What beauty is there in the body of a woman composed of nerves, bones and joints? She is a mere statue of flesh and a frame of moving machinery with her ribs and limbs. Sexual desire, like a huntsman, has spread his nets in the form of women for the purpose of ensnaring deluded men like silly birds. A woman is nothing but a form composed of the five elements, so why intelligent men should be fondly attached to her? Lust for the opposite sex is one of the major hindrances in the Spiritual Journey of the soul back to its Real Home. It has to be given up by both the sexes. The observations of Rama are some of the suggestions to overcome the inherent attraction for the opposite sex. The key to overcome this temptation is not to pay attention to the attractive features of the opposite sex. And before casting a second glance one should activate these observations in the mind applied vice versa.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 21
Denunciation of Women
Book I, Chapter 21
Denunciation of Women
Submission
The observations that follow are of male seeker of
Truth to overcome the hindrance of opposite sex.
Female seekers of Truth should consider vice versa
as applicable.
Lust for the opposite sex is one of the major
hindrances in the Spiritual Journey of the soul back
to its Real Home. It has to be given up by both the
sexes.
Mind on its own cannot avoid temptation for the
opposite sex. The seeker of Truth has to activate the
Discriminating faculty of soul to counter this
temptation.
The observations of Rama hereunder are some of
the suggestions to overcome the inherent
attraction for the opposite sex.
The key to overcome this temptation is not to pay
attention to the attractive features of the opposite
sex. And before casting a second glance one should
activate these observations in the mind applied
vice versa.
Creative Power is the link between the Source God
and its part soul. It is directed inwards and
upwards. Lust is directed downwards and

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 21
Denunciation of Women
outwards so that soul could experience the
Creation as willed by God.
For those desiring union with God lust has to be
given up completely without which the Creative
Power within cannot be invoked. This also requires
the guidance and blessings of the realized teacher.
Rama was fortunate to have the guidance of two
great sages of his time and to whom he is
addressing his observations.
Rama continued:
1What beauty is there in the body of a woman composed
of nerves, bones and joints? She is a mere statue of flesh
and a frame of moving machinery with her ribs and
limbs.
2Separated from its flesh, skin, blood and water,
can you find anything beautiful in the female
form that is worth beholding? Then why dote
upon it?
3This fairy frame consisting of hair and blood
cannot engage the attention of a high-minded
man to its blemishes.
4The bodies of females, so covered with clothing and
repeatedly smeared with paints and perfumes, are (in
the end) devoured by carnivorous (beasts and worms).

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 21
Denunciation of Women
5The breasts of women, decorated with strings of pearl,
appear as charming as the pinnacles of Mount Sumeru
washed by the waters of the Ganges falling upon them.
6Look at these very same breasts in the end, having
become a lump of food to be devoured by dogs in
cemeteries and on the naked ground.
7There is no difference between a woman and a young
elephant that lives in the jungle. Both are made of
blood, flesh and bones. Then why hunt after her?
8A woman is charming only for a short time. I look
upon her merely as a cause of delusion.
9There is no difference between wine and a woman.
Both tend equally to produce high-flown mirth and
jollity, creating revelry and lust.
10Overindulgent men are like chained elephants among
mankind. They will never come to sense however
goaded by the hooks of reason.
11Women are the flames of vice. Their black-dyed eye
and hair are their smoke and soot. Though pleasing to
the sight, they are as intangible as fire. They burn a man
like fire consumes straw.
12Though they appear soft and juicy to sight, they burn
from afar and are as dry as bones. They serve as fuel for

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 21
Denunciation of Women
the fires of hell, and they are dangerous with their
charm.
13The woman resembles a moonlit night, veiled over by
her loosened locks, and looking through her starry eyes.
She shows her moon-like face amidst her flowery
smiles.
14Her soft dalliance destroys all manly energy, and her
caresses overpower the good sense of men, like the
shade of night does the sleeping (world).
15A woman is as lovely as a vine in its flowering time.
Her palms are the leaves and her eyes are the black
bees. Her breasts are like the uplifted tops of the plant.
16A lovely maiden is like a poisonous vine, fair as the
filament of a flower but, by causing inebriation and
unconsciousness, destructive of life.
17Like the snake-catcher entices the snake by his breath
and brings it out of its hole, so does a woman allure a
man by her meddlesome civilities and gets him under
her control.
18Sexual desire, like a huntsman, has spread his nets in
the form of women for the purpose of ensnaring
deluded men like silly birds.
19The mind of man, though as fierce as that of a furious
elephant, is tied fast by the chain of love to the fulcrum

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 21
Denunciation of Women
of women, just as an elephant is fastened to the post
where he remains dull and dumb forever.
20Human life is like a pool in which the mind moves
about in mud and mire. Here it is caught by the bait of
woman, and dragged along by the thread of its impure
desires.
21The beautiful eyed maiden is a bondage to man, as the
stable is to the horse, the fastening post to the elephant,
and as spells are to the snakes.
22This wonderful world, with all its delights and
enjoyments, began with woman and depends on
women for its continuance.
23A woman is a casket full of all gems of vice. She
is the cause of our chain to everlasting misery, and
she is of no use to me.
24What shall I do with her breast, her eyes, her loins, her
eyebrows, the substance of which is only flesh and
which therefore is altogether unsubstantial?
25Here and there, O Brahmin, her flesh and blood and
bones undergo a change for the worse in course of a few
days.
26Sage, you can see those dearly beloved mistresses, so
much fondled by foolish men, lying at last in the
cemetery, their body parts all mangled and falling off.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 21
Denunciation of Women
27O Brahmin, those dear love objects, the faces of
maidens so fondly decorated by their lovers with
paints and pastes, are at last to be burned on the
piles.
28Their braided hairs hang like fly-whisks on the
cemetery trees, and after a few days, their whitened
bones are strewn about like shining stars.
29Behold their blood sucked in by the dust of the earth,
voracious beasts and worms feeding upon their flesh,
jackals tearing their skin, and their vital air dispersed
in the vacuum.
30This is the state to which the members of the female
body must shortly come to pass. You say all existence is
delusion. Therefore tell me, why do you allow
yourselves to fall into error?
31A woman is nothing but a form composed of the
five elements, so why intelligent men should be
fondly attached to her?
32Men’s longing for women is like the suta (mixed) vine
which stretches its sprigs to a great length, but bears
plenty of bitter and sour fruit.
33A man blinded by greed (for his mate) is like a
deer that has strayed from its herd, not knowing
which way to go, lost in the maze of illusion.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 21
Denunciation of Women
34A young man under the control of a young woman is
as lamentable as an elephant in pursuit of his mate that
has fallen into a pit of Vindhya Mountain.
35He who has a wife has an appetite for enjoyment
on earth, but one without her has no object of
desire. Abandonment of the wife amounts to
abandonment of the world, and forsaking the
world is the path to true happiness.
[Note: Abandonment of the wife here does not imply that
a married person has to give up his or her spouse. It
implies that lust for each other has to be given up once
they have had their children. The faculty of sex should be
used only for propagation of soul and not for pleasure.]
36I am not content, O Brahmin! With these
unmanageable enjoyments which are as
flickering as the wings of bees, and are as soon at
an end as they are born. From my fear of repeated
births, decay and death, I long only for the state of
supreme bliss.
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Recap
[Rama’s observations herein above are a lesson for all
seekers of Truth. “A woman is charming only for a

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 21
Denunciation of Women
short time. I look upon her merely as a cause of
delusion.”
“Sexual desire, like a huntsman, has spread his
nets in the form of women for the purpose of
ensnaring deluded men like silly birds.”
“A woman is nothing but a form composed of the
five elements, so why intelligent men should be
fondly attached to her?”]
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Meaning
[Lust: a strong sexual desire; self-indulgent sexual
desire; have a craving, appetite, or great desire for; an
overwhelming desire or craving.
Mirth: Great merriment; gladness and gaiety,
especially when expressed by laughter.
Jollity: Feeling jolly and jovial and full of good
humour.
Revelry: Unrestrained merrymaking.
Vice: Moral weakness; an immoral, wicked, or evil
habit, action, or trait; habitual or frequent indulgence
in pernicious, immoral, or degrading practices; a
specific form of pernicious conduct, esp. prostitution or
sexual perversion; a failing or imperfection in character,
conduct.
*******