Love

Published on September 8th, 2024 | by HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

8

This World is Enchanted by Sex. [MP3 Audio]

Real happiness is above the senses. It is supramental sense, or spiritual sense. With the gross senses, what we enjoy, that is temporary. It is not permanent. Permanent enjoyment is transcendental sense enjoyment.

Prabhupada: Ladies and Gentlemen. I thank you very much for your coming here and participating in this great movement known as Krishna consciousness, or Hare Krsna movement. This Hare Krsna movement was started five hundred years ago by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in a, a place which is now known as Nadia. It is a district in West Bengal, about sixty miles north of Calcutta. Lord Caitanya appeared there about four hundred and eighty-five years ago, and He took sannyasa. Sannyasa means renounced order of life. According to Vedic civilization, at the end of one’s life, one has to take sannyasa, renounced order of life, no family connection. Caitanya Mahaprabhu, at very early age… He was only twenty-four years old, and He had at His home very nice, young wife and very affectionate mother, but still… (someone in crowd starts yelling)

Guest (1): … I don’t believe that that’s the truth there. I don’t believe that is the truth. Get out of here!

Guest (2): Talk louder!

Prabhupada: What does he say? (chuckles) (devotees laugh nervously)

Guest (1): I’m talking about sex…

Revatinandana: Says he’s talking about death.

Girl: Why don’t you get up here and say it?

Visvareta: Prabhupada, he says he wants to have sex more than once a month.

Prabhupada: Hm?

Visvareta: The man says he wants to have sex life more than once a month.

Prabhupada: No… He’s creating disturbance. (pause) So as this man is talking about sex, so this world’s, material world, is enchanted by sex. That is material world. Striya, pumsam striya mithuni-bhavam etad. This whole material world is existing on sex attraction. Not only in the human society, in animal society also, this sex impulse is there. Birds, beasts, animal, human being, even demigods, they are attracted in this material world by sex impulse. The sastra, or the Vedic literature, there is mention about this, that we are in this material world only for this sex impulse. First of all, we think of sex. A man also thinks. A woman also thinks. And when they are united, that attraction becomes more and more complete. Then, in a gentlemanly way, when there is sex unity, then there is need of a nice apartment or house. Then there is need of land. Formerly, for living condition, everyone possessed some land to grow foodstuff. Atah grha-ksetra-sutapta-vittaih. So after sex unity, there is need of house, land, grha, ksetra, then children, atah grha-ksetra-suta, apta. Then friends. Then vitta, then money. In this way, we increase our attachment for this material world. Janasya moho ‘yam. Moha means illusion. In this way, he becomes illusioned. Aham mameti: “I” and “mine.” Here, the real problem is we want to get out of this material conditional life. We are spirit soul. We are not matter. But in order to enjoy this material world we have come here.

Every one of us who is existing within this material world has a desire to lord it over the material nature. It is said when a living entity, a part and parcel of God, he desires independently to enjoy or to lord it over the material nature, he comes down from the spiritual world to this material world. That is the cause of his falldown.

krsna bhuliya jiva bhoga vancha kare
pasate maya tare japatiya dhare

Maya means the illusory energy, where we want to enjoy, but it is not actual enjoyment. It is illusion. So the sex life in this material world is the center of this attraction.

So our Krsna consciousness movement is how to get the living out…, living entity out of this material entanglement. Because real happiness is not sensual happiness. Real happiness is above the senses. It is supramental sense, or spiritual sense. With the gross senses, what we enjoy, that is temporary. It is not permanent. Permanent enjoyment is transcendental sense enjoyment. There is in the Vedic literature a verse:

ramante yoginah anante
satyananda cid-atmani
iti rama-padenasau
param brahmabhidhiyate

Yoginah, those who are yogis… Yogis means those who are trying to reawaken Krsna consciousness. He’s called yogi. Our present consciousness is material consciousness. The material consciousness, the sex urge is very strong. Yan maithunadi-grhamedhi-sukham hi tuccham. It is said in the sastra that the grhamedhi, those who are attracted by this material world, their center of enjoyment is sex. Yan maithunadi-grhamedhi-sukham hi tuccham kanduyanena karayor iva duhkha-duhkham. This sex urge is a, a sort of itching sensation. Kanduyanenam. Trpyanti neha krpana bahu-duhkha-bhajah. By satisfying this itching sensation, he becomes entrapped in so many ways. So many ways. That’s a fact. Apart from those who are enjoying illicit sex, even those who are enjoying sex in regulated principles, they are also entrapped. Take, for example, one regular householder. In your country, it is different social situation, but in our country, in India, a family life is a great responsibility. The father and mother has to take full responsibility for education of the children, grow up nicely, and the father, mother is under obligation to get the boys and the girls married. Unless the children are married, the father’s or the mother’s responsibility continues. That is our social system, at least in India, those who are following Vedic principles of life. Especially for getting married the daughter, it is called kanya daya. Pitr-rna putra-rna matr-rna. We have got so many debts to clear. This is responsibility. Devarsi-bhutapta-nrnam pitrnam. We are indebted to the demigods. Just like sun is one of the demigods. We are getting, enjoying the sunshine. We are indebted to him. This is responsibility. Suppose if you take electricity, light, you are responsible for paying the bill. Similarly, you are taking so much advantage of the sunlight. You are also obliged to pay the debts, repay the debts. Deva rsi. Rsi means those who have given us the Vedic literature. Just like Narada Muni, Vyasadeva, they have given us… Vyasadeva given us immense literature. Immense literature. He has written Mahabharata. He has written the eighteen puranas. One of the puranas is the Bhagavata Purana. And he has written the Upanisads. Then he has compiled the Vedanta-sutra. And each and every book, there are innumerable verses. In Mahabharata there are 100,000’s of verses. In Srimad-Bhagavatam, 18,000 verses. And if you study one verse, it will take at least one week to understand. So grave thoughts. So therefore, we are reading all these Vedic literatures. Certainly, we are indebted to them.

So we are indebted to the demigods. Just like the sun-god, the moon-god, the Indra. Indra is supplying us water. Of course, in your country, there is no such conception. But the Vedic knowledge gives us full information how water is being supplied, how light is being supplied, how air is being supplied by the arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Don’t take it irresponsibly. Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has arranged so many things. Just like in your city there is department of water supply, there is department of light supply, there is depart…, different departments, similarly, in the kingdom of God there are departments. But because we are foolish, we do not know how the departments are being conducted. So we are not paying any bills. The bills are paid, according to the Vedic injunction, by performing sacrifices. So in this way, our point is sex life, that, the, a grhastha, a householder, he has got debts towards his parents, towards his father, towards his mother, towards his wife, towards his children. The society should be human society, not the cats’ and dogs’ society. That is Vedic conception. So in the Vedic conception of life the sex life is there, but you become indebted. You must repay the debts. If you simply beget children like cats and dogs and go away, then you become responsible for the sinful activities. You must take responsible. So this man was suggesting, he wants sex life at least once in a month. Yes, that is allowed. That is allowed in the Vedic civilization. When the wife is in menstrual period, after five days of the menstrual period, the wife and husband can have sex life for begetting rightful children. And before be getting a child, one must go… If he is in the higher orders of society, one must accept the garbhadhana-samskara. Garbhadhana-samskara means that child born out of the sex life of the father and mother must come out a very nice child, not like the cat and dog. That is called garbhadhana-samskara. Those who are in the higher position of the society, they are obliged to observe ten kinds of purificatory processes, out of which, the first purificatory process is garbhadhana-samskara. So the parents, when they take to sex life for begetting nice children, there is garbhadhana-samskara, and if one does not observe this garbhadhana-samskara, he immediately falls down to the group of sudra from brahminical position. These are the injunctions in the Vedic literature. Sex life is not denied, but one must take responsibility for sex life; otherwise, he becomes entangled in so many sinful activities.

Because here in the material world, everyone is a criminal. Just like in the prison house, when a criminal is there, in every state there is law. He cannot violate the laws of the prison house. Similarly, here also, in this material world, who have come here to enjoy… There is no enjoyment. There is simply suffering. But we take sufferings as enjoyment. That is called illusion. Anyway, the Vedic principle has allowed everything. Because here we have come to enjoy so-called sense gratification. That is illusion. So there is regulated principle. You can have sex life once in a month. That is prescribed. Because the woman has once in a month menstrual period. So sex life is meant for simply begetting nice children, not for sense gratification. Therefore, because the woman is, gets the menstrual period once in a month, therefore the man can have sex life just after the menstrual period, over, after five days, he can sex life, have sex life with his wife under garbhadhana-samskara, responsibility. Otherwise he becomes implicated in sinful activities. That is Vedic injunction. So sex life is not denied. Just like in our society, the boys and girls, they come to our society, and as far as possible, we get them married. We don’t allow to live, the boys and girls and friends, like friends. No. That is a great sinful activity. So nothing is denied. The problem of life is eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. So everything is there, but in a regulated form. In regulated form so that the world may not become hell. If it is irregulated form, then the whole world will be hell. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, narakaya varna-sankarah. When we produce unwanted children, the whole world becomes just like hell. It is going to happen like that at the present moment. The sex life is not denied. The point is discussed because it was raised. Sex life is not denied, but in a regulated form so that you can get nice population, you can live very happily. Not that you produce unwanted children and they turn out rogues, thieves and drunkards, like that. That is not allowed. You must produce nice children. For that purpose, sex life is allowed. And especially in this age, at the present moment, if you can produce children to become Krsna conscious, that will be a great service to the Lord. Because we want now Krsna conscious population. Otherwise this world is going to hell. That’s a fact. We are dwindling, liquidation. There were great empires like Roman empire, Greece empire, Carthaginian empire and, later on, Moghul empires, British empire. So many empires there were. There was Hitler. There was Mussolini. There was Napoleon. So these powerful emperors or men came and gone. Their name is only there, and nothing is remaining.

So I came to your country. Your country is very nice country, America. I heard it from India. So I decided to come here because I heard that your country’s very nice. And when I came here, I saw actually your country is very nice. Your cities, your buildings, your men also… Because mostly my students, they are Americans, and they help me very kindly to push on this movement. So I have studied the American life, very nice. They have good heart. So only thing is wanted–Krsna consciousness. For want of this Krsna consciousness, despite your all opulences, you are becoming confused and frustrated. I hear that out of three, one man is a patient of a psychiatrist. Why? Why you are unhappy? Why you should be unhappy? You have got everything–enough food, enough land, enough money, enough intelligence. Why you should be unhappy? The cause you should try to find out. The cause is that without Krsna consciousness, without God consciousness, nobody can be happy. That is the cause. So my request is that this movement is started from America, from New York. In 1966 I registered this movement, International Society for Krsna Consciousness, and since then, we are spreading. In your country, we have got about fifty branches, all over the country, America. And we have got other branches also, about fifty, in Europe, in Canada, in Australia, in New Zealand, in Japan. In India also. India, of course, Krsna consciousness movement is known since a very, very long time. At least, everyone in India knows what is Krsna consciousness, and he may not be seriously engaged in Krsna consciousness, but even a street man, a street boy, knows what is Krsna. In your country, this, this movement is started since 1966, but in ’67 I was sick. I went back to India and again came back in 1968, and since that time, we are pushing on this movement little, very highly, and it is being effected. It is being effected. People are understanding. So my request is that you have got all material resources. Don’t waste your time. Life is very valuable, especially this human form of life. Labdhva su-durlabham idam bahu-sambhavante. This human form of life is achieved after many, many births of evolutionary process. We had to undergo 900,000 species of life in water. Jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati. Two millions of species of life through plants and trees. Sthavara laksa-vimsati krmayo rudra-sankhyakah. Eleven hundred thousand species of life of insects and reptiles. Paksinam dasa-laksanam. And one million species of life amongst the birds. Then trimsal-laksani pasavah: and then three million species of life amongst the beasts. In this way, there are four hundred thousand species of human form of life, out of which, the civilized form of life, when our consciousness is developed, that is the opportunity to understand what is God, what I am, what is my relationship with God, what is this material world, how I shall treat. That is needed. In the Vedanta-sutra it is said, athato brahma-jijnasa. This human, this civilized form of human life is meant for inquiring about Brahman, the Supreme, the Absolute Truth.

So this Krsna consciousness movement is giving knowledge about the Absolute Truth, Param Brahman. The Sanskrit word is Param Brahman. And Krsna is Param Brahman. If you have read Bhagavad-gita on the Tenth Chapter, when Arjuna summarizes his understanding after hearing Bhagavad-gita, he says, param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan: “Krsna, I understand that You are the Supreme Personality, Absolute Truth.” Param brahma param dhama: “You are the reservoir of everything.” Pavitram: “You are the Supreme Pure.” Pavitram paramam bhavan. Purusam sasvatam adyam: “You are the Supreme Person.” Krsna, or the Absolute Truth, is not imperson. He’s the Supreme Person. He’s Supreme Person. He is the Absolute Truth. And we are presenting Krsna before you, and you take it. Most of the Western country, they are Christian. So the Christians believe in Lord Jesus Christ as son of God. But we are presenting the father, God Himself. So there is no contradiction. If there is son, there must be a father also. Without father, there cannot be son. So if you believe in the son, then you must believe in the father also. The father is Krsna. Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita,

sarva-yonisu kaunteya
sambhavanti murtayah yah
aham bija-pradah pita

He is the seed-giving father for all living entities. So Krsna is for everyone. Don’t think that Krsna, as it is stated in your English dictionary, “Krsna is a Hindu God.” He’s not Hindu, He’s not Muslim, or He’s not Christian. He’s God. God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. It is bodily designations, “I am Hindu, you are Christian.” This is bodily… Just like dress. You have got some black coat. Another has got some white coat. That does not meant we are different because we are in different coat or shirt. As human being, we are all sons of God. We are one. That is the conception. So at the present moment, we have divided the world on account of this shirt and coat. That is not. That is not good. Actually, the whole world or the whole universe belongs to God. This is Krsna consciousness. Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita,

bhoktaram yajna-tapasam
sarva-loka-mahesvaram
suhrdam sarva-bhutanam
jnatva mam santim rcchati

We have divided God’s land: “This is America. This is India. This is Germany. This is England.” But after all, this is our given name. This planet especially… Not only this planet, all other planets, Krsna says, sarva-loka-mahesvaram: He’s the proprietor. Formerly, five thousand years ago, this planet was being governed by Krsna’s representative, Maharaja Pariksit. That is actually life. Krsna is the proprietor of all planets, and one should be Krsna’s representative to rule over the planet. That is Vedic system. There cannot be any king or emperor who is not representative of God. It is the duty of the representative of God to take charge of a planet and educate the persons, the citizens, into God consciousness. That is Vedic way of life. Not that the chief executive or the government simply levies taxes from the citizens and let them go to hell. This is not good government. The government must be responsible for the uplift of the citizens to the spiritual life. That is real government.

So that was being done five thousand years ago by Maharaja Pariksit. Maharaja Pariksit, those who have read Srimad-Bhagavatam, there is this… Srimad-Bhagavatam begins from the question of Maharaja Pariksit. Maharaja Pariksit, at the last stage of his life, when he was to live for seven days only, he decided to hear Srimad-Bhagavatam and become liberated from this material life. And it so happened. The idea is the Maharaja Pariksit was so pious that, that when he was touring in his kingdom all over the world, he found one man, one black man was trying to kill one cow. Immediately, Maharaja Pariksit took his sword and wanted to kill the man. He was Kali. So “Who are you, that you are killing cow in my kingdom?” So formerly, when the whole world was under the one king of the Pandavas, just like Pariksit Maharaja, there was equal protection for the animals and the man. Not that man should be given protection by law, and not the animals. The animals, they’re also national. What is the meaning of “national”?

One who is born in that land. Suppose you are American. You are born in this land of America; therefore you are American national. Why not the cats and the dogs and the cows? They are also national. So this is injustice, that to give protection to the human kind and to send the animals to the slaughterhouse. This, this inequality, discrimination between man and animal is due to lack of Krsna consciousness. When one becomes actually Krsna conscious, he does not make such distinction that a man should be given protection and the animal should be killed. So our Krsna consciousness movement is a, a spiritual movement. It is reformatory movement, inclusive all sides of life. Don’t think that we are simply chanting and dancing. Our philosophy includes all different activities of humankind, either it may be religious or political or social or cultural. Anything. Industrial–everything. So my request is that this movement was started in your country, and these American boys and girls, they have taken it seriously. So kindly cooperate with this movement, and you’ll be happy. That is my request.

Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (pause) Kirtana. (end)

[720701AD.SD Hare Krishna Festival Address, Balboa Park Bowl, San Diego, July 1, 1972]

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Tags: Hare Krishna festival, Prabhupada, sex

About the Author

HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Founded the Hare Krishna Movement in 1966 in New York. In only 11 years he spread the movement all over the world. He wrote more than 80 books including Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Sri Isopanisad. Prabhupada's books constitute a complete library of Vedic philosophy, religion, literature and culture.

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