Responsibility in marriage and absolute fidelity to scriptural authority are both essential to authentic spiritual practice.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Prabhupāda: ...aniya mahat-pado smariya gurave namaḥ. In a short time he has learned very nicely. sahasra-pa-parābdamnam ācāryaṁ te māyāṁ sadā kintu tvamsudaya śilā tasmād tubhyāṁ namo namaḥ namaste prabhupādāya śreṣṭha vedyaṁ dadāsi te tasya padāśraya-kośaṁ namaste gurave namaḥ oṁ śrīmad-bhāgavataṁ gītā caitanya-caritāmṛta ca sundara-bhāgavatam cami bhaktiko manyave bhavān[?] I am surprised that he has learned so quickly. Very nice. Rādhā-vallabha: Very intelligent boy. Prabhupāda: Yes. He should be given that. Rādhā-vallabha: Anyway, he made one arrangement with another devotee to 1 marry this devotee's daughter. Prabhupāda: Hmm? Rādhā-vallabha: He is nineteen years old, and he made arrangement with... Prabhupāda: This boy? Rādhā-vallabha: Yes.
The boy that wrote that. And he made arrangement with another devotee to marry her daughter at a later date. She's only twelve. So I've told him not to do anything until I spoke to you, because I don't think this has ever been done in our movement yet. Prabhupāda: Hmm? Rādhā-vallabha: I don't think anyone has ever done this before in our movement, the Vedic system.
So I had a few questions about it. First of all I told them that they shouldn't associate until the actual time that they get married. That's true, isn't it? Prabhupāda: No, no, marriage, they do not speak. That is the disease in your country, that...
There is no objection nineteen-years-old boy and twelve-years girl, it is very good combination, but the culture is so bad that after few days they will separate. Rādhā-vallabha: Yes. That's the actual problem. Prabhupāda: If they stick to have one husband and one wife, it is very good. Or even the man can marry more than one wife. That is allowed in the Vedic system.
The difficulty is nobody remains as wife, nobody remains husband. It is very dangerous. That is against Vedic... Otherwise man can have more than one wife, but woman cannot marry more than one husband.
But the system—the boys and girls intermingle so freely, and in your country there is no restriction—naturally it becomes adulterated. That is the danger.
Rādhā-vallabha: So he wanted to know that...