Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko 'pi na labhyaḥ svarṇa-koṭibhiḥ. You know . . . in your country I have seen many tablets, "Time is money." Yes, actually time is very valuable, but we do not know how to utilize this time. That is the mistake of this present civilization. Time should not be, I mean to say, wasted simply for sense gratification. So far the problem of sense gratification is there, it should be minimized. It should not be increased. Minimized.
Just like according to Vedic system there are brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa—four divisions of the society . . . (indistinct) . . . Brahmacārī, vānaprastha . . . brahmacārī means student life, vānaprastha means retired life and sannyāsa means renounced life. For them the minimum necessities of life is prescribed. And they should be automatically minimum, because they are ordered to beg from door to door and live. The brahmacārī is meant for begging.
Now, no beggar can live very luxuriantly. That is not possible. It is not possible. So if a beggar goes somebody's house, "Mother, give me some alms," so it is not that one is awarding some hundred thousands of rupees or dollars. So naturally, they have minimized their . . . only little luxury or, I mean to say, high standard of life is allowed to the gṛhasthas, according to Vedic system, and the three other sections of the society, they should minimize. Why minimize? Because the idea is not to waste time unnecessarily. Unnecessarily.
After all, either you live very high standard of life or low standard of life . . . there is no question of low standard of life. The proper upkeep of health is cleanliness. If you keep yourself clean, then your, I mean to say, problem of health is solved. Simply cleanliness. "Cleanliness is next to godliness." That is also an English proverb. And in Sanskrit literature also, bāhyābhyantara-śuciḥ (Garuḍa Purāṇa): "One should be cleansed within and without."
So without, you can clean yourself simply by water. By the laws of nature you have got enough water so you can cleanse yourself outside by water. There is no necessity of soap. There is no necessity of anything. Simply if you wash your body with water sufficiently. Of course, in your country it is cold country. In India, common people, they go to the river and take bath very nicely, because it is a tropical climate; there is no trouble. So you can cleanse your body.
There are many saintly person residing on the bank of the river Ganges. Early in the morning they cleanse the body. They go to evacuate on the field. After evacuating they come to the river, cleanse the body very nicely, and smear the body with the clay received from the river, and they sit down at a place and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa—whole day. They don't care for whether they have got to eat or not to eat. By God's grace somebody is coming, somebody is giving something, somebody is giving something. Just like in your country also you are offering, somebody is offering food, somebody is offering something.
So there is arrangement by God's law, everyone shall eat. It is not that . . . you have never seen any animal or any bird has died for starvation. No. There is no starvation in the law of God. Everyone has food. Viṣayaḥ khalu sarvataḥ syāt (SB 11.9.29). By the laws of nature, by God's order, everyone has, I mean to say, provision for four things. What is that? Eating, shelter and sense gratification and defense. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca (Hitopadeśa 25).
This is secure. Everyone. If you see a bird, bird's life . . . by nature, one bird has got another mate. A male and female, they are together. Anywhere you go: a tiger, a tigress; a dog, a she-dog; a hog, a she-hog. So these are not problems. Here also, anyone—a boy, a girl; a man, woman, there is. So the arrangement is there. That is not problem.