yÄm ÄÅ›rityendriyÄrÄtÄ«n
durjayÄn itarÄÅ›ramaiḥ
vayaá¹ jayema helÄbhir
dasyÅ«n durga-patir yathÄ
yÄm - whom; ÄÅ›ritya - taking shelter of; indriya - senses; arÄtÄ«n - enemies; durjayÄn - difficult to conquer; itara - other than the householders; ÄÅ›ramaiḥ - by orders of society; vayam - we; jayema - can conquer; helÄbhiḥ - easily; dasyÅ«n - invading plunderers; durga-patiḥ - a fort commander; yathÄ - as.
Of the four orders of human society — the student, or brahmacÄrÄ« order, the householder, or gá¹›hastha order, the retired, or vÄnaprastha order, and the renounced, or sannyÄsÄ« order — the householder is on the safe side. The bodily senses are considered plunderers of the fort of the body. The wife is supposed to be the commander of the fort, and therefore whenever there is an attack on the body by the senses, it is the wife who protects the body from being smashed. The sex demand is inevitable for everyone, but one who has a fixed wife is saved from the onslaught of the sense enemies. A man who possesses a good wife does not create a disturbance in society by corrupting virgin girls. Without a fixed wife, a man becomes a debauchee of the first order and is a nuisance in society — unless he is a trained brahmacÄrÄ«, vÄnaprastha or sannyÄsÄ«. Unless there is rigid and systematic training of the brahmacÄrÄ« by the expert spiritual master, and unless the student is obedient, it is sure that the so-called brahmacÄrÄ« will fall prey to the attack of sex. There are so many instances of falldown, even for great yogÄ«s like ViÅ›vÄmitra. A gá¹›hastha is saved, however, because of his faithful wife. Sex life is the cause of material bondage, and therefore it is prohibited in three ÄÅ›ramas and is allowed only in the gá¹›hastha-ÄÅ›rama. The gá¹›hastha is responsible for producing first-quality brahmacÄrÄ«s, vÄnaprasthas and sannyÄsÄ«s.