Prabhupāda: They are working so hard, just like animals, simply for sense gratification. That is the beginning of His speech. But the human form of life is meant for saving time for spiritual cultivation. We should be satisfied with the bare necessities of life, and the time should be saved to cultivate self-realization. That is the basic principle of Vedic civilization. Therefore in Vedic civilization a certain period is devoted for accepting renounced order of life, sannyāsa. Compulsory.
This sannyāsa order, as we have accepted, it is compulsory regulative principle of Vedic way of life. The first twenty-five years brahmacārī, strict life of celibacy, student life, without any sex indulgence, complete, up to twenty-five years. Then gṛhastha. That is not for also all. If somebody is unable to remain a brahmacārī all through, then the spiritual master gives him permission to marry a suitable girl and become a householder. This is called gṛhastha life.
Then, up to fifty years, he can indulge in householder life. Householder life, according to Vedic civilization, is a sort of license for sense gratification. But not for all the time. The injunction is pañcaśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet. Just after your fiftieth year you must give up, retire from householder. That is called vānaprastha. Vānaprastha means you can take your wife with you and travel all over the world in places of holy pilgrimage just to give up your attachment for family life. In this way, when one is completely detached from family affection, then he sends back his wife to the elderly children to take care of her, and he takes sannyāsa, renounced order of life.
This renounced order of life means dedicate completely for the service of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated:
- anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ
- kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ
- sa sannyāsī sa yogī
- na niragnir na cākriyaḥ
- (BG 6.1)
Lord Kṛṣṇa said that one who acts for the sake of duty, not for enjoying the fruit, when it is possible . . . now, if you are family man you have to work for maintaining your family, therefore you have to enjoy the fruits of your work. So this is possible only for a person who has completely dedicated for service of the Lord.
So Ṛṣabhadeva recommends that human form of life is specifically meant for austerity, regulative principles, not to do anything according to whims. Very regulative life, that is human life. We require, so long we have got this body, we require four things for maintenance of the body: āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca (Hitopadeśa 25). We require to eat something, every one of us. We require to sleep; therefore we must have an apartment or sleeping place. That may be very nice or . . . but we must have some place to sleep, shelter. So eating, sleeping. Then some protection, defense, and sense gratification. We have got our senses; they want some satisfaction.
So these are, these principles, are bodily needs. These are not the needs of the spirit soul. So long we have got this body, we have to satisfy it, but not, I mean to say, unrestricted. That is not human life. That is the difference between human life and animal life. But at the present moment human life has become more than animal life. The animals have restricted periods for sense gratification, but the human life has no restricted . . .
So Ṛṣabhadeva is instructing, "This should not be done." If you want to purify your existence, then you have to live under restriction. Just like a patient, a diseased fellow, if he wants to be cured, he must live restricted life under the direction of the physician; otherwise, he is sure to die, or he is sure to suffer, prolonging the disease. He must. So Ṛṣabhadeva advised His sons, "My dear boys, if you want to purify your existence, then you have to live a restricted life."
- tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ
- śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ anantam
- (SB 5.5.1)
And what is the benefit of purifying my existence? That is also stated, that if you purify your existence, then you'll be situated on the Brahman platform. You'll understand that you are brahma, you are spirit soul, you are not this body. Just like the animals, they cannot understand what he is. He identifies himself with this body. But a human being should not identify himself with this body. That is ignorance.
Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). If anyone identifies himself with this body, then he is said, according to the Vedic version, he's an ass. Sa eva go-kharaḥ. Khara means ass, animal. Animal, he does not know what he is. The human form of life, there should be inquiry, "What I am? Am I this body?" This is called meditation. Think over, "Whether I am this body or I am something else?" The whole self-realization process depends on this question, "What I am?" But that understanding cannot be achieved unless you purify your existence.