Read a Lecture by Srila Prabhupada on this Verse
é[aeaadqNaqiNd]Yaa<YaNYae Sa&YaMaaiGanzu JauûiTa )
XaBdadqiNvzYaaNaNYa wiNd]YaaiGanzu JauûiTa )) 26 ))
çroträdénéndriyäëy anye
saàyamägniñu juhvati
çabdädén viñayän anya
indriyägniñu juhvati
SYNONYMS
çrotra-ädéni-such as the hearing process; indriyäëi-senses; anye-others; saàyama-of restraint; agniñu-in the fires; juhvati-offer; çabda-ädén-sound vibration, etc.; viñayän-objects of sense gratification; anye-others; indriya-of the sense organs; agniñu-in the fires; juhvati-they sacrifice.
TRANSLATION
Some [the unadulterated brahmacärés] sacrifice the hearing process and the senses in the fire of mental control, and others [the regulated householders] sacrifice the objects of the senses in the fire of the senses.
PURPORT
The members of the four divisions of human life, namely the brahmacäré, the gåhastha, the vänaprastha and the sannyäsé, are all meant to become perfect yogés or transcendentalists. Since human life is not meant for our enjoying sense gratification like the animals, the four orders of human life are so arranged that one may become perfect in spiritual life. The brahmacärés, or students under the care of a bona fide spiritual master, control the mind by abstaining from sense gratification. A brahmacäré hears only words concerning Kåñëa consciousness; hearing is the basic principle for understanding, and therefore the pure brahmacäré engages fully in harer nämänukértanam-chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord. He restrains himself from the vibrations of material sounds, and his hearing is engaged in the transcendental sound vibration of Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa. Similarly, the householders, who have some license for sense gratification, perform such acts with great restraint. Sex life, intoxication and meat-eating are general tendencies of human society, but a regulated householder does not indulge in unrestricted sex life and other sense gratification. Marriage on the principles of religious life is therefore current in all civilized human society because that is the way for restricted sex life. This restricted, unattached sex life is also a kind of yajïa because the restricted householder sacrifices his general tendency toward sense gratification for higher, transcendental life.
