The glory of the human body

It is true that to speak on dovetailing sexuality for bhakti to an orthodox devotional audience is inviting opprobrium. People have already (as I suspected they would) complained to other senior Vaishnavas about me.

People hear the word "sex" and they immediately respond with their deepest saṁskāras.

Sex is the desire for love manifest in the human body. Love is the desire for giving and receiving the pleasure of union. Union with the non-physical normally does not precede union on the physical plane. On the other hand, to think that experience of sexual union on the physical plane without spiritual maturity has ultimate benefit is a pipe dream.

Union with God based on disgust with the material world is not love. It is mukti.

The human organism has many levels. The foolish think they can reach the spirit and the soul without first purifying the gross anna-maya body, the prāṇa body, the mental body, the vijñāna body, and the ānanda-maya body.

Similarly the experience of love is beyond the body, but just like the lotus flower grows out of mud, this human form of life is the basis of our highest and most transcendental experiences. To say, "I am not this body" and then deny the body is the path of asceticism, which has been rejected by the Buddha, by the yogis and Tantrikas, but most of all by the bhaktas.

This does not mean that one does not engage in tapas, i.e., giving up sense pleasures for the sake of one's spiritual endeavor, i.e., prioritizing your spiritual life over your mundane predilections. Brahmacharya is a great tapas, and the householder who practices it attains the perfection of his ashram.

Jugupsa and madhura-rati.



Comments

Anonymous said…

Ādeśa – Dear Sri Jagadananda Das,

Reading your blog posting “Sex and Love in the material world and as a sadhana” was like watching Professor Martin Luther (1.) posting his 95 thesis on the door of Wittenberg’s “All Saints' Church” (Schlosskirche) in 1517 heralding the start of the Reformation.

If there are many opprobriously complaining; remember, there are ‘many more’ who by direct experience know the truth of your words, and “stand up” to applaud your message of truth.

In the love of truth,

M.N.


Notes

1. Luther consistently referred to himself as a former monk. For example: "Thus formerly, when I was a monk, I used to hope that I would be able to pacify my conscience with the fasting’s, the praying, and the vigils with which I used to afflict my body in a way to excite pity. But the more I sweat, the less quiet and peace I felt; for the true light had been removed from my eyes."

Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 45-50, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 8 Luther’s Works. (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 5:326.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther#cite_note-2
Thursday, 05 January, 2017
Anonymous said…

Providence sometime intervenes in the most unlikely and surprising places.

Whilst currently studying Ram Kumar Rai's English translation of the Kularnava Tantra, and subsequently researching the internet for any other supplementary information; one came across an article written by Chintaharan Chakravarti in the April-July 1932 Volume XIII (Parts III-IV) of the 'Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute' (Pages 206-211).

On page 207 it describes, quote:

"A purely Vaisnava work - the Īśānasaṁhitā (1.) dealing with the greatness of the well-known Vaisnava reformer Caitanya - is also represented as forming part of the Kūlarnava."

1. A manuscript of this work is in the collection of the Vaṅgīya Sāhitya Pariṣat. One manuscript of the work has been described by Rajendra Lala Mitra in his Notices of Sanskrit Manuscripts I 824.

The full article may be read online:
https://archive.org/stream/annalsofthebhand014362mbp#page/n215/mode/2up

In writing here, one hopes that a more knowledgeable reader may shed more light on the link between the (Vaisnava) Īśānasaṁhitā and (Kaula) Kularnava Tantra.

Thank you.

M.N.

My person may also be contacted at maccidanandanatha@unseen.is
Friday, 06 January, 2017
Anonymous said…

If any one knows of a link to a digital copy of the Īśāna-saṁhitā, this would be much appreciated.
Friday, 06 January, 2017
Prem Prakash said…
Jagadananda das,
Just a quick note to compliment you on the recent set of posts dealing with bhakti and human relationships. I encourage you to continue to explore and write on this subject. It's a great boon for those of us who appreciate your work. Also, I would suggest you not take too much time attending to your critics. I wouldn't be surprised if these are the same folks still trying to figure out how the sun is actually closer to the Earth than the moon.
Tuesday, 10 January, 2017
Anonymous said…


THE LORD AND VĀSUDEVA (become light shining one) DATTA (lord of yoga):

https://archive.org/stream/SriCaitanyaMahaprabhu1939/Sri%20Caitanya%20Mahaprabhu%201939#page/n109/mode/1up
Tuesday, 17 January, 2017
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