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Sex and Spirituality As more people turn to spiritual practices in their search for life's meaning, it's also time to reclaim the honour sex was given in the Orient, especially in ancient India. Here's why, explains Dr Ashima Puri. "Where there is
ecstasy, there is creation The surge in the '90s sexual liberation movement in India shows no signs of slowing down. But it's also time to lighten up and take a long, hard look at the function of the erotic sentiment. And realise that the answer to sexual fulfilment lies in the past, and not in the future. Where the western view of love, lust and the erotic is limited to procreation and recreation, the traditional eastern approach included a third dimension--the spiritual power of physical love. As more people turn to spiritual practices in their search for life's meaning (now that their material needs are met and their emotional ones unmet), it's time to reclaim the honour sex was given in the Orient. If the number of Tantric websites on the Net is any indication, Americans are increasingly tuning in to eastern sexuality if for no other reason than to discover the technique of marathon lovemaking. That isn't enough. The key lies in understanding the spiritual dimension involved.
Everything proceeds by
sexual intercourse In India, Nepal, Tibet, China and Japan the mystery of sexuality was used as a means to the transcendental experience of unity. The feeling of oneness achieved during sex and the moment of orgasm is the most universally accessible mystical experience of all. Indeed, it has always been so. Even in the West, religious ecstasy is strikingly similar to erotic excitement in the accounts of saints: St Theresa's feelings on being stabbed through by Christ's spear, St John of the Cross's description of himself as a bride of Christ, Kabir as the faithful wife of Ram, and Krishna's love of female cowherds each of whom represented the purification of an emotion. The common element is the state of consciousness experienced by lovers in union, with a little help from God. One is no longer locked in the prison of ego, no longer in conflict with the rest of the world because of a socially conditioned image of who they are. The mystical treatises of Tantra and Taoism contain a broad spectrum of practical techniques for enhancing sexual awareness and achieving transcendence. Following these ancient techniques couples can use the marriage bed as the beginning rather than the end of their journey of exploration. These sexual secrets were jealously guarded to protect against misuse but the result was their eventual dispersal and decline. They can be reclaimed under the guidance of a master--but only by those couples of a similar spiritual evolution to whom love and trust are synonymous. It's not as easy as it sounds--most of us are too afraid of our deepest vulnerabilities to let our guards down completely. But this first act of faith in the other is crucial if the rest is to follow. Marriage under the Law of
Shiva is of two kinds. This is how the ancients turned a one-night stand into a transcendental union--they `married' each other in total commitment for that one night. To understand the wisdom of transcendental sex, the first step is to remember the Hindu triad of forces that pervade all activity: this is the Creative (Brahma), the Transcendental (Shiva) and the Preserving (Vishnu). Each is related to a form of female energy or Shakti (see diagram). Without embracing and understanding these mental attitudes, the sexual act loses its mystical moorings. Brahma the Creator: This is a dynamic state of mind which derives its potency from the recognition that there are a meaning and purpose in life. This attitude recognises and identifies with the primal energy which has created all things. When this creative attitude is transferred to the act of lovemaking, a wealth of variety unfolds. Modern sex manuals talk about the same thing but without the mystical element: in eastern philosophy you become a thing by identifying with it. So the technique here is to visualise yourself surrounded by a golden aura of positively charged energy--both Brahma and Saraswati are visualised till you "see'' yourself emanating that same energy. As the Shiv Purana says: "Brahma began the process of creation. Dividing into man and woman, they made love. Together Brahma and Saraswati begot the whole race of mortals.'' It's the legend of Adam and Eve with an eastern twist. Shiva the Transcendental: Shiva is considered the supreme yogi and Shakti his female counterpart. Freed from all worldliness through selfless sexual communion with each other, the cosmic couple are satiated with the transcendental peace that follows. You can find the same correlates in the therapy developed by the famous American sexologist Alfred Kinsey. By getting couples to concentrate solely on giving pleasure to their partners--by shifting their focus from their own sensations and desires to that of the partner--they found performance anxiety miraculously declined so that pleasure given was surprisingly equivalent to pleasure received. Non-performance, non-demand sex lies at the heart of eastern sexology. Transcendence, "to go beyond'', is the aim of spiritual evolution and is being recognised as the goal of physical existence even in the West if the success of gurus like Deepak Chopra is any indication. Brahma creates, Vishnu preserves/guards our lives and the transcendental force of Shiva leads us from the mundane to the metaphysical and awakens us to the real nature of existence. This triad of forces is represented in this equilateral triangle (see diagram). In Indian mythology this is represented in the lingam.
But just as the Chinese believe in Yin and Yang, so we believe that these forces cannot exist without their female shaktis, or energies: Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kali represented by a downward pointing equilateral triangle, the yoni. Superimposed on the male triangle it creates the six-pointed star which symbolises the five senses. It indicates the male and female qualities in harmonious balance (see diagram). Since ancient times this symbol has appeared in our texts as a shield against negativity. As Freud showed, we each have a male and female persona and the imbalance between the two often leads to behavioural psychopathology. Sex has the power of both illusion and liberation: when one accepts or bestows sex as a gift an exchange takes place on several levels. There is a physical exchange and a blending of secretions, a karmic exchange through the convergence of destinies and a spiritual exchange, a communion between spirits. On the highest level, these exchanges take the couple beyond the merely physical. Technique of Exchange: Those who want to integrate their sexual and spiritual lives will find a wealth of technique in Tantra. It begins by teaching that repression of natural urges is potentially harmful to both mind and body leading to neurosis and morbidity, a well-accepted fact in modern psychoanalysis. But this does not mean self-indulgence or licentiousness. On the contrary, Tantra requires great discipline so that sexual urges can be understood and then either satisfied or transcended from a position of mental strength. Tantra views the stages of lovemaking as mirroring a great cosmology that links the evolvement of emotions, thoughts, mystic consecration, psychic centres, meditation, union and ecstatic joy with the four `mystical moments of union': variety, development, consummation and transcendence. Maithuna (ritual sexual intercourse) in Tantra is used to develop the psychosexual experience to greater religious heights. Ram Dass in his book From Bindu to Ojas says: "Bindu is sexual energy and ojas is spiritual energy and it's the transformation of the energy within the body (which) is called raising the kundalini.'' In practical terms, it means the man brings a woman to orgasm several times and reaches his own without ejaculating. The reason, wrote the yogi and mystic Gopi Krishna, in a New York Times article, is the "flow of this prana, a high-grade form of bioplasma, to the brain produces exquisite sensations similar to those of orgasm but surpassing them by many orders of magnitude. The sensations are felt most acutely in the palate above the mid-brain.'' In 1937 after 17 years of meditating from 4.30 a.m. in the morning, Gopi Krishna describes the awakening of kundalini: "There was a sound like a nerve thread snapping and instantaneously a silvery streak passed through the spinal cord, exactly like the sinuous movement of a white serpent in rapid flight, pouring an effulgent, cascading shower of brilliant vital energy into my brain, filling my head with a blissful lustre.'' The transformation was accompanied by the appearance of psychic, intellectual and literary powers. The food for this comes from the seminal fluid in men and "erotic fluids in women''. This sublimation of the libido, then, explains the source of the artist's or intellectual's mental creativity. The bliss wave of ecstasy (see chart showing first through fourth orgasm) passes through four physical centres (chakras) and is developed through four mental planes.
The male lingam, the embodiment of creativity, is approached with reverence and awe. The yoni, entrance to the sacred shrine, is the embodiment of receptivity. Genital "worship'' was another Kinsey technique which successfully restored sexuality to couples. In his classes, Kinsey would instruct couples to fondle and anoint each others' bodies with every form of sexual contact save penetration. In yoga, this is taken even further in the belief that worshipping the temple of the body through acts of love is indeed the most direct route to experience of ecstatic love. Body worship was also verbalised, a technique which was later adopted by western sexologists. Service: Selfless service is truly a sign of maturity and evolvement. It means giving without precondition and, in a couple, leads to deeper commitment. Example: If one comes home tired and tense from work, the other may offer a massage or, conversely, help with household chores. The goal is to infuse all parts of one's relationship, not just sexuality, with the spirit of service. Commitment: This implies absolute trust and gives permanence to the bond between a couple. Once established, it is a storehouse of strength on which a couple can draw in dealing with life's problems. In yoga it means being true to one's inner self and sharing that reality with the beloved. The couple should share their innermost secrets within their sacred bonds of mutual trust. Lovemaking is the perfect opportunity to establish this bond of commitment. If the commitment is to a high spiritual ideal it helps to unify the couple and exalts love to a higher dimension. United by their quest for spiritual awareness, this couple escapes the routine boredom of much modern-day sex. In the Tantric tradition, commitment is formalised in many ways: one is lifelong, the other for the duration of a rite and the true commitment to each other through eternity. They say: "It is Kama (love) who gives and Kama who accepts. It is Kama who is accepting the Kamini (woman) for the satisfaction of Kama. Inspired by Kama, I take thee; may both our kamas be fulfilled.'' Downward Motion: Like a blacksmith hammering a metal plate, the four types of delight descend slowly from the head to the sexual region thus realising the delights in their natural order. Retention: Is to hold the delight as one would a lamp in a storm. Backward Motion: Is like an elephant drinking water, making the four joyous delights ascend to the head and keeping them there. Saturation: Is like a farmer watering his crops very carefully, to ensure every pore of the skin is fully saturated with the consummation of love. Sexual energy is naturally transformed and stored in our bodies when lovemaking is harmonious. With practice the couple can learn to control the descent of the orgasm and build more upon more ecstasy transforming the urge to climax and absorbing it back into the spinal passage from where it spreads upwards. This process of ascent passes through the four chakras till, at the highest level, there is a feeling of neither self or otherness, neither beginning nor end, neither thought nor thinker. Sex magic can be practised by any couple provided the emotions are completely understood and consciously controlled. The Chinese philosopher Su Nu Ching sums it up most effectively: "All physical and psychological debility must ultimately be attributed to the faulty practice of sex. The art of love is to be considered foremost of all arts in that, correctly practised, it brings one towards the goal of immortality.'' © Living Media India Ltd |
In ancient India, the
sex act was intimately connected with the other arts just as the Kama Sutra was given the
same status as the Upanishads and the Dharma Shastra. Where eastern classics offered a
joyous exploration of sexuality as a means to heightened spiritual awareness, the West has
relied either on clinical manuals of boring anatomical detail or pornography. Much of the
sexual neurosis of the West comes from centuries of church-led repression and internalised
guilt, the subject of Sigmund Freud's path-breaking work. How much of it could be avoided
if more people knew how to elevate their sexual activity from the animal to the divine
level of consciousness. Today, there is no spiritual activity designed to strengthen or
add meaning to marriage: lovemaking becomes predictable and boring, communication breaks
down and lack of faith endangers the relationship. It need not be so. 
The
Art of Worship: Worship is the
spirit of love and a sure way of awakening the God within. Tantra teaches that man and
woman should strive to honour their divine origin and there is no temple holier than the
body with its nine "gateways'', solar and lunar energies, five elements, senses and
mind.