Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.1.26

eteshām kavir mahāvīrah savana iti traya āsann ūrdhva-retasas ta ātma-vidyāyām arbha-bhāvād ārabhya krita-paricayāh pāramahamsyam evāśramam abhajan

SYNONYMS

eteshām — of these; kavih — Kavi; mahāvīrah — Mahāvīra; savanah — Savana; iti — thus; trayah — three; āsan — were; ūrdhva-retasah — completely celibate; te — they; ātma-vidyāyām — in transcendental knowledge; arbha-bhāvāt — from childhood; ārabhya — beginning; krita-paricayāh — very well versed; pāramahamsyam — of the highest spiritual perfection of human life; eva — certainly; āśramam — the order; abhajan — executed.

TRANSLATION

Three among these ten — namely Kavi, Mahāvīra and Savana — lived in complete celibacy. Thus trained in brahmacārī life from the beginning of childhood, they were very conversant with the highest perfection, known as the paramahamsa-āśrama.

PURPORT

The word ūrdhva-retasah in this verse is very significant. Ūrdhva-retah refers to one who can control sex life and who instead of wasting semen by discharging it, can use this most important substance accumulated in the body to enrich the brain. One who can completely control sex life is able to work wonderfully with his brain, especially in remembering. Thus students who simply hear Vedic instructions once from their teacher could remember them verbatim without needing to read books, which therefore did not exist in former times.

Another significant word is arbha-bhāvāt, which means "from very childhood." Another meaning is "from being very affectionate to children." In other words, paramahamsa life is dedicated for the benefit of others. Just as a father sacrifices many things out of affection for his son, great saintly persons sacrifice all kinds of bodily comforts for the benefit of human society. In this connection there is a verse concerning the six Gosvāmīs:

tyaktvā tūrnam aśesha-mandala-pati-śrenīm sadā tucchavat

bhūtvā dīna-ganeśakau karunayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau

Because of their compassion for the poor fallen souls. the six Gosvāmīs gave up their exalted positions as ministers and took vows as mendicants. Thus minimizing their bodily wants as far as possible, they each accepted only a loincloth and a begging bowl. Thus they remained in Vrindāvana to execute the orders of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu by compiling and publishing various Vaishnava literatures.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness