Question: It is impossible to give up all material desires immediately for conditioned souls. So, is regulated sense gratification a śreya-path?

Srila Gurudev: You see there are grades of strivers or votaries. According to their capacity to that extent they can do. Like Ambarish Maharaj, he is the highest. He is the king of the world. He could engage everything for the service of Sri Krishna. He engaged representatives for working of this worldly things and he himself performed worship of Krishna. That is not possible for all. For that reason, something is better than nothing. Whatever something is there you try to increase it. Always there will be fight between good and bad thoughts. In our mind, waves of thoughts of previous births will come. When bad thoughts will come, you have to try to suppress them and when good thoughts will come, you have desire to worship, you have to take advantage to worship more. Then again that force will come with double force. If you do not suppress evil thoughts, it will come with more force. In spite of your endeavour there may be some harmful things. But yet it will come with less momentum. It may try to surface. In this way, after suppressing the evil thoughts and increasing the good thoughts you will get the realized state.