स्त्रियं चक्रे स्वदेहार्धं यया पुंसां मतिर्हृता ॥३०॥
vilokyaikÄnta-bhÅ«tÄni
bhÅ«tÄny Ädau prajÄpatiḥ
striyaá¹ cakre sva-dehÄrdhaá¹
yayÄ puá¹sÄá¹ matir há¹›tÄ
vilokya - seeing; ekÄnta-bhÅ«tÄni - detached; bhÅ«tÄni - the living entities; Ädau - in the beginning; prajÄpatiḥ - Lord BrahmÄ; striyam - the woman; cakre - created; sva-deha - of his body; ardham - half; yayÄ - by whom; puá¹sÄm - of men; matiḥ - the mind; há¹›tÄ - carried away.
In the beginning of creation, Lord BrahmÄ, the father of the living entities of the universe, saw that all the living entities were unattached. To increase population, he then created woman from the better half of man’s body, for woman’s behavior carries away a man’s mind.
This entire universe is going on under the spell of sexual attachment, which was created by Lord BrahmÄ to increase the population of the entire universe, not only in human society but also in other species. As stated by Ṛṣabhadeva in the Fifth Canto, puá¹saḥ striyÄ mithunÄ«-bhÄvam etam: the entire world is going on under the spell of sexual attraction and desire between man and woman. When man and woman unite, the hard knot of this attraction becomes increasingly tight, and thus a man is implicated in the materialistic way of life. This is the illusion of the material world. This illusion acted upon KaÅ›yapa Muni, although he was very learned and advanced in spiritual knowledge. As stated in the Manu-saá¹hitÄ (2.215) and ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (9.19.17):
mÄtrÄ svasrÄ duhitrÄ vÄ
nÄviviktÄsano bhavet
balavÄn indriya-grÄmo
vidvÄá¹sam api kará¹£ati
“A man should not associate with a woman in a solitary place, not even with his mother, sister or daughter, for the senses are so strong that they lead astray even a person advanced in knowledge.†When a man remains in a solitary place with a woman, his sexual desires undoubtedly increase. Therefore the words ekÄnta-bhÅ«tÄni, which are used here, indicate that to avoid sexual desires one should avoid the company of women as far as possible. Sexual desire is so powerful that one is saturated with it if he stays in a solitary place with any woman, even his mother, sister or daughter.
