Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.17.39
Manvantara· The Manus and right dutyMarriage Regulated for Family Peace
“One who desires to establish family life should marry a wife of his own caste, who is beyond reproach and younger in age. If one desires to accept many wives he must marry them after the first marriage, and each wife should be of a successively lower caste.”
What the purport teaches
- The prescribed first marriage is with a wife of the same caste and similar characteristics. The purport explains similarity in terms of intellectual, heroic or business-minded dispositions.
- The wife is to be beyond reproach in background and character and younger than the husband. Any further marriages are prescribed only after the first is established, proceeding through successively lower castes.
- The purport presents these marriage regulations as a means of relative peace in family life. It states that they are especially intended for those who are not pure devotees of the Lord.
Try this today
Write down one way that good character and compatible dispositions can support peace in family life.
Ask yourself
What does this teaching invite me to consider about character and compatibility in marriage?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
From Canto 10, chapter 14 onward, the translation and purports were completed by Śrīla Prabhupāda's disciples after his departure, and published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.