Text 7]
King Purañjana Goes to the Forest to Hunt
1213
Because demoniac people want to be cheated, so many cheaters are present to cheat them. At the present moment in this age of Kali-yuga, the entire human society has become an assembly of cheaters and cheated. For this reason the Vedic scriptures have given us the proper directions for sense gratification. Everyone is inclined in this age to eat meat and fish, drink liquor, and indulge in sex life, but according to the Vedic injunctions, sex is allowed only in marriage, meat-eating is allowed only when the animal is killed and offered before the goddess Kālī, and intoxication is allowed only in a restricted way. In this verse the word  niyamyate  indicates that all these things—namely, animal killing, intoxication and sex—should be regulated.
Regulations are meant for human beings, not for animals. The traffic regulations on the street, telling people to keep to the right or the left, are meant for human beings, not for animals. If an animal violates such a law, he is never punished, but a human being is punished. The  Vedas  are not meant for the animals but for the understanding of human society. A person who indiscriminately violates the rules and regulations given by the  Vedas  is liable to be punished. One should therefore not enjoy his senses according to his lusty desires but should restrict himself according to the regulative principles given in the  Vedas . If a king is allowed to hunt in a forest, it is not for his sense gratification. We cannot simply experiment in the art of killing. If a king, being afraid to meet rogues and thieves, kills poor animals and eats their flesh comfortably at home, he may lose his position.
Because in this age kings have such demoniac propensities, monarchy is abolished by the laws of nature in every country. People have become so degraded in this age that on the one hand they restrict polygamy and on the other hand they hunt for women in so many ways. Many business concerns publicly advertise that topless girls are available in this club or in that shop. Thus women have become instruments of sense enjoyment in modern society. The  Vedas  enjoin, however, that if a man has the propensity to enjoy more than one wife—as is sometimes the propensity for men in the higher social order, such as the  brāhmaṇas ,  kṣatriyas  and the  vaiśyas , and even sometimes the  śūdras —he is allowed to marry more than one wife. Marriage means taking complete charge of a woman and living peacefully without debauchery. At the present moment, however, debauchery is unrestricted. Nonetheless, society makes a law that one should not marry more than one wife. This is typical of a demoniac society.
TEXT 7
य एवं कर्म नियतं विद्वान् कुर्वीत मानवः ।
कर्मणा तेन राजेन्द्र ज्ञानेन न स लिप्यते ॥ ७ ॥