gītā.
Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, yudhyasva mām anusmara: (BG 8.7) "As a fighter, you have to fight. You cannot go away from fighting. It is not your duty." Nowadays... I have got experience, practical experience, that the drafting board of your country, calling some boy that "You join military," but he is not willing. Why? Because he is not trained as a kṣatriya. He is trained as a śūdra.
In the beginning of the Fourth Chapter, you know that Kṛṣṇa says that "I'll speak to you that old system of yoga, bhakti-yoga," in the beginning of the Fourth Chapter, "unto you." Why? Kṛṣṇa was not a Vedantist... Ah, Arjuna was not a Vedantist or a great philosopher or a brāhmaṇa or nothing. He was a kṣatriya. He was a fighter, and a householder, not even a sannyāsī. So these are not qualifications to understand Kṛṣṇa. Suppose... Just like I have become a sannyāsī, mendicant. This is not qualification that I can understand Kṛṣṇa. Even in your white dress, as gṛhastha, you can understand better than me. Then what is the qualification? This qualification: sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). One who has developed the service spirit with love and devotion, he can understand Kṛṣṇa. Nobody else. Nobody... Not Dr. Radhakrishnan or similar person. No. But a child can understand Kṛṣṇa if he has full faith in Him.
He again spoke the science of Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna because the paramparā was broken. Sa kāleneha naṣṭaḥ. Otherwise there was no need of speaking Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna. And why He selected Arjuna to understand Bhagavad-gītā? That is also explained. One may say that Arjuna was a gṛhastha, householder, and a politician and a soldier. Why Bhagavad-gītā was instructed to him? That is natural. He was not a vedāntī. He was not a brāhmaṇa. He was not a sannyāsī. Why he was selected to understand Bhagavad-gītā? This should be... There should be inquiry. Generally you understand that a vedāntī, a sannyāsī, a brāhmaṇa may know about spiritual knowledge, about God. No, that is not the fact. The fact is, as Kṛṣṇa says, bhakto 'si priyo 'si me rahasyaṁ hy etad uttamam: (BG 4.3) "Because you are My devotee, because you are My dear friend, you can understand the mystery of Bhagavad-gītā."
This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement wants to see that every house has become a temple of Kṛṣṇa. That is our program. Mayy āsakta... Just to increase the attachment for Kṛṣṇa.
That is needed, especially for the gṛhasthas, for the householders... Still in India, there are many respectable families. They are maintaining a small temple. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo 'bhijāyate (BG 6.41). Yoga-bhraṣṭa, this yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ, this bhakti-yoga, one who could not finish the cent percent bhakti-yoga in one life, at least he's guaranteed to have next life as a human being. Because Kṛṣṇa says, śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo 'bhijāyate. Śucīnām. Śucīnām means first-class brāhmaṇa, Vaiṣṇava. They are called śuci. The śuci, the, just the opposite word is muci. Muci means most nasty habit, and śuci means most cleansed habit.
So this is the beginning: arcā, arcanam. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanam (SB 7.5.23). Arcanam. Therefore for every gṛhastha... Because gṛhasthas are busy in so many ways, they have no opportunity to preach. But they must take to arcana. Every house, every householder, they must... What is the difficulty? Just like we have got in this platform, Deity of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, everyone can install Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deity at home and under the instruction of spiritual master and shastric regulations. Then, if we engage ourselves in arcana-vidhi, then automatically, all the anomalies of life will stop. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). This arcana-vidhi is one of the items of bhajana, bhajana-kriyā. So anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. If every house engages in this arcana-vidhi, so many unwanted things will vanish. You'll have no more interest for seeing cinema or going to the restaurant or smoking biḍi and wasting time by unnecessary talks.
Anyway, whatever... In a... There is a proverb in Bengal that "It is better to keep the cowshed vacant than to have a troublesome cow." Cow... Of course, in your country there is no system of cow-keeping. In India at least every householder, at least in the villages, they have got a cow, and not one, but at least one dozen, half a dozen. So it is said that "Instead of keeping a troublesome cow who will not deliver any milk, it is better to keep the cowshed vacant." So we shall be satisfied... (break) ...followers. We are not after many followers. But we want that anyone who comes in contact in this movement may take this movement seriously, try to understand it with all scrutinization, and he'll find it is very sublime and the best, simplest method for spiritual realization.
We have got so many books, so many newspapers, so many magazines. We hear and read. But we are not interested in hearing Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where ātma-tattvam, the science of soul, is described.
So why they are not interested? Now, apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām (SB 2.1.2). Gṛheṣu, now, household life... They are thinking, "This is life." Tātala saikate vāri-bindu-sama, suta-mita-ramaṇī-samāje. Vidyāpati, a great poet, Vaiṣṇava poet, he has sung that... We are happy within this material world. How? Suta-mita-ramaṇī-samāje. Suta. Suta means children, and mita means friends, and ramaṇī means woman. So actually, our material life, existing, is society, friendship and love. If there are nice, beautiful women at home, children and friends, we are taking, "This is our life." But that is not life. Real life is to understand what I am, ātma-tattvam. Ātma-tattvam. Without understanding ātma-tattvam, the life is failure.
So the marriage, sex life by marriage, is religious, and sex life without marriage, that is irreligious. So here Kṛṣṇa says that "Sex life," dharmāviruddhaḥ, "which is not against religious principle, that is I am."
So there is no harm to become a householder. It is not that... I am a sannyāsī; I have given up household life. And one person who is a householder... There is no difference, provided it is on the principle of religion. I am a sannyāsī. I am forbidden to make any association with women. I cannot talk even with woman in a lonely place. That is forbidden. I cannot talk with a woman. I give you one practical example. When my Guru Mahārāja, my spiritual master, was living... I am speaking about fifty years before. We were all young men at that time, and one of my Godbrothers, he was also young man, Dr. O. B. Kapoor, and his wife was also young. So his wife wanted to speak with my Guru Mahārāja.
Just see. "I cannot speak." Now the so much age difference, so much, I mean to say, affection, still, he refused: "No, no. I cannot talk with you confidentially because you are woman."
So a sannyāsī is forbidden not to talk even in private place with woman. But a householder, he, if he associates woman under marriage tie, then it is religious. And without this, this is irreligious. And that religious sex life is God. Religious sex life is God. This should be followed. If we, every one of us reading Bhagavad-gītā, every one of us, at least... So far India is concerned, that is a different thing. In America also, I find so many American gentlemen, they read Bhagavad-gītā. But I am afraid if they are reading Bhagavad-gītā so scrutinizingly, as it is stated here, dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu kāmo 'smi bharatarṣabha: "Sex life which is not against religious principle, that is I am." So in, I mean to say, regulated sex life, married life, that is Kṛṣṇa. So that is not without Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa.
What is that sex impulse against the law of God? The law of God is that sex life is required for progeny, for begetting children, not for sense enjoyment. Anyone who enjoys sex life for enjoyment, he is a śūdra or less than śūdra. That is the description in Vedic literature. When Nārada Muni instructed Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja about householder's life, the householder's life, when they beget child, there is a ceremony which is called garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. Not that "I am today very sexually agitated. I must have sex." No. Just like that Kardama Muni. Kardama Muni's wife, Devahūti. Not Devahūti. Aditi or Diti? Hiraṇyakaśipu's mother?
Because you cannot stop your fighting because you are a soldier." But mām anusmara, "At the same time you think of Me." This is the secret, that nobody can stop his activities, but he can think of Kṛṣṇa at the same time. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I have given several times the example that a woman who is in love with other man in spite of her husband, she is very mindful to the household duties, but she is always thinking, "When at night I shall meet with my friend?" Yudhya ca mām anusmara (BG 8.7). Apparently, she is very busy, very nicely she's performing her household duties, but at mind, oh, she is always thinking of the lover, when she will meet. As it is possible, why not Kṛṣṇa? Is it very difficult? Meditation, perfect meditation. Always, twenty-four hours. You cannot forget Kṛṣṇa. Just like a lover cannot forget beloved. So you have to contact Kṛṣṇa in love, then the meditation continues for twenty-four hours.
While walking on the street, you see up on the horizon. You'll see the moon is going with you. The sun is going with you. And a long... I remember..., very long... It is about fifty years before. When I was householder, my second son—he was about four years old—he was walking with me on the street, and he was ask me, "Father, why the moon is going with us? Why the moon is going with us?" Yes. The moon is... As you find that the moon is going with you, similarly, by chanting, if the moon has got such power—it is a material thing; it can go with you—don't you think the Supreme Lord, who is all-powerful, He cannot remain with you? Yes. He can. By His potency, He can remain with you, provided you are also qualified to keep His company. If you are a pure devotee and if you are always merged in the thought of Kṛṣṇa, you should always remember that Kṛṣṇa is with you. Kṛṣṇa is with you.
So that process is not. Nowadays the state simply collects taxes but never distributes. So we have no idea what is yajña. But this yajña is the performance of kings or the heads of the state, and dāna of the general householders, and tapasya for brahmacārī, sannyāsī, vānaprastha. So these are different kinds of rules in religious life.
So those who believe in scriptures, they adopt, not all. Just like I explained that mostly people, they simply accept a certain faith. Mouth, in mouth only. Actually, they do not do anything. Do not do anything. So out of that many, millions of people like that, somebody are religious, really religious, who perform this sacrifice, charity, and penances. So Lord Caitanya says, "Out of many millions of persons who are actually engaged in charity, and," I mean to say, "penance and sacrifice, some of them become in perfect knowledge what he is." So this knowledge is...
So this is the classification of a society. And there is another classification which is called spiritual developmental classification. The brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsī. Brahmacārī means student life, student life to acquire knowledge. And gṛhastha life is householder. After acquiring knowledge, one may get himself married with a suitable girl and live peacefully in the society—for spiritual cultivation. Everything for spiritual cultivation. And then vānaprastha, retired life; then sannyāsa, renounced order of life. So Rāmānanda Rāya explained these four principles, four divisions of social order and spiritual development, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately said, "Oh, this is not for Me." Eho bāhya āge kaha āra. "This is external. If you know something better than this, then you explain."
Why Caitanya Mahāprabhu denied these social orders? Because He was to give immediately benefit to the fallen souls of this age.
Guest: I think this is practical for a householder.
Prabhupāda: But I don't think. Then what is the difference? Therefore, household luxury is allowed up to fiftieth year in order to learn, pañcaśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet. That is Vedic system. Not to remain householder until you are fired, you see, or you are taken by death. Just like our big leaders. They won't give up their householder's life unless he is fired to death, or death takes him away. That is not very good proposition. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that this householder life means it is a concession for sense gratification. That's all. But our position is that we should not continue sense gratification for all the life. The sense gratification process is going on by the hogs and dogs throughout the whole life, but we should not be like hogs and dogs. We should cease at a certain time. Pañcaśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet. So far, no more. That should be our model. Not that continue. That, that is Vedic way of life. Pravṛttiṁ-nivṛtti. So long pravṛtti, attraction for household life, and next nivṛtti, "Now I shall be detached." But the asuras, as it is said, pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca na vidur āsurāḥ janāḥ (BG 16.7).
This is demonic, the demonic. They'll not hear. Because that will do good to them by hearing, they'll not accept it.
It is practically experienced. I know that the ghost, if you go in a house ghostly haunted, if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, they'll go away. They cannot tolerate. In my life there was several incidences like that. In my household life, I was doing business in Lucknow. So there was one house, very big house, worth thousands of rupees' rent, but it was ghostly haunted. So nobody would take that house. I took it at two hundred rupees, (laughter) and very big house. And I was... All the servants, they complained, "Sir, there is ghost." So I was chanting. He was living in several spots, especially on the gate side. So I could understand, but I would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and I was saved. Everyone was saved. There was... And, say, in 1969 I was guest in the house of John Lennon in London. So there was a ghost in... It was a big plot. There was a guest house. So they complained, "Sir, here is ghost."
Up to twenty-five years he cannot see a young woman. He cannot see even. This is brahmacārī. He cannot see. Then he is trained up in that way, that he may continue a brahmacārī life. Naiṣṭhika-brahmacārī. But if he's unable, then he's allowed to marry. That is called gṛhastha life, householder life. Because between twenty-five years to fifty years, this is the youthful time, so his lusty desires are very strong. One who is not able to control... Not for all. There are many naiṣṭhika-brahmacārī. Naiṣṭhika-brahmacārī—throughout the life, celibacy. But that is not possible in this age, neither it is possible to become a brahmacārī. The time is changed, this age. Therefore you can control your lusty desire by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise it is not possible.
| Page Title: | Householder (Lectures, BG) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 26 of Jun, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=73, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 73 |