The world seems preoccupied with sex these days. It’s thrown in your face, not only via advertising, but even via the news, politics, education, and such normally non sexualized departments of life. The older generation see it more since they have a longer timespan with which to compare today’s world. I’m generalizing but there seems to be a trend. Maybe I’m wrong and my few decades of observation are nothing in the light of millennia of human existence. Perhaps it’s always been about sex, either directly or indirectly.
And if that’s the case, then the ancient Sanskrit texts on the subject may still apply. The yoga teachings in the Veda talk of the art of making progress in consciousness and other fringe benefits by practising some degree of celibacy. By “degree”, I mean the length of time spent totally abstaining from sex, for the specific purpose of furthering ones abilities on the yoga path. It sounds so archaic today to anyone under 30. That’s because yoga itself only really took off as a popular pastime in the west about 30 years ago. I remember, since I was there at a yoga ashram for the nineties, pioneering yoga as a pastime, much like gym, which also took off around then, at least in my home town on the south coast of Africa, which is usually some years behind the rest of the first world.
So concepts like physical celibacy and the healthy benefits of refraining from meditating on sexual intercourse in any way, even mentally, really only sound familiar to a seriously fringe sector of society. Much like the free energy perpetual society or crop circle enthusiasts. Nevertheless, the ancient yoga texts or Vedas speak of subtle techniques which can empower a seeker of consciousness, one of which is retention of the sexual energy that we all have, which drives us all unconsciously like a built-in software program for which we have lost the manual.
Our entire body is this tool which can be fine tuned by the process of yoga in its various departments and styles, in order to awaken consciousness and ultimately learn how to leave the body as consciousness, and journey to the ideal destination beyond life on earth. That is the basic metaphysics of it. And the foundation of the techniques of the Ashtanga yoga practice are built on certain lifestyle habits. One of those is celibacy as a fundamental part.
That said, married couples were encouraged to procreate only for bearing children. No other sexual intercourse was required for a genuine yogi. And I’m talking about a sadhu or serious spiritual practitioner, not just the lay members of any suburban church or temple or mosque. The vast majority of society are not seekers in any consciousness related self-improvement art, neither yoga nor thai chi, etc. Most are fully surrendered to the senses, allowing them to drag the mind around like a riderless chariot.
Some know about controlling the senses, like those of us who have fasted for any reason, like most religions observe with regularity. This deliberate controlling of the tongue, whether for religious or health reasons, is a definite step in the right direction of gaining mastery over the animal side of the body/mind which runs like a horse, led by its senses if left unbridled. A horse or an infant are good analogies for the raw primal senses when they are without intelligence.
Ayurveda and the yoga traditions talk of the tongue being in direct line with the stomach and the genitals, and if you can control the tongue, it will allow you to master the stomach and the genitals, to further your yoga practice, in the department of attaining liberation from illusory consciousness. It is indeed a partially mechanical process, with this body able to respond to the correct handling by an educated intelligent conscious person within the body.
Any sports person will know how the body is a tool that responds well to correct use. And this includes mindset, which is the extra edge that turns good sporters into great sporters (I made up a word there). Similarly yoga is a physical and a mental practice. The mental involves controlling the senses. Without a higher reason its impossible to practice celibacy. Usually the mind wonders to sex, even when there are no partners. It’s all in the mind most of the time. But one with a higher understanding of the body as a tool that can bring awakened consciousness and metaphysical levels of potential via yoga, will be perhaps motivated and determined enough to rise above the sex allure.
Sadly today the world leadership pushes sex into the faces of everyone, with little knowledge of yoga and the power available to each human being if they learn how to harness their chi, libido or life energy, via celibacy and fasting. A bitter insight to digest, but that is the medicine that purifies the fire of creativity and the intelligence, as well as the physical well-being of the body. Like fasting, celibacy can sharpen the focus of a student or practitioner of martial arts, for example. The length of time under such a voluntary oath of abstinence is up to each individual of course.
The esoteric and mystical sections of the Vedas that deal with divine love which may be awakened in yogis who glimpse the Supersoul in the heart or hear Krishna’s flute, to coin a phrase, talk about the mature yogi who not only abstains from sex, but finds it such a distasteful thought that the lips of their mouth curl in distaste and they spit at the thought. Looking at the sun is also a yogic technique of purifying the consciousness, particularly at sunrise and sunset.
All this sounds so archaic to today’s modern person. Yet these are the yoga secrets, if you really wish to hear about them and know enough to know that you know very little in a field like yoga, which may be out of your traditional sphere of study. It is perhaps the polar opposite of the blatant sexualization of humanity via media and government agenda in some captured nations and republics on the planet.
The modern sexualization of society is the objectification of the other in a society where everything is a commodity for someone or the other, even humans, who are trafficked, traded and transformed like cheap assets to be profited from and experimented on. The sanctity of human life is disappearing or has disappeared, depending on your location on the planet today.
Ultimately we need to decide whether we want to be led by the senses or master of the senses. They have different outcomes, and your perspective of yourself and reality are yours to choose. Those who look for a compass in life will be drawn to the yoga teachings of the Vedas and works like this Bhagavad Gita. With knowledge one can see through the impositions on the mind by those steering the course of social history for ulterior motives. It takes discernment and a very broad mind to comprehend such unfamiliar concepts, yet they are the foundation of the Ashtanga yoga process, which begins with lifestyle choices before one begins breathing and postures.
Bhagavad Gita ch2:60
यततो ह्यपि कौन्तेय पुरुषस्य विपश्चितः ।
इन्द्रियाणि प्रमाथीनि हरन्ति प्रसभं मनः ॥ ६० ॥
yatato hy api kaunteya
puruṣasya vipaścitaḥ
indriyāṇi pramāthīni
haranti prasabhaṁ manaḥ
yatataḥ—while endeavoring; hi—certainly; api—in spite of; kaunteya—O son of Kuntī; puruṣasya—of the man; vipaścitaḥ—full of discriminating knowledge; indriyāṇi—the senses; pramāthīni—stimulated; haranti—throws forcefully; prasabhaṁ—by force; manaḥ—the mind
TRANSLATION
The senses are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they forcibly carry away the mind even of a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them.
COMMENTARY
There are many learned sages, philosophers and transcendentalists who try to conquer the senses, but in spite of their endeavors, even the greatest of them sometimes fall victim to material sense enjoyment due to the agitated mind. Even Viśvāmitra, a great sage and perfect yogī, was misled by Menakā into sex enjoyment, although the yogī was endeavoring for sense control with severe types of penance and yoga practice. And, of course, there are so many similar instances in the history of the world. Therefore, it is very difficult to control the mind and the senses without being fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. Without engaging the mind in Kṛṣṇa, one cannot cease such material engagements. A practical example is given by Śrī Yāmunācārya, a great saint and devotee, who says: "Since my mind has been engaged in the service of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and I have been enjoying an ever new transcendental humor, whenever I think of sex life with a woman, my face at once turns from it, and I spit at the thought."
Kṛṣṇa consciousness is such a transcendentally nice thing that automatically material enjoyment becomes distasteful. It is as if a hungry man had satisfied his hunger by a sufficient quantity of nutritious eatables. Mahārāja Ambarīṣa also conquered a great yogī, Durvāsā Muni, simply because his mind was engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Reference: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, translation and commentary by Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta, original 1972 Macmillan edition (www.prabhupadabooks.com)
Image: Pixabay edited using Canva
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