Page 27 - BIKC - Eng
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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.”
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