Gita 04.26 – The mood of sacrifice spiritualizes both the householder and the renounced orders

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Published on Jan 21, 2015

Bg 4.26
srotradinindriyany anye
samyamagnisu juhvati
sabdadin visayan anya
indriyagnisu juhvati

Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Some [the unadulterated brahmacaris] 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 by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
The members of the four divisions of human life, namely the brahmacari, the grhastha, the vanaprastha and the sannyasi, are all meant to become perfect yogis 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 brahmacaris, or students under the care of a bona fide spiritual master, control the mind by abstaining from sense gratification. A brahmacari hears only words concerning Krishna consciousness; hearing is the basic principle for understanding, and therefore the pure brahmacari engages fully in harer namanukirtanam – 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 Krishna, Hare Krishna. 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 yajña because the restricted householder sacrifices his general tendency toward sense gratification for higher, transcendental life.

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