Srimad Bhagavatham : 6.1.13&14.

Skandham-6.


Chapter-1.


Slokam-13&14.



(13)

tapasa    brahmacaryenasamena      ca    damena    ca,



tyagena     satyasaucabhyam    yamena    niyamena   va.




tapasa=by austerity or voluntary rejection of material enjoyment;

brahmacaryena=by celibacy (the first austerity); 

samena=by controlling the mind; 

ca=and; 

damena=by fully controlling the senses;

ca=also; 

tyagena=by voluntarily giving charity to good causes; 

satya=by truthfulness; 

saucabhyam=and by following regulative principles to keep oneself internally and externally clean; 

yamena=by avoiding cursing and violence; 

niyamena=by regularly chanting the holy name of the Lord;

va=and;




(14)


dehavagbuddhijam     dhira    dharmajnahsraddhayanvitah,



ksipanty agham     mahad    api    venu-gulmam    ivanalah.





deha-vak-buddhi-jam=performed by the body, words and intelligence; 

dhirah=those who are sober; 

dharma-jnah=fully imbued with knowledge of religious principles; 

sraddhaya anvitah=endowed with faith; 

kshipanti=destroy; 

agham=all kinds of sinful activities; 

mahat api—although very great and abominable; 

venu-gulmam=the dried creepers beneath a bamboo tree; 

iva=like; 

nalah=fire.




To concentrate the mind, one must observe a life of celibacy and not fall down. One must undergo the austerity of voluntarily giving up sense enjoyment. One must then control the mind and senses, give charity, be truthful, clean and nonviolent, follow the regulative principles and regularly chant the holy name of the Lord. Thus a sober and faithful person who knows the religious principles is temporarily purified of all sins performed with his body, words and mind. These sins are like the dried leaves of creepers beneath a bamboo tree, which may be burned by fire although their roots remain to grow again at the first opportunity.



Tapah is explained in the smrti-sastra as follows:  “Complete control of the mind and senses and their complete concentration on one kind of activity is called tapah.”  . This is first-class tapah. Brahmacarya, the life of celibacy, has eight aspects: one should not think of women, speak about sex life, dally with women, look lustfully at women, talk intimately with women or decide to engage in sexual intercourse, nor should one endeavor for sex life or engage in sex life. One should not even think of women or look at them, to say nothing of talking with them. This is called first-class brahmacarya. If a brahmacari or sannyasi talks with a woman in a secluded place, naturally there will be a possibility of sex life without anyone’s knowledge. Therefore a complete brahmacari practices just the opposite. If one is a perfect brahmacari, he can very easily control the mind and senses, give charity, speak truthfully and so forth. To begin, however, one must control the tongue and the process of eating.



In the bhakti-marga, the path of devotional service, one must strictly follow the regulative principles by first controlling the tongue . The tongue (jihva) can be controlled if one chants the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, does not speak of any subjects other than those concerning Lord and does not taste anything not offered to Lord. If one can control the tongue in this way, brahmacarya and other purifying processes will automatically follow. It will be explained in the next verse that the path of devotional service is completely perfect and is therefore superior to the path of fruitive activities and the path of knowledge. Acarya explains that austerity involves observing fasts as fully as possible 


To be continued ...