View source for Every Sanskrit word has got elaborate meaning. Grhastha means one who stays in grha, in house. He is called grhastha

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[[Category:Grhastha]]
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Lectures" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures"><h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonBG131LondonJuly241973_0" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="20" link="Lecture on BG 1.31 -- London, July 24, 1973" link_text="Lecture on BG 1.31 -- London, July 24, 1973">
<div class="heading">Every Sanskrit word has got elaborate meaning. Gṛhastha means one who stays in gṛha, in house. He is called gṛhastha. So we can be called gṛhastha also. We are living in house. No. Śāstra says, na gṛhaṁ gṛham ity āhuḥ: "Simply a house is not gṛha." There must be the housewife. That means wife.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 1.31 -- London, July 24, 1973|Lecture on BG 1.31 -- London, July 24, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So there are two things, śreyas and preyas. Here Arjuna is speaking of śreyas. Śreyas means ultimate good, and preyas means immediately palatable. That is called preyas. So everyone should be interested for śreyas, not for preyas. Just like a child, he likes to play all day and night. Naturally. Playful child. So that is called preyas. He likes immediate pleasure. But his father says, "My dear child, just go to school or read book." So father is asking for śreyas, ultimate good. If he is not educated at the, at childhood, then how he will prosper in his future life? So considering the future prospect, ultimate good, that is called śreyas. And preyas means immediate. Just like we eat something which I may not digest, or it may have some bad effect later on. But people are interested—the immediate benefit, without calculation of future benefit.</p>
<p>So Arjuna is considering with reference to his future, that "If I kill my kinsmen, what benefit there will be? I want victory, I want kingdom, to become happy, but if my all kinsmen are killed, then what is the value of my victory? With whom I shall enjoy?" He is thinking like that. Society... The same thing: society, friendship and love. Everyone wants to enjoy life with society, friends. Nobody wants to enjoy life alone. That is not possible. This is not natural. So wherefrom we got this idea, that I cannot enjoy alone? Just like generally a person is alone, but he gets a wife with a hope for enjoying family life, children, wife, friends. Gṛha-kṣetra, ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittaiḥ. Gṛha means apartment, and kṣetra means land. Gṛha-kṣetra-suta. Suta means children. Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra-suta āpta. Āpta means friends, society. Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittaiḥ. Āpta means friends, society, and to support all these things—gṛha, kṣetra, suta, āpta—there is required money, vitta. Vitta means money. Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti ([[Vanisource:SB 5.5.8|SB 5.5.8]]). This is material life. Gṛha, kṣetra. "I must have Gṛha." Gṛha means with wife. Na gṛhaṁ gṛham ity āhur gṛhiṇī gṛham ucyate. Gṛha. Gṛha means house.</p>
<p>So we are also living in house, very nice house. But still, we are not gṛhastha. A Gṛha, to live in a house, does not mean a gṛhastha. Na gṛhaṁ gṛham ity āhuḥ. Gṛhastha means gṛha. Gṛhe tiṣṭhati iti gṛhastha. Every Sanskrit word has got elaborate meaning. Gṛhastha means one who stays in gṛha, in house. He is called gṛhastha. So we can be called gṛhastha also. We are living in house. No. Śāstra says, na gṛhaṁ gṛham ity āhuḥ: "Simply a house is not gṛha." There must be the housewife. That means wife. Gṛhiṇī gṛham ucyate. In Hindi this word is used, garbhali means if there is no wife, that is not gṛha. And another Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, putra-hīnaṁ gṛhaṁ śūnyam. "You have got wife, but if you have no children, that gṛha is also void." So gṛhastha means to live with wife and children, and cultivating spiritual life. That is called gṛhastha. It doesn't matter, you live with your wife and children, or you live with brahmacārī, sannyāsī. Anything. It doesn't matter. Therefore there are so many divisions of life. Whichever status of life is suitable for you, you can accept. Brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa āśrama. Āśrama, when the word is added, āśrama, that means it has got reference with cultivation of spiritual life. So gṛhastha-āśrama. One can live at home with wife and children, but the business should be Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We don't accept the Māyāvādī sannyāsī because there is no Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Simply by becoming sannyāsī... Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā: "This world is false. Brahman is truth. So I give up this world." That kind of sannyāsī we do not accept. Either you become gṛhastha or sannyāsī or brahmacārī, there must be Kṛṣṇa. Then it will be called āśrama. Gṛhastha-āśrama, sannyāsa-āśrama, brahmacārī-āśrama. Therefore this word is added, āśrama.</p>
<p>So Arjuna is in gṛhastha-āśrama. He wants to serve Kṛṣṇa. He's Kṛṣṇa's friend. He is a devotee. Kṛṣṇa has already recommended. In the Fourth Chapter He will declare, bhakto 'si priyo 'si me ([[Vanisource:BG 4.3|BG 4.3]]). "You are My dear friend. You are My devotee." So he is qualified, gṛhastha-āśramī. He is devotee of Kṛṣṇa, but he is also family man. He has his wife, children. So here the problem is what is śreyas? What is ultimate good? That is mistaken here. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā is required. He is thinking that "Kṛṣṇa is not so important. My family is important. My family." Although he is devotee. Therefore kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, in the lower stage of devotee, in the lower stage of devotion, one may be interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but his real interest is how to improve this material life. Just like: "O God, give us our daily bread." So he has gone to God not to serve God, but to take bread. Ārtaḥ arthārthī. That is also good. But he... Because he has gone to God to ask for bread, he is better than the rascals who do not care for God. He has gone to God. That is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā. Ārto jijñāsur arthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ janāḥ sukṛtino 'rjuna ([[Vanisource:BG 7.16|BG 7.16]]). "Arjuna, four kinds of people, they become devotee." Who are they? Ārta. Ārta means distressed. Arthārthī, one who is poor, wants some money; jijñāsu, inquisitive; and jñānī, and a man of knowledge. So ārtaḥ arthārthī, this is meant, this is referred to the gṛhastha. The gṛhasthas, they become sometimes distressed. The gṛhastha-āśrama means unless there is Kṛṣṇa or full consciousness of Kṛṣṇa, it is simply miserable, simply miserable. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam ([[Vanisource:BG 8.15|BG 8.15]]). Simply working hard day and night, then there is, child is sick, then wife is not satisfied, the servant is not satisfied... So many things, problem. But if there is Kṛṣṇa in the center, the all problems will be solved. But people do not know this. They think that "I shall be happy with wife, children, servants, house, and this and that." No. That is not possible. Therefore one should be in gṛhastha-āśrama. Not only in family life. Family, the dogs have got family life. He has got wife, children. The cats and the hogs, a big family. Because a hog begets, at a time, one dozen children. What you beget? You are afraid of begetting one child even. This contraceptive method. But they are not afraid. They beget one dozen children at a time, twice in a year. So to live with family, wife, children... Then the hog accepts family life. No. That is not family life. You live with wife, children, peacefully, if you like, but bring in Kṛṣṇa in the center. That is gṛhastha-āśrama.</p>
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