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TEXT 26 srotradinindriyany anye
SYNONYMS  srotra-adini--hearing
process; indriyani--senses; anye--others; samyama--of
restraint; agnisu--in the fire; juhvati--offers; sabda-adin--sound
vibration, etc.; visayan--objects of sense gratification; anye--others;
indriya--of sense organs; agnisu--in the fire; juhvati--sacrifice.
TRANSLATION Some of them
sacrifice the hearing process and the senses in the fire of the controlled
mind, and others sacrifice the objects of the senses, such as sound, in
the fire of sacrifice.
PURPORT The four divisions
of human life, namely the brahmacari, the grhastha, the vanaprastha,
and the sannyasi, are all meant to help men 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. They are referred to in this
verse as sacrificing the hearing process and the senses in the fire of
the controlled mind. A brahmacari hears only words concerning Krsna
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 Krsna, Hare Krsna. 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 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 yajna because the restricted householder sacrifices
his general tendency toward sense gratification for higher transcendental
life.
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