Pradyumna: Translation: "When irreligion is prominent in the family, O Kṛṣṇa, the women of the family become corrupt, and from the degradation of womanhood, O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, comes unwanted progeny."
Prabhupāda: This is very important point for good population. Without good population in the society, gentlemen, cultured, educated, following the rules and regulation of religious principle, how you can expect peace and prosperity? That is not possible. So the whole Vedic system was meant for having very good population. Not such kind of population who are addicted to killing and drinking and so many other sinful activities. No. Then you cannot check.
If such population is there, then everything will be polluted. Especially nowadays, because there is want of good population, and they go in the government, and how you can expect good government, good administration? The whole population is polluted. Therefore even such a great state, USA, the president is being tried and he's being criticized.
So there must be good population. So to have good population, the women should be very chaste. That is the basic principle of Vedic civilization. And to keep the women chaste, it was the function of the responsible father, or, in the absence of father, the elder brother, so he must get the woman, the girl, married. It is compulsory. There was no compulsory for man to marry, because a man may remain brahmacārī. By training, he can abstain from sex. But if woman is not protected very strictly, it is very difficult. It is very difficult.
Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has . . . (chuckles) It is not . . . it is . . . we are discussing śāstra. Don't think otherwise. (chuckles) Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, viśvāsaṁ naiva kartavyaṁ strīṣu rāja-kuleṣu ca. Viśvāsaṁ naiva kartavyam: "Don't trust women." Viśvāsaṁ naiva kartavyaṁ strīṣu. Strīṣu means women. Rāja-kula . . . and politicians. Yes. Viśvāsaṁ naiva kartavyaṁ strīṣu rāja-kuleṣu ca. Never the trust the politician and woman.
Of course, when woman comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that position is different. We are speaking of ordinary woman. Because Kṛṣṇa says, in another place, striyo vaiśyas tathā śūdraḥ (BG 9.32). They are considered, women, vaiśya, the mercantile community, and śūdra, and the worker class, they are less intelligent. Pāpa-yoni. When the progeny is defective, then they become less intelligent. So Kṛṣṇa says:
- māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya
- ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
- striyo vaiśyas tathā śūdras
- te 'pi yānti paraṁ gatiḥ
- (BG 9.32)
Even pāpa-yoni, degraded birth, even women, śūdra and vaiśya, they also can become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious by training. And they can also go back to home, back to Godhead, without any check.
So when we study things from material point of view, these things are to be taken care. But when a man or woman becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, he or she takes care of herself or himself. So it is spoken . . . Arjuna is speaking of ordinary woman. Strīṣu duṣṭāsu. Just like adharma-abhibhava. Adharma. If the woman is trained, a girl is trained from the very beginning, that, "You should remain chaste," that is dharma. It is called satītā dharma. Satī means chastity. There are many stories of Satī, chaste woman. Nala-damayantī. His (her) husband became so poverty-stricken. He was king, but he became later on so poverty-stricken that he had no sufficient cloth. The husband and wife was putting on the same cloth, half and half. So still, still there was no divorce. You see? Still the woman did not consider . . . she was also king's daughter. But the husband has fallen down to so much poverty-stricken condition, "So why shall I live with him?" These are some of the extreme examples of chastity.