Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.8.7

dṛṣṭvā striyaḿ deva-māyāḿ

tad-bhāvair ajitendriyaḥ

pralobhitaḥ pataty andhe

tamasy agnau patańga-vat

SYNONYMS

dṛṣṭvā — seeing; striyam — a woman; deva-māyām — whose form is created by the illusory energy of the Lord; tat-bhāvaiḥ — by the alluring seductive activities of the woman; ajita — one who has not controlled; indriyaḥ — his senses; pralobhitaḥ — enticed; patati — falls down; andhe — into the blindness of ignorance; tamasi — into the darkness of hell; agnau — in the fire; patańga-vat — just like the moth.

TRANSLATION

One who has failed to control his senses immediately feels attraction upon seeing a woman's form, which is created by the illusory energy of the Supreme Lord. Indeed, when the woman speaks with enticing words, smiles coquettishly and moves her body sensuously, his mind is immediately captured, and thus he falls blindly into the darkness of material existence, just as the moth maddened by the fire rushes blindly into its flames.

PURPORT

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains in this regard that just as a moth is killed by its attraction to the form of fire, similarly a bee can easily be killed by exploiting its attraction to the fragrance of flowers. Furthermore, hunters may trap and kill an elephant by exploiting its sensuous desire to touch a captive female elephant and may also kill a deer by attracting it with the sounds of their horns; and a fish is killed by its desire to taste the bait on a hook. Thus, one who desires to learn detachment from material illusion should accept these five helpless creatures as guru and learn the needful. Certainly one who is lusty to enjoy the illusory form of woman will be quickly buried in material illusion. Of the five types of fatal attraction involving material sense objects, the lesson of rūpa, or form, is illustrated in this verse.

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