Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 3.31.39

sangam na kuryat pramadasu jatu

yogasya param param arurukshuh

mat-sevaya pratilabdhatma-labho

vadanti ya niraya-dvaram asya

SYNONYMS

sangam -- association; na -- not; kuryat -- one should make; pramadasu -- with women; jatu -- ever; yogasya -- of yoga; param -- culmination; param -- topmost; arurukshuh -- one who aspires to reach; mat-sevaya -- by rendering service unto Me; pratilabdha -- obtained; atma-labhah -- self-realization; vadanti -- they say; yah -- which women; niraya -- to hell; dvaram -- 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.

PURPORT

The culmination of yoga is full Krishna consciousness. This is affirmed in Bhagavad-gita: a person who is always thinking of Krishna in devotion is the topmost of all yogis. And in the Second Chapter of the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, 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 pratilabdhatma-labhah occurs. Atma means "self," and labha means "gain." Generally, conditioned souls have lost their atma, 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 yogi. 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 brahmacari, vanaprastha and the sannyasi -- three orders -- are strictly prohibited from the association of women; only the grihasthas, 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.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness