Page 26 - BIKC - Eng

8 BRAHMACARYA IN KÅÑËA CONSCIOUSNESS

All the advice given in this book is based on this under -
standing: sex cannot make us happy; only Kåñëa can make us
happy. Devotees who regularly study Çréla Prabhupäda’s books can
keep this understanding active in their hearts. Then following all
the rules and regulations of spiritual life will come naturally.

SEX—THE CAUSE OF UNLIMITED SUFFERING

“Of all kinds of suffering and bondage arising from various
attachments, none is greater than the suffering and bondage
arising from attachment to women and intimate contact with those
attached to women.” 23
Because the experience and urges of sex are so intense, and
the syndrome of man/woman relationships surrounding it is so
complex, it diverts the conditioned soul’s attention away from
Kåñëa and deludes him more than any other trick of mäyä.
Sometimes the foolish conditioned soul experiences great delight
in enjoying sex; at other times he is frustrated and burns in the fire
of lust. Or, when spurned by a lover, he suffers mental agony,
sometimes so severe that he is driven to kill the loved one, or
himself, or both. The loss of a partner to whom one is intimately
emotionally attached, by death or other means, leaves the
remaining partner with a broken heart. And especially in our most
abominably degraded modern society, thousands of people’s lives
become shattered by having their bodies exploited, either
forcefully or tactfully, by others.
The greatest myth in human society is that sex is the cause of
happiness and that by adjusting or increasing one’s sex life one can
find happiness. Factually, the opposite is true: the more one
becomes involved in sex, the more he becomes entangled by the
complexities of the actions and reactions of material life. This
ultimately leads the unrestricted enjoyer to take birth in the animal
kingdom, where he is awarded improved facilities to carry on with
his sexual activities, and with minimal restrictions. Birth after birth
he can enjoy 8,400,000 varieties of sex to his heart’s content. He
will also experience varieties of birth, death, old age, and disease.
And he will never be happy.