saṅgaṁ na kuryāt pramadāsu jātu

saṅgaṁ na kuryāt pramadāsu jātu

yogasya pāraṁ param ārurukṣuḥ

mat-sevayā pratilabdhātma-lābho

vadanti yā niraya-dvāram asya

Neither the jñānī 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 jñānī 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”[264] if one is a karmī, then it is not a fault to associate with women. The word asya means “any man.”

 

|| 3.31.40 ||

yopayāti śanair māyā

yoṣid deva-vinirmitā

tām īkṣetātmano mṛtyuṁ

tṛṇaiḥ kūpam ivāvṛtam

 

Māyā in the form of a woman, created by the Lord, approaches the man gently. One should see her as death, like a well covered with grass.

 

Knowing a person’s detachment, the woman shows off her own lack of desire, and approaches him in the guise of service. She then becomes a source of disturbance. Īkṣet stands for īkṣeta (one must see). Concerning a well covered with grass, the well is thinking, “Let men fall into me!” Therefore no one should even go near that blind well. Whether one is completely indifferent, having bhakti, jñāna or vairāgya, whether one is unconscious from madness or sleeping, or even dead, one should avoid women completely. That is the implication of the blind well.

|| 3.31.41 ||

yāṁ manyate patiṁ mohān

man-māyām ṛṣabhāyatīm

strītvaṁ strī-saṅgataḥ prāpto

vittāpatya-gṛha-pradam

 

The jīva, attaining the body of a woman from thinking of women at the point of death, out of illusion thinks of my māyā which has taken the form of a man to be her husband, the giver of wealth, sons and house.

Just as woman is a cause of problems for the man with bhakti and jñāna, man is a problem for women with bhakti and jñāna. This is explained in two verses. The jīva who think of women at the point of death, becoming a woman thinks of that māyā who now acts as a man (ṛṣabhyāyatīm) as her husband.

 

|| 3.31.42 ||