ALCHEMY OF TRANSFORMING SEX ENERGY TO LOVE



IF MAN IS TO BE CURED OF SEXUALITY, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO CREATE A NEW OPENING BEFORE THE DOOR OF SEX OPENS. THAT NEW OPENING IS MEDITATION

"I stated yesterday that it is difficult to find a greater enemy of sex than I am. I do not mean to imply that I abuse or reproach sex; I said it apprehensively, as a guide in the direction of transcendence, as an indication of how lust can be transformed. I am an enemy of sex in the sense that I favor the transformation of coal into diamonds. I wish to transform sex."

"How can this be done? What is the procedure?
I say that another door must be opened, a new door."

"Sex does not rear its head as soon as a child is born. The body gathers energy, the cells gain strength, and still there is time before the full-fledged development of the body takes place. The energy will slowly muster itself, and then it will push open a door that has been shut for the first fourteen years – and this is the child's introduction into the world of sex."

"Once one door is open it is very difficult to open a new door. Because of the nature of the life-force, one's full vitality, one's entire energy, rushes along in the direction it has forced open. Once the Ganges has set its course it continues to flow along it; it does not seek out a new course every day. Fresh water may pour in daily, but it will continue to flow through the same channel. Similarly, man's life-force digs out a course for itself and then continues to travel it."

"If man is to be cured of sexuality, it is very important to create a new opening before the door of sex opens. That new opening is meditation."

"Each child in his tender years should be taught meditation, should be instructed in meditation. False teachings against sex should be abolished, and meditation should be taught. Meditation is a positive door; it is a higher opening. A choice between sex and meditation must be made, and meditation is the superior alternative. Do not condemn sex; teach children to meditate."

"It is very difficult to attain the state of meditation when one is older. Older people trying meditation is like sowing seeds after the season is over. The seed of meditation can easily be sown in children, but man, as he is, only shows interest in meditation towards the end of his life. He is anxious to meditate then – when his energy has ebbed, when all the possibilities of progress have dried up. Only then does he inquire about meditation and yoga. He wants to reform himself when the die has already been cast, when transformation is very difficult indeed. A man with one foot in the grave asks if anything can be done to attain freedom through meditation. This is strange. The notion is quite mad."

"This planet can never be at peace until we launch a journey into meditation in every young mind. But it is futile to try this with people who are at the end of the road, with people who are in the evening of their lives. Even if it were to be attempted by them it would demand enormous effort and, also, would not be to much advantage. But it could have been achieved had it been attempted earlier in life, when it does not call for so much effort."



THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS THE TRANSFORMATION OF SEX IS TO BEGIN INSMALL CHILDREN TO TEACH THEM TO BE SILENT AND TASTE THE STATE OF NO-MIND

"So the first step towards the transformation of sex is to begin meditation in small children – to coach them to be calm and to keep their own counsel, to teach them to be silent and to enlighten them about the state of no-mind. Although children are already calm and peaceful by adult standards, if they were guided in the right direction and taught to practice reticence and serenity even for a little while each day, a new door would open before they were fourteen years of age. Then, when sex rears its head, when the energy wells up and is about to spill over, it would flow through the new door that has already been opened. They would already have realized the serenity, the bliss, the joy, the timelessness and egolessness of meditation long before the experience of sex. This familiarity would prevent their energy from moving into wrong channels; it would divert it onto the right path."

"Instead of teaching the tranquillity of meditation, we teach children to abhor sex. "Sex is sin, sex is dirty," we say. We tell them it is ugly and bad; we say that it is hell. But name-calling does nothing whatsoever to alter the actual situation. On the contrary, children become curious; they want to know more about this hell, about this evil, about this dirty thing that makes their parents and teachers afraid and panic-stricken. They look anywhere and everywhere for the answer; they are anxious to understand what the commotion is all about."

"Parents never know about the sex lives of their children, just as children are ignorant of the sex lives of their parents. The alienation that results from this game of hide-and-seek is very dangerous indeed. Children must be properly educated about sex; they must be given the right education."

"Secondly, children should be taught to meditate – how to remain calm, serene, silent; how to reach the state of no-mind. Children can learn to accomplish this very, very quickly. Every home should have a scheduled program to help children move into silence. And that will only be possible, when you, as parents, also practice with them. A daily hour of sitting silently should be compulsory in every home. One should even do away with a meal if necessary, but an hour of silence must be observed at all costs. It is wrong to call that house a home where an hour of silence isn't observed daily. It can not even be called a family."

"A daily hour of silence will conserve energy. And then, at the age of fourteen, it will surge in a tide and push open the door of meditation – that state of meditation where man touches timelessness and egolessness, where he glimpses the soul, where he glimpses the Supreme. A meeting with that summit before the experience of sex would put a stop to the mad rush after sex; the energy would have found a better, more blissful, more exalted path."

"This is the first stage in the process of celibacy: to transcend sex. And the way is meditation."



MEDITATION TRANSFORMS SEX ENERGY TO LOVE

"The second fundamental is love. Children should be taught love from infancy. The common fear is that teaching love will lead man into the labyrinths of sex. But this fear is groundless. Teaching sex can lead man to love, but teaching love will never drag him into sexuality. The truth is at odds with the general belief. The energy of sex is transformed into love."

"A man is able to spread love to those around him in direct proportion to the love that grows within him. Those who are empty of love are filled with sex. And sex-minded they remain. The less a man loves, the more he hates; the less love there is in a man's life, the more spiteful his life will be. And those who are devoid of love are filled with jealousy to the same degree. The less a man loves, the more strife he will know. People are worried and unhappy in direct proportion to the lack of love in their lives. And the more a man is engulfed by worry, jealousy, vanity, lies and the like, the more his energies will weaken, will become frail and feeble; he will be tense all the time. And the only outlet for this crude, crass, low and debased group of emotions is sex."

"Love transforms energies. Love is fluid, creative, flowing; it fulfills. And the gratification of love is much deeper and much more valuable than that obtained through sex. One who knows that contentment will never look for any substitute, just as the man who acquires jewels will never search for stones."

"The principle is not just to love human beings alone, it is a question of being filled with love. To say one should love his mother is wrong; it is a misrepresentation. If a father asks his child to love him just because he is his father it is deception; he is giving a reason for love. Similarly, if a mother tells her child he must love her for the simple reason that she is his mother, it is an imposition. The love that has the strings of "because" and "therefore" attached to it is misnamed. Love should be motiveless; it should not be bogged down with reasons. The mother says, "I looked after you; I brought you up, therefore love me." She is giving a reason. And there, love ends. If a child is forced, he may unwillingly show some affection because she is his mother, but the aim of teaching love is not to force the child to express love for some reason, but to create an environment in which the child will be full of love."

"It must be brought home to you that a child's growth, his whole personality, his entire future, depends on this joy at being loving to anybody or anything he meets – be it a stone, a human being, a flower, an animal, whatever. The point is not just to love an animal or a flower or his mother or someone else, the whole point is for the child to be full of love. On this depends not only his future, but the future of mankind. The tremendous possibilities for the flowering of joy and of happiness in a man's life depend on how much love there is inside him. A loving man can also be freed from sexuality. But we do not bestow love; we have no zeal for love."



THE POSSIBILITY OF SEX IN A MAN'S LIFE LESSENS AS LOVE INCREASES WITHIN HIM

"Love should well up inside you – love for plants, love for human beings, love for strangers, love for foreigners, love for those on their way toward the moon and the stars. Your love should be ever on the increase."

"The possibility of sex in a man's life lessens as love increases within him. Love and meditation will open that door which is the door to God. Together, love and meditation touch God, and then celibacy flowers in a man's life. Then the entire life-force ascends through a new passage. Then it does not leak out gradually; then it never recedes. The energy rises upwards from within; it rises on its voyage to heaven. Our journey, at present, is towards the lower levels. By nature, the energy only flows downward, into sex, but celibacy is the upward journey. And love and meditation are the basic ingredients of celibacy."



AS FAR AS KNOWLEDGE OF SEX IS CONCERNED, WE DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT

"There are more profound enigmas in life, and on their proper solution depends whether life can be decent or not, whether life can be harmonious or not, whether our present direction is the right one for progress or not, and so on. We think we know the answers, but the consequences show how inaccurate our perception of life really is. The life of each one of us shows that we do not know anything about life at all. Otherwise, how come there is so much despair, so much misery, so much anxiety?"

"I say the same thing as far as our knowledge of sex is concerned. We do not know anything about it. Perhaps you will not agree. You will argue, "It is quite possible we do not know anything about the soul or God, but how can you say we do not know anything about sex?" You will probably reply that you have a wife and that you have children. And yet I dare to tell you that you do not know anything about sex, although it may be very difficult for you to agree with what I say. You may have gone through sexual experiences, but you know no more about sex than an animal. To go through a process mechanically is not enough to know it."

"A man may have driven a car for a thousand miles, but it does not necessarily follow that he knows anything about the engine. He might ridicule my statement, saying he had just driven a thousand miles, but I still venture to make the accusation that he knows nothing about the car. I repeat, driving a car is different from knowing the internal mechanism."

"A man presses a switch and there is light. He presses it again and the light goes off. He has done it innumerable times. He can say that he knows all about electricity because he can switch it on or off at will, and we will say that he is a fool, that even a child can turn a switch on and off, that no knowledge of electricity is necessary."

"Anybody can marry. Anybody can produce children. It has nothing to do with an understanding of sex. Animals procreate, but it does not mean they know anything about sex. The truth of the matter is that sex has not been studied scientifically. No philosophy or science of sex has developed because everyone believed he knew about sex. No one has seen the need for a scripture of sex. This is a very grave mistake by mankind."

"The day we fully develop a scripture, a science, a complete system of thought on sex, we will produce a new race of humans. Then, there won't be the production of such ugly, insipid, lame and feeble human beings. Sick, weak, dull men won't be seen any more on this earth."

"It isn't at all necessary to continue producing the present kind of generation, a generation born out of sin and guilt. But we are not aware of this. We are in the habit of switching the light on and off, and have concluded we know everything about electricity. Even at the end of his lifetime, a man does not come to know what sex is. He knows only "on" and "off" – and nothing more."



A DEEP AND PROFOUND EXPERIENCE OF SEX ORGASM CAN ALSO FREE MAN FROM SEX

"We never go deeply into the subject of sex, never reflect upon the practice of sex, never try to get to the bottom of it, never meditate on it – because of the delusion that we know everything there is to know about it. When everybody already knows everything, what need is there to consider the subject? And in the same breath, I wish to tell you that there is no deeper mystery, no deeper secret, no deeper subject than sex – in this world and in life itself."

"Only a perfect celibate can reveal the perfect truth about sex and divinity. The sensualists do not comprehend any of the subtleties and, because of their ignorance, their lives are engulfed in sexuality until the end. Animals have a schedule for intercourse as I told you earlier; they have a season. Animals wait for the mood, for the disposition, but man has no definite time for it. Why is this? It is because the animal exists at a deeper layer of sex than man."

"Those who have researched sex, who have gone deeply into it, who have meditated upon life's manifold experiences, have deduced that if coitus only lasts for one minute a man will desire it again on the next day, but if it can be prolonged for three minutes he will not think of sex for a week to come. Furthermore, they have observed that if coitus can be prolonged for seven minutes, a man will be so free of sex that no thought of passion will arise in him for the next three months. And if the period of coitus can be extended to three hours, a man will be free of sex forever; he will never desire it again!"

"But man's experience is generally of a moment's duration; it is difficult even to imagine a period of three hours. However, I reiterate: if a person can remain in the coital position, can remain in that samadhi, in that submergence for three hours, then one single act of intercourse is enough to free him from sex for the rest of his life. It leaves behind such an experience of contentment, such an experience of bliss, that it lasts a lifetime. After perfect coitus there remains no barrier to the attainment of real celibacy."

"Even after a lifetime of sexual experience we never reach anywhere near that supreme stage, near that divinity. Why? A man reaches a ripe old age, comes to the end of his life, but he is never free from his lust for sex, from his passion for intercourse. Why? It is because he has never understood nor been told about the art of sex, about the science of sex. He has never considered it; he has never discussed it with the enlightened ones."

"You may be skeptical that an experience that is usually of a moment's duration can be prolonged for three hours, so I will give you certain pointers. If you heed them, the journey to celibacy will become simpler."

"The faster one's breathing is, the shorter the duration of intercourse; the calmer and slower one's breathing is, the more it is prolonged. And the longer intercourse lasts, the more possibility there is of making sex a door to samadhi, a channel to superconsciousness. As I said earlier, the realization of egolessness, of timelessness, dawns upon man in that sex-samadhi. The breathing should be very slow. Slowness of breath will open deeper and deeper vistas of realization."

"Another thing to remember during the act of intercourse is that your awareness should be focused between the eyes, in the seat of the agnichakra. If the attention is focused there, the duration of the climax can be drawn out – even up to three hours. And such an act of coitus can firmly root a person in the soil of celibacy – not only for this life but for the next life also. A lady writes to say that Vinoba is celibate, and asks if I therefore don't agree that he has probably never had an experience of samadhi. She continues to say that since I am also a celibate and unmarried, that I may not have had the experience of samadhi either. If that lady is present here I wish to tell her that neither Vinoba, nor me, nor anybody else for that matter, can realize the stage and the significance of celibacy without the real experience of sex. I also want to tell her that the experience may be of this life, or it may be of a past life. One who attains to celibacy in this life owes it to a deep coital union in a previous life and not to anything else. This is the only explanation. If a man has had a profound experience of sex in a previous life, he will be born free of sex in this life; sex will not disturb him, even in his imagination. On the contrary, he will be surprised at how other people behave about sex; he will be amazed that people are so mad for sex. Such a man will even have to exert himself to distinguish between a man and a woman."

"If a person imagines he can simply be a celibate from his childhood, that he can be a celibate without any experience of sex, he will become a neurotic. Those who are always harping on celibacy, who shout about observing celibacy, are causing the disintegration of man. Nothing more than disintegration can come from this. Celibacy cannot be imposed; celibacy evolves only as the cream of inner experience. Brahmacharya, celibacy, is the result of a serene and profound experience – and that experience is of sex. If during sex one has had an absolute revelation, even once, he is released from sex for the unending journey of lives."



SEX IS NOT THE END; IT IS THE BEGINING OF A LONG JOURNEY TO REACH SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS OR SAMADHI

"I urge you to approach sex only when you are cheerful, only when you are full of love and, last but not least, only when you are prayerful. Only when you feel that your heart is full of joy, peace and gratitude, should you think of having intercourse. A man who approaches intercourse like this can attain sublimation, and the ultimate realization, even once, is enough to free one from sex forever. With one single experience, you can break through the barrier and enter the periphery of samadhi."

"Would one hanker after sex after touching this bliss? Would one even think of this fleeting pleasure after one has attained the eternal ocean? A glimpse of the eternal convinces man that sensual pleasure is meaningless, that by contrast it is madness. Then, one's present passions soon become obnoxious; then, they seem like a drain, a waste of energy, a source of anguish. After this certainty dawns on a man, he is on his way to the desired goal, to celibacy itself."

"It is a long way from sex to samadhi. Samadhi is the ultimate goal; sex is only the first step. And I want to point out that those who refuse to recognize the first step, who censure the first step, cannot even reach the second step. They cannot progress at all. It is imperative to take the first step with consciousness, understanding and awareness. But be warned: sex is not an end in itself; sex is the beginning. To progress, more and more steps are required."

"But mankind's biggest drawback has been its disinclination even to take the first step. And it aspires to reach the last! A man despises the first rung and yet is ambitious to grasp the top rung of the ladder; he has no experience of the light of a candle and yet he wants to claim the splendor of the sun! This is impossible."

"The deterioration in man is only due to the crassness of our attitude to sex, in theory as well as in practice. Sex has lost its original sacredness. The original sense of reverence man had for sex has been tarnished. Sex has degenerated into a mechanical nightmare. And this attitude to sex betrays a subtle violence, in the strict sense of the term. Sex is no longer an experience of love. Sex is no longer a vehicle to sacredness. Sex is no longer a meditative act. And because of this, mankind is falling steadily into an abyss."

"The standard of our progeny can be improved, but to conceive a higher soul the circumstances must also be of a higher quality. Only then can superior souls be born; only then can the standard of humanity be ultimately raised. That is why I say that when man has become acquainted with the science of sex, with the art of sex, when he is able to impart this knowledge to young and old alike, we will be able to provide the circumstances that will give birth to what Aurobindo and Nietzsche have called Superman. Such a posterity can be sired! Such a world can be created! But before then, there can be no progress; before then, there can be no peace in the world; before then, wars cannot be prevented, hatred cannot be abolished, immorality cannot be cured, evil cannot be eradicated, debauchery cannot be uprooted and the present darkness cannot be wiped away."

"Even if we press all the modern conveniences and innovations into service; even if politicians, sociologists and religious leaders do their utmost, wars will not cease, tensions will not ease, and violence and jealousy will not disappear. For the last ten thousand years, the apostles, the messiahs and the leaders have preached against war, against violence, against anger and so forth – but nobody has listened. On the contrary, we murdered a man who preached the gospel of love, who tried to teach us not to be violent, who showed us a spiritual path."



SEX IS DEEPLY RELATED TO RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY

"Furthermore, the people who say that sex has no relation to religion are entirely incorrect, because it is the energy of sex, in a transformed and sublimated form, that enters the realm of religion. The sublimation of this vital energy lifts man to realms about which we know very little. The transformation of his sex energy raises man to a world where there is no death, no sorrow, to a world where there is nothing but joy, pure joy. And anyone who possesses that energy, that life-force, can uplift himself to that realm of joyous, truthful consciousness, to satchitanand."

"But we have been wasting this energy. We are like buckets with holes in the bottom, and we are using these buckets to draw water from the well. But all the water drains out in the process and what we end up with is an empty bucket. We are like boats with holes in the bottom: we row only to sink. Such a boat can never reach the other shore; it is destined to sink in midstream. All this leaking is due to the wrong diversion of the flow of sex energy."

"Those who show nude photos, write obscene books and produce sexy films are not responsible for these leakages of energy. The responsibility for these kinds of perversions lies with those who have put barriers in the way of our understanding of sex. It is because of these people that naked pictures are in demand, that pornographic books are on sale, that nude films are made, and we see the sordid and absurd results every day. The ones who are responsible are those we call saintly and ascetic. But if you look deeply into it, you will see that they are the real advertising agents for obscenity."

"A tiny tale, and I will finish today's talk."

"A certain priest was going to conduct a service in the church of a nearby village. He was almost running in order to get there on time. Crossing a field on his way, he saw a wounded man sprawled in a nearby ditch. A knife protruded from the man's chest and he was bleeding. The priest considered lifting him up and attending to him, but on second thought, he felt it might delay his arrival at the church. He had chosen "Love" as the subject of his sermon; he had decided to elaborate on Christ's famous maxim, "Love is God." He had been mentally preparing his comments as he hurried on his way."

"But the wounded man opened his eyes and shouted, "Father, I know that you are going to the church to deliver a sermon on the subject of love. I was to attend the church too, but bandits have stabbed me and thrown me here. Listen, if I survive I will tell people that a man was dying by the roadside and that, instead of saving him, you ran away to deliver a sermon on love. I warn you, don't ignore me."

"This frightened the priest a bit. He realized that if this man were to survive and relate the incident, the people of the village would say that his sermons were all humbug. The priest was not worried about the dying man, but about public opinion, so he approached the man unwillingly. As he came nearer he saw the man's face more clearly: it seemed somewhat familiar. He said, "My son, it appears I have seen you somewhere before."

"The injured man said, "You must have. I am Satan, and I have very old relations with priests and religious leaders. If I am not familiar to you, then who else would be?"

"The priest then remembered him clearly; he had seen a picture of him in the church. He drew back. He said, "I cannot save you. It is better you die. You are Satan. We are always wishing you dead and it is good you are dying. Why should I try to save you? It is a sin even to touch you. I am going on my way."

"Satan laughed loudly and said, "Listen, the day I die you will be out of business; you cannot exist without me. You are who you are because I am alive; I am the basis of your profession. You had better save me, because if I die all the priests and ministers will be out of work. They will become extinct; there won't be any need for them any more."

"The priest thought this over for a second and saw the truth in it. Immediately, he lifted the dying man onto his shoulders and said, "My dear Satan, do not worry. I am taking you to the hospital for treatment. Please get well quickly. Do not die, for God's sake, you are right; if you die, we will be out of work."

"Perhaps you cannot conceive that Satan is at the root of the priest and that the priest is behind the work of Satan, but Satan is very busy in the exploitation of sex and the exploitation of sex is at the root of everything. Through the fog, we cannot see that the priests are behind all this commotion, that sex has become more and more attractive because of its degradation by the priests, that man has become more and more lustful because of the continuous slandering of sex by the priests. The more the priests strive to annihilate one's thoughts about sex, the more mysterious it becomes, the more curiosity it arouses."

"Man is helpless; man is a slave to sex, and this helplessness is to be despised. We want knowledge, not ignorance. Knowledge on its own is power, and the knowledge of sex is an even greater power. It is dangerous to continue to live in ignorance about sex."
(Excerpts from: 'From Sex to Superconsciousness')


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