Sex and Salvation

Salvation is the dewstination. Love is the way. However, sex provides three interesting detours – procreation, recreation and cfreation – on the path for one who wants to be God.

Recebtkt a swami from south India was caught on camera in what the media calls a ‘compromising position; with a couple of women. There was a public uproar and he has since been arested. The swami, in his earlyu thirties, would have gotten away with what is perhaps the result of a hormonal surge had he not vowed to be, well a swami. Literally, a swami is someone who is a ‘master of his senses’. Popular culture tends look up to a saint or swami as some kind of divine entity.

Strangely but true, ther is very little room for sexual adventure on the path of salvation. Yet, Nature whole heartedly designs a 30-odd-years-old man’s body for what Nature needs to do; propagation of the species.Nature puts forth several smart promotional schemes to get this job done through its species. The physical and physiological pleasure associated with the sex surge is the soft packaging for the hard nuts and bolts reality of giving birth to a baby. It is difficult not be seduced by this pleasure when all our senses converge to draw us to it. Leonardo da Vinci puts this procreation and the members smployed there in are so repulsive, that if it were not for the beauty of the faces and the adornments of the actors and the pent-up impulse, Nature would lose the human species.”

When the contraceptive pill arrived, sex evolved from the basic need of procreation to sex for recreation. The inventive human mind was apparently able to checkmate Nature’s ploy of painful procreation by recreating the pleasure of sex without producing a result. This is somewhat like sniffing around in a pastry shop with the intent to do just window shopping. Nature made sure that the residue of recreational sex remains as sensory impressions in the mind in the form of vasanas – burning embers waiting for the next gust of passion to flare up. These vasanas arew potential desires tha incarnated themselves at the opportune moment.

The real challenge for human evolution was then to put out the embers odf vasanas that transported sex in the head from where it actually belongs. This challenge of transforming sex for procreation into sex for recreation has been productively met by saints, explorers, artists, writers, inventors, innovators and wealth creators. They lifted the sexual energy from their thoughts and emotions and expressed them in their creative works. While saints like Buddha, Krishna, and Christ created new maps of human consciousness; explorers like Galileo and Columbus redrew maps of our physical world.

On the path of salvation celibacy is not a prerequisite but a consequence – an effortless by product of creativity. Celib acy is a kind of flowering of consciousness and not a moral given, as most sermons would have us believe. It is easier to cover a raging fire with a piece of cloth than to contain libido with sermons. A celibate is like an auster tree in winter that to flowering and stands to rejoice as an enthralled witness in having completed the cyclee of creation. The human consciousness scripts the whole journy from being the cteatures of sex to the Creator Herself. The “fallen” swami, like any one of us, is somewhere on the path. I would just let him be.

Problems as Driving Force

We often complain about problems in life. However, if problems did not exist, the challenge and charm of life will be gone. Necessity is the mother of invention; problems shows us new pathway, taking us closer to truth. The circumstantial complexities make us more curious and inquisitive and then the thirst for knowledge makes us keen to understand the truth.

Problems make us more compassionate. They help us mature, and make us more resistant and at the same time create sensitivity in us. For example if you accumulate wealth and face no problem then you could be rude and unreasonable. Problems make you realize the transient nature of your possessions and bring you closer to a person who has nothing. Death is the ultimate equalizer, had death not been there, life would have been a series of endless torture and exploitation of one by the other. If we have experienced the pinch of poverty we can easily feel the agony of a hungry soul. In the face of problems we learn to surrender ourselves to a greater reality, thus helping us empty our mind. In the Mahabharata, Kunti request Krishna to give her more problems so that she would be impelled to remember him more frequently and intensely.

If life were a bed of roses the mind would not have developed any awareness or sharpness to understand reality. If one does not get an opportunity to deal with complicated and difficult persons in life several facilities of the mind would not develop and the brain would not grow strong. As such in our entire life, we are not able to utilize more than a very small part of the brain.

What about individuals who create problems in our life? We often despise them. Instead we should be thankful to them. Indirectly they contribute to our productivity. Keeping them in view we try to be on our toes and enhance our sincerity. Once a devotee asked Ramakrishna, “Why has God created bad people who cause problems for the good ones?” Ramakrishna promptly replied, if bad would not exist what would be the importance of good then? The darker shade makes light really bright. On being asked what kind of treatment should be given to the b ad, Ramakrishna suggested to avoid them – to remain at a safe distance from them. At the same time wish them no harm. At the most one may be careful so that there is minimum or no damage. To the snake the guru advised not to bite anyone as the snake had turned into a devoted soul. But that does not mean that it should stop hissing. Else, others kill it. Similarly, in self-defense one may have to put on a hard exterior despite being a great devotee. But at heart there should not be any ill feeling against anyone.

Without problems would one be better off? No, for we will then start thinking in a negative manner, causing harm to each other. And the destructive power of the mind is much stronger than its constructive capacity. What takes decades to build can be smashed within a second. When we struggle, our efforts have a specific direction and objective. The mind concentrates and this enhances the ability of the mind to continue the journey.

Remember that from dirt emerges the beautiful lotus, from the scorching heat comes the shower of relief and from the depth of pain springs joy.

Preparing for the Journey

The first guru of yoga was Shiva and parvati was the first disciple. It is said that when humankind began to forget its potential for spiritual realization. Shesh Nag, the serpent king and the carrier of Vishnu. Incarnated as Sage. Patanjali and wrote the yoga sutra.

Though the purpose of yoga is Self-realisation, there are various by products as you move up the ladder towards realization. Here you embrace the inner and outer realities for a perfect harmonious balance; the important point is that you do not intellectually understand inner and outer realities but experience them. Yoga is an experience and not a subject of the intellect. Yoga works on all aspects of a person – physical, vital, mental, FINANCIAL, EMOTIONS, PSYCHIC AND SPIRITUAL. Only when all the aspects are in a state of balance does a being experience liberation and perfect harmony. The aim of yoga is kundalini awakening for liberation from bondages. A practitioner of yoga goes through three phases.

The first stage assumes that the practitioner is a normal person who is attracted to various aspects of the physical world; that he wants to enjoy everything and miss nothing. He wants to live life to the fullest. Yoga says, why not? Go ahead, enjoy and go beyond, do not suppress your desires, go and sail in the ocean of life, but do not sink in it. Be like the boat, which is in the water but the water is not in it. It sails through the ocean and misses no part of the ocean and yet completes its journey, experiencing the ocean in totality.

The first stage of yoga deals with very simple asanas and pranayamas; these are preparatory for the journey ahead; your vehicle, that is your body, is taken through physical purifications with the aid of yogic asanas, pranayams and shatkarmas. The emphasis is on purifying yourself. A by product of yogic practices is a light body, a clear and active mind, great physical and mental strength and balanced emotions. You feel as if you have been overhauled, and have gained a new body.

Now you are ready for the intermediate practices on the physical plane that make your limbs supple and your bones strong so that you can do long hours of meditation. Only when an asana is perfected do you feel bliss and stillness in that posture, which is indicative of you having thoroughly gone over the yoni, the level of existence. Now your mind is prepared for controlling thoughts and emotions. You are getting ready for awakening the kundalini. You are preparing for the advanced stage through total experience and ananda. By the time you have reached here, body and mind are in perfect harmony. You have total control over body, mind and spirit.

The next step is advanced yoga. You are ready to awaken the kula kundalini or the force of creation, which lies in a semi-dormant state in your mooladhar chakra. The guru gives you shaktipath; the mother, the kundalini, awakens and begins her ascent. You are given mantras for various levels of evolution. You are introduced to the energies controlling creation and are told how to harmonize yourself with them. You are taught the five states of matter and how to become one with each state. The advanced level is a level of pure bliss and ananda. This you will achieve with the help of a suitable guru.

Live the Quantum Mind

The mindset we have has not helped us. It has led us to a mediocre reality. It has led us to accepting a reality that is full of suffering and pain.

We need something that is fulfilling, something that we can enjoy. Bliss will be the character of that existence. When can humanity as a whole get that reality? Is it impossible? No, it’s not impossible. It is the very nature of our existence to be in bliss, to be in symmetry.

In quantum physics, they call it ‘super symmetry’. There is super symmetry – at the particle level. Super symmetry is when everything is in perfect condition, but then we are far from that kind of reality. But we cannot access this reality if the mind is functioning in the same way as it is now. It has to function from a different level. \and what is that level, where there is no knowledge, no ignorance.

All that we need to do is not gain anything more than what we have. As a matter of fact, it is a matter of losing what we have. Losing our ego, which is your ‘I’ consciousness, is the culprit.

Then there is Maya which is again in the mind functioning at a very gross level. Maya is only seeing material reality. You look at a banana but the banana is not the ultimate reality. The banana is composed of particles. Do we see any particles in the banana? We don’t. We only see the banana whether it is a green banana, a ripe banana, small banana or long banana. So, the bottom line we don’t see the ultimate constituent of the banana fruit which are a bunch of particles, but we only see a gross reality of the banana fruit.

Our consciousness has been trapped to process only gross realities. The quantum mind gives the ability to process quantum realities. We have to process quantum realities because it is the most powerful reality. It has infinite freedom, energy and intelligence. We should all embrace that quantum reality.

In the 15^th century in south India arunagirinathar lived a very licentious life; he developed a dreadful disease and he didn’t want to live anymore. He climbed up the temple tower and then jumped off. Then the story goes that Muruga, son of shiva, took a form of the old man and then held him while he was falling down from the tower.

He put him down and then said to him. “Be still without words.” And his mind stopped there were no words there was no mind. As soon as the mind stopped what happened was he was in a quantum reality of nothingness. And in that nothingness, he experienced a feeling of “fullness”

Everyone is going through only the gross molecular intelligence. We have no access to this quantum mind. As soon as Muruga told Arunagirinathar “be still without words” he lost his ignorance and lost his knowledge, too. Both are two extremes. When these two extremes of knowledge and ignorance were lost, he was able to understand everything without any reference point. At the time what happened was he developed omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence.

Nothing was impossible at that time when he found that he was in that quantum mind. Is it possible for everyone to attain this quantum mind? Yes it is.

Liberation from Personhood

The brain’s various centers are each designated for a specific function. The senses take cognition of the environment. The anthropological basis of the nervous system was to facilitate an interaction with the environment, based on the individual’s awareness of being separate from the environment. All senses sub-serve the function of underlining a sense of discreteness. Touch, taste, sound, smell and vision are instruments of discrimination. The entity that integrates these inputs and collectively coordinates them as a subject is the assumed ‘identity. The coordinated output of separateness that the senses keep generating is ego.

The brain helps fragment awareness into the subjective ‘self’ and objective ‘non-self’ are vital for each other’s symbiotic existence. Our own identity relies on our ability to perceive our self as uniquely different and distanced from the environment. Various detrimental states of consciousness, such as feeling drowsy, deep sleep, semi consciousness or even an unconsciousness state are familiar. Therefore, it is only logical to believe in states where there is an incremental increase in the level of consciousness.

If identity was base merely on a deep rooted sense of discreteness that the senses generate, would a person, alone in a dark, quiet room – whose brain is not being fed with sensory inputs – consider himself as non-existent? N unconscious person doesn’t interact with the environment but might be assumed to possess an ‘am-ness’ that is partial and aware of only the ‘self’ without comprehending or interacting with the environment. It’s a state of partial awareness.

A seizure that arises in the portions of the limbic system – phylogenetically one of the oldest groups of neurons – could give rise to profound spiritual experiences. Repeated bursts of abnormal electrical activity can facilitate a new pathway within the compels network of neurons. This is called ‘kindling’ – where consciousness may be getting defragmenter leading to an un-split awareness.

All sense organs route their inputs through the limbic system and to various designated areas. The sensation of extreme bliss generated by un-split awareness gets triggered by the limbic system and not in the frontal lobes, the seats of intelligence and logical analysis. Such experiences are hence states of altered awareness rather than conclusions arising as a result of intellectual through processing of the brain. The experience or realization that the am-ness of subject and object are of the same essence could be that final frontier of consciousness evolution, the attainment of state of super consciousness. Faith and devotion as ways to salvation rely on the dismantling of the worshipper’s identity and becoming one with the worshipped. That is, perhaps inputs that serve to generate and maintain a separateness of the self are modulated or filtered within the limbic system – a state of comprehensive, un-resurrected oneness.

It’s a paradoxical situation of the observer becoming the observed without the meditation of sense3 organs, by expanding awareness to a supra sensory level. Realization may well be a modulation and ‘kindling’ of the neural pathways leading to a perception of oneness with the entire cosmos. It would then really be more a liberation from the person rather than of the person.