When sex is an experience of Krishna, as the Gita states, why does Yamunacharya spit at sex desire?

Transcript

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question question when the Gita says that sex life that is not contrary to religious principles is also a means to experience Krishna then why does Emunacharya spit at the thought of sex desire if sex is divine why should one spit at its thought answer yes, sex is one way of experiencing the divine but it is not the only way of experiencing the divine and it is also not a necessary way of experiencing the divine nor is it always a desirable way this when sex is practiced under dharma dharmic purview then we are getting a new life into this world and that aspect of sex where one is one is allowed to become a serve god as a co-creator in bringing new life into the world that is the divine aspect of sex but most people get caught up in the physical aspect of sex and there is although there may be intense pleasure for a very flickeringly brief period that pleasure doesn’t take one takes one’s thought towards god at all so the experience of the divine should be such that it inspires us to have further and fuller experiences of the divine but normally speaking sex desire is an experience which makes us forget the divine and which makes us go away from the divine go away from Krishna more and more into physical consciousness and more and more indulging in lust which makes us more and more unreceptive and unsuited for cultivating steady remembrance of Krishna so the point of the Bhagavad Gita description in the 7th chapter 7.11 the point of that is that section is describing how Krishna pervades all of existence in fact one verse later this is 7.10 11 12 13 that section which goes on it describes that whatever is in existence all states of being are manifested from Krishna so the point of this section is to show how Krishna permeates the entire existence but then the section concludes by describing that he says that all these states of existence come from me, I am in them but they are they come from me they are in me but I am not in them, what does it mean is that they are aspect of Krishna but Krishna has his own self existence which is entirely different from his immanence, his existence within matter so the focus of the Gita is to use the immanence of Krishna as a launching pad for focusing on his transcendence because we are not intrinsically material beings and we are not meant to forever stay at the material level we are meant to rise to the spiritual level of consciousness and that is the purpose of the Gita to raise us to the spiritual level of consciousness where Krishna’s all attractiveness is completely and eternally manifested but while we are at the material level of consciousness and we are attracted to material things, the Gita offers us a vision of how these material things and their attraction that is also coming ultimately from Krishna so everything attractive comes from Krishna but what is important is whether that takes us towards Krishna if it is not taking us towards Krishna then that is not favorable for our devotion that is pratikula and that should be put aside so sex desire is appropriate within dharmic regulated marriage but apart from that it can often be a source of great distraction in the spiritual path and in the 11th canto in Uddhava Gita Krishna explains that the rules are different for different ashrams so there he describes that for a sannyas, for an annunciate to contemplate sexually on a woman is wrong and other hand for a grahastha to not bigot children at all that is also not appropriate so the rules vary according to one’s ashram and one’s situation so in the case of Yamanacharya he is in the renounced order and for a person in the renounced order contemplating on sex desire is undesirable and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu even says based on the Bhagavatam that for such a person to actually indulge in it is like drinking vomit so that is definitely not at all desirable so Yamanacharya through this verse where he says that so when he says I am remembering the lotus feet of Krishna then what is happening that I am constantly getting newer and newer relish and when I get newer and newer relish then when I remember the association of women for the sake of sexual enjoyment Yamanacharya was earlier a king and he had that kind of indulgence but he says so my lips curl in distaste and I spit at the thought so what he is demonstrating over here is that that which is undesirable has become unpalatable so yes for a renunciate that is undesirable and even for a person who is not in the renounced order regulation is definitely important so it has become unpalatable because he is experiencing Krishna in a far richer and deeper way by direct remembrance of Krishna so our goal should be direct remembrance of Krishna and we practice diligently the process of bhakti which increases our direct remembrance of Krishna and while we are trying to remember Krishna in this way whenever other things attract us the Gita gives us the vision by which we can see how their attractiveness is also coming from Krishna and they also can offer us experience of Krishna but the important thing is not whether something’s attractiveness is coming from Krishna but the important thing is whether that attractiveness is taking us towards Krishna so based on that one should decide how much one should interact or not interact with certain manifestations that exhibit a spark of Krishna’s all attractiveness so that’s why for a person in the renounced order because attraction to sex is undesirable Yamanacharya is talking about how the undesirable because of the higher taste has now become unpalatable thank you so when we say that