Marriage without children - comment from an observer...

[Guest guest]

>"He is misreading the quote. "If one can avoid it completely..." is not

>refering to a man and woman who get married but decide not to have sex. It

>refers to life-long brahmacaris. If he doesn't want sex, why is he getting

>married? Sorry, but you get married because you can't strictly follow

>brahmacharya."

 

Obviously the anonymous observer hasn't read the quote properly in full:

 

"If the husband and wife can voluntarily restrain by powerful advancement of

Krishna Consciousness. That is the best method. It is not necessary that

because one has got wife, therefore you must have sex life. The whole scheme

is to avoid sex life as far as possible. And if one can avoid it completely

then it is a great victory for him."

 

Please note the words "if the husband and wife..." This is not refering to

brahmacaris or sannyasis, this is a letter to Satsvarupa and his wife at the

time advising them that it was not necessary to try to have children.

 

It is such half baked readings as that of the anonymous observer that make

their whole presentation highly unreliable and suspect. They have a

particular viewpoint already decided in their mind (usually based on popular

hindu customs of the present times, not the guru), and then they read Srila

Prabhupada's writings ignoring anything that contradicts their view.

 

If you have any doubt as to the purpose or circumstances of this letter

written by Srila Prabhupada to Satsvarupa Maharaja just ask him.

 

>If he doesn't want sex, why is he getting married? Sorry, but you get

>married because you can't strictly follow brahmacharya.

 

It is highly unfortunate that many devotees think married life is solely

about sex. I will not go into that now as its a completely different topic,

but brahmacari's and grihastas who hold such a view need to expand their

knowledge a bit or it will lead to the future suffering of others (children,

wife, etc.) as we have seen in ISKCON for the last 30 years.

 

Such logic is childish and foolish. Did great devotees such as Gour Govinda

Maharaja get married because they couldn't follow brahmacharya and because

"they wanted sex"? Or are there other reasons why people take to grihasta

ashrama? Someone who cannot understand the simple point that marriage is not

undertaken simply because one "couldn't make it as a brahmacari" really has

no business offering their ignorant views. There is probably a good reason

why the anonymous observer chose to remain anonymous.

 

Those who have training within Vedic culture understand that marriage is a

religious purificatory rite undertaken to fulfill one's duties and to

advance spiritually. Perhaps in the west it is understood that people get

married "because they want sex." That is due to the unfortunate degradation

of that culture. People coming from such a culture who hold on to such

abominable concepts really should avoid commenting or instructing about the

Vedic teachings and culture. I suggest the anonymous observer should

seriously take this to heart.

 

I am quite surprised that a very cultured and respectable devotee trained in

vedic samskriti for more than 30 years would even pass on such an ignorant

comment without seeing it for the ignorance that it is. That is truly

unfortunate.

 

Grihasta ashrama is meant for those who succeeded in their duties as a

brahmacari, not for those who failed it. This purificatory rite is not

undertaken because "someone wants sex", but because someone wants to purify

their duties in the service of Krishna according to their acquired nature.