VNN Editorial - Reflecting On "Reflecting On Sex Life"

EDITORIAL March 9, 2001 VNN6644 Comment on this story

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Reflecting On "Reflecting On Sex Life"

BY MAHANANDA DASA

EDITORIAL, Mar 9 (VNN) — Hare Krsna. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada. After reading "Reflecting on Sex Life" published on VNN I would like to submit the following.

If a person is sincere and has actually reached a point in his life of "material impoverishment," then sometimes he CAN take shelter of Krsna by forsaking unregulated material sexual enjoyment. It may not be easy to follow a restricted life of sacrifice, but still, that is required if we expect to become Krsna conscious. We simply cannot just water everything down to suit our inability to come to the standard.

There are those who are lucky and Krsna has arranged their life in a way that there is just nowhere to turn for happiness. In that impoverished, materially frustrated condition, the pious person is willing to give up the vain pursuit of the type of happiness that is like nectar in the beginning but later becomes misery, and embrace the disciplined life of penance that is a type of "happiness" that is in the beginning very bitter and difficult (like following our vow to Krsna to regulate our bodily pleasures), but later can expect those efforts to reap the sublime rewards that lead to enlightenment and lasting happiness, as Krsna has promised.

Of course, we cannot convince the materially engrossed person who is captured by the allurement of a variety of sexual delights, but a devotee is expected to understand the importance of restricting sex life if he expects to advance in spiritual life. Even Jesus taught that you cannot embrace both material sense gratification and endeavors meant to reach God consciousness. You love one of them and hate the other.

Unfortunately, developing pure Krsna consciousness requires a great deal of willingness on the part of the practitioner to accept the desire of Krsna, even if it means sacrificing our long-cherished activities of unrestricted sexuality with the opposite sex. That is counterproductive to our reaching the brahma bhuta stage of life, and there is no way to change that fact. You just can't have it both ways. Krsna allows for us to practice sex life. But He has given the living entity limits and we are required to follow them if we want the desired results. And These limits are principles of religion enunciated by the Supreme Lord.

Such principles cannot be manufactured by the conditioned living entity. We cannot say "better we change it to 'sex is OK as long as it's with our wife,' " Following man made religious principles will only lead to material results. We have to follow Krsna. What He says is religion. And if we follow it, we will have certain results. We will advance spiritually. But if we manufacture things to follow, the results will not be that we will increase our spiritual consciousness. That is another hard fact of life. There is no way around that either.

Reaching perfection in devotional service is the greatest achievement in the human experience. To achieve it, one has to pay the highest price. Respectfully, Mahananda dasa

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