(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 31 July 2005, Lecture)
For a sannyasi to associate with mundane persons is like willingly drinking poison! And not only for a sannyasi but for a devotee too. One should not associate with women who are addicted to lusty desires nor should one associate with men who are addicted to such women. This is not recommended for one who is serious about going back to Godhead because it is said that sex life is the chain, maithunya argara, it is the chain that binds us in the prison of material existence.
But you may ask, “Isn’t sex life natural? You cannot be artificial. It is one of the natural inclinations of the body just like hunger and thirst! It is also not only that… it is like a means to express affection and love.”
Yes, one must also make a distinction between the gross lusty activities which, for example, are going on in the red light district of Amsterdam and the exchanges in a loving relationship. That is also a fact. A distinction is made and therefore exchanges between a husband and wife is a different thing. In the Vedic culture, a husband and wife would together go for spiritual life but nowadays that is not always there. Spiritual life, if it is at all there, is something symbolic and for most, it is something in the background. It is not a very prominent thing. But in Vedic culture, spiritual life was in the foreground. It was an important element in life – prominent and it should be! Therefore, sex life should be within religious principles, within marriage.
For all of us, it is not beneficial to associate with people who are in the grip of lust. If one becomes very friendly with mundane people then after some time, we also become mundane.