Concupiscence is the greatest enemy of the human being.
The Lord warns us in these words: Three doors open into this hell (evil beings are plunged into the ocean of material existence in various demonic forms of life): concupiscence, anger and greed. Let every sane man close them, for they lead the soul to its doom.
In his words, the Lord describes the origins of the demonic life. Those who seek to satisfy their concupiscence, if they do not succeed, then anger and greed arise. That is why the sane human being, who does not want to fall into the demonic species, must try to get rid of these three poisons or enemies, capable of misleading the soul, plunging it into confusion and delusion, to the point of depriving it of any chance of freeing itself from the traps of material existence, and as the Lord says, leading it to its ruin.
When the soul comes in contact with the material creation, its love for Krishna is transformed under the influence of illusion into concupiscence. Unfulfilled concupiscence turns into anger, and anger into illusion, by which we remain trapped in material existence. Concupiscence is therefore the greatest enemy of the incarnate spiritual being. It keeps the pure soul imprisoned in matter.
Spiritual beings have a tiny independence in this material world. But because they have misused it and because they have turned their devotional attitude into a desire for material enjoyment, they have fallen under the sway of concupiscence.
The material world was created by the Lord to enable conditioned souls to satisfy their lustful or carnal desires, and after an endless series of fruitless and frustrating efforts, the human being begins to question his true nature.
As long as we do not control this concupiscence, we must die and be reborn again and again. Whether it is sex, tongue, ears, eyes or touch, our senses draw us towards death. As long as we want to enjoy these, we will have to stay in this world and experience death, life after life.
Concupiscence can never be satisfied by the search for new material pleasures. The centre of all material activities is sexual life, which is why the material universe is called: “The world of impermanence”, “The world of death”, or “The chains of sexual life”.
Verily, those who violate the laws of the Lord undergo the chains of sexual life. The progress of materialistic civilizations is based on the pleasure of the senses and implies, for the incarnate being, an extension of material existence.
Concupiscence symbolizes the ignorance that keeps the being trapped in the material world. By giving pleasure to the senses, one may experience some form of satisfaction, but this false sense of happiness is ultimately the ultimate enemy of those who experience it.
The Lord advises us to begin by mastering our senses, so that we can overcome the greatest poison or enemy, concupiscence, which destroys the desire for spiritual realization and destroys the knowledge of the true self. We are the eternal servants of Krishna, integral parts of His Person. Our sole function is therefore to serve Him with love and devotion. This state of consciousness is called “Krishna consciousness”, which we must develop as soon as possible, in order to reach its fullness and put it into action. Through Krishna consciousness, it is possible to master our material senses, mind and intelligence.