How touching is the cause of bondage

[Guest guest]

padapi yuvatim bhiksur

na sprsed daravim api

sprsan kariva badhyeta

karinya anga-sangatah

 

A saintly person should never touch a young girl. In fact, he should not

even let his foot touch a wooden doll in the shape of a woman. By bodily

contact with a woman he will surely be captured by illusion, just as the

elephant is captured by the she-elephant due to his desire to touch her

body.

 

PURPORT

 

Elephants are captured in the jungle in the following way. A large hole is

dug and then covered over with grass, leaves, mud and so on. Then a

she-elephant is exhibited in front of the male elephant, who chases after

her with lusty desire, falls into the hole and is captured. The lesson to be

learned from the elephant is that the desire to relish the touch sensation

is certainly the cause of ruining one's life. An intelligent person, noting

the elephant's great propensity to sport with the she-elephant, will take

this excellent example to heart. Therefore, somehow or other one should

avoid being cheated by allurement to the sensuous form of woman. One should

not allow one's mind to be lost in lusty dreams of sex pleasure. There are

various types of sense gratification to be enjoyed between men and women,

including speaking, contemplating, touching, sexual intercourse, etc., and

all of these constitute the network of illusion by which one is helplessly

bound like an animal. Somehow or other one should remain aloof from sense

gratification in the form of sex pleasure; otherwise, there is no

possibility of understanding the spiritual world.

 

SB 11.8.13