The Vedic principle is that one should avoid sex life. The whole Vedic principle is to get liberation from material nature. The topmost attachment to material enjoyment is sex life. Men are attached to women, and women are attached to men. Both are hankering or seeking each other for sense enjoyment. So, if you want liberation from this material world, then that attachment should be reduced to nil. Otherwise, you have to take rebirth. But if one can reduce and stop it, that is first-class. Our Vedic principle is to first of all train a boy as a brahmacari.
The Indian system calls for varna and asrama — four social orders and four spiritual orders. Brahmacarya [celibate student life], grhastha [married life], vanaprastha [retired life], and sannyasa [renounced life] are the spiritual orders.
The social orders are ksatriyas [administrators], vaisyas [merchants and farmers], and sudras [ordinary workers]. These regulative principles are so nice that even if one has the tendency to enjoy material life, he is so nicely molded that at last he achieves liberation.
So, sex life is not required, but we are too much attached to it. Because of that, there are some regulative principles. When a man and woman are united, attachment increases, and increased attachment will induce one to accumulate a home, land, children, friendship or society, and money. Because of this, he becomes more and more entangled. This is all illusion [Maya].
Because of this illusion, he thinks, “I am this body. This is mine, that is mine.” Illusion increases, and when he dies, he gets another body, maybe human or animal, according to his karmas.
This science of karma is unknown. Therefore, when Arjuna was speaking, “If I kill my brother, if I kill my...,” he was simply thinking on the basis of the bodily concept of life. When his problem was not solved, he surrendered to Krsna.
Prabhupada explains that although Arjuna was speaking like a learned man, he was still thinking from the bodily concept of life. He explains that sexual desire increases bodily identification, so the Vedic system teaches people to gradually control such desires.
A boy is trained up to 25 years as a student, brahmacari. Some of the boys become fully conversant with spiritual knowledge, so they remain brahmacari for their whole life. They cannot have sex life before marriage.
In human society, there is marriage, but not in animal society. However, people are gradually descending from human to animal society. It was predicted in the Sastras that in Kaliyuga, men and women will agree to live together without marriage, and their relationship will exist mainly on the basis of sexual attraction.
For this philosophy, many Western philosophers have written many books. But Vedic culture instructs that sex is only for begetting children, that's all—not to study the philosophy or psychology of sex life.
If one doesn't read such books, he is less inclined toward sexual desires. That is the general tendency. There is no need to study these types of books on sexual philosophy. Instead, education should be given to stop or control sexual desires.
Conclusion
Human society should be guided by marriage, morality, discipline, and spiritual values rather than by sexual attraction alone. According to Vedic culture, sexual desire should be controlled and regulated.
Krsna consciousness is the way to develop spiritual understanding. It helps us to control our mind and senses. By developing devotion to Krsna, we gain spiritual knowledge, which leads us towards self-discipline and spiritual realization.