Woman, they are generally equipped with the qualities of passion and ignorance. And man also may be, but man can be elevated to the platform of goodness. Woman cannot be. Woman cannot be. Therefore if the husband is nice and the woman follows—woman becomes faithful and chaste to the husband—then their both life becomes successful. There are three qualities of nature: sattva, raja, tama. So rajas-tama, generally, that is the quality of woman. And man can become to the platform of goodness. Therefore initiation, brahminical symbolic representation, is given to the man, not to the woman. This is the theory.
Therefore the combination should be that the husband should be first-class devotee, Kṛṣṇa conscious, and woman should be . . . woman should be devoted to the husband, faithful, so that she would help the husband to make progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then their both life is successful. Otherwise, if the husband simply becomes captivated by the charming beauty of woman and engages himself in the sex life, then his life is lost, and the woman, they are less intelligent, that unless they are guided by proper husband, her life is also lost.
So those who are not demigods . . . here it is said, apāyayat surān. Sura-asura. Sura, those who are not developed to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are asura. So every husband should be a sura. Sura means devotee. And every woman should be religious. Religious means to become chaste, faithful to the husband. And the husband should become a devotee. Then both of them will make progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and that is the perfection of life.
So here it is very clearly described that anyān mohinyā. Mohinī, mohinyām, striyā, by the formation. So we should not be attracted. But generally, people are attracted. The whole world, the material world, is going on that the woman is attractive for man and the man is attractive for woman. Puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etam. This is the general platform of attraction between man and woman. And when they are united by such attraction, then they become more materially knotted. And then they are after . . .
- puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etaṁ
- tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ
- ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair
- janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti
- (SB 5.5.8)
Our material bondage is due to an illusion. What is that illusion? That, "I am this body." Dehātma-buddhi. "I am this body, and anything which is required for this body or which I possess for the comfort of this body, that is mine." Both of them are illusion, because I am not this body; I am soul, ahaṁ brahmāsmi.
But the illusion is everyone is thinking, "I am this body." "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am white," "I am black," "I am brahmin," "I am śūdra," "I am this," "I am that." So this is illusion. Therefore the Vedic system is, to save one from this illusion, the first stage of life is brahmacārī, to understand the value of life and strictly without any association with woman. That is called brahmacārī. Strictly.