Meeting of Lord Krṣṇa with Sudāmā Brāhmaṇa
181
These instructions given by Lord Krṣṇa while talking with His friend the learned  brāhmaṇa  are very good for the guidance of human society. A system of human civilization that does not promote  varṇa  and  āśrama  is nothing but polished animal society. Indulgence in sex life by a man or woman living single is never acceptable in human society. A man should either strictly follow the principles of  brahmacārī  life or, with the permission of the spiritual master, should get married. Single life with illicit sex is animal life. For the animals there is no marriage institution.
Modern society does not aim at fulfilling the mission of human life. The mission of human life is to go back home, back to Godhead. To fulfill this mission, the system of  varṇa  and  āśrama  must be followed. When the system is followed rigidly and consciously, it fulfills this mission of life. When it is followed indirectly, without guidance of superior order, then it simply creates a disturbing condition in human society, and there is no peace and prosperity.
Krṣṇa continued to talk with His  brāhmaṇa  friend: “My dear friend, I think you remember our activities during the days when we were living as students. You may remember that once we went to collect fuel from the forest on the order of the  guru ’s wife. While we were collecting the dried wood, we by chance entered the dense forest and became lost. There was an unexpected dust storm and then clouds and lightning in the sky and the explosive sound of thunder. Then sunset came, and we were lost in the dark jungle. After this, there was severe rainfall; the whole ground was overflooded with water, and we could not trace out the way to return to our  guru ’s  āśrama . You may remember that heavy rainfall—it was not actually rainfall but a sort of devastation. On account of the dust storm and the heavy rain, we began to feel greatly pained, and in whichever direction we turned we were bewildered. In that distressed condition, we took each other’s hand and tried to find our way out. We passed the whole night in that way, and early in the morning when our absence became known to our  gurudeva , he sent his other disciples to search us out. He also came with them, and when they reached us in the jungle they found us to be very distressed.
“With great compassion our  gurudeva  said, ‘My dear boys, it is very wonderful that you have suffered so much trouble for me. Everyone likes to take care of his body as the first consideration, but you are so good and faithful to your  guru  that without caring for bodily comforts you have taken so much trouble for me. I am also glad to see that bona fide students like you will undergo any kind of trouble for the satisfaction of the spiritual master. That is the way for a bona fide disciple to become free