What does Prabhupada’s statement “All men should remain as brahmacharis and all women should get married” mean?

From Rahul

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Question from Rahul Prabhu.
What does Shrila Prabhupada’s statement that all men should remain brahmacharis and all women should get married mean? Answer. This is a rhetorical statement meant to emphasise the point of making choices that are conducive for spiritual realisation. From a practical perspective, it is not possible.
Men and women, if women are to be married, they are to be married to men. So therefore, Shrila Prabhupada himself knows the point of the statement if you want to take it from a literal perspective. And also if you look at Shrila Prabhupada’s own life, we see that he arranged for the marriages of his disciples.
So he definitely, he was himself married before. And he arranged for the marriages of his disciples. So this statement is not to be taken literally.
What it essentially means is that everyone should make choices that are favourable for one’s spiritual realisation. So the Vedic culture envisions spiritual journey as a progression. So Krishna is at the top to whom we want to reach.
The Guru is connected with Krishna. Then the husband becomes connected with the Guru and the wife becomes connected with the husband. The children become connected with the wife.
And this is like a train which moves forward and ultimately reaches the destination of Krishna. So the point when it is said that all men should remain brahmacharis, it is not that Prabhupada is recommending absolute no marriage for men. The point is brahmacharati.
That if the men can stay on the spiritual platform, then the men can guide the family, lead the family towards Krishna. So when a man and a woman unite, get married and unite, at that time, if the man comes down to the bodily platform and stays at the bodily platform, then the connection that is necessary for spiritual advancement, that gets lost. And then the person stays on the bodily platform and gets dragged down also.
So therefore, when men are not attached, when men have, by the practice of Krishna consciousness, by the practice of purification, developed adequate philosophical understanding and have developed adequate purification, then even in marriage, they don’t see the marriage just as an arrangement for sexual gratification. They see the marriage as an arrangement for spiritual advancement. That’s why the word that is used for a spouse in Vedic culture is dharmapatni.
So when the men are at the brahmachari platform, in the sense of brahmacharati, that the men live at the spiritual platform, strive for the spiritual platform through sadhana, then the family life itself becomes a means for spiritual advancement. And in this way, the wife, she cooperates with and follows the husband and together they can all make spiritual advancement. So when men should remain brahmacharis means men should strive to stay at the spiritual platform.
And if they can be in the brahmachari ashram, well and good. But that is not a choice that most men are likely to take. So the idea is that those who go into brahmachari ashram also, they keep the spiritual platform as the central goal of their life.
And try to orient their life in such a way that advancing towards the spiritual platform is what they are moving towards. Now for women, it is important that they be protected. So the protection for women comes in grahastha ashram through marriage.
So therefore, when all women should be married, the point of the statement is that, that is the choice which is most favorable for their spiritual advancement. For a woman, as long as there is no secure material arrangement through a stable marriage, it is very difficult to be free from the insecurity. In today’s culture, women have jobs, they have their careers, and then they have their own charts of advancement in material life.
At the same time, the fact remains that the female body is more prone to be exploited, and being weaker is vulnerable. And that’s why there are so many rapes and gang rapes provoke such outrage, even in today’s culture. So the point is that women need protection.
So in today’s society, there is a demand for greater protection of women from police. Yes, the legal protection is important. But along with that, there is a marital protection also.
And that protection is not just physical, it’s also emotional, psychological. There is a steady relationship with the person. So in the female body, one can either be at the sexual platform or one can be at the maternal platform.
So as long as one is at the sexual platform, one is at the bodily platform, trying to attract others, and one is trying to evoke attention. And that sort of thing is undesirable for the spiritual culture. The maternal platform is not necessarily entirely spiritual, but it is conducive to spirituality, because it is materially stable.
One cannot be a sexually attractive person throughout one’s life, but one can have a motherly disposition, and offer motherly care throughout one’s life. So when a woman is married, she has a stable family, has children. Then, by helping the husband in the practice of dharma, by taking care of the children, so that they can also grow up with dharmic samskaras, then through this sort of service, and through her own spiritual practice, the woman can make steady spiritual advancement.
So the point of the statement is, that for both men and women, they should make choices that are conducive for their spiritual advancement. So for a man, to live on the spiritual platform is conducive, and some brahmacharya training, along with living at a spiritual level, that is very good. And for a woman, to come to the spiritual level, to live at the spiritual level, the married state, where one is under protection, is the most stable and steady platform.
And that’s why it is recommended. So the thrust of the statement is, that both men and women should make choices, that help them to make spiritual advancement.