Those who check the urge to mate avoid checkmate

Checkmate signifies final, irreversible defeat. In material existence, checkmate comes in the form of death. It terminates all our dreams and schemes for enjoyment at the material level.

Significantly, death is an event of the body, not of the soul. As long as we live in bodily consciousness, we suffer the trauma of death. Once we go beyond bodily consciousness, we go beyond death. That is, we see death not as a termination, but as a transition as a shift to another level of existence in our ongoing spiritual evolution.

What keeps our consciousness stuck at the material level?

Our desires to enjoy matter.

Central among these desires is sexual desire. Sex allures us with promises of bliss unending. These promises are patently false because the body’s capacity to enjoy, indeed the body itself, is temporary. Still, the allure of sex is so seductive that it keeps us forever captivated. If we wish to become free from this captivation, we need to check the urge to mate and choose to pursue spiritual happiness.

The Bhagavad-gita (05.22) underscores the temporary nature of sensual pleasures and declares that the wise don’t delight in such pleasures. To aid us in joining the ranks of the wise, the next verse urges us to tolerate sensual desires and live within the principles of dharma. To sustain this tolerance, the subsequent verse recommends redirection of our search for happiness from outwards to inwards, from matter to spirit. This verse assures that those who thus strive for inner happiness eventually attain spiritual liberation, thereby transcending death. Bhakti-yoga offers the most expeditious way to connect with the supreme spiritual reality, Krishna, thereby relishing the topmost spiritual happiness.

Thus by the strength of spiritual devotion, we can check the urge to mate and avoid the checkmate of death.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 05 Text 22