Embracing a woman binds one to the material world

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SB 5.14.28

 

Sometimes the conditioned soul is attracted by illusion personified (his wife

or girl friend) and becomes eager to be embraced by a woman. Thus he loses his

intelligence as well as knowledge of life's goal. At that time, no longer

attempting spiritual cultivation, he becomes overly attached to his wife or

girl friend and tries to provide her with a suitable apartment. Again, he

becomes very busy under the shelter of that home and is captivated by the

talks, glances and activities of his wife and children. In this way he loses

his Krsna consciousness and throws himself in the dense darkness of material

existence.

 

PURPORT

 

When the conditioned soul is embraced by his beloved wife, he forgets

everything about Krsna consciousness. The more he becomes attached to his wife,

the more he becomes implicated in family life. One Bengali poet, Bankim

Chandra, says that to the eyes of the lover the beloved is always very

beautiful, even though ugly. This attraction is called deva-maya. The

attraction between man and woman is the cause of bondage for both. Actually

both belong to the para prakrti, the superior energy of the Lord, but both are

actually prakrti (female). However, because both want to enjoy one another,

they are sometimes described as purusa (male). Actually neither is purusa, but

both can be superficially described as purusa. As soon as man and woman are

united, they become attached to home, hearth, land, friendship and money. In

this way they are both entrapped in material existence. The word

bhuja-lata-upagudha, meaning "being embraced by beautiful arms which are

compared to creepers," describes the way the conditioned soul is bound within

this material world. The products of sex life-sons and daughters-certainly

follow. This is the way of material existence.