SB 7.14              Ideal Family Life              63576/530501
                          Chapter Fourteen
                          

 

   This chapter describes the occupational duties of the householder
according to the time, the country and the performer. When Yudhisthira
Maharaja became very much inquisitive about the occupational duties
for the householder, Narada Muni advised him that a grhastha's first
duty is to be fully dependent on Vasudeva, Krsna, and to try to
satisfy Him in all respects by executing one's prescribed devotional
service. This devotional service will depend on the instructions of
authorities and the association of devotees who are actually engaged
in devotional service. The beginning of devotional service is
sravanam, or hearing. One must hear from the mouths of realized souls.
In this way the grhastha's attraction to his wife and children will
gradually be reduced.
   As for the maintenance of his family, a grhastha, while earning
what he requires for his living, must be very conscientious and must
not undergo extraordinary endeavor simply to accumulate money and
unnecessarily increase in material comforts. Although a grhastha
should externally be very active in earning his livelihood, he should

internally be situated as a fully self-realized person, without
attachment for material gains. His dealings with family members or
friends should be performed simply to fulfill their purpose; one
should not be extravagantly engaged in this way. Instructions from
family members and society should be accepted superficially, but in
essence the grhastha should be engaged in occupational duties advised
by the spiritual master and sastra. Specifically a grhastha should
engage in agricultural activities to earn money. As stated in
▼Bhagavad-gita (18.44), krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam--agriculture, cow
protection and trade--are special duties of grhasthas. If by chance or
by the grace of the Lord more money comes, it should be properly
engaged for the Krsna consciousness movement. One should not be eager
to earn more money simply for sensual pleasure. A grhastha should
always remember that one who is endeavoring to accumulate more money
than necessary is to be considered a thief and is punishable by the
laws of nature.
     A grhastha should not be very much attached to his wife; he should
engage even his own wife in serving a guest with all attention.
Whatever money a grhastha accumulates by the grace of God he should
spend in five activities, namely worshiping the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, receiving Vaisnavas and saintly persons, distributing prasada
to the general public and to all living entities, offering prasada to
his forefathers, and also offering prasada to his own self. Grhasthas
should always be ready to worship everyone as mentioned above.....

In this way he should fully engage in worshiping the Supreme Personality

of Godhead for the benefit of his family, his society, his country, and

humanity at large.

 

SB 7.14.3-4                Ideal Family Life              63611/530501
   A grhastha must associate again and again with saintly persons, and
with great respect he must hear the nectar of the activities of the
Supreme Lord and His incarnations as these activities are described in
Srimad-Bhagavatam and other Puranas. Thus one should gradually become
detached from affection for his wife and children, exactly like a man
awakening from a dream.

 

                               PURPORT

 

   The Krsna consciousness movement has been established to give
grhasthas all over the world an opportunity to hear Srimad-Bhagavatam
and Bhagavad-gita specifically. The process, as described in many
ways, is one of hearing and chanting (srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah
punya-sravana-kirtanah). Everyone, especially the grhasthas, who are
mudha-dhi, ignorant about the goal of life, should be given
opportunities to hear about Krsna. Simply by hearing, by attending
lectures in the different centers of the Krsna consciousness movement,
where topics of Krsna from Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam are
discussed, they will be purified of their sinful inclination for
constant indulgence in illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling

 which have all become prominent in modern days. Thus they
can be raised to the status of light. Punya-sravana-kirtanah. Simply
by joining the kirtana--Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare
Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare--and by hearing about
Krsna from Bhagavad-gita, one must be purified, especially if he also
takes prasada. This is all going on in the Krsna consciousness
movement....

   The human form of life is meant for liberation, but unfortunately,
due to the influence of Kali-yuga, every day the grhasthas are working
hard like asses. Early in the morning they rise and travel even a
hundred miles away to earn bread. Especially in the Western countries,
I have seen that people awaken at five o'clock to go to offices and
factories to earn their livelihood. People in Calcutta and Bombay also
do this every day. They work very hard in the office or factory, and
again they spend three or four hours in transportation returning home.
Then they retire at ten o'clock and again rise early in the morning to
go to their offices and factories. This kind of hard labor is
described in the sastras as the life of pigs and stool-eaters. Nayam
deho deha-bhajam nrloke kastan kaman arhate vid-bhujam ye: "Of all
living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one
who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and
night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs
and hogs that eat stool." (▼Bhag. 5.5.1) One must find some time for
hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita. This is Vedic culture.
One should work eight hours at the most to earn his livelihood, and
either in the afternoon or in the evening a householder should

associate with devotees to hear about the incarnations of Krsna and
His activities and thus be gradually liberated from the clutches of
maya. However, instead of finding time to hear about Krsna, the
householders, after working hard in offices and factories, find time
to go to a restaurant or a club where instead of hearing about Krsna
and His activities they are very much pleased to hear about the
political activities of demons and nondevotees and to enjoy sex, wine,
women and meat and in this way waste their time. This is not grhastha
life, but demoniac life. The Krsna consciousness movement, however,
with its centers all over the world, gives such fallen and condemned
persons an opportunity to hear about Krsna.

   In a dream we form a society of friendship and love, and when we
awaken we see that it has ceased to exist. Similarly, one's gross
society, family and love are also a dream, and this dream will be over
as soon as one dies. Therefore, whether one is dreaming in a subtle
way or a gross way, these dreams are all false and temporary. One's
real business is to understand that one is soul (aham brahmasmi) and
that his activities should therefore be different. Then one can be
happy.

 

■SB 7.14.5 S                Ideal Family Life              63623/5305

                             TRANSLATION

   While working to earn his livelihood as much as necessary to
maintain body and soul together, one who is actually learned should
live in human society unattached to family affairs, although
externally appearing very much attached.

...A wise man, however, learns from the sastras and guru that we living
entities are all eternal but are put into troublesome conditions
because of associating with different modes under the laws of material
nature. He therefore concludes that in the human form of life he
should not endeavor for unnecessary necessities, but should live a
very simple life, just maintaining body and soul together. Certainly
one requires some means of livelihood, and according to one's varna
and asrama this means of livelihood is prescribed in the sastras. One
should be satisfied with this. Therefore, instead of hankering for
more and more money, a sincere devotee of the Lord tries to invent
some ways to earn his livelihood, and when he does so Krsna helps him.

Earning one's livelihood, therefore, is not a problem. The real
problem is how to get free from the bondage of birth, death and old
age. Attaining this freedom, and not inventing unnecessary
necessities, is the basic principle of Vedic civilization. One should
be satisfied with whatever means of life comes automatically. The
modern materialistic civilization is just the opposite of the ideal
civilization. Every day the so-called leaders of modern society invent
something contributing to a cumbersome way of life that implicates

people more and more in the cycle of birth, death, old age and
disease.

 

■SB 7.14.6 S               
                             TRANSLATION

   An intelligent man in human society should make his own program of
activities very simple. If there are suggestions from his friends,
children, parents, brothers or anyone else, he should externally
agree, saying, "Yes, that is all right," but internally he should be
determined not to create a cumbersome life in which the purpose of
life will not be fulfilled.

 

SB 7.14.7                  Ideal Family Life              63641/530501
   The natural products created by the Supreme Personality of Godhead
should be utilized to maintain the bodies and souls of all living
entities. The necessities of life are of three types: those produced
from the sky [from rainfall], from the earth [from the mines, the seas
or the fields], and from the atmosphere [that which is obtained
suddenly and unexpectedly].

 

...   "All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from
rains. Rains are produced by performance of yajna [sacrifice], and
yajna is born of prescribed duties." (▼Bg. 3.14) When food grains are
sufficiently produced, both animals and human beings can be nourished
without difficulty for their maintenance. This is nature's
arrangement. prakrteh kriyamana-ni gunaih karmani sarvasah. Everyone
is acting under the influence of material nature, and only fools think
they can improve upon what God has created. The householders are
specifically responsible for seeing that the laws of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead are maintained, without fighting between men,
communities, societies or nations.