The remaining ten days (5-10, 12, 14-16) are suitable provided they do not fall on those lunar tithis which are forbidden.)Forbidden Lunar Tithis:Sexual union must also be avoided on days of vrata and fasting, such as ekadasi, and on the parva days (full moon, dark moon, astami and caturdasi tithis, as well as sankranti, when the sun passes into a new zodiac sign) when the body is in weak condition, and the days when the moon passes throught the same naksatra as at ones birth.Forbidden Week days:Saturday, Tuesday and Sunday should be avoided being ruled by malefic planets,saturn, Mars and Sun.Forbidden Naksatra: contact should be avoided when the moon is in the following constellations: bharani, krttika, ardra, aslesa, magha, purvaphalguni, visakha, jyestha, purvasada, purvabhadraRising Sign or Ascendent: best signs are taurus, gemini, cancer leo, virgo, libra and pisces according to Kala Prakasika.Proper Planetary Combinations:]In addition to the above strictures the man and woman who desire proper, harmonious, sexual relations between themselves, and desire healthy, intelligent, spiritual children, should with knowledge choose an auspicious day, hour and moment for their union. Malefic planets (saturn, mars, sun) should not afflict the ascendent, kendras, or trikona, by occupation or aspect, and benefics, particularly jupiter should be strongly situated in rasi and navamsa charts. Kala Prakasika says it is better if the ascendent and eighth house are free of planets. If the above are considered when choosing a proper time pleasant union and good offspring are assured.Other Forbidden Times:As soon as the wife is pregnant, no more sex life until the child is born and is grown up at least for six months. After that one may have sex life on the same principle. If one does not want more than one or two children, he should voluntarily stop sex life. One should not use any contraceptive method and at the same time indulge in sex life. That is very much sinful.letter from Srila Prabhupada,San Fransisco, Sept 20, 1968Semen is meant to be discharged when one has a home, a wife and the intention to beget children, otherwise there is no injunction for discharging semen.SB 4.8.1 purportContraception Forbidden:According to the Vedic scriptures the contraceptive method should be restraint in sex life. It is not that one should indulge in unrestricted sex life and avoid children by using some method to check pregnancy. If a man is is in good consciousness, he consults with his religious wife, and as a result of this consultation with intelligence, one advances in his ability to estimate the value of life.SB 4.27.6 purportSex Once a Month:Amongst the permissable days during one month for sexual union, only one day can be chosen for the act. If the couple are desirous of having children, the husband is encouraged to approach his wife once every month, provided the times are auspicious, until preganancy occurs. Then he should stop.According to religious injunctions a man is restricted to enjoy sex only once in a month, after the menstrual period of the wife, and if the wife is pregnant, he is not allowed sex life at all. That is the law for human beings.Sb. 4.27. 5 purportIllicit sex:If the husband and wife do not follow the above rules, then, even though married their relations are considered illicit.These laws and srciptures are meant for human beings. As such if one violates these laws, he becomes sinful. The conclusion is that unrestricted sense enjoyment means sinful activities. Illict sex is sex that violates the laws given in the scriptures. When one violates the laws of the scrptures, or the Vedas, he commits sinful activities. One who is engaged in sinful activities cannot change his consciousness. Our real function is to change our consciousness from kasmala , sinful consciousness, to Krsna, the supreme pure.SB 4.27.5 purportPartner:The husband must satisfy himself only with his wife, with no one else or by any other means. The husband who thinks of anyone other than his wife reduces his life span and receives birth in a body without bones, trapped in the womb and bitten by insects.Place:The husband should approach his wife in his own house, in a clean room, on a clean, wide, unbroken bed;not in a temple, a guru or teacher's or vaisnava's house, not under a holy tree, not at a tirtha, a gosala, a crematorium, in the forest, or in the water.Condition of Body and Mind:The husband should be free from the influence of intoxicants, should be bathed, nicely scented, garlanded, healthy, free from anxieties, and both affectionate or considerate, and passionate.The wife should be bathed, free from anger, in good spirits, in good health, neither underfed or overfed and desirous of her husband. She should have no longing for, sexual relation with anyone else. She should not be pregnant, nor should she have recently borne a child.Permission of Guru:Grhasthas should indulge in sex life only in accordance with the order of the guru.SB7.12.11, purportAge:Susruta, the famous ayurvedic writer says that woman matures when she is sixteen and a man when he is twenty five. Sexual union when either partner is not mature will lead to unhealthy children. He recommends that the woman should be at least sixteen and the man at least twenty five, but prefers that they should be older in order to bear good children.The above strictures, which limit sexual intercourse to once a month, and only on certain days when the woman is fertile and the man and woman are in proper physical condition, are the condition for sex according to nature's laws. However, in addition, and just as important , is the the rite of purification which accompanies the act. If this is not performed, then even restricted sex activity is in vain, for the consciousness of the man and woman will be motivated solely by raja and tama guna. This will only lead to greater addiction for sex and children with no spiritual assets.At minimum the following procedure must be done if the sex act of husband and wife is to be called garbhadhana samskara. If it is not, the act is not befitting a civilized human being. It is kama which is dharma aviruddha: lust according to irreligious principles, ie demoniac.According to Vedic culture, sex is enjoyed under Vedic instructions. Thus the Vedas give direction to civilized human beings to enable them to satisfy their propensities for sense gratification.SB 4.25.39 purport*************************************************************Ceremony as Directed by Srila Prabhupad:
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