The bums, just see how nasty they are. They were lying down on the street, and as soon as get some money, immediately go to the wine shop, purchase one bottle, and not eating nicely, no dress, nothing of the . . . many of them. The Bowery Street is famous for that purpose. So they are not happy, but they are thinking they are happy. This is māyā. (laughter) This is māyā.
The materialistic persons, by engaging themselves in sinful activities, they are not happy, but they are thinking that, "We are happy." In this European portion of the world, they are . . . we have experienced two big wars, and still, the war cloud is always there. Not only here; everywhere. So this materialistic civilization, actually people are not very happy.
And as I have told you that people are going to live underground next hundred years. That means they'll lose this freedom of living in the free air for fear of this atomic attack. That is predicted in the World Almanac. You have seen, that people are going to live under. They'll . . . sometimes they will come out to have fresh air in the surface. Otherwise, they will have to live underground.
So actually we are, by advancing this materialistic way of life, for the time being we may feel happy, but we do not know how much risk we are taking in our life. That science is not yet discussed. That science is described in the Bhagavad-gītā that if you hear also—we have begun—that this life is not meant for simply sense gratification with hard labor. No. This life is meant for restraining. Restraining. Tapa. We have to restrain our business of sense gratification. Without restraining our business of sense gratification, it is not possible to make ourselves liberated. That is not possible. This is entanglement.
Sat-saṅga chāḍi' kainu asate vilās. If people give up the association of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness society and they simply indulge in the sense-gratificatory process, then more and more they'll be entangled.
- sat-saṅga chāḍi' kainu asate vilās
- te-kāraṇe lāgila ye karma-bandha-phāṅs
- (from Prārthanā)
People are now entangled in hard working. Actually, human life should be very easy, very easy—no hard work; living very simple life and eating very healthy food; living in open space; no quarrel, no antagonism; everyone is happy, everyone is free. That is human civilization. Not to become entangled. But at the present moment we have become entangled. So Ṛṣabhadeva says that mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ (Vanisource:SB 5.5.2). If we actually want liberation from this entanglement, then we should associate with mahātmās, great souls. And who is a great soul? That is being described.
We have discussed some of the symptoms of great soul. The great soul is sama-citta, equal to everyone. Great soul is never angry; they are friend to everyone. And sādhava. Sādhava means sadācāra, clean habits. A mahātmā cannot be implicated with those four principles of sinful life. That is the first test. No illicit sex life, no gambling, no meat-eating and no intoxication. This is called sadācāra, clean habit. Anything beyond this: unclean habit. So here it is stated, sādhava. Sādhava means sadācāra, clean habit.
Then it is said, ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthāḥ. Now this mahātmā is specifically indicated for a sannyāsa, a perfect sannyāsī, renounced order. Their characteristics is that. And another mahātmā . . . suppose one is in household life. Question may be whether a mahātmā can be in the household life or not. That is being described: Yes. In household life also there can be mahātmā.
Just like Advaita Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu even; Nityānanda Mahāprabhu. They were all householders. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He was a householder. He married twice. His first wife died—He married for the second time. Regular householder, although He left household life very early. He was only twenty-four years old, therefore He had no children. But Nityānanda Prabhu had one child, Vīrabhadra, and Advaita Prabhu had two, three children, of which Acyutānanda was very highly elevated. Similarly, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, he had children.
So Caitanya Mahāprabhu does not say that one has to become in the renounced order, of sannyāsī, then he becomes a mahātmā. No. We also do not propagate such idea.