286
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 6, Ch. 5]
also very much afraid. However, we have no alternative than to teach our disciples to free themselves from materialistic life. We must instruct them in the opposite of material life to save them from the repetition of birth and death.
Nārada Muni, therefore, advised the Haryaśvas, the sons of Prajāpati Dakṣa, that instead of begetting progeny, it would be better to leave and achieve the perfection of spiritual understanding according to the instructions of the  śāstras . The importance of the  śāstras  is mentioned in  Bhagavad-gītā  (16.23):
yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ na sa siddhim avāpnoti na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim
“One who disregards the injunctions of the  śāstras  and acts whimsically, as he likes, never achieves the perfection of life, not to speak of happiness. Nor does he return home to the spiritual world.”
TEXT 21
इति व्यवसिता राजन् हर्यश्चा एकचेतसः । प्रययुस्तं परिक्रम्य पन्थानमनिवर्तनम् ॥२१॥
iti vyavasitā rājan haryaśvā eka-cetasaḥ prayayus taṁ parikramya panthānam anivartanam
iti —thus;  vyavasitāḥ —being fully convinced by the instructions of Nārada Muni;  rājan —O King;  haryaśvāḥ —the sons of Prajāpati Dakṣa;  eka-cetasaḥ —all being of the same opinion;  prayayuh —left;  tam —Nārada Muni;  parikramya —circumambulating;  panthānam —on the path;  anivartanam —which does not bring one back again to this material world.