for austerity

Imported quote 18103

But actually, the human life is meant for not enjoying the senses. That is called tapasya. To deny. That is human life. That is Vedic civilization. First of all, the brahmacari system, how to deny sense gratification. That is the first training. Even the..., even Krsna, He had to go to the forest to collect dry wood for the spiritual master. There, that is mentioned in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Krsna was talking with Sudama Vipra, how both of them went to collect dry wood, and there was storm and rain; they became stranded in the forest. Then next day their teacher and other students rescued them. So the brahmacari was trained up, tapasya, not to enjoy. They would have to go to beg door to door, brahmacari: "Mother, give us some alms for our asrama." So they were trained from the very beginning to address any woman as "Mother." So... And there were so many other things: to rise early in the morning... Tapasya. Tapo divyam putraka yena suddhyet sattvam [SB 5.5.1]. (More...)

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