A small story:🔗

A thirty-year-old man goes to the doctor. After a thorough medical checkup, the doctor says, 'Your health is not for married life. You have to completely drop your physical relationship. You have to be celibate alone. This man says, 'No, no, I am just thirty! I cannot suddenly quit; I cannot suddenly stop. Give me

some other alternative.' The doctor said, 'Ok, marry. Slowly it will automatically taper down!'

Understand, usually a deep hatred replaces your need for lust. But the truth is a deep friendliness can replace the need for physical relationship. If the deep friendliness replaces the need for physical relationship, that is what we call 'Vanaprastha' in the Vedic tradition, a ripened married life. When the married life gets ripened, it is called 'Vanaprastha'.

During the Vedic marriage, the blessing is given to the man, 'Let you become the eleventh son of your wife'. For the woman, the blessing is given, 'Let you become the eleventh daughter of your husband'. It means after ten years of living together, if the deep friendliness grows, suddenly you will see the need for physical relationship comes down, tapers down. So, I really feel the marriage system has something to contribute.

At least our masters had something in their heart when they created this system of family. So surely, marriage system has something to add to you more than just the animal life. I can say that something is the deep friendliness. I can say, the physical relationship is more like confirming whether the other person is still in need of me and wants me and wanting to know whether the other person still loves me or not.

If the guarantee, the confirmation, the security that the person is in love with you, needs you and will miss you, settles down in both the hearts, suddenly, you will see the need for physical relationship comes down. I can say, that is the gift, the fruit that you were supposed to have from the proper marriage system. That is the thing that animals cannot experience. Polygamous man can never experience the guarantee, the insurance that the other person loves you. If you experienced that, you have lived a pure fulfilling life, the life of a true, Vedic traditional 'grihastha'.