Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 5 - Chapter 1 - Verse 14


Sanskrit:

तांस्तान् विपन्नान् स हि तत्र तत्रविहाय जातं परिगृह्य सार्थ: ।आवर्ततेऽद्यापि न कश्चिदत्रवीराध्वन: पारमुपैति योगम् ॥ १४ ॥

ITRANS:

tāṁs tān vipannān sa hi tatra tatravihāya jātaṁ parigṛhya sārthaḥāvartate ’dyāpi na kaścid atravīrādhvanaḥ pāram upaiti yogam

Translation:

My dear King, on the forest path of material life, first a person is bereft of his father and mother, and after their death he becomes attached to his newly born children. In this way he wanders on the path of material progress and is eventually embarrassed. Nonetheless, no one knows how to get out of this, even up to the moment of death.

Purport:

In this material world, family life is an institution of sex. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukham (Bhāg. 7.9.45). Through sex, the father and mother beget children, and the children get married and go down the same path of sexual life. After the death of the father and mother, the children get married and beget their own children. Thus generation after generation these things go on in the same way without anyone’s attaining liberation from the embarrassment of material life. No one accepts the spiritual processes of knowledge and renunciation, which end in bhakti-yoga. Actually human life is meant for jñāna and vairāgya, knowledge and renunciation. Through these one can attain the platform of devotional service. Unfortunately people in this age avoid the association of liberated people (sādhu-saṅga) and continue in their stereotyped way of family life. Thus they are embarrassed by the exchange of money and sex.