Hari-śauri:
- manaḥ-prasādaḥ saumyatvaṁ
- maunam ātma-vinigrahaḥ
- bhāva saṁśuddhir ity etat
- tapo mānasam ucyate
- (BG 17.16)
"And serenity, simplicity, gravity, self-control and purity of thought are the austerities of the mind."
- śraddhayā parayā taptaṁ
- tapas tat tri-vidhaṁ naraiḥ
- aphalākāṅkṣibhir yuktaiḥ
- sāttvikaṁ paricakṣate
- (BG 17.17)
"This threefold austerity, practiced by men whose aim is not to benefit themselves materially but to please the Supreme, is of the nature of goodness."
Prabhupāda: That's it. The aim is to please the Supreme through the spiritual master. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo. This is the idea. Now, who is teaching this tapasya? Where is the school, college? Smoke . . . This is tapasya. And they are smoking before teacher. No offense. What you'll expect from such student? Animal civilization. This is not civilization. No tapasya, no brahmacārī. Tapo divyaṁ (SB 5.5.1). And tapasya begins from brahmacārī. Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena (SB 6.1.13), to control. Brahmacārī guru-gṛhe vasan dāntaḥ (SB 7.12.1). How to control senses, that is the beginning of life. Not A-B-C-D learning and maybe your character may be less than an animal's, and you have got a degree of the university; you become a learned man. No. That is not accepted. Even from moral instruction, who is educated, that is described by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita.
- mātṛvat para-dāreṣu
- para-dravyeṣu loṣṭravat
- ātmavat sarva-bhūteṣu
- yaḥ paśyati sa paṇḍitāḥ
Here is paṇḍita. That is learned man. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi (BG 5.18). He is learned man. Not this degree-holder. A degree-holder, he has no tapasya, he has no character, and his knowledge is called māyayāpahṛta-jñānā. Although he has learned so many things, but māyā has taken away his knowledge. He's a rascal. He's animal. This is Vedic civilization.