Text 8] The Perfect Society: Four Spiritual Classes
63
TRANSLATION
A brahmacārī, or one who has not accepted the grhastha-āśrama [family life], must rigidly avoid talking with women or about women, for the senses are so powerful that they may agitate even the mind of a sannyāsī, a member of the renounced order of life.
PURPORT
Brahmacarya  essentially means the vow not to marry but to observe strict celibacy ( bṛhad-vrata ). A  brahmacārī  or  sannyāsī  should avoid talking with women or reading literature concerning talks between man and woman. The injunction restricting association with women is the basic principle of spiritual life. Associating or talking with women is never advised in any of the Vedic literatures. The entire Vedic system teaches one to avoid sex life so that one may gradually progress from  brahmacarya  to  grhastha , from  grhastha  to  vānaprastha , and from  vānaprastha  to  sannyāsa  and thus give up material enjoyment, which is the original cause of bondage to this material world. The word  bṛhad-vrata  refers to one who has decided not to marry, or in other words, not to indulge in sex life throughout his entire life.
TEXT 8
केशप्रसाधनोन्मदस्त्रपनाम्यञ्जनादिकम् । गुरुत्वोमिर्युवतिमिः कारयेन्नात्मनो युवा ॥ ८ ॥
keśa-prasādhanonmarda- snapanābhyañjanādikam guru-strībhir yuvatibhiḥ kārayen nātmano yuvā
keśa-prasādhana —brushing the hair;  unmarda —massaging the body;  snapana —bathing;  abhyañjana-ādikam —massaging the body with oil and so on;  guru-strībhiḥ —by the wife of the spiritual master;  yuvatibhiḥ —very young;  kārayet —should allow to do;  na —never;  ātmanaḥ —for personal service;  yuvā —if the student is a young man.