I got out of bed expecting a rather lousy weekend morning , as it is always. I knew it would be ‘leisure as usual’ throughout the day .Starting with TV then surfing , then some more TV , ahh! And then some penning down of my thoughts , and later in the day if my body permits then some painting the town red (but more often than not the case with me and my room-mates is that of ‘Spirit is willing but flesh is weak’). As scheduled I switched on the TV set , and while riffling through the channels I tuned into ‘India Today Conclave’ being telecasted on a news channel. What got my attention was the topic around which the conclave was centered. Let me just give you a hint if you really want to guess.
What is the one thing Indians are most hypocritical about ?
Ya ! Though I cannot hear you ,but I think if you are an Indian(or if you have watched the aforementioned conclave before coming down to this “assimilation of ‘neural sensation transformed into visually legible format’ aka BLOG”) you must have got it right.
The topic of the discussion was that of “SEX and SPIRITUALITY”.
And yes , Just for the record ,Indians , at least I feel so ,are the biggest ‘sex’ hypocrits. Indians who are so particular about abstaining from ‘carnal carousal’ and are a society where terms like ‘ Casual sex’ and ‘free sex’ are a taboo, still are the second largest reproducers (I could have used the “Four letter word” here ) but I guess I am just sparing the Indians their blushes.
Lets face it , Indians are shy about sex but even in their shyness they do it most profoundly. Just to elaborate the point “ If the world was to be survived by one Indian man and one Indian woman , they would still go into a hiding and have ‘secret sex’ rather than having more of a ‘free sex’. And to top it all , they would do it to the exponential extent of creating a new civilization in no time.”
OK ! enough of Indian – Bashing. Going back to the conclave , I was all eyes and ears and more to see how does a forum of Indian men and women go about discussing it.
With ‘Birds and the Bees’ and ‘ Moksha and salvation’ being talked about in the same breath , through a medium that would reach out to practically the entire Indian populace, the panel of presenters had to be dead right spot –on. It had to be someone who has ‘been there done that’, somebody who understands the intricacies of ’sex’ and ‘spirituality’ far better than an Average Joe or should I say ‘Average Adam’.
And So it was , On the one end ,Yoga Guru Swami Ramdev representing the ‘Old Oriental school’ and giving a Traditional take on ‘Sex’. And, on the other end, delineating a more contemporary and occidental overview of the whole matter was , Swami Satya Vedant , a philosopher and author and a arduous disciple of OSHO.(To know more about him, check out here http://www.oshonewyork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=8)
The latter was the first to address the attendance, and the gist of all that he said was
“ Sex is more an individual’s choice , in terms of ‘How’ they do it or ‘where’ they do it or ‘with whom’ they do it or ‘How much ‘ they do it. So we should not straitjacket the individuals in a rigid framework laid down by the society that leaves them struggling for movement.
He also cited with an example that , ‘Sprituality’ can be achieved through sex only if you feel it as an inner body experience rather than just doing it mechanically like it is just another mere physical phenomenon. He illustrated this point by narrating one of his real experience of how in a Book fair ,a man in his late 30’s walks up to Swami Vedant’s book stall and asks him for his latest book on the shelf. And starts riffling through its pages in search of pornographic pictures. Seeing this, swami Vedant tells him that he should go home first and look at his wife in the same context as he was looking at the book, and then probably he may not even feel the need of what he came looking at the first place.
Huh! How insightful , I thought to myself. There is obviously many more dimensions to physical intimation other than the physicality aspect. We need to be aware of them in order to make the ‘Sexperience’ as an all-encompassing, self – fulfilling one.
And then Swami Ramdev took to stage and came across as a proponent of balanced , formulaic and socially acceptable style of understanding and practicing sex. He was very vocal in his disdain towards ‘Homosexuality’ and termed it unnatural and a sign of sickness. He also expressed disgust over the concept of ‘open marriages’ and ‘free sex’ in particular. According to him that would shred the social fabric , and would give rise to a degenerated society where DNA tests are required to know the Biological father of an offspring and teenage girls still in their adolescence getting pregnant. This would do no good to nobody and sex within a socially acceptable framework is the key to prevent the disintegration of our moral values and social living.
At this point in time , I was completely blank. I mean both the speakers made complete sense to me , but sadly they were standing on opposite ends. I could not decide for myself who is right , or in this case who is more right?
As it turned out , it boiled down to the classic ‘East V/S West’ debate. And while in the past we may have made our peace with that ,saying “East is east and west is west and the Twain shall never meet”.
But in more recent times the boundaries defining east and west are getting dimmer and dimmer by the day, thanks to the Net and jet age phenomenon. East is opening its arms to western lifestyle like it has never done before.
Now , at this juncture we have to make a conscious choice for ourselves and a well –informed one. And that is exactly what this discussion aimed at , helping you make that choice by understanding the implications and effects of both the options.
While no clear consensus could emerge amongst the moderator and the speakers, I in my mind had understood one thing after witnessing this hour and a half long spectacle.
And it goes like this “ Just be yourself , suit yourself. Dont deprive yourself of any desire of yours , simply because it goes against the ‘social’ grain. Being true to oneself and being contented with one’s life is what I think is the foremost step towards attaining “Spiritual ecstasy” or transcending to another level , whatever you may call it.
So be it if you are Lecherous or Adulterous , Celibate or Impotent , Homosexual or Bisexual . That is how God made you , and that is how he wants you to be in the Grand scheme of things.
Once you understand this fact and accept yourself and your desires the way they are , then there is no void left in your tryst of self- fulfillment.
Now whether you want to reach that higher level of realization via sex or meditation is up to you and your body , and is very much an individualistic thing. Buddha found it through meditation , some other characters from kamasutra found it through kama/sex. What ticks your body may not tick my body in the same way , and vice versa.
So, the fact of the matter is Don’t PUT ON , just PLAY ON the way you want. Let not your INDIVIDUALITY fall prey to IDEOLOGY.
To end the Blog , I would quote myself .
“ It is Individuals who make the society , and not the Society that makes the Individual” - METHINKS.
