Page 27 - BIKC - Eng

SEX—THE CAUSE OF UNLIMITED SUFFERING 9

The much advertised pleasure of sex is more fantasized about
than real. People assume that sex will bring them pleasure, but the
actual act is over in a few minutes and gives far less sensual
gratification than was imagined in the mind. In the long run it
brings much more trouble than enjoyment.
On the physical platform also, sex is debilitating and can be
dangerous. Sensual enjoyers forget that “the body, which is the
vehicle of sexual pleasure, is also the vehicle of pain, disease, and
death.” 24 It takes the essence of sixty drops of blood to make one
drop of semen; furthermore, much subtle life energy (präëa) is lost
in sex life. Rapid breathing during sex also shortens one’s life, for
the number of breaths a person will have in his lifetime is fixed at
birth (therefore yogis practice breath restraint to prolong their
lives). Then there is the danger of sexually transmitted diseases,
which are extremely painful and nasty.
Furthermore, to the extent that a person becomes interested
in sex, that much he loses all good qualities. For from lust develop
all other bad qualities such as greed, personal ambition, hatred,
and cruelty. Çréla Prabhupäda: “Sex life is the background of
material existence. Demons are very fond of sex life. The more one
is freed from the desire for sex, the more he is promoted to the
level of the demigods; the more one is inclined to enjoy sex, the
more he is degraded to the level of demonic life.” 25
A lusty person becomes not only keenly interested in sexual
enjoyment, but in all other forms of sense gratification also.
Although such people may generally appear to act fairly
reasonably, actually they are all self-centered and selfish—they are
after what they can get for themselves. The Çrémad-Bhägavatam
(5.18.12) therefore analyzes that nondevotees have no good
qualities, even though they may appear to. They are simply
suffering and causing others to suffer in a mesh of greed, envy, and
mutual exploitation, with just a veneer of social civility. This is
especially evident in today's “me first” generation—a whole society
raised on consumeristic greed and lust, with no higher moral than
“get what you can grab.”