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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 4, Ch. 28]
śītoṣṇa-vāta-varṣāṇi kṣut-pipāse priyāpriye sukha-duḥkhe iti dvandvāny ajayat sama-darśanaḥ
śīta—cold; uṣṇa—heat; vāta—wind; varṣāṇi—and rainy seasons; kṣut—hunger; pipāse—and thirst; priya—pleasant; apriye—and unpleasant; sukha—happiness; duḥkhe—and distress; iti—thus; dvandvāni—dualities; ajayat—he conquered; sama-darśanaḥ—equipoised.
TRANSLATION
Through austerity, King Malayadhvaja in body and mind gradually became equal to the dualities of cold and heat, happiness and distress, wind and rain, hunger and thirst, the pleasant and the unpleasant. In this way he conquered all relativities.
PURPORT
Liberation means becoming free from the relativities of the world. Unless one is self-realized, he has to undergo the dual struggle of the relative world. In  Bhagavad-gītā  Lord Kṛṣṇa advises Arjuna to conquer all relativities through tolerance. Lord Kṛṣṇa points out that it is the relativities like winter and summer that give us trouble in the material world. In the winter we do not like taking a bath, but in the summer we wish to take a bath twice, thrice or more a day. Thus Kṛṣṇa advises us not to be disturbed by such relativities and dualities when they come and go.
The common man has to undergo much austerity to become equipoised before dualities. One who becomes agitated by the relativities of life has accepted a relative position and must therefore undergo the austerities prescribed in the  śāstras  to transcend the material body and put an end to material existence. King Malayadhvaja underwent severe austerities by leaving his home, going to Kulācala, taking his bath in the sacred rivers and eating only vegetables like stems, roots, seeds, flowers and leaves, avoiding any cooked food or grains. These are very, very austere practices. In this age it is very difficult to leave home and go to the forest or the Himalayas to adopt the processes of austerity. Indeed, it is almost impossible. If one is even advised to give up meat-eating, drinking, gambling and illicit sex, one will fail to do so. What, then, would a person do if he went to the Himalayas or Kulācala? Such acts of renunciation are not possible in this age; therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa has advised us to accept the  bhakti-yoga  process.