We met Bhagavatam, 4th Kanna, Chapter 25, Dex 17.

PURYASTHU BHYAHO PAVANE DIVYAJUMALATAKULE puryas tu bhyaho pavane

devya jhumalata kule nadadviham galikula kalahala jala shive shuseye nādhavihaṁ gālī-kulaḥ kalā-halā-jalaśyate purya of that town, tu, then, bāhyā upabhane, to, then, bhaya-ubhavane, in an outside garden, divya, very nice, dhruma, trees, lata, creepers, Akule, filled with, Nadat, vibrating, Vihanga, birds, Ali, bees, Kula, groups of, Kulahala, humming Jalaashayee, with a lake.

Translation in Purport by His Divine Grace, Sheila Prabhupada.

On the outskirts of that city were many beautiful trees and creepers and starting a nice lake.

Also surrounding that lake were many groups of birds and bees that were always chanting and humming.

Since the body is a great city, there must be various arrangements such as lakes and gardens for sense enjoyment.

The various parts of the body, those which incite sexual impulses, are referred to here indirectly.

Because the body has genitals, when the living entity attains the right age, be he man or woman, He becomes agitated by the sex impulse.

As long as 1 remains a child, he is not agitated by seeing a beautiful woman.

Although the sense organs are there, unless the age is right, there is no sex impulse.

The favorable conditions surrounding the sex impulse are compared here to a park or a nice solitary garden.

Nice solitary to a garden or a nice solitary park.

When 1 sees the opposite sex, naturally the sex impulse increases.

It is said that if a man in a solitary place does not become agitated when seeing a woman, he is considered a brahmachari.

The sex impulse is so strong that even by seeing, touching, talking about, coming and touching, even thinking of the opposite sex, in so many subtle ways, 1 becomes sexually impelled.

Consequently, a brahmachari or sannyasi is prohibited to associate with women, especially in a secret place.

The śāstra is enjoined that 1 should not even talk to a woman in a secret place even if she happens to be one's daughter, sister or mother.

The sex impulse is so strong that even if 1 is very learned, he becomes sexually agitated in such circumstances.

If this is the case, how can a young man in a nice park remain calm and quiet upon seeing a beautiful young woman?

Vande Ham Shri Guru Shri Jatapada Kamalam Shri Guru Vaishnavamsha Shri Rupam Sagarajatam Sahagana Raghana Tanvitam Tam Sajivam śrī-jatā-padakamalam śrī-gurūn-vaishnavamś ca śrī-rūpam-sāgra-jātam sahagana-ragha-nitāṁ vittam tam sa jīvam sadāyitam savadhūtam Sutaṁ parijana-sahitam, kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devam, śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-padam, sahagana-ladhita-śrī-viṣa-kaṇḍitamś ca, namaḥ om viṣṇu-padāya, kṛṣṇa-preṣṭāya bhūtale, śrīmate bhakti-vedanta-svāvanīty namine namaste sarasvate deve gauramani pacharine nirviseshu shunyavadi pashchiti shatarine So, who were the first people who became Prabhupada's disciples?

So how did they give up this sex impulse, become brahmacharis, brahmacharinis, controlled house daughters, how do they do that?

Vishayābhāni vartante nirāhārāśhidaihīna raśhava-saṅgṛśopyaśhva pralāṅgviṣṇivartate The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains, but ceasing such engagements, my experience of higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.

So, the point is chanting Hare Krishna is better than sex.

Sex is only for a few seconds only, intense pleasure and then finish.

But Hare Krishna you can go on 24 hours a day.

And those who have chained the platform of Ruchi, they can chant 24 hours a day in ever increasing ecstasy, like Haridas Thakur.

Prabhupada explains that, I don't know if it's true nowadays, but back during Prabhupada's time in the 70s, there were people in Vrindavan chanting 120 rounds every day.

There's so much taste in the name, you see.

For those who don't have that taste, they become slaves of their senses.

Just like example, Bimbamangala Thakur, you see.

It was very lightning and very heavy night.

Who would want to go out on such a night?

But his girlfriend was on this side of the river, and he was hankering for some sex enjoyment.

He went in the storm, and the river is flooding.

He grabbed a hold of a corpse, if you can imagine, to get across the river.

And he came to the wall, the gate was locked, She couldn't hear the knocking because of the thunder, but he grabbed a snake to get up the wall, and he finally got in there and she said, Oh, Bivalamangala, she said.

Oh, if you only had so much attraction to Krishna, your life would be perfect.

She's a very enlightened, even though she was his girlfriend, they were having sex enjoyment, still she had some Krishna consciousness.

Yeah, like, well they used to, what we call girlfriend in modern days, actually they're called prostitutes in Vedic culture.

Girlfriend and prostitute are 2 different.

Yeah, that's also another way of looking at it too.

But anyway, whatever you call it, she said, Oh, Bhīvamāṅgati, we only had so much attraction to Krishna in your life, you're going to be perfect.

He realized, oh, here I am running after sex pleasure, but she's right.

I shouldn't run after the body of a woman like this for sex enjoyment.

I should go for Krishna." So he headed out for Vrindavan, walking, it's a long walk in those days, all the way to Vrindavan.

But along the way he saw a beautiful woman.

He got lusty once again, he was following her home.

And he followed her into her house and the husband said, he told the husband, said, all right, you're a high-level brahmana, you can enjoy with my wife.

He said, I'd like to enjoy with your wife?

He said, so he went to enjoy with the wife, and he realized, Oh, what am I doing again?

I was giving up this sex enjoyment, going for Krishna-bhakti.

He said, Madhaji, please give me your hairpin.

And he took complete charge of Krishna in Vrindavan.

And Krishna was personally coming to him, if you can imagine.

He became such a great exalted Vaishnava.

So this sex pleasure is a very, very dangerous thing.

The whole material world is running in this sex pleasure.

Like many times, we have the example, when I was a kid, there was a toothpaste called Ultrabite toothpaste.

New Ultrabite toothpaste gives your mouth sex appeal.

We kids are growing up thinking, oh, we haven't even attained puberty yet, we're laying all the sex appeal, it's a wonderful thing.

We haven't even attained puberty, we don't even have sex impulse yet, we're being taught by the average I've been that sex appeal is something wonderful, you want to have sex appeal, yeah, I got to use ultra bites so the girls don't want to kiss me right I mean talk about a ridiculous thing you know how and then we see the other example of given times given that that that great he became a great version of a charia actually yeah what was the first part of the name?

He was previously a king, and kings had full facility.

There's so many girls in the palace, and they were all the maidens of the queen.

So he was having so much sex pleasure, girl after girl after girl.

That he'd become a Vaishnava, a great Vaishnavacharya, actually.

Sometimes I remember his mind would flash back to those days in the palace with all those girls, my lips curled with this taste, and I spitted the salt, you see.

So, we devotees who come from that background of sex enjoyment, like the hippie background, we had to become spitters, good spitters.

And even nowadays we see it's happening in modern day Indian culture too.

You see the emails I get, it's just shocking what's going on.

Like some girl wants to get married, she's saying this is a good guy and he wants to have sex with her.

I go ahead and have sex with him, say you want to marry me and he just uses her and goes away.

Even in India this is happening now, the boys are using the girls for sex pleasure and in like 1 night stands on the dumper have sex and dumper finished so in India it's also going on and I get these emails used to see what I'm getting sometimes oh it's really heavy in India also it's happening now this kind of you know playboy mentality they call it so it's a very bad thing this whole thing is serving the genitals.

Vāc-chov-vegam manasa-krodhā-vegam jīvā-vegam mudaropata-vegam etan-vatanyo viśaheta dhīrasya vāmīpīma viśa-cchindśu-śuśa We can conquer the mind, the words, the anger, the tongue, belly and the genitals.

He can make the whole world his disciples.

So it's a very powerful thing if you can bring your generals under control.

You can actually advance in this pathway.

There is a very, very important pathway that the ācāryas have given us.

It's a Very important progress we're going through.

First thing is you have some interest in Self-realization.

First of all, you come inclined towards Self-realization.

Some preliminary inclination towards Self-realization.

Then you hang out with those who are in that mood.

That's called sadhusangha, looking for the devotees that can associate.

And then, by that association, they get initiated.

They make a former relationship with the spiritual master.

They take a vow to get out of this entanglement, and they take shelter of the spiritual master, let me do that, you see.

Bhajana Kriya, they take up, the activities of bhajana.

Anartana Vritti, All those lusty, angry, greedy, all those material desires that were polluting their heart, they start to go away.

And they start to drop off, spit at them.

They start to go away, they go away, they go away.

And then finally, all that dirt finishes off, nishtha, they become very steady, yes, very steady in Krishna consciousness, like a rock, like the rock of Gibraltar, they call it.

And then, they enter the most, they come very, very advanced, they achieve what's called ruchi.

Ruchi means you can chant Hare Krishna mantra 24 hours a day and never get tired.

Go on chanting, chanting, chanting, chanting, chanting, chanting.

24, that's a very high level that we can shoot for.

Ruchi level, you can chant Hare Krishna with unlimited ecstasy 24 hours a day.

And then, see that's called Vaidhi Bhakti after that point.

But then, after that, after Ruchi, you achieve what's called the Raghunuga platform.

Where you actually realize what is your transcendental identity in the spiritual world.

They think, oh yeah, I know I'm a gopi or I'm a gopa.

Papaji says, there's already enough monkeys jumping in Vrindavan, jumping over the branches.

So don't be some cheap, you know, so-called, you know, realizer of your rasa.

You have to go to Ruchi first, where you can chant 24 hours a day in ever increasing ecstasy.

But then finally you come to that stage, 1 comes to that stage, asati.

You actually know who you are, and then you...

The seed of bhakti now is going, and you go to the...

So, Prabhupada explains a very nice lecture I heard this morning, actually.

He gave a lecture, a devotion lecture here in Vraj in Vrindavan.

He was saying how it's actually there within us.

It's interesting, it's kind of indirectly connected with this lecture.

He said that when you're a small child, you have no sex impulse.

When you come to attain puberty, then the sex impulse is there.

So in the same way that sex desire awakens, interesting analogy here, in the same way that sex desire awakens your natural identity in the spiritual world also awakens at some point.

You actually realize, you actually feel, you enter into the...

It's like sex impulse, it's not learned, it just comes automatically at a certain stage.

At surup sitting, you're actually realizing your identity in the spiritual world.

It actually comes naturally at a certain point of purification.

And then Prabhupada also explained in this same lecture that 1 should not be in a rush.

I've been chanting 16 rounds for 2 years, why haven't I realized my surup?

I got initiated, I'm following the rules and regulations, I'm not falling down.

Prabhupada explains in this connection, that just like when a girl gets married, she knows in due course she will have a child, but she says, my dear husband, what's wrong with you?

We've been married for 3 weeks, I don't have any kid yet.

So she says, no, I'm married, and in due course the child will be there but I have to be patient so enthusiasm is very important utsahan and then patience is also very important.

So here we are, we should be enthusiastic.

We have to be enthusiastic to come to that pure platform.

But at the same time, we have to be patient.

I'd like to Gurumanandaji to speak some points on this connection.

I think when it comes to Narottam Nivritti question.

Where does the 9 processes, where does Anartha Nivritti comes?

Anartha Nivritti comes after Bhajana Kriya.

So, well, doesn't that take long to be...

That's also tough, and many of us haven't got through that point yet.

Yeah, actually for many of us, we haven't even gotten through Anartha-Nivṛtti yet.

We're to speak of Nishtha, which is beyond Anartha-Nivṛtti.

Many of us are battling it out with this Anartha, that Anartha, the lust, the anger, the greed, the madness, the illusion, the envy.

We're battling it out with the anarchtas still.

That's where most of us are, to be honest.

We're battling it out in the anarcta-navidhi stage.

Bhakti, even though it actually has sympathy on us, us, the strugglers in anarcta-navidhi, He's very kind to us.

He gives us that nice bhajan to help us and encourage us.

When my offenses ceasing, taste for the name increasing, when in my heart will your mercy shine?

Aparadha gucci, suddhaname ruchi, kriva bole hambe hrida ye sanchar, kambe hambe bolo kṛpa-bhole haṁ behrido ye sañcār kaṁ behaṁ be bolo se dīnāmā when o when will that day be mine?

So as long as we're committing the offenses, you see, What do they say?

Offenses make fences that prevent you from realizing Krishna.

So, the Anantya-Nivitti says you're free from the offenses now, you see.

But the fact is, for us neophytes, we're still committing so many offenses.

And we haven't even cleared the art of the viti yet, but to speak of nishtaruchi, or asati, asati, you see.

So we shouldn't think, yes, I'm a raganuga bhakti, yes, I go to Vraj and I feel like I'm a gopi.

This is called sahajiya, 1 who takes the process very cheaply.

So anyway, of course, the gross swamis were in that mood.

And actually Lord Caitanya Himself is in the mood of the gopis, the mood of Radharani.

So we were following in their footsteps and that day will come.

We actually realized he or in Krishna's Leela, in Vrindavan actually, because we're following Lord Caitanya.

Now that we're going to the Vaikuntha Loka, we're actually heading to Krishna Loka.

Everyone is following Lord Caitanya, that they're going to Krishna Loka, that's our destination, because that's Lord Chaitanya's mood.

So we're actually going to Raj in due course of time by following Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

But we shouldn't try to jump artificially.

If We do so, we'll stay in material existence, but we follow very carefully and sincerely the orders of the spiritual master, trying to avoid all the offenses.

We'll come to Anuradha Nivrti eventually, and then to Nishtha, and Muchi, Asati, Baba, and Prem, and Dukas.

This Dharad Muni is explaining so much about body.

Although the body is not important, why is he going around Puranjana so much, so many verses 1 after another he is explaining in detail about the body.

Well, the thing is, we are so much in the bodily platform that if we hear some detailed explanation of the body, and it can help us to get free from the body.

If we all understand the details, like Prabhupāda gives so many details also, about the body.

We talk about the city of 9 gates, for example.

If we understand the body from the Vedic perspective, it can help us to get detached from it.

If we understand the city of 9 gates, these things are there to help us understand the body better than the doctors and the scientists can tell us.

The Vedas give us better knowledge of the body than these rascal scientists do.

So to have some knowledge of the body from the Vedic perspective can help us to get free from the body.

Ruchi stage is where 1 gets the higher taste.

So it is also said that 1 cannot give up lower taste unless 1 gets the higher taste.

Actually, we can get a higher taste even in the beginning.

Even just like somebody may be addicted to rock and roll music, for example, but they find more pleasure in the kirtan, in the rock and roll music.

So the vruchy, we get a little, we get a higher, we start getting a higher taste in the beginning.

Why does somebody give up illicit sex, meeting intoxicant and gambling?

So the higher taste begins and starts in the very beginning actually.

But it grows and grows and grows until you come to ruchi.

So we have a higher taste in the very beginning.

Then 1 has to be getting off the unorthodoxy to get the ruchi.

You get some taste, but you don't get the Ruchi level of taste.

Ruchi is when you have complete 100% taste, and there's no taste at all from material sense gratification.

In the beginning though, we find that we get some special flavor.

It's like the hippies, they were into illicit sex and LSD and marijuana.

But they gave it up because they thought this is better.

They got some higher taste from Krishna consciousness, better than their illicit sex and their marijuana.

But when that taste becomes absolutely 100%, that's the ruchi stage.

Yeah, but anartana-vritti has to be there.

Ruchi is 2 levels beyond anartana-vritti.

When you're absolutely steady, there's no wavering, you're totally fixed, not a little bit, a little here.

No, niṣṭa, niṣṭa, absolutely, totally fixed with no deviation, the niṣṭa stage.

Here we have something coming in, rolling in from the Shree Internet.

Okay, let's see what we have in the chat window.

Why I keep committing offenses, even though I don't want to commit them?

We have materialistic habits going back for millions of lifetimes.

We have habituated to sense gratification.

That's why we have to break the habits by creating new habits.

Make a habit for getting up for Mangalvati every day, Chanting rounds every day, hearing scripture every day.

We have to create new habits to make our old habits.

It's due to the habits, bad habits in the past.

So the way to overcome it is you increase your new habits.

If you can read 1 chapter every day from the Bhagavad books, you see, make a habit, or a sloka every day.

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