Sex life is not bad, provided it is executed according to the religious principles

Expressions researched:
"Sex life is not bad, provided it is executed according to the religious principles"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Sex life is not bad, provided it is executed according to the religious principles. So Garbhādhāna saṁskāra... Just, what is the idea? The idea is the child born must be first class. He'll be able to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. He'll be able to understand the śāstras, the Vedas. He must have the good brain. These were the ideas. But if they are not born in that way, like cats and dog, that is called varṇa-saṅkara.

Lecture on BG 1.40 -- London, July 28, 1973:

The śāstra says that in a solitary place you should not remain even with your daughter, even with your sister, even with your mother.

mātṛ-svasra-duhitravan

na viviktaḥ sanevaśet

balavān indriya-grāmo

vidvāṁs api karṣati

(SB 9.19.17)

Either your mother or sister or daughter. No . . . nobody becomes lusty with mother or sister or daughter. But śāstra says: "Even your mother or sister or daughter, you should not live in a solitary place." Then one may question that, "How it is possible?" No. The śāstra says, balavān indriya-grāmaḥ: the senses are so strong that it becomes polluted. "Now it may be, some rascal fools may be polluted like that." No. Śāstra . . . vidvāṁs api karṣati. Even the most learned, he can be polluted.

So sometimes in India I am criticized that I keep women and men in the same temple. In India, that is not allowed. No women can live at night. They can come and go. But I defend myself that this is the system of the country, the women and men, they intermingle. How can I check it? Then the women, shall I not give them any chance for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa? No. I shall do this chance. I shall give this chance to woman even at the risk. That is my reply.

So therefore chastity is very, very important thing for producing good population, nice population. So unless the population is good . . . if the population become hippies, then how there can be any peace and prosperity? Therefore, to produce children, there is saṁskāra. First saṁskāra is garbhādhāna saṁskāra. This is called kula-dharma. Garbhādhāna saṁskāra means when, especially the high caste, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya especially . . . Śūdra . . .

Not śūdra. Śūdra has no saṁskāra. Only the higher class: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya and vaiśya. Vaiśya also sometimes no saṁskāra. But brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya must have saṁskāra. Daśa-vidhā saṁskārāḥ, ten kinds of saṁskāra. One of the saṁskāra . . . saṁskāra means purificatory method. One of the saṁskāra is also marriage. One must get married. So, before the child is given birth, there is a saṁskāra. What is called? Garbhādhāna saṁskāra. It is not that the husband and wife mix without any restriction and have sex life at any time. No.

You know that, that mother of Hiraṇyakaśipu, Kaśyapa Muni, I think, father. So she, the woman became very much sexually excited, and the husband replied that, "This is not time. This is very bad time, evening. Why you are insisting?" But she was too much lusty, and because the husband was obliged, Hiraṇyakaśipu was born, a demon was born. Therefore there is garbhādhāna saṁskāra, to find out when the husband and wife should mix and give birth to a child. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll see that "Sex life which is according to the principle of religious ideas, that is I am." Sex life is not bad, provided it is executed according to the religious principles.

So garbhādhāna saṁskāra . . . just, what is the idea? The idea is the child born must be first class. He'll be able to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. He'll be able to understand the śāstras, the Vedas. He must have the good brain. These were the ideas. But if they are not born in that way, like cats and dog, that is called varṇa-saṅkara. Varṇa-saṅkara. You cannot specify whether he's a brāhmaṇa or a kṣatriya or a vaiśya and śūdra. That is called varṇa-saṅkara. So varṇa-saṅkara population is not good. Varṇa-saṅkara. No caste, no designation, no definition to which class this man belongs.

So at the present moment, because these purificatory processes are not accepted, even in India . . . accepted, they're unable. Everything has topsy-turvied. Therefore the śāstra says that, "Accept everyone as śūdra." Kalau śūdraḥ sambhava. There is no more brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya. All śūdras. We have to accept. Because no Vedic culture, no garbhādhāna saṁskāra. They are born like cats and dogs. So where is this division? There cannot be. Therefore, accept them as śūdra. Varṇa-saṅkara is less than śūdra. So at least śūdra they should be. So there is no Vaidic dīkṣā.

For śūdra, there is no dīkṣā, there is no initiation. Initiation is meant for the persons who are born in brāhmaṇa family, kṣatriya family or vaiśya family. The śūdra has no initiation. So in India there are professional gurus. They initiate śūdras, but do not eat foodstuff touched by the disciple. So there are so many things, that if he's initiated, how he can remain śūdra? But they keep him śūdra; at the same time, they become guru.

Sanātana Gosvāmī gives direction in the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa that tathā dīkṣā-vidhānena dvijatvaṁ jāyate nṛṇām. If properly initiated, he becomes immediately brāhmaṇa. Dvijatvam. Dvija means second birth. Yathā kāñcanatāṁ yāti kāṁsyaṁ rasa-vidhānataḥ (Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 2.12). There is a chemical process that kāṁsya, bell metal, can be turned into gold by mixing with proportionately mercury. Now here is a hint of chemistry. If anyone can prepare gold . . . but it is very difficult to mix mercury. As soon as there is little heat, immediately the mercury's finished.

So there is a process. Everything has process. Many yogīs know how to make gold from copper. Actually, chemically, copper, tin and mercury, if you mix proportionately, it will be gold. So Sanātana Gosvāmī gives this example: As the copper and tin, these two metals, mixed with mercury, there can be production of gold, similarly, by proper initiation, by the proper spiritual master, one śūdra, even though he's a śūdra, less than śūdra, varṇa-saṅkara or caṇḍāla, he can become dvija, brāhmaṇa.

So our process is to make dvija. Pāñcarātrikī vidhi. Pāñcarātrikī vidhi. That is recommended.