Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the secret. People are clamoring now world has increased population. What is that, increase of population? After all, God is feeding you. Whatever you are eating, that is God's gift. You are eating grains, rice, or even if you are eating meat, that doesn't matter; whatever you are eating—you cannot manufacture in the factory. That is God's gift. You cannot manufacture wheat in your factory or rice in your factory or fruits in your factory or even meat in your factory. Your cannot manufacture. So if God is supplying you food, then what is the question of population?
The birds and beasts, they never think of population. One beast is increasing population, giving birth to one dozen children every year. What you can do? You can beget one child in three years or four years, but they are giving birth at one dozen every year. And there are serpents, they are giving thousands and millions of eggs. So where is the question of increasing population in the field of lower animals?
So there is no question of increase of population.
(aside) You please sit down properly.
There is no question of population increasing, because even there is population increase, the supplier is not poor. He can supply immensely. There is no scarcity. There is no question of scarcity. The scarcity is restriction. If you become sinful, there will be restriction of supply, by laws of nature. How is that? Just like you become diseased, the doctor will say, "Don't take food." That is grace. When there is restriction of food supply by nature's law, that is God's grace, because God is good. He is starving you for your welfare.
Just like mother. One child is ill, mother does not give food, and other child is given sufficiently. The one child may say, who is diseased, "Mother, you are not giving me cakes. Why you are giving to my brother?" That is mother's consideration. You should not bother. That is mother's decision that, "This boy, this child, is diseased. If I give him food he'll die, see." Similarly, don't bother yourself the poor man is suffering or the rich man is enjoying. You simply take caution how to increase your Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is real welfare work.
God is taking care, who is supplying food to the animals, beasts, birds. So He'll take care. And there is law. No beast, no bird is dying out of starvation. Simply we are mismanaging things, we are disobeying the laws of nature—therefore we are in trouble, so-called civilized human society. You see? So there is no question of population. This is a false theory, increase of population. No increase of population. Even there is increase of population, if we are actually God conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious, there is no question of increase of population. Yes. This is Vedic, not that I am explaining here. The Vedas says:
- nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām
- eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān
- (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13)
Eko, that one supreme living entity, He is also living entity like us. The Veda says, nityo nityānāṁ. We are so many, millions and numberless living entities. And He is also living entity. He is also like us, person, individual. But the difference is, He is supplying all our necessities. All our necessities He is supplying—birds, beasts. So why should you bother? You simply become truthful, Kṛṣṇa conscious. All supply is there. That's all.
Go on.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "When the body is fully supplied, naturally the next stage is to satisfy the senses. The Vedas prescribe, therefore, sacred marriage for regulated sense gratification."
Prabhupāda: Yes, āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca (Hitopadeśa 25).
These are the bodily demands. After eating, you require some rest, sleeping. Then after sleeping, you get some sex appetite or you want to defend, you want to protect your home. These are necessary of course, but don't do it without regulative principle. If you do without regulative principle, you'll suffer. Just like if you take more salt, you'll suffer. If you take less salt, you'll suffer.
Similarly, if you have no sex life then you'll suffer; if you have more sex life you'll suffer. But if you take sex life, regulative principle, then you'll enjoy life, you'll progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore in human society there is the system of marriage. Not in the animal society. The cats and dogs, they can have sex life in the street, but you cannot.