The Jaiva Dharma has a very inspiring passage for householders:

“Kṛṣṇa has given you mercy. Make your families into Kṛṣṇa’s family and serve Kṛṣṇa. Follow the order that Mahāprabhu taught the whole world. In the world there are two situations: being a household and being renounced. As long as one is not qualified for renouncing, one should remain as a householder and serve Kṛṣṇa. Mahāprabhu was an example of the householder Vaiṣṇava for the first twenty-four years of his pastimes. For the remaining twenty-four years of pastimes, he was an example of a renunciate Vaiṣṇava. The householders should define their conduct by seeing Mahāprabhu’s household life. In my opinion, this is what you should do. Do not think that as a householder you cannot attain the supreme goal of Kṛṣṇa prema. Mahāprabhu gave his mercy mostly to householders. Even the renounced Vaiṣṇavas pray for the foot dust of those householders.”

In the book, this instruction was given by Paramahansa Babaji to Vrajanath, an intelligent and dedicated boy who was hearing about devotional service from him for long. Vrajanath was already in an advanced platform of devotional service. However, when pressed by his family Vrajanath decided to ask his spiritual master what path to take in life, he received this instruction.

It may look now something very distant from our reality, but there was a time when Germany was separated into two different countries. East Germany was part of the Soviet Union, under authoritarian rule, while West Germany was a democracy and integrated into Europe. The division between the two countries was symbolized by the Berlin Wall, which divided the city into two.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the wall was quickly dismantled and people from East Germany suddenly became free to go to the other side. Many were so fed up with life in the Soviet Union that they just took their Trabant cars, drove to the other side, and just abandoned them, starting a new life, never to return.
The Trabant was a really funny car. It was even worse than the Ladas people were driving in Russia. It was a tiny and uncomfortable car and propense to many mechanical problems. It was practically impossible to keep a Trabant in perfect working condition. However, good or bad, these were the only cars people had. When the opportunity arose to get out, they just drove the cars they had, without caring about the discomfort or problems. When they would get to the other side, they would just abandon their Trabants and start their new lives.
Similarly, there is a clear division between the material world and the spiritual world, and life here is not very comfortable. We also have very uncomfortable cars (the material body) and they give us a lot of problems. However, these are the vehicles whe have. Therefore, when the opportunity of getting out appears, we should just take it, without caring much for the discomforts of other problems the car may have.
If on the other hand, we want to first fix all the problems of the car before doing the trip, chances are we will never go, because there is going to be always something wrong with the car. We can imagine that if someone in East Germany would first try to somehow would want to first transform his Trabant into a nice car, he would never go anywhere because it was not really possible.
Similarly, we have different problems in this life. If the body is not sick, there is some financial problem, political problem, or something else. The more we try to reach a comfortable situation, solving all these problems, the more we become entangled, because the situation is not really solvable. For each issue we can solve, two new problems appear.
The idea of Krsna Consciousness is therefore to use the body and the current situation we have now as a vehicle to go to the other side, just using it the way it is since if we first try to fix the situation, chances are that we will become distracted and end up never going.

The Bhagavad-Gita 3.33 brings up an interesting reflection: “Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature, for everyone follows his nature. What can repression accomplish?”

Much could be discussed about the role of repression in spiritual life. On the one hand, one has to live a regulated life and avoid actions and habits that are harmful to himself and others. One should not at very least avoid using drugs, sleeping with other’s wives, lying, stealing, and so on. In this sense, a certain dose of repression is essential not only in spiritual life but for civilized life in general. When everyone is encouraged to be “free” and follow every whim of their minds and senses, chaos issues.

Especially when one is starting in the spiritual practice, some repression is necessary, because at this stage he is still not in a spiritual platform and he has to change his habits in order to follow the spiritual process. However, as Krsna points out in this verse, repression is not a good solution in the long term. Repression is just like holding our breath. One can hold his breath for a minute or two, but one can’t hold his breath forever. The idea is that one may hold his breath for a few seconds when he is passing through an underwater passage for example, but he is expected to breathe again as soon as he reaches the other side. Only a fool will expect to be able to hold his breath indefinitely.

One aspect of Vedic culture and classical Indian culture that many may find uncomfortable is the idea of early marriages. It’s mentioned in many passages that in Vedic culture girls would most of the time marry at a very early age. 16 years is mentioned as an ideal age (as Srila Prabhupada mentions in several passages), but in practice as soon as a girl would attain puberty the parents would start looking for a boy and would try to marry her as soon as possible.

Of course, this is an idea that sounds very strange to the modern mind. The idea nowadays is that ladies should marry later. When people hear about ladies marrying at an early age (especially to boys who are significantly older), images of exploitation and abuse come into mind. In fact, it’s quite common not only in India but also in other countries to hear stories of girls who are painfully exploited after being forced into marriages with older men.

However, if we study this topic from a historic perspective, we can see that these younger marriages were common in most societies up to one century ago. In Europe, most girls would marry not much after puberty, and most of the time to boys who would be significantly older. The same could be observed in most other societies, in Africa, Middle East, the East, and even in aboriginal societies. The idea of ladies marrying later is actually a recently new phenomenon.

Marriage is a natural necessity for most. Life is hard and most feel the need for a life partner, who can give them love and care. A supportive spouse not only makes life much easier, but it can also be fundamental in one’s spiritual path, bringing one stability to sustain his spiritual pursuits. Marriage also helps one to develop emotional intelligence and empathy, helping him to better understand others and himself.

Just like a person that is too hungry will have difficulty concentrating on his work, someone who has the necessity for a relationship but can’t find a suitable partner will have difficulties focusing on his or her spiritual practice. When one’s basic necessities are not satisfied, things become difficult. However, finding a suitable life-partner is becoming increasingly difficult.