Prabhupāda: No. One has to purify.
Professor Lewcock: Ah.
Prabhupāda: Because just like in my life I have never smoked. I never. So . . . I am giving an example. And somebody smokes. So smoking is not necessary, but somebody smokes—somebody does not. How it is? It is due to association. If I mix with smokers' association, then gradually I learn how to smoke. Similarly, if I mix with devotees' association, then I become gradually devotee.
Professor Lewcock: Yes, that's true.
Prabhupāda: So the sense is the same, but due to association it becomes polluted. So again by association it can be purified. But you cannot stop the senses. That is not the prohibition. Senses will remain, but for understanding what is God, we have to purify the senses.