(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Helsinki, Finland, 2011)

I brought up the point of the child because it is very deeply belonging to the female body. Like generally in this world, men get married because they want a woman. Most of the times when a woman gets married it is because she wants a child, or at least a man and a child. So that element is there.

I saw a film on a plane somewhere, and it was interesting, because it showed a man who fell in love with this woman, and then they were getting married. She was then expecting. Then the camera went down to the child level. The camera was suddenly on the height of the child's eyes. The child was there and the lady was wearing all these baggy dresses. She didn't look very beautiful anymore – not like she used to look. Then there were these children and toys all over the house! And you saw this man thinking:

"What happened? What happened to you?"

So it was interesting, because it showed the dynamics of the material world: A man wants a princess and what does he get? He gets all these little kids and toys and the whole universe like that.

So the ladies in spiritual life, they have to (as much as the men) detach from the bodily identification. The tendencies are very strong. We see that at a certain time of the year, the birds start building nests, and it's just wired in, in nature. In the same way, when the woman when she gets to a certain age, there it is:

'We need………..we need the house………….we need a place to stay somewhere because it's time for these things'.

That's fine in the gṛhastha-āśrama it should be like that, but one should solve this tendency to somewhat renounced spirit:

'vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga
śikṣārtham ekaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ,' [Cc.Madya 6.254].

It is said that 'vairāgya' – is the fundamental principle of Lord Caitanya's movement. In other words that we are solving our material needs in a simple way and we do not allow all these things to take over.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Helsinki, Finland, 2011)

It is true that any child will give happiness and distress. So what is the point in desiring to having a child?

If you think about it logically, it doesn't make sense, actually………because here's this child, who is going to give you happiness and distress. Why would you get involved with things that give happiness and distress, from a spiritual point of view. If one could simply think like:

"Well my aim is to get back to Godhead and while I'm in this material world I will try to avoid dealing with the material energy as much as possible. I will only deal with the material energy in the service of the Lord".

Then you are taking a purely transcendental stand…………just like the tortoise, who withdraws it's limbs in the shield…….and it only puts them out when it is favourable within spiritual life. But because we are winding up in certain bodies, then there are desires with these bodies…………………………………..For example in the Caitanya Bhagavad, there is an instance where Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was performing programs in the house of Srivas Thakur at night. Some ladies were also there. Some devotees said:

"Ladies……here?"

And Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said:

"Yes they are not women. They are vaisnavis!"

So that's different, then one is dedicated to the transcendental. But one must understand that the dictates of the body may go into the opposite direction, and with the body it also includes the mind……….that is the most difficult part. The body perceives the world through the ten senses…………………………………………………. These senses are getting us entangled. They dictate, and until these senses are purified and become attached to Krishna, they will constantly dictate us to engage with the material energy. The mind equally so will dictate us to engage with the material energy.