The Goat Analogy

ancient_paztriot · June 24, 2004

Why Goats? 'Cause they eat anything?

SB 9.19.2

My dearly beloved wife, daughter of sukracarya, in this world there was someone exactly like me. Please listen as I narrate the history of his life. By hearing about the life of such a householder, those who have retired from householder life always lament.

SB 9.19.3

While wandering in the forest, eating to satisfy his senses, a he-goat by chance approached a well, in which he saw a she-goat standing helplessly, having fallen into it by the influence of the results of fruitive activities.

SB 9.19.4

After planning how to get the she-goat out of the well, the lusty he-goat dug up the earth on the well’s edge with the point of his horns in such a way that she was able to come out very easily.

SB 9.19.5-6

When the she-goat, who had very nice hips, got out of the well and saw the very handsome he-goat, she desired to accept him as her husband. When she did so, many other she-goats also desired him as their husband because he had a very beautiful bodily structure and a nice mustache and beard and was expert in discharging semen and in the art of sexual intercourse. Therefore, just as a person haunted by a ghost exhibits madness, the best of the he-goats, attracted by the many she-goats, engaged in erotic activities and naturally forgot his real business of self-realization.

SB 9.19.7

When the she-goat who had fallen into the well saw her beloved goat engaged in sexual affairs with another she-goat, she could not tolerate the goat’s activities.

SB 9.19.8

Aggrieved by her husband’s behavior with another, the she-goat thought that the he-goat was not actually her friend but was hardhearted and was her friend only for the time being. Therefore, because her husband was lusty, she left him and returned to her former maintainer.

PURPORT

The word svaminam is significant. Svami means “caretaker” or “master.” Devayani was cared for by sukracarya before her marriage, and after her marriage she was cared for by Yayati, but here the word svaminam indicates that Devayani left the protection of her husband, Yayati, and returned to her former protector, sukracarya. Vedic civilization recommends that a woman stay under the protection of a man. During childhood she should be cared for by her father, in youth by her husband, and in old age by a grown son. In any stage of life, a woman should not have independence.

SB 9.19.9

Being very sorry, the he-goat, who was subservient to his wife, followed the she-goat on the road and tried his best to flatter her, but he could not pacify her.

SB 9.19.10

The she-goat went to the residence of a brahmana who was the maintainer of another she-goat, and that brahmana angrily cut off the he-goat’s dangling testicles. But at the he-goat’s request, the brahmana later rejoined them by the power of mystic yoga.

PURPORT

Here sukracarya is figuratively described as the husband of another she-goat. This indicates that the relationship between husband and wife in any society, whether higher or lower than human society, is nothing but the same relationship between he-goat and she-goat, for the material relationship between man and woman is one of sex. Yan maithunadi-grhamedhi-sukham hi tuccham [sB 7.9.45]. sukracarya was an acarya, or expert, in family affairs, which involve the transfer of semen from he-goat to she-goat, The words kascid aja-svami expressly indicate herein that sukracarya was no better than Yayati, for both of them were interested in family affairs generated by sukra, or semen. sukracarya first cursed Yayati to become old so that he could no longer indulge in sex, but when sukracarya saw that Yayati’s emasculation would make his own daughter a victim of punishment, he used his mystic power to restore Yayati’s masculinity. Because he used his power of mystic yoga for family affairs and not to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead, this exercise in the magic of yoga was no better than the affairs of he-goats and she-goats. Yogic power should properly be used to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As the Lord Himself recommends in Bhagavad-gita (6.47):

yoginam api sarvesam

mad-gatenantaratmana

sraddhavan bhajate yo mam

sa me yuktatamo matah

“Of all yogis, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.”

SB 9.19.11

My dear wife, when the he-goat had his testicles restored, he enjoyed the she-goat he had gotten from the well, but although he continued to enjoy for many, many years, even now he has not been fully satisfied.

PURPORT

When one is bound by affection for one’s wife, one is attached to sexual desires that are very difficult to overcome. Therefore, according to Vedic civilization, one must voluntarily leave his so-called home and go to the forest. Pancasordhvam vanam vrajet. Human life is meant for such tapasya, or austerity. By the austerity of voluntarily stopping sex life at home and going to the forest to engage in spiritual activities in the association of devotees, one achieves the actual purpose of human life.

SB 9.19.12

O my dear wife with beautiful eyebrows, I am exactly like that he-goat, for I am so poor in intelligence that I am captivated by your beauty and have forgotten the real task of self-realization.

SB 9.19.13

A person who is lusty cannot satisfy his mind even if he has enough of everything in this world, including rice, barley and other food grains, gold, animals and women. Nothing can satisfy him.

PURPORT

Improvement of one’s economic condition is the aim and object of a materialist, but there is no end to this material advancement, for if one cannot control his lusty desires, he will never be pleased, even if he gets all the material wealth of the world. In this age we see much material improvement, but still people are struggling to get more and more material opulence. Manah sasthanindriyani prakrti-sthani karsati [bg. 15.7]. Although every living entity is a part of the Supreme Being, because of lusty desires one continuously struggles for so-called betterment of one’s economic condition. To have a satisfied mind, one must give up his heart disease of lusty desires. This can be done only when one is Krsna conscious.

bhaktim param bhagavati pratilabhya kamam

hrd-rogam asv apahinoty acirena dhirah

(Bhag. 10.33.39)

If one becomes Krsna conscious, then he can give up this heart disease; otherwise this disease of lusty desires will continue, and one cannot have peace in his mind.

SB 9.19.14

As supplying butter to a fire does not diminish the fire but instead increases it more and more, the endeavor to stop lusty desires by continual enjoyment can never be successful. [in fact, one must voluntarily cease from material desires.]

PURPORT

One may have enough money and enough resources to satisfy the senses but still not be satisfied, for the endeavor to stop lusty desires by enjoying can never be successful. The example given here is very appropriate. One cannot stop a blazing fire by trying to extinguish it with butter.

SB 9.19.15

When a man is nonenvious and does not desire ill fortune for anyone, he is equipoised. For such a person, all directions appear happy.

SB 9.19.16

For those who are too attached to material enjoyment, sense gratification is very difficult to give up. Even when one is an invalid because of old age, one cannot give up such desires for sense gratification. Therefore, one who actually desires happiness must give up such unsatisfied desires, which are the cause of all tribulations.

PURPORT

We have actually seen, especially in the Western countries, that men who have reached more than eighty years of age still go to nightclubs and pay heavy fees to drink wine and associate with women. Although such men are too old to enjoy anything, their desires have not ceased. Time deteriorates even the body itself, which is the medium for all sensual satisfaction, but even when a man becomes old and invalid, his desires are strong enough to dictate that he go here and there to satisfy the desires of his senses. Therefore, by the practice of bhakti-yoga, one should give up his lusty desires. As explained by sri Yamunacarya:

yadavadhi mama cetah krsna-padaravinde

nava-nava-rasa-dhamany udyatam rantum asit

tadavadhi bata nari-sangame smaryamane

bhavati mukha-vikarah susthu-nisthivanam ca

When one is Krsna conscious, he gets more and more happiness by discharging duties for Krsna. Such a person spits on sense gratification, especially that of sexual enjoyment. An experienced, advanced devotee is no longer interested in sex life. The strong desire for sex can be subdued only by advancement in Krsna consciousness.

SB 9.19.17

One should not allow oneself to sit on the same seat even with one’s own mother, sister or daughter, for the senses are so strong that even though one is very advanced in knowledge, he may be attracted by sex.

PURPORT

Learning the etiquette of how to deal with women does not free one from sexual attraction. As specifically mentioned herewith, such attraction is possible even with one’s mother, sister or daughter. Generally, of course, one is not sexually attracted to his mother, sister or daughter, but if one allows himself to sit very close to such a woman, one may be attracted. This is a psychological fact. It may be said that one is liable to be attracted if he is not very advanced in civilized life; however, as specifically mentioned here, vidvamsam api karsati: even if one is highly advanced, materially or spiritually, he may be attracted by lusty desires. The object of attraction may even be one’s mother, sister or daughter. Therefore, one should be extremely careful in dealings with women. sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was most strict in such dealings, especially after He accepted the sannyasa order. Indeed, no woman could come near Him to offer Him respect. Again, one is warned herewith that one should be extremely careful in dealings with women. A brahmacari is forbidden even to see the wife of his spiritual master if she happens to be young. The wife of the spiritual master may sometimes take some service from the disciple of her husband, as she would from a son, but if the wife of the spiritual master is young, a brahmacari is forbidden to render service to her.

SB 9.19.18

I have spent a full one thousand years enjoying sense gratification, yet my desire to enjoy such pleasure increases daily.

SB 9.19.19

Therefore, I shall now give up all these desires and meditate upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Free from the dualities of mental concoction and free from false prestige, I shall wander in the forest with the animals.

SB 9.19.20

One who knows that material happiness, whether good or bad, in this life or in the next, on this planet or on the heavenly planets, is temporary and useless, and that an intelligent person should not try to enjoy or even think of such things, is the knower of the self. Such a self-realized person knows quite well that material happiness is the very cause of continued material existence and forgetfulness of one’s own constitutional position.

PURPORT

The living entity is a spiritual soul, and the material body is his encagement. This is the beginning of spiritual understanding.

dehino ’smin yatha dehe

kaumaram yauvanam jara

tatha dehantara-praptir

dhiras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Bg. 2.13) The real mission of human life is to get free from encagement in the material body. Therefore Krsna descends to teach the conditioned soul about spiritual realization and how to become free from material bondage. Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata [bg. 4.7]. The words dharmasya glanih mean “pollution of one’s existence.” Our existence is now polluted, and it must be purified (sattvam suddhyet). The human life is meant for this purification, not for thinking of happiness in terms of the external body, which is the cause of material bondage. Therefore, in this verse, Maharaja Yayati advises that whatever material happiness we see and whatever is promised for enjoyment is all merely flickering and temporary. abrahma-bhuvanal lokah punar avartino ’rjuna [bg. 8.16]. Even if one is promoted to Brahmaloka, if one is not freed from material bondage one must return to this planet earth and continue in the miserable condition of material existence (bhutva bhutva praliyate). One should always keep this understanding in mind so as not to be allured by any kind of sense enjoyment, in this life or in the next. One who is fully aware of this truth is self-realized (sa atma-drk), but aside from him, everyone suffers in the cycle of birth and death (mrtyu-samsara-vartmani). This understanding is one of true intelligence, and anything contrary to this is but a cause of unhappiness. Krsna-bhakta—niskama, ataeva ‘santa.’ Only a Krsna conscious person, who knows the aim and object of life, is peaceful. All others, whether karmis, jnanis or yogis, are restless and cannot enjoy real peace.