Devanagari
सङ्गं न कुर्यात्प्रमदासु जातु
योगस्य पारं परमारुरुक्षु: ।
मत्सेवया प्रतिलब्धात्मलाभो
वदन्ति या निरयद्वारमस्य ॥ ३९ ॥
Verse text
saṅgaṁ na kuryāt pramadāsu jātu
yogasya pāraṁ param ārurukṣuḥ
mat-sevayā pratilabdhātma-lābho
vadanti yā niraya-dvāram asya
Synonyms
saṅgam
—
association
;
na
—
not
;
kuryāt
—
one should make
;
pramadāsu
—
with women
;
jātu
—
ever
;
yogasya
—
of yoga
;
pāram
—
culmination
;
param
—
topmost
;
ārurukṣuḥ
—
one who aspires to reach
;
mat
—
sevayā — by rendering service unto Me
;
pratilabdha
—
obtained
;
ātma
—
lābhaḥ — self-realization
;
vadanti
—
they say
;
yāḥ
—
which women
;
niraya
—
to hell
;
dvāram
—
the gateway
;
asya
—
of the advancing devotee .
Translation
One who aspires to reach the culmination of yoga and has realized his self by rendering service unto Me should 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.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Neither the jṣānī striving for the perfection of yoga, nor the devotee who has attained realization of ātmā by service to me should be attached to women, whom the wise say, are the door to hell for any man.
Because of this, neither the jṣānī aspiring to attain liberation (pāram param) nor the devotee who has realized ātmā should have attachment to women (pramadāsu).
According to the logic of “the person lying down cannot fall any further” [Note: Na śayāna pataty adhaḥ.] if one is a karmī, then it is not a fault to associate with women. The word asya means “any man.”
Purport
The culmination of
yoga
is full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is affirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā:
a person who is always thinking of Kṛṣṇa in devotion is the topmost of all
yogīs.
And in the Second Chapter of the First Canto of
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
it is also stated that when one becomes freed from material contamination by rendering devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he can at that time understand the science of God.
Here the word
pratilabdhātma-lābhaḥ
occurs.
Ātmā
means “self,” and
lābha
means “gain.” Generally, conditioned souls have lost their
ātmā,
or self, but those who are transcendentalists have realized the self. It is directed that such a self-realized soul who aspires to the topmost platform of yogic perfection should not associate with young women. In the modern age, however, there are so many rascals who recommend that while one has genitals he should enjoy women as much as he likes, and at the same time he can become a
yogī.
In no standard
yoga
system is the association of women accepted. It is clearly stated here that the association of women is the gateway to hellish life. The association of woman is very much restricted in the Vedic civilization. Out of the four social divisions, the
brahmacārī, vānaprastha
and the
sannyāsī
— three orders — are strictly prohibited from the association of women; only the
gṛhasthas,
or householders, are given license to have an intimate relationship with a woman, and that relationship is also restricted for begetting nice children. If, however, one wants to stick to continued existence in the material world, he may indulge in female association unrestrictedly.