What if senses are agitated while reading some Puranas?
A male devotee (Name hidden) asked like this:
“I want to become a brahmachari but yesterday i was reading Brahma Vaivart Purana which some part is consist of stories that agitated my senses, i got a very powerful urge but somehow controlled it, i am asking how can a brahmachari read puranas because in most puranas there are some sense disturbing things written, or which scriptures a brahmachari should read ?”
REPLY:
See, Puranas are the records of the activities of the people during a certain period in which they were written.
While describing the histories of some kings and people, they had to record what happened as they are.
Some kings, as allowed for kshatriyas, had married multiple times.
(Why there is inequality among men and women in scriptures? READ HERE!)
Some of them might have followed unusual ways to get a girl as wife and also to beget a child to continue the generation.
Kshatriya life is full of tricks and risks. So, their way of life and the kshatriya dharma followed will be different from that of ours.
Most of the Puranas speak about the kshatriya life.
So, the Puranas had to register all the happenings as they are.
Even in Ithikas like Mahabharatha, we have incidents that Vyasadeva giving a child thru a maid, Draupati marrying five Pandavas, Draupati being stripped of her clothes in front of hundreds of men including gurus, husbands, Karna taking birth for sun god, Pandu asking Kunti to get child thru other males/celestials, etc., since he will die if he mates with his wife. Such practices may seem to be unusual for common people like us. But, Kshatriyas are given some liberal rules because they have to maintain generations to save the country and the number of women was more than men since many men died in wars.
Some of these incidents are mentioned in Bhagavatha Purana also.
Every Purana speaks about such incidents.
See, life is the blend of everything – Goodness, negativities, Success, failures, Parental affection, Love, Kama, tricks, Spirituality, etc.
Puranas also speak about all the above things because they were the only MEDIA to educate the people in all aspects of life.
(Why many gods in the Hindu Religion of India unlike all other religions? READ HERE!)
If you review the past, during different periods, such things have been explained by different media in different ways.
Initially the knowledge was spread through ears; Then thru manuscripts, Scriptures, etc; Then thru printed books; Now we learn thru electronic media.
There were no electronic media those days as exist now thru which the people learn everything.
The Varnashrama system itself is based on such practice to prepare for moksha thru the stages of Dharma, Artha and Kama.
So, educating the people in Dharma, Artha and Kama to attain Moksha has been the prime focus of every Purana.
Bhagavad Gita speaks about Dharma. Itikas and Puranas explain the dharma thru real incidents.
The Puranas had a great responsibility of educating the people in kama also. That is why, they speak about violations in kama and its negative effects also.
(Why the scriptures control the women when the men are freely living? READ HERE!)
By reading them, the people knew the effects of genuine kama and violative kama. It is a kind of sex education in ancient days.
Otherwise, there is no other option for the people to know about Kama.
Even in the temple towers, they installed some erotic sculptures of people involving in the Kama as a way of sex education.
Reading the Puranas and seeing such erotic sculptures, the people knew the process of male-female secrets.
For example, in the Khajuraho temples in Madhya Pradesh, Sun temple in Konark, Virupaksha temple in Hampi, Karnataka, Jain temples, Ranakpur, Rajasthan, Lingaraj temple, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, etc, such sculptures can be seen.
The Puranas explain dharma along with kama that made the people eager to read such puranas.
(Why the scriptures permit second marriage for men against the loyalty of first wife? READ HERE!)
Even in the Satva Guna Purana Srimad Bhagavatham, such descriptions can be seen.
The incidents of Rasa lila in Srimad Bhagavatham also teaches the process of kama and at the same time, purifies our consciousness as they are about the lilas between the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Gopis.
Moreover, the Madhurya bhava, ie, conjugal love towards Krishna is considered as the topmost form of devotion to Krishna.
The regulated Kama is also a part of life. The Puranas while educating in the Dharma, educate the people in that also.
So, it is not wrong to read them as a brahmachari. It may help for your sense control if you read them in the spiritual mindset.
If you read them with material mindset, you may get agitated by senses; But, if you read them with a spiritual approach to learn about the lilas of Krishna, the same contents will help in your sense control.
The following post may also help you to learn this topic:
(Is Brahma Vaivartha Purana authentic as it shows Krishna as lusty? READ HERE!)
Hope you are clear now what to do if the senses are agitated while reading some Puranas.