294
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 6]
PURPORT
The climax of the system of  varṇāśrama-dharma  or  sanātana-dharma  is clearly expressed here in this particular verse of  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam . The highest benefit that can be awarded to a human being is to train him to be detached from sex life, particularly because due to sex indulgence only the conditioned life of material existence continues birth after birth. Human civilization in which there is no control of sex life is a fourth-class civilization because in such an atmosphere there is no liberation of the soul encaged in the material body. Birth, death, old age and disease are related to the material body, and they have nothing to do with the spirit soul. But as long as the bodily attachment for sensual enjoyment is encouraged, the individual spirit soul is forced to continue the repetition of birth and death on account of the material body, which is compared to garments subjected to the law of deterioration.
In order to award the highest benefit of human life, the  varṇāśrama  system trains the follower to adopt the vow of celibacy beginning from the order of  brahmacārī . The  brahmacārī  life is for students who are educated to follow strictly the vow of celibacy. Youngsters who have had no taste of sex life can easily follow the vow of celibacy, and once fixed in the principle of such a life, one can very easily continue to the highest perfectional stage, attaining the kingdom of the three-fourths energy of the Lord. It is already explained that in the cosmos of three-fourths energy of the Lord, there is neither death nor fear, and one is full of the blissful life of happiness and knowledge. A householder attached to family life can easily give up such a life of sex indulgence if he has been trained in the principles of the life of  brahmacārī . A householder is recommended to quit home at the end of fifty years ( pañcasordham vanam vrajet ) and live a life in the forest; then, being fully detached from family affection, he may accept the order of renunciation as a  sannyāsī  fully engaged in the service of the Lord. Any form of religious principles in which the followers are trained to pursue the vow of celibacy is good for the human being because only those who are trained in that way can end the miserable life of material existence. The principles of  nirvāṇa , as recommended by Lord Buddha, are also meant for ending the miserable life of material existence. And this process, in the highest degree, is recommended here in the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , with clear perception of ideal perfection, although basically there is no difference between the process of Buddhists, Śaṅkarites and Vaiṣṇavites. For promotion to the highest status of perfection, namely freedom from birth and death, anxiety and fearfulness, not one of these processes allows the follower to break the vow of celibacy.