Wedding Lecture [partially recorded] – November 17, 1971, Delhi

Without marriage, that is not civilized life

Prabhupada: This marriage is being performed as gandharva marriage, simply by changing the garland. In the Kali-yuga, the other kinds of marriage, selected by the parents, that is not possible. Therefore, one of the marriage system, gandharva marriage, is accepted. And simply by changing the garland and promising.

Svikara eva hi udvahe. That is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. In the Kali-yuga, simply by accepting, the man accepts the woman as wife and the woman accepts the man as husband, that is the vow. Svikara eva hi udvahe. Udva means the vow. Simply by acceptance. Because other things are not possible.

And without marriage, that is not civilized life. Because in the animal society there is no marriage, but in any form of civilized society there is marriage. Everyone has got sex appetite. Therefore, marriage is allowed by the Vedic system. And Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita that dharmaviruddho kamo 'smi: "Kama, lust, which is not against religious principles, that is I am."

So marriage is essential. So far our Society is concerned, we don't allow anybody to remain in our Society as friends, girlfriend or boyfriend. No. They must be married. And these boys and girls, after being married, they are preaching nicely Krsna consciousness. All my students who are married, they are doing preaching work more than sannyasi. Yes. In the Kali-yuga, practically it is forbidden. Sannyasam pala-paitrkam kalau panca vivarjayet, asvamedham gavalambham...

Formerly there was a system: if the husband is unable, then a son can be begotten by the husband's younger brother, devarena. But in this age, Kali-yuga, that is forbidden. Similarly, asvamedha yajna, gomedha yajna is also forbidden, because there is no yajnic brahmana. Formerly, when an animal was put into the fire, sacrificed, and by Vedic mantra it was given a new, fresh life. That was the test of Vedic mantra pronouncing. But that is not possible nowadays. In the Kali-yuga, the only yajna is the sankirtana yajna.

Those who are highly intellectual, su-medhasaḥ, they perform the sahkirtana yajna, and by that sahkirtana yajna, the Lord, whose complexion is not black and who is always chanting Hare Krsna mantra and is accompanied by His associates, sahgopahgastra-parsadam, yajnaiḥ sahkirtana-prayair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ. So in this Krsna consciousness movement, everything is being performed according to the scriptural injunction. It is not that we are manufacturing something.

So our initiation, our accepting a disciple as brahmana, they are all strictly according to Vedic injunctions. In this Kali-yuga, there is no vaidika diksa, because vaidika diksa depends on the persons being a, I mean to say, sanctified brahmana. A sanctified brahmana means that before his birth, the garbhadhana-samskara is observed. If it is not observed, then he immediately falls down to the category of sūdra. Kalau sūdra sambhava.

But there is pancaratriki-vidhi given by Narada, who said that one should be accepted in the category of brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya and sūdra according to symptoms. Yasya hi ya svabhavasya.

There are symptoms of brahminical qualification, there are symptoms of ksatriya qualification. So if these symptoms are observed in a different place, namely if the brahminical qualification is observed in the person of a sūdra, then that sūdra should not be called a sūdra; he should be accepted as brahmana. Similarly, if the sūdra qualification is observed in the family of a brahmana, then that person should be accepted as sūdra. This is the definition given by Narada Muni while he was speaking about varnasrama-dharma to Maharaja Yudhisthira.

So this Krsna consciousness movement, the initiation ceremony, the marriage ceremony, the sacred thread ceremony, whatever we observe, they are strictly according to the sastra. That is our point.

So for spiritual progress of life, it is necessary that all kinds of sinful activities must be stopped. Without being freed from contamination of sinful life, nobody can make progress in spiritual life. Therefore, who is strictly observe these four principles to avoid, I mean to..., sinful life. One of them is avaida stri sahga. Therefore marriage is necessary.

So next. [break] [end]