Summary: During our Gita Nagari Retreat, we were reading from Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 2, Chapter 6. A very profound purport appears there, instructing in the principle of celibacy for those who care to restore and again enter into their loving relationship with Krishna in the spiritual world. Srila Prabhupada presents *with such compelling force* the clear message that his emphasis upon the 4 regulative principles, joined with our chanting of the Holy Name, is to assist in carrying us to our ultimate destination.
Please consider: Purity takes cultivation. One does not BEGIN with purity, just as one cannot see Krishna in the beginning of devotional service; but, by very gradual and carefully-guided cultivation of purity, one CAN be in the presence of Krishna, experience Him, etc (see 1.3.44 purport below). Thus, one should not be disappointed in oneself by not finding purity within oneself during preliminary practices.
Please note, however, that rapt attention in hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam from the proper source, combined with the chanting of the Holy Name can establish that purity, and thereby bring one to the position where one can see Krishna directly. This is confirmed in the following verses from Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Reading Assignment
a) Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.8.4-5
"Persons who hear Srimad-Bhagavatam regularly and are always taking the matter very seriously {or, sva-cestitam = seriously by one's own endeavor} will have the Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna manifested in their hearts within a short time. The sound incarnation of Lord Krsna, the Supreme Soul (i.e. Srimad-Bhagavatam), enters into the heart of [such an ardent listener], sits on the lotus flower of his loving relationship, and thus cleanses the dust of material association, such as lust, anger and hankering. Thus it acts like autumnal rains upon pools of muddy water."
Obtaining this all-valuable rapt attention has it's price. See below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b) Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.3.44
Simple hearing is not all; one must realize the text with proper attention. The word nivista means that Suta Gosvami drank the juice of Bhagavatam through his ears. That is the real process of receiving Bhagavatam. One should hear with rapt attention from the real person, and then he can at once realize the presence of Lord Krsna in every page. The secret of knowing Bhagavatam is mentioned here. No one can give rapt attention who is not pure in mind. No one can be pure in mind who is not pure in action. No one can be pure in action who is not pure in eating, sleeping, fearing and mating. But somehow or other if someone hears with rapt attention from the right person, at the very beginning one can assuredly see Lord Sri Krsna in person in the pages of Bhagavatam.
c) Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.6.20
TRANSLATION The spiritual world, which consists of three fourths of the Lord's energy, is situated beyond this material world, and it is especially meant for those who will never be reborn. Others, who are attached to family life and who do not strictly follow celibacy vows, must live within the three material worlds.
PURPORT The climax of the system of varnasrama-dharma, or sanatana-dharma, is clearly expressed here in this particular verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The highest benefit that can be awarded to a human being is to train him to be detached from sex life, particularly because it is only due to sex indulgence that the conditioned life of material existence continues birth after birth. Human civilization in which there is no control of sex life is a fourth-class civilization because in such an atmosphere there is no liberation of the soul encaged in the material body. Birth, death, old age and disease are related to the material body, and they have nothing to do with the spirit soul. But as long as the bodily attachment for sensual enjoyment is encouraged, the individual spirit soul is forced to continue the repetition of birth and death on account of the material body, which is compared to garments subjected to the law of deterioration.
In order to award the highest benefit of human life, the varnasrama system trains the follower to adopt the vow of celibacy beginning from the order of brahmacari. The brahmacari life is for students who are educated to follow strictly the vow of celibacy. Youngsters who have had no taste of sex life can easily follow the vow of celibacy, and once fixed in the principle of such a life, one can very easily continue to the highest perfectional stage, attaining the kingdom of the three-fourths energy of the Lord. It is already explained that in the cosmos of three-fourths energy of the Lord there is neither death nor fear, and one is full of the blissful life of happiness and knowledge.
A householder attached to family life can easily give up such a life of sex indulgence if he has been trained in the principles of the life of a brahmacari. A householder is recommended to quit home at the end of fifty years (pancasordhvam vanam vrajet) and live a life in the forest; then, being fully detached from family affection, he may accept the order of renunciation as a sannyasi fully engaged in the service of the Lord. Any form of religious principles in which the followers are trained to pursue the vow of celibacy is good for the human being because only those who are trained in that way can end the miserable life of material existence. The principles of nirvana, as recommended by Lord Buddha, are also meant for ending the miserable life of material existence. And this process, in the highest degree, is recommended here in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, with clear perception of ideal perfection, although basically there is no difference between the process of Buddhists, Sankarites and Vaisnavites. For promotion to the highest status of perfection, namely freedom from birth and death, anxiety and fearfulness, not one of these processes allows the follower to break the vow of celibacy.
The householders and persons who have deliberately broken the vow of celibacy cannot enter into the kingdom of deathlessness. The pious householders or the fallen yogis or the fallen transcendentalists can be promoted to the higher planets within the material world (one fourth of the energy of the Lord), but they will fail to enter into the kingdom of deathlessness. Abrhad-vratas are those who have broken the vow of celibacy. The vanaprasthas, or those retired from family life, and the sannyasis, or the renounced persons, cannot break the vow of celibacy if they want success in the process. The brahmacaris, vanaprasthas and sannyasis do not intend to take rebirth (apraja), nor are they meant for secretly indulging in sex life. Such a falldown by the spiritualist may be compensated by another chance for human life in good families of learned brahmanas or of rich merchants for another term of elevation, but the best thing is to attain the highest perfection of deathlessness as soon as the human form of life is attained; otherwise the whole policy of human life will prove to be a total failure. Lord Caitanya was very strict in advising His followers in this matter of celibacy. One of His personal attendants, Chota Haridasa, was severely punished by Lord Caitanya because of his failure to observe the vow of celibacy. For a transcendentalist, therefore, who at all wants to be promoted to the kingdom beyond material miseries, it is worse than suicide to deliberately indulge in sex life, especially in the renounced order of life. Sex life in the renounced order of life is the most perverted form of religious life, and such a misguided person can only be saved if, by chance, he meets a pure devotee.