The antiquated culture of India has a longstanding tradition of love, desire, passion, and ecstasy. The ornate sculpted facades depicting erotic positions of the medieval Hindu temples at Khajuraho and Orissa, the intricate art depicting the romantic love between Radha and Lord Krishna, and the great eternal stories of amour of Heer Ranjha and Laila Majnu all exemplify how the pleasures of erotic love were enjoyed and celebrated over millennia. Erotic love, as illustrated by these sculptures, paintings, and parables, is believed to be central to spiritual enlightenment in Hinduism.
Erotic love has the potential to expand the conscious realm of the mind thus granting one the exceptional insight that is essential to receiving the divine boon of transcendence. Erotic love is the aesthetic focus on sexual desire, pleasure, and passion; all of which embody the dyadic wholeness of the Supreme and infinitely divine. Erotic love resonates the very foundational energies of the universe: as it captures, magnifies and re-directs the essential cosmic power of life (Roman). It is on this basis that kama(erotic love) in its physical manifestation is not considered to be a mere expression of sensuality but, at the innermost levels, it is the soul’s ardent yearning for spiritual perfection (Roman). The erotic impulses of man are the psyche’s abyssal thirst to reach perfection through unity (Roman). Unified in the passionate throes of kama the individual spirit has access to the highest levels of consciousness and reality.
Although Hinduism advocates true love, desire, passion, and ecstasy to reach enlightenment, it maintains that humans should never be ruled by kama; as if this were to be so, then man would live “imprisoned by the flesh” (Boteach 191). To avoid becoming enslaved, Hinduism emphasizes the importance of properly living life according to prescribed codes. These codes are embodied within the text of the Kama Sutra composed by the elderly sage Mallanaga Vatsyayana. Mallanaga Vatsyayana holds the conception that sex is sacramental- meaning that it is essential to life and therefore worthy of serious study. Pleasures, said Mallanaga Vatsyayana are ‘as necessary for the well-being of the body as food, are consequently equally required’ (Burton 10).
Mallanaga Vatsyayana composed the Kama Sutra for the benefit of humanity but stressed that the text was to be taken to be much more than a mere instrument to satisfy man’s yearning desires. Mallanaga Vatsyayana strictly maintained that a person who achieved balance and harmony between the main strands of life according to Hindu scripture- virtue or religious merit, worldly wealth, and pleasure or sensual gratification- would obtain success in his every undertaking and would ultimately achieve spiritual liberation (Thomas & Thomas 8).
Works Cited
Boteach, Shmuley. The Kosher Sutra: Eight Sacred Secrets for Reigniting Desire and Restoring Passion for Life. New York: Harperone, 2010. Print.
Burton , Richard . The Illustrated Kama Sutra : Ananga Ranga & Perfumed Garden: The Classic Eastern Love Texts. Rochester: Park Street Press, 1993. Print.
Roman, Dinu. “Tantra Yoga: The Libido – thirst.” Enlightenment – The Experience Festival. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2010. <http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Tantra_Yoga/id/51343>.
Thomas, Kamini, and Kirk Thomas. The Modern Kama Sutra: An Intimate Guide to the Secrets of Erotic Pleasure. unknown: Harper Element, 2006. Print.
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