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RESURRECTION.
507
Sexual promiscuity, fornication, incest, over-indulgence, and all other abuses of the sex-function only go to excite and strengthen evil passions and tendencies, and, thus, actually produce weakness of will. Even the least objectionable sex-relation of husband and wife is an obstacle on the path of Nirvana, since it diverts attention from the higher to the lower self. Therefore, so long as sexual passion is not brought completely under the control of will, it acts as an impediment to the realization of perfection and bliss, which are the ideal in view. Control of tbe sex-passion, rather than the segregation of species, then, is the means of developing the will. It is for this reason that all rational religions enjoin sexual abstinence, in the end. All the great Teachers also practised absolute celibacy, and enjoined it on their followers. Of all the poisons in the universe, kama-exciting, feminine beauty is the most fatal. Physical contact is not necessary for its action ; its mere sight, even thought, is sufficient to affect the mind. Phctographs, paintings, and even verbal description of beauty bave been known to excite the sexual passion. It is also more lasting in its effect than the other known poisons, since they only affect the physical body, which the soul leaves behind on death, while its evil influence becomes incorporated in the individual character, and persists through future incarnations.
Moreover, since passion is the actual cause of mental impurity, and since redemption cannot be had so long as the mind is not purged of all impurities, it follows that no one who aspires to obtain moksha can afford to abandon himself to voluptuousness, or sexual love, in any
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