Text 12]
Ideal Family Life
159
recommends that the necessities of life be supplied to everyone, man or animal, regardless of good or bad qualities.
The idea of giving even one's wife to the service of the public is that one's intimate relationship with his wife, or one's excessive attachment for his wife, by which one thinks his wife to be his better half or to be identical with himself, must gradually be given up. As formerly suggested, the idea of ownership, even of one's family, must be abandoned. The dream of material life is the cause of bondage in the cycle of birth and death, and therefore one should give up this dream. Consequently, in the human form of life one's attachment for his wife should be given up, as suggested herein.
TEXT 12
जह्याद् यदर्थे स्वान् प्राणान्हन्याद् वा पितरं गुरुम् । तस्यां सत्त्वं स्त्रियां जह्याद् यस्तेन ह्यजितो जितः ॥१२॥
jahyād yad-arthe svān prāṇān hanyād vā pitaram gurum tasyām svatvam striyām jahyād yas tena hy ajito jitaḥ
jahyāt—one may give up; yat-arthe—for whom; svān—one's own; prāṇān—life; hanyāt—one may kill; vā—or; pitaram—the father; gurum—the teacher or spiritual master; tasyām—unto her; svatvam—ownership; striyām—unto the wife; jahyāt—one must give up; yaḥ—one who (the Supreme Personality of Godhead); tena—by him; hi—indeed; ajitaḥ—cannot be conquered; jitaḥ—conquered.
TRANSLATION
One so seriously considers one's wife to be his own that he sometimes kills himself for her or kills others, including even his parents or his spiritual master or teacher. Therefore if one can give up his attachment to such a wife, he conquers the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is never conquered by anyone.
PURPORT
Every husband is too much attached to his wife. Therefore, to give up one's connection with his wife is extremely difficult, but if one can