If you want to solve your problem for good, then these are the formulas we have described. What is that?
Tapasya: you have to undergo austerities; you have to follow the restricted sex life—brahmacaryeṇa. Śamena—controlling the mind, controlling the senses. Then tyāgena, by renunciation, tyāgena. Satya-śaucābhyāṁ—by cleanliness, by truthfulness. Yamena, niyamena vā. So many formulas there are. If you do not follow this, then there is no excuse. Nature will not excuse you, he'll put you always in trouble.
There are 8,400,000 species of life we will have to . . . sometimes we are very comfortable, Americans, and sometimes something else, something else, something else. So this is troublesome. We do not know—we forget. Our past lives we have forgotten since we have got this body; similarly, when you get another body we shall forget. But each life is a chapter of suffering, that's all—different kinds of suffering. So if you actually anxious to make a solution of your life, then you have to follow the rules and regulations of life. The books are the Vedic regulations, Vedic culture, scriptures. They are there to guide you. They are not meant for animals; they are meant for human society. Because they have got developed consciousness they can accept it, they can follow it. If a man wants to become very good man, he can become; he has got the capacity. So these are the processes recommended. So:
- deha-vāg-buddhijaṁ dhīrā
- dharmajñāḥ śraddhayānvitāḥ
- kṣipanty aghaṁ mahad api
- veṇu-gulmam ivānalaḥ
- (SB 6.1.14)
So knowingly or unknowingly we are put into such a condition that knowingly or unknowingly we have to commit something which is not very favorable for our future. But those who are cautious . . . the same example: just like you are cautious while traveling, while, I mean to say, driving in your car on the road you are very cautious. You stop your car when there is red light; you turn according to the direction; you don't violate the laws. In a street you have to follow so many rules.