CC Adi 2.17
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 17
- munayo vāta-vāsanāḥ
- śramaṇā ūrdhva-manthinaḥ
- brahmākhyaṁ dhāma te yānti
- śāntāḥ sannyāsino ’malāḥ
SYNONYMS
munayaḥ—saints; vāta-vāsanāḥ—naked; śramanāḥ—who perform severe physical penances; ūrdhva—raised up; manthinaḥ—whose semen; brahma-ākhyam—known as Brahmaloka; dhāma—to the abode; te—they; yānti—go; śāntāḥ—equipoised in Brahman; sannyāsinaḥ—who are in the renounced order of life; amalāḥ—pure.
TRANSLATION
“Naked saints and sannyāsīs who undergo severe physical penances, who can raise the semen to the brain, and who are completely equipoised in Brahman can live in the realm known as Brahmaloka.”
PURPORT
In this verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (SB 11.6.47), vāta-vāsanāḥ refers to mendicants who do not care about anything material, including clothing, but who depend wholly on nature. Such sages do not cover their bodies even in severe winter or scorching sunshine. They take great pains not to avoid any kind of bodily suffering, and they live by begging from door to door. They never discharge their semen, either knowingly or unknowingly. By such celibacy they are able to raise the semen to the brain. Thus they become most intelligent and develop very sharp memories. Their minds are never disturbed or diverted from contemplation on the Absolute Truth, nor are they ever contaminated by desire for material enjoyment. By practicing austerities under strict discipline, such mendicants attain a neutral state transcendental to the modes of nature and merge into the impersonal Brahman.