Foolish politicians are too attached to family life. A big
politician means a big family man. An ordinary family man
is attached to his limited family of wife and children, but
big politicians extend the same family feeling to a wider
circle and thus become encumbered by false prestige,
honor, and self-interest. The politician never retires from
politics even if he has enjoyed many covetable posts, like
that of minister or president. The older he is, the more he is
attached to his false prestige. Even at the fag end of his life
he thinks that everything will be spoiled without him. He is so
foolish that he does not see that many other politicians who
thought like him have come and gone, with no gain or loss.
for want of them. These family men, big and small, are like
the small fish in the pools of water that gradually dry up in the
autumn. They are foolish because they think that their
attachment to their family, even at the end of their lives, will
be able to protect them from the cruel hands of death.

As already mentioned, the human life must be divided into
four component parts: the student life, the householder life,
the preparative life, and the life of dedication to the service of
the Lord. One must retire from all sorts of family life, big or
small, at the age of fifty, and thus prepare for the next life.
That is the process of human culture. The householders are
allowed a pension from service so that they can live for a
higher cultural life. But foolish men, reluctant even to accept
this pension, want to artificially increase the duration of their
life. Such foolish men should take lessons from the drying
pools of water and should know, in their own interests, that
life is eternal, continuing even after death. Only the body
changes, whether spiritually or materially. An intelligent man
should be careful to know what sort of body is going to be
awarded him, and thus he must prepare for a better life in
other planets, even if he is reluctant to go back to Godhead.m

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