Impersonalists, they do not know what is love. Because he's one. Their philosophy is oneness. So how there can be love, one? Is it possible? Have you got any such experience? Love means one? No. Love means two. There must be two, the lover and the beloved. So lover... Kṛṣṇa is already lover. He's so lover of you that He's trying to get you back. That is Kṛṣṇa's attempt. "Please, My dear boy, or My dear friend, My dear servant..." Any way, as we are related, He's after us.
- yadā yadā hi dharmasya
- glānir bhavati bhārata
- abhyutthānam adharmasya
- tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham
- (BG 4.7)
He's situated within your heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 18.61). Just see how much He loves you. He's trying always to get you back to home. And He says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "You rascal, why you are engaged in such nasty things, material life? You come to Me. You'll be happy. I shall give you all protection." "No, Sir, I am not going. I shall become a hog, and I shall eat stool. That, that is my advancement of material civilization." You see. Hog means he has no discrimination of food. That is hog. You have seen, a hog can eat up to the stool. So anyone who has no human brain, has no discrimination of food, anything he can eat, he's a hog. "Anything, anyone, never mind, mother, sister or anyone, let us have sex life"—that is hog's life. You'll find the hog's life is practical like that, to eat anything and have sex life with anyone. That is hog's life. Is it not? What is the hog? You have seen hog? They have no discrimination of sex and no discrimination of food. That is hog's life.
So therefore śāstra says that "This human life is not meant for becoming a hog." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). You are working so hard, day and night, very busy, going this side, that side, this side, that side, and getting money, and leading a life like hog. What is this civilization? This is not civilization. Then what is civilization? That is also said, tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). This is Ṛṣabhadeva's instruction to His sons. "My dear boys, this life, this human form of life, is not meant for wasting like hogs and dogs, but tapasya, just have little restraint. Don't become hogs and dogs." What is that restraint? Just like we are prescribing, no illicit sex. No illicit sex. Sex is not stopped. Sex is there. But no illicit sex. Illicit sex—unnecessary sex life. Sex life is meant for human beings. There is regulation. Sex life is meant for producing nice children, that's all, not for sense enjoyment. Therefore one is trained as brahmacārī from the very beginning.
The brahmacārī means no sex life. No sex life. Even the guru... Sometimes guru... Mostly in a school, the teachers, they were householders. It is restricted, "If the guru has a young wife, you should not go to carry out her order." It is restricted. This is brahmacārī life, voluntarily accepting hardship for making life successful. That is brahmacārī life. And then married life. Married life. When the... Brahmacārī is meant for the boys, not for the girls. Girls, they are to be married. A brahmacārī may remain unmarried for life, but according to Vedic civilization, a girl must be married. As soon as... Before the age of attaining puberty, it is the duty of the father, or if she has no father, it is the duty of the elder brother to get her married somehow or other. (laughter) Give her in responsibility to another young man. This is the duty. Yes. This is the duty. So therefore... Female population is always bigger than the male population. Then you can ask, "Where so many husbands?" Therefore polygamy was allowed. And the kings, the kṣatriyas who had money and who had very nice strength also, they used to marry more than one wife. You'll find all the kṣatriyas... Even Kṛṣṇa, the best kṣatriya, He married 16,108 wives. Wholesale. (laughter) Yes.
So Kṛṣṇa, as kṣatriya, proved how much strong He was, how much able He was, that He married sixteen thousand wives, and for each wife, separate establishment, separate servants, separate house, separate palace. Everything separate. Not that "I marry only. Therefore I have no responsibility." Not like that. That is Kṛṣṇa, ideal. He married 16,108, but He had 16,108 palaces, big big palace. And palace all made of nice, what is called, marble, and decorated with jewels. The... Kṛṣṇa's house, there was no need of this light. The jewels were glittering. These are description in the Bhāgavata. And the furnitures were married of ivory. That is Kṛṣṇa's house. And the garden, compound, pārijāta flower. Then is that sufficient? A woman will be satisfied simply with this palace, nice palace, and...? No. He expanded Himself into 16,108 Kṛṣṇas. Each and every wife is able to receive her husband individually. So anyway, you cannot imitate Kṛṣṇa, neither you can do like that, neither you can marry sixteen thousand, but you can marry—that is Vedic civilization—more than one wife. Because every female must be married, so where are so many husbands? So therefore polygamy was allowed, but the man who marries, he must be able to maintain the wife very nicely. That is Hindu, or Vedic civilization. That is kuṭumba, kuṭumba-bharaṇa, maintaining the family.