Beautiful wives and material attachments bind the soul; only detachment enables genuine spiritual progress toward Krishna consciousness.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.3.17 — September 22, 1972, Los Angeles 720922SB-LOS ANGELES [39:03 Minutes] SB-01.03.17_720922SB-LOS ANGELES Prabhupāda: [sings of Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava] [prema-dhvani] Thank you very much.
Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. All glories to Ācāryadeva [obeisances] [break]
Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa! Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto One, Chapter 3, text 17.
[leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] dhānvantaraṁ dvādaśamaṁ trayodaśamam eva ca apāyayat surān anyān mohinyā mohayan striyā [SB 1.3.17] Prabhupāda: Ladies. Ladies. [ladies chant] Word meaning? Pradyumna: [leads chanting of synonyms] dhānvantaram—the incarnation of God named Dhanvantari; dvādaśamam—the twelfth in the line; trayodaśamam—the thirteenth in the line; eva—certainly; ca—and; apāyayat—gave to drink; surān—the demigods; anyān—others; mohinyā—by charming beauty; mohayan—alluring; striyā—in the form of a woman. [12:07] Translation: "In the twelfth incarnation, the Lord appeared as Dhanvantari, and in the thirteenth He allured the atheists by the charming beauty of a woman and gave nectar to the demigods to drink." Prabhupāda: This is very interesting verse.
[laughs] [laughter] To have very charming wife is not very good. [chuckles] And in your country you have got all charming wives. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that there are four kinds of enemies in family life. These are very experienced version.
He says, mātā śatru. In family means we live with father, mother, wife, children. This is family. In your country family does not mean father-mother, only wife and children. But in our country, according to Vedic civilization, family is a large conception: father, mother, brother, sister, sister's son, brother's son.
If there are difficulty, one has to [indistinct]. So on the whole, father, mother, wife and children, consisting of, family. Now Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, "In the family there are enemies." How? Ṛṇa-kartā pitā śatruḥ. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said, "A father who is a great debtor, he is enemy." Because the son inherits the money of the father, similarly, the law is that if the father dies a debtor, the son becomes responsible to pay the debts. That is the law, Manu-saṁhitā.