Prasanna-manaso. Unless you become joyful in your mind by executing devotional service . . . evaṁ prasanna. Prasanna means joyful. Manasa, manasa means mind. When you are fully joyful in your mind by executing devotional service . . . evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ. How one can become joyful? Simply by executing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Not otherwise. It is not possible.
So austerity means we are not imposing upon you that you go to the forest and you live in a cave or you don't eat or don't see any human being; you just meditate for three hundred years. No. That is not possible. That is not possible. You cannot go to the forest, you cannot go to the mountain, neither you can meditate. All these are not recommended in this age. That is not possible. If somebody imitates or tries to imitate, he is simply wasting time. Only austerity is that don't have illicit sex life just like cats and dogs.
Because marriage is recommended in the human society. There is no marriage in cat society, dog society, hog society. Any human society you take, either in the Western world or in the Eastern world, or in Christian society, Hindu society, Muhammadan society—in every civilized human society there is a ceremony called marriage. And that is also Vedic system, that one should not have any illicit sex life, but one should be combined according to religious rite and live peacefully and execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This much austerity.
The next austerity we say that, "Don't take any animal food." There is no need of taking. Perhaps you are coming to our Love Feast. We can prepare . . . of course, these boys and girls, they are not very expert, but still, whatever they have learned, and they are supplying prasādam to your American boys and girls, and people, they are appreciating very much. In Los Angeles—that is our biggest temple in your country—we get in every Love Feast day not less than two hundred guests. They come from far away with their car and they take. They like it. You see?
So if you accept this austerity that, "We shall not eat meat, but we can have very nice foodstuff from grains, from fruits, from vegetables, milk, sugar, so many nice foodstuff," you will forget. Simply you have to learn. That is not very severe austerity. Simply our process is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, how from this present consciousness we want to change to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So these austerities are required: no illicit sex life, no meat-eating, no intoxication. No intoxication. Our boys and girls, they do not even smoke, they do not take tea, coffee, and what to speak of other intoxicants. They were intoxicated. Some of them were LSD, but they have given up to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And no gambling. These four principles you accept. It is not very difficult, not very severe. Simply you have to be willing, "Yes. Why? If I can live on such nice foodstuff, why shall I take to animal food, for which so many animals have to be killed, so many birds have to be killed?"
So Ṛṣabhadeva . . . it is not new introduction. Ṛṣabhadeva also instructed His boys, princes that, "My dear boys, if you simply indulge in sense gratification, then the result will be that you cannot get real, unlimited happiness." The whole program, austerity, He is advising to His sons that, "My dear boys, this beautiful body, this opportunity, you cannot misuse it simply for sense gratification." But tapa putrakā: "My dear boys, you please accept austerity."
Now I have explained what is our austerity. It is very simple, four items of austerity, nothing more. We are not stopping your love or your sex life. No. Simply we are trying to regulate it. That's all. There is no question of stopping your eating or stopping your mating or stopping your sleeping or stopping your defending. Nothing. No stop. But don't increase the degree to the death point.
Just like for to live, when we live, we must have some temperature. When there is no temperature, that means he is dead body. But that temperature should not be increased to the 107 degree. That should be controlled. You see? We must have some temperature. Without temperature, if our body is cold completely, then it is finished.