The Talmud in Masechet (tractate) Kallah tells us an amazing benefit to encourage us to want to guard our eyes. It says as follows: Amar Rabbi Acha bar Yoshiya (Rabbi Acha bar Yoshiya said): “Anyone who gazes at women at the end of the day will come to sin.” The opposite is true: anybody who clears himself and saves himself from this sin of gazing at women subsequently does not get into any sins that are derivatives of gazing at women. Even though he is an Israelite, meaning he is not from the tribe of Levi and is definitely not a Kohen (priest), listen to this: that individual deserves to bring an offering on the altar, just as a Kohen Gadol, the great high priest, has the opportunity, even though he is only an Israelite. The proof is: “And the young lads of Israel were sent to bring offerings.” The Talmud continues: “And anybody who guards themselves and is very sure and clear, clean from the sin of gazing at women in this world, is guarded and granted to see God and God's very own presence in the world to come.”
The Shomer Emunim, the Rebbe of Slonim, tells us an amazing concept, a concept we should remember every single time we come up with a temptation. He writes that when a person is walking—he wasn't, obviously, talking about the time of technology, when we have screens and billboards—but when a person has in front of them the temptation to look at something inappropriate, at that moment they allow their proper and positive inclination to overcome the evil inclination and the temptation, and they close their eyes. At that time, it is a very special time. He says it's Et Ratzon Bashamayim (Heaven), a very special time in Shamayim. At that moment, anything a person prays for—anything they ask from HaKadosh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, blessed be He) at that moment—is a tremendous Segula, a tremendous opportunity that that prayer will be answered.
Now, obviously, we should not put ourselves in situations where we have a temptation to see something and then close our eyes or look away and pray. However, we don't need to put ourselves in those temptations. In the world that we live in, unfortunately, there are always these temptations that come about. So, when they do come about, we should shut our eyes, close them, as the Shomer Emunim says, and pray. Hashem is guaranteed to answer that prayer. It's a time to pray for help in this endeavor of guarding our eyes, but it's a time to pray for Hashem to help world peace, to help all those who are in need of Refuah Shelemah, of being recovered—those who are sick, those who need Parnassah (livelihood), those who need children—and for all the hard things that we need in our own lives and for people that we care so much about. That is an amazing time to have that prayer answered when we overcome the temptation of gazing at women, obviously, which is inappropriate, or in an appropriate manner.
The Alshich writes similarly that when anyone guards their eyes and overcomes this temptation, Hashem is literally standing there, ready to heed this person's wishes. Again, the Alshich is saying the same concept as the Shomer Emunim: at that moment, Hashem is standing there ready to serve us—almost, Kivyachol. He's ready there to answer what we ask.
The idea is to become accustomed, even in one's home, when there is maybe less temptation, to look only at what is necessary and not to look around for things that may detract from our concentration. This may even lead to something very, very special and very helpful when we go out and walk about, and when we find ourselves in the middle of learning Torah or prayer. The fact that we accustom ourselves not to be so curious, so to say, and not to look for things to stimulate our eyes, so that we do not, chas v'shalom, God forbid, stumble upon something inappropriate, will help us concentrate at times when it may be even harder to concentrate.
The last thing I'd like to mention today is a tremendous concept. Rabbi Shimshon David Pincus, Zecher Tzaddik Livracha (may the memory of the righteous be a blessing), a great sage from the previous generation, even from our generation, speaks about the concept of curiosity. When a person is driving or walking in the street, and a window or a door in another person's house is open or can be seen through, that is a very special time not to look through the door or the window. The privacy of a person's home is not something others should gaze into or look into. He literally says that curiosity is something which is tremendously detrimental. He says, “What can you possibly see over there that is so exciting, that is so interesting?” So it's a person who's unclothed, a person changing, a person yelling at someone, hitting someone, flashing something—what could there possibly be that's so interesting with one's neighbor or anyone else, that is so important for us to gaze at?
So again, may we realize that the power of prayer we have—the merit we deserve, as the Talmud tells us, when we guard our eyes and overcome this temptation—is literally as if one is a Kohen Gadol, a high priest, bringing an offering. That would translate into the tremendous power of prayer—the prayer that we have at that moment.