Category:Association With Women
Theme Analysis
The principle of restricting association between men and women is the cornerstone of Vedic civilization. Śrīla Prabhupāda frequently explains that the primary cause of the soul's conditional life in the material world is the attraction to the association of women. Therefore, the entire varṇāśrama-dharma system is scientifically designed to gradually detach the living entity from this allurement. Out of the four spiritual orders (āśramas), three are strictly forbidden from female association: the brahmacārī (celibate student), the vānaprastha (retired person), and the sannyāsī (renunciate). The gṛhastha (householder) is the only order granted a "license" to associate with women, and even then, it is highly restricted and meant solely for the propagation of Kṛṣṇa-conscious children, not for unrestricted sense gratification.
Śrīla Prabhupāda uses a powerful Vedic analogy to explain the necessity of these restrictions: woman is compared to fire, and man is compared to a butter pot. Just as butter inevitably melts in the presence of fire, a man's mind becomes agitated in the presence of a woman. Because the senses are so incredibly strong, the śāstras strictly forbid a man from sitting in a solitary place even with his own mother, sister, or daughter. To ignore these injunctions is to invite spiritual catastrophe. Śrīla Prabhupāda points to the tragic history of Ajāmila, who lost all his exalted brahminical qualities simply due to the association of a prostitute. Even great personalities must remain perpetually vigilant. Ultimately, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught by His personal example that for anyone serious about crossing the ocean of material nescience, intimate association with women is more dangerous than drinking poison.
- The Purpose of Varṇāśrama: The four spiritual orders are specifically devised to gradually detach a man from the association of women, which is the root cause of material bondage.
- The Fire and Butter Analogy: Because the senses are overwhelmingly strong, a man must avoid secluded association with women—even close relatives—just as butter must be kept away from fire.
- The Gateway to Hell: Unrestricted mixing between men and women constitutes an animal civilization. For an advancing devotee, illicit female association is considered the gateway to hellish life.
- Lord Caitanya's Strict Standard: As an ideal sannyāsī, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was extremely strict regarding the association of women, establishing the ultimate standard of behavior for serious transcendentalists.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Association with Women - The Strict Injunctions of Vedic Culture.
Pages in category "Association With Women"
The following 100 pages are in this category, out of 100 total.
1
A
- A brahmacari or sannyasi is prohibited to associate with women, especially in a secret place. The sastras enjoin that one should not even talk to a woman in a secret place, even if she happens to be one's own daughter, sister or mother
- A brahmacari should be very expert in executing responsibilities, he should be faithful, and he should control his senses and try to avoid the association of women as far as possible
- A civilization that allows men to mix unrestrictedly with women is an animal civilization. In Kali-yuga, people are extremely liberal, but mixing with women and talking with them as equals actually constitutes an uncivilized way of life
- A father is teaching, "Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy. Eat meat and drink and associate with as many girls and this is enjoyment." That means, indirectly, he is sending his son to the hell. You see? There is no love. Actually, this is no love
- A grhastha or ksatriya cannot properly execute his responsibilities without the association of his wife
- A grhastha, vanaprastha, sannyasi and brahmacari should be very careful when associating with women. One is forbidden to sit down in a solitary place even with one's mother, sister or daughter
- A householder, after fifty years of age, would retire from the association of woman as a vanaprastha to be trained to live alone without the association of woman
- A man should not associate with a woman in a solitary place, not even with his mother, sister or daughter, for the senses are so strong that they lead astray even a person advanced in knowledge
- A person fixed in spiritual knowledge will not be attracted by the allurement of material nature in the form of beautiful women and the sex pleasure enjoyed in their association
- A person sometimes accepts the dress of a sannyasi or babaji in the renounced order, but he cannot give up desires for sense gratification, especially for the association of women. Such a person cannot make advancement in spiritual life
- A program of so-called family planning is needed. The householder who associates with woman under scriptural restrictions, after a thorough training of brahmacarya, cannot be a householder like cats and dogs
- A pure devotee like King Kulasekhara refuses to associate with beautiful soft-skinned women. There are different grades of women on different planets in the universe
- A sannyasi is forbidden not to talk even in private place with woman. But a householder, he, if he associates woman under marriage tie, then it is religious. And without this, this is irreligious. And that religious sex life is God
- A self-realized soul who aspires to the topmost platform of yogic perfection should not associate with young women
- According to Vedic civilization, one's association with women should be very restricted. In spiritual life there are four asramas - brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa. The brahmacari, vanaprastha and sannyasi are forbidden
- After accepting the sannyasa order of life, He (Lord Caitanya) was very, very strict about avoiding association with women, but still He taught that there is no better method of worshiping Krsna than that conceived by the gopis
- After Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted the renounced order of life, He very strictly avoided association with women. Even in His family life, He never played any jokes with women. He was very humorous, but only with men, not with women
- Ajamila, because of his association with a prostitute, lost all brahminical culture and became most sinful, even in his so-called household life
- Although such men (who have reached more than eighty years of age still go to nightclubs and pay heavy fees to drink wine and associate with women) are too old to enjoy anything, their desires have not ceased
- Although when he (the brahmacari) goes out to beg alms it is necessary to talk with women and with men very much attached to women, this association should be very short, and he should talk with them only about begging alms, and not more
- Association of women is the gateway to hellish life
- Attachment to women is so contaminating that one becomes attached to the condition of material life not only by the association of women but by the contaminated association of persons who are too attached to them
- Attraction for woman's association is the cause of the material conditional life, and anyone interested in being freed from this conditional life must detach himself from the association of women
B
- Because human life is meant for tapasya, for self-realization, factual human civilization, as conceived by the system of sanatana-dharma or the school of four castes and four orders of life, prescribes rigid dissociation from woman in three stages of life
- Because of his association with a prostitute, Ajamila abandoned all his duties. Regretting this, Ajamila now considered himself quite fallen
- Because they (association of women by marriage and flesh-eating by sacrifices) are injunctions of the Vedas for particular types of persons, such activities by the pravrttas are not considered adharma
- Bhaktivinoda Thakura indicates that there is another Vaisnava, a pseudo Vaisnava with tilaka on his nose and kanthi beads around his neck. Such a pseudo Vaisnava associates with money and women and is jealous of successful Vaisnavas
- By regulating one's sex life there is a chance that one may eventually be able to renounce sex or renounce the association of women. If this can be done, advancement in spiritual life comes very easily
D
- Due to bad association, one gradually falls into lower species. Association with women is greatly stressed in this regard. When one becomes attached to women or to those who are attached to women, one falls down into the lower species
- Due to his contaminated association with women, a living entity like King Puranjana eternally suffers all the pangs of material existence and remains in the dark region of material life, bereft of all remembrance for many, many years
F
- For those who are in the lowest stage of ignorance and who indulge in wine, women and flesh, drinking by performing sautramani-yajna, association of women by marriage and flesh-eating by sacrifices are sometimes recommended
- Four kinds of sinful activities - associating with woman for illicit sex, eating meat, intoxication and gambling - are allowed for the ksatriyas
H
- He (Caitanya) strictly followed the rules and regulations of the sannyasa order of the life in connection with association with woman. BG 1972 purports
- How can one who is full in Himself (God) take pleasure in the association of many women? How can He take wives and, just like a householder, take pleasure in the association of family members, children, relatives and parents
I
- I (Prabhupada) think also that Gargamuni also should be supplied with another bride. Because karmis without association of woman, cannot work. So as he is going to be a karmi - not exactly karmi, karma-yogi, so if he likes, he can marry again
- I am a sannyasi. I am forbidden to make any association with women. I cannot talk even with woman in a lonely place. That is forbidden. I give you one practical example. When my Guru Maharaja, my spiritual master, was living...
- If one associates with a saintly person, a devotee, one's path of liberation becomes clear. But if one associates with a woman or with a person who is too much addicted to a woman, his path of bondage becomes completely clear
- If one hears and chants without trying to give up offenses, one may be victimized by diplomatic or crooked behavior, or one may associate with women for illicit sex
- If you work hard, Laksmi will come. Our institution is working so hard, all our devotees; therefore we have no scarcity. We are not babajis, taking a mala & smoking bidi. "I do not go beyond Vrndavana." Rascal, loitering & associating with so many women
- If, however, one wants to stick to continued existence in the material world, he may indulge in female association unrestrictedly
- In Kali-yuga, association with women is very strong. In every step of life, there is association with women
- In no standard yoga system is the association of women accepted
- In our Krsna consciousness movement it is advised, therefore, that the sannyasis and brahmacaris keep strictly aloof from the association of women so that there will be no chance of their falling down again as victims of lusty desires
- In our Society, compulsorily we have to mix with women - not only women, very beautiful young girls. But if one is not agitated even in this association of beautiful women and girls, then he is to be considered paramahamsa. He is very advanced
- Incident from the Mahabharata period proves definitely that the ladies of the palace observed strict parda (restricted association with men)
- It might be that Brahma wanted to warn his subordinates (by being sexually inclined to his own daughter) about human frailties in their dealings with women. This is always very dangerous for persons who are on the path of self-realization
M
- Maharaja Anga's semen became contaminated in association with his wife, Sunitha, who happened to be the daughter of death personified. Because of this polluted semen, King Vena was produced. This was a catastrophe in the family of Dhruva Maharaja
- Millions and millions of years ago, when Narada Muni was a Gandharva, he neglected the order to glorify the Lord, and being mad in the association of women, he began to chant otherwise. Thus he was cursed to become a sudra
N
- Narada Muni says that according to his opinion the enemies of Krsna are better situated because they are fully absorbed in thoughts of Krsna in terms of killing Him, just as a very lusty man always thinks of women and their association
- Never associate with an attractive woman, for such a woman is declared in the scripture to be the gateway to hell for the advancing devotee
O
- On the path of liberation, one associates with mahatmas, and on the path of bondage one associates with those attached to sense gratification and women
- Once we indulge the mind, it can create havoc in this life, even though we may be spiritually advanced. The mind is specifically agitated through the association of materialistic men and women
- One cannot give up this abominable association (with women and sex literature) through one's own effort, but if one takes shelter of a bona fide spiritual master who is a paramahamsa, he will gradually be elevated to the platform of spiritual life
- One should associate with women only for important business and not otherwise
- One who is serious about going to the other side of this ocean, two things are very dangerous. It is most heinous activities than drinking poison. To mix very intimately with materialistic person & to have association with woman with sense purpose
- Only grhasthas are allowed to associate with women under certain very much restricted conditions - that is, one associates with women to propagate nice children. Other reasons for association are condemned
- Ordinary persons must strictly observe the rules and regulations by staying aloof from the association of women. No one should imitate Narada Muni or Haridasa Thakura
- Out of the four asramas - the brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa - only a grhastha, or householder, is allowed to associate with women; the grhastha-asrama is a kind of license for sense gratification given to the devotee
- Out of the four social divisions, the brahmacari, vanaprastha and the sannyasi - three orders - are strictly prohibited from the association of women
S
- Sannyasis should never associate with women, but that does not mean that one who is in the lower stages of life, a young man, should not accept a wife in the marriage ceremony. BG 1972 purports
- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu advises, sandarsanam visayinam atha yositam ca ha hanta hanta visa-bhaksanato 'py asadhu: material opulence and sense gratification through the association of women are more dangerous than poison
- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu never even joked with others' wives. As soon as He saw a woman coming, He would immediately give her ample room to pass without talking. He was extremely strict regarding the association of women
- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s vrndavana-lila in the garden of Jagannatha Puri did not involve association with women or with other people’s wives in the fashion transcendentally demonstrated by Sri Krsna
- Srila Jiva Gosvami directs that drinking against the principles of scriptures, such as the sautramani-yajna, association with women outside marriage, and killing animals against the injunctions of scriptures are irreligious
- Studying the whole scheme of disassociation from women, it appears that a woman is a stumbling block for self-realization, and the Lord appeared as Narayana to teach the principle of womanly disassociation with a vow in life
- Such recommendations (association of women by marriage and flesh-eating by sacrifices) in the Vedic literature are meant for a particular class of men, and not for all
- Sukadeva Gosvami wants to impress upon the mind of the reader (in SB 6.1.63) that Ajamila's exalted position as a brahmana was vanquished by his association with the prostitute, so much so that he forgot all his brahminical activities
T
- The association of a good wife is necessary in a life of karma and political affairs
- The association of woman is very much restricted in the Vedic civilization
- The brahmacari, vanaprastha and sannyasi are completely forbidden to associate with women
- The first stage of life is brahmacari, the second stage grhastha, the third stage vanaprastha, and the fourth stage sannyasa. All these stages are devised to enable one to detach himself from the association of women
- The illusion and bondage that accrue to a man from attachment to any other object are not as complete as that resulting from association with a woman or with men too much attached to women
- The injunction restricting association with women is the basic principle of spiritual life. Associating or talking with women is never advised in any of the Vedic literatures
- The path of salvation or the path going back to Godhead always forbids the association of women, and the complete sanatana-dharma or varnasrama-dharma scheme forbids or restricts association with women
- The relationship between man and woman is very complicated, but the substance is that one who aspires to ascend to the transcendental stage of spiritual realization should be very careful in accepting the association of a woman
- The Vedic civilization, being based on spiritual understanding, arranges association with women very cautiously
- There are many reasons for our conditional life in the material world, but the topmost of all such causes is the association of women
- There are two kinds of brahmacari; one is completely celibate and and the other is grhastha-brahmacari, that is to say he has a wife, he does not associate with any other woman, and his relations with his own wife are strictly regulated
- There is a propensity of men, association with woman, mithuni-bhavam etat. Everyone is trying to find out a man or woman. And when they unite, that attraction becomes tightly knot
- There must be association with women. By God's creation, there is man, woman. They're meant for being united
- They (the Vedic wisdom) say that the woman is considered to be the fire, and the man is considered to be the butter. The butter must melt in association with fire, and therefore they may be brought together only when it is necessary
- They avoid that trap, they avoid association of women. But these women are not ordinary women. They are preachers. They are preachers. They are Vaisnava. By their association, one becomes a Vaisnava
- This (to further clarify the transcendental nature of Krsna and the gopis in the rasa dance) is very important in order to check the unrestricted association with women by the prakrta-sahajiyas
- This is (association with a woman) restricted for those who aspire to ascend to the transcendental platform
V
- Vedic civilization carefully restricts mingling between men and women. If one cannot understand the basic principle of restraining association between man and woman, he is to be considered an animal. That is the purport of this verse - SB 7.12.9
- Vedic training dictates that when a man is in his boyhood he should be trained in the process of brahmacarya; that is, he should be completely engaged in the service of the Lord and should not in any way associate with women
W
- We can understand that a mahat, or a great soul, is completely free from association of women. He is mahat. Therefore generally a spiritual master is selected amongst the renounced order of life, sannyasi
- We have actually seen, especially in the Western countries, that men who have reached more than eighty years of age still go to nightclubs and pay heavy fees to drink wine and associate with women
- We have seen so many sannyasis. First of all they say: "This is false. The world is false. Let me take sannyasa." And after remaining a few years of sannyasa, then he learns how to eat meat, how to drink wine, how to associate with women
- When the practice is complete (as a vanaprastha, to live alone without the association of woman), the same retired householder becomes a sannyasi, strictly separate from woman, even from his married wife
- Woman is compared to fire, and man is compared to a butter pot. Therefore a man should avoid associating even with his own daughter in a secluded place. Similarly, he should also avoid association with other women