Be balanced and rise
above attachment to the body, writes ANANDMURTI GURUMAA.
All our rishis and
sages have sanctioned the natural attraction that a man feels for a woman and
vice versa. And this is evident in the depiction of the intimate postures in
temples like Khajuraho. Even the temples of Ajanta
and Ellora depict Shiva and Parvati in sexual communion, but
we don’t regard those as obscene or unbefitting.
The temples of
Khajuraho are very ancient and were built by Chandela kings. But the caves of Ajanta and Ellora are said to have been built by Buddha’s
disciples. How can a male and female disciple of Buddha be shown in intimate
postures? The answer to this is that the male disciple was being regarded as
Shiva and the female as Parvati and their communion was being depicted as a
natural occurrence. This entire world is a product of the natural mating of
a male and female. You were born as a result of your parents’ sexual
interaction, so how can that be profane? It is certainly not unsanctified, but
if sex becomes an obsession for a man or a woman, if the mind continually thinks about sex, then
Shankracharya labels that as a grave disease….
What is this body? It
is nothing but a bag of bones full of all kinds of repulsive stuff. And you
leave remembrance of the Lord in lust for this body? The precious time wasted
for getting a moment’s sexual gratification can be utilised in contemplation, meditation and remembrance of the Lord.
It is not that
Shankracharya is asking men and women to hate each other or that they shouldn’t
get attracted to each other, but what he is advocating is to have a balance and
don’t be obsessed with sex. He doesn’t condemn physical attraction, rather he
asks us to rise above the attachment to this body. Those couples who have sex
in full awareness, they rise way above the binding of lust, like Shiva-Parvati.
Just as fire flares up when fuel is poured into it, likewise, sexual gratification
further strengthens the desire for sex. And when the body starts to age and
cannot keep up with the mental desire for sex, it leads to frustration.
However, man suffers
the most from the agony of sexual desires — wealth, fame, greed are dwarfed in
comparison to the pain of sexual desires. Even someone like Vishwamitra, who
had renounced everything — his family, his kingdom, and all the trappings of
wealth — and had gone to the forest to perform austere spiritual practices, got enamoured by the
beautiful nymph (apsara). When the beautiful damsel appeared before him whilst
he was meditating, he forgot meditation, all the codes of conduct and got so
charmed by her that he married her. However, the truth is that this is not only
the story of Vishwamitra, rather this pertains to everyone.
Natural Phenomenon
I reiterate that
sexual urge is a natural phenomenon. But the point is that you don’t follow
natural laws, do you? You eat when hungry — nothing wrong in that. But what if
you constantly think about food, then it becomes a disease. Likewise, sexual
interaction between a man and a woman is appropriate when it happens once in a
while at the right time, but if one is perpetually thinking about sex, then
that is a malaise.
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