Surrender does not mean that you are not allowed to question or inquire. The questioning and inquiring must be there. Otherwise it is nothing like imposing something that, "You have to act like this." No. In the Vedic literature there is no such thing, that something is forced upon you dogmatically. No. In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find that Kṛṣṇa, after instructing Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna, He says: "My dear Arjuna, I have now explained to you the most secret thing of the secrets. Now you just fully consider and do whatever you like."
He does not force that, "You have to do it." The spiritual master, the representative of Kṛṣṇa, or Kṛṣṇa, does not force anything. And that will not act, even in ordinary dealing. Even to a child, if you force something, he will protest. Therefore the force cannot be employed. One has to understand with intelligence, with cool head, this spiritual science; but you have to approach to a person who is actually in the knowledge of spiritual science, or science of God.
Therefore Bhagavad-gītā gives this direction, tad viddhi praṇipātena, that where you have to learn this spiritual science, you must have to find out such a person where you can surrender yourself. Without surrender, without serving him, there is no meaning of enquiry. Enquiry should not be made to a person whom you do not believe to be authority. Otherwise it will be simply waste of time. If you want to inquire from the authority, first of all you have to find out whether you have approached a person who is really authority or not.
If you think that, "This man, this person, is really authority," then you surrender there. Otherwise there is no meaning of imitating, that, "Oh, so many persons have accepted this person as spiritual master or authority. Oh, let me also accept." No. Bhagavad-gītā does not say like that. Bhagavad-gītā says that, "You try to understand the whole spiritual science very nicely. And if you think the man who is instructing you is actually the authority, then surrender." Then accept him as spiritual master. Not blindly or dogmatically. Try to understand.
Similarly, in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta also it is said, caitanya-dayā kathā karaha vicāra (CC Adi 8.15). The contribution offered by Lord Caitanya, you just put it into scrutinizing test. Just try to understand it by your scrutinizing, reasoning power. But if you try to understand with all your reason and argument, you will feel something sublime. Not that you accept it dogmatically. Caitanya-dayā kathā karaha vicāra, vicāra karite citte pābe camatkāra (CC Adi 8.15). But if you are intelligent enough, if you have got power to judge something, then you will find it is sublime. It is sublime.
So the first prescription offered by Ṛṣabhadeva . . .
(aside) This gentleman I do not know. You can come here.
Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes (SB 5.5.2): for getting liberation from this conditional life of material existence, one has to serve a great soul, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes. Tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam (SB 5.5.2). And if you want to remain in this darkness of material existence, then you can associate yourself with yosit.
Yosit means, I mean, ah, anything enjoyable. Generally yosit means women. Yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam. That means those who are very much fond after women, womanly association. If you associate with such persons then you will continue your material existence. And, mahat-sevā: and if you associate with yourself with great soul, then your path of liberation will be open.
Now by this line, by this statement, we can understand that a mahat, or a great soul, is completely free from association of women. He is mahat. Therefore generally a spiritual master is selected amongst the renounced order of life, sannyāsī. Sannyāsī means who has renounced his family life; who is no more in touch with women. Just like we have accepted the sannyāsī. I have got my wife still existing in India; I have got my son; I have got my grandson, daughter, granddaughter—everything—but I have no connection with them.
This is the order of Vedic life. First of all brahmacārī, a student life; then householder life. After student life finishing, twenty-five years, then if he thinks that he should become a householder, with the permission of his spiritual master he goes home, he marries a nice girl and become a pacified householder, gentleman, and lives for twenty-five years with wife. And when there is a grown-up child, he prepares himself for sannyāsa life. That is called vānaprastha. Brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha. Vānaprastha means that one should leave home, but the wife can go with him, just an assistant, without any sex life.
Then when that man is completely prepared, he sends back the wife to home to be taken care of by the grown-up children, and he takes sannyāsa. So this sannyāsa life means that he has completely given up sex life. Of course, association means sex life. We are also here, as sannyāsī, we have got so many girls and ladies who are coming here—we are associating. But the renounced order life means, actually means, no more sex life.
So mahat-sevā: to become a great soul is to completely forget sex life. Because if one has still a sex life, connection with sex life, he cannot be mahat. In other words, that if you had to select . . . because it is said, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes: "If you want to get liberation from this conditional life, then you have to serve one great soul. But if you want to continue your conditional life of material existence, then you can associate with persons who are addicted to sex life." This is clearly said.
One who is addicted to the sex life, he will continue his material existence—may be born in human society or born in animal society or born in demigod society in other planet. So long one will have the propensity of sex life, he will have different kinds of body in this material world. So because in this material world the ultimate happiness is sex life—either in dog’s life or hog’s life or man’s life, the ultimate pleasure is—so one has to train himself how to get out of this sex life.
So mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes. So therefore in order to get ourselves freed from sex life completely, we have to associate with a person who is actually freed from sex life. That is called mahat-sevā, great soul. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes, tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam (SB 5.5.2). Because material existence means that attraction for sex life. Therefore this training—brahmacārī training, gṛhastha training, vānaprastha training—that is called tapasya.
In the student life, according to the Vedic life, in the student life there is no . . . very, very good restriction for mixing with women. But because your country is free—not only here, everywhere; now that freedom is expanded all over the world—so boys and girls mix together. That is not very, I mean, efficacious for advancement of spiritual life. That should be restricted.