Excellent article Chaitali. I was waiting for this one:-) I especially found Kama and Rati's origins to be fascinating. Like Kama we too re-incarnate (you can take this literally or understand it to mean each new action/thought)because we are motivated by desire and then begins the journey towards realising that desire and bringing it to fruition.
That Kama springs out of the depths of water at the beginning of time just re-affirms for me that the principal energy of everything that we know as our manifest world is love. That Kama and Rati in union celebrate wordly pleasures as well as achieve spiritual heights, is a wonderful pointer towards how unecessary celibacy and renunciation are.

Thanks for the exciting piece.

a very nice article.
Our Indian philosophy is very evovled.Only sad fact is Indians dont see the knowledge behind the mindless rituals.Most of the important discoveries in quantum physics too comes out from our vedas.(Adviata philosophy)When it comes to sexuality,as a kid in an orthodox family I too was kept in darkness ,when it had come to questions regrading Shiva.I had to discover it on my own ,later in life.The complexity just amazes me and I dont know how come the preists from temples dont spread the real truth..Its only ritual which is propagated(the bakhti cult)It may have benefits,but its like body without a soul.

Hi Divya,

I like your comments Diya because they allow us to create a dialogue around the issue. Thanks for your wise inputs.

It's good to know that you made the effort to go out on your own and seek information/knowledge about Shiva instead of blindly following what others told you.

Most of the time we blindly believe in the rituals handed down to us from over the years, do them out of fear being struck by bad luck. It's then that as you have rightly said they become like 'mindless rituals' as we turn them into superstition.

If I am worshipping Shiva, it's not just about going to the temple and pouring milk on the lingam, but it's about understanding and incorporating all that he stands for- The importance of the masculine and the feminine sexual energy within the self as well in its relationship with others which is the force of all desire and hence creation.

Diya as I have been reading on these myths what I have realised is that there is nothing wrong with desire per se. It is how we manifest those desires is what is important. So there is nothing wrong with sexual desire but how do we chanelize this desire into a form of energy that enriches us and those around us is what is important.

Thanks Anusheh for adding on to the dialogue.

Oops! Sorry Diya for addressing you as Divya. My Apologies.

I FOUND THE ARTICLE VERY FRIVOLOUS AND NOT RELEVANT. VERY FEMINIST AND LEANING TOWARDS LESBIANISM. WHO IN THIS MODERN WORLD IS INTERESTED IN MYTHOLOGY AND OTHER SUNDRY ITEMS. DO EMAIL ME AT V_KUMAR3@YAHOO.COM

Dear Virendraa,

Since you do not have an interest in myths you must have found the article uninteresting.
But I'm unable to understand how the myth of Kama and Rati is feminist and leaning towards lesbianism. Anyway thank you for your comments.

Great post Chaitali

Thank You for explaining Kama and Rati in such detail. Its great to know the antecdants of such a poweful legacy. Especially enjoyed your explanation of Chinamasta. My grandmother was a great devotee of all the 10 Mahavidyas and had their idols in our temple. Even though today our family basically prays to Durga and uses the Sri Yantra , I remember my dadi saying that each Goddess was a critical power to be invoked in her own right. Have to say Chinamasta and Dhumavati confused me a great deal. But your post makes it all so clear and its quite a fascinating symbol.
Virendara
Perhaps your should try reading without prejudice and give your phobias a rest and then maybe myths will make more sense to you. IMO

BTW Chaitali

Can you recommend any good book on the Goddesses which is well written and comprehensive.

Thanx

Hi Ananya,

Thanks! I am not very well versed with the wisdom goddesses myself but while doing the myth on Kama and Rati I came across the visual description of Chinnamasta. It was fascinating to read the explaination behind the form depicted by Chinnamasta because it made so much sense in relation to the significance of the sexual energy.

There is a good book by David Frawley on the 10 goddesses. It's called 'Tantric Yoga and the Wisdom Goddesses." See if you can lay your hands on it.

Hi Chaitali,

This is very interesting. Indian philosophy seems to have a lot in common with greek mythology. Even Greek myhtology has gods and goddesses of love.

I googled for Chinnamasta after reading the article. I probably would have thought it to be a very scary and barbaric image if I had seen the image before reading the article :)

I think I have seen an image of Nataraj (the God of Dance) standing on a baby. I wonder what that means? Anybody?

Thanks for enlightining my mind.

The dance symbloises the leela ..the balance of the world..it shows even though there are cycles of creation and destruction ..how life /nature adjusts itself to the never ending change..
About the baby ??i dont know.. even I want to be enlightened in that area..

Hi Annie, Hi Diya,

Diya you are right about the cosmic dance of Nataraj.

Annie I checked out the figure on which Nataraj is shown standing. It is not a baby but a dwarf named Apasmara Purusha. He symbolizes forgetfulness, ignorance, indifference. So the figure of Nataraj depicts destruction of ignorance as the base for creation. I'm sure a search on the net of authentic sites will tell you more about this in detail.

Thanx Chaitali for the book. :)

Dear Chaitali,

a very nicely written article.

a repressed sexuality comes because the society has not properly digested its own legacy and heritage properly.

99.99% of the society follows the other and hence a herd mentality has evolved in either condemning or approving an act or emotion.

misunderstanding of the basic concept of sex and sexual desire and equating it with something wrong has added fire to the misinformation.

the only way to tackle this is through awareness.:)

Good Morning Aachi!

You are cent percent correct. Awareness is such an important thing but as you have said 99.99% people prefer to remain in dark. It's the lazy mind that needs to be overcome if we have to bring out this awareness.

This piece just makes you think & think & think.....about hidden powers in myths, about the grand scheme called sexuality, about the expansei of Hindu philosophy .

Chaitali this all so new for me, so well connected and so interesting. Thanx for the knowledge and the sensibility which makes this blog so special .

Hey Shagufta,

Thanks. The whole purpose of the blog is to make us re-think and think and not take in things without thinking. It goes for all the pieces. Even as I do my pieces and read others and the queries, the comments, the thoughts that you guys share make me think and think and think... :)

Hi Chaitali,
I must be thankful to myself, that I explored one day websites on sexuailty and came across this wonderful blog :) and then am thankful to you for writting such informative - insightful pieces.
One suggestion is that is it possible for you to insert relevant pics in such articles? That would make such pieces more lucid.
I enjoyed reading but guess need to take a print out and then visualize the image of the Goddess...

Good Morning Ritu,

Glad you find the articles on this blog informative and thought provoking.

We do put pics in some of our articles. But thanks for the suggestion and in future we'll keep that in mind. As for visualising the Goddess you can do it the way you have mentioned. Nothing is better than using your own imagination :) But if you do a google search I'm sure you'll get a picture of the Goddess.

Namasthe Chaitali. Thanks for an in depth article on Kamasutra & sexuality in Hindu culture. As you have very clearly stated “Indians have succumbed to a Victorian model of regarding sexuality as negative.” That is very sad. All our mythological stories in 18 Puranas, 22 Upa [ minor ] Puranas , 2 epics, Agamas show that even ancient Hindu saints Rishis were sexually very active. Human sexuality was never looked upon as ugly during the time of Veads as well as Puranas. On the contrary, it was widely accepted and celebrated. Tantras and Vedas co-exited and I have yet read a verse in the Vedas which condemn Tantras. All our Rishis were sexually very active and where ever they go, they have blessed (?) young women with babies. When I was writing my book AM I A HINDU? [www.amiahindu.com] in places where I wrote this and that Rishi blessed a virgin with a baby, I was forced to re-rewrite “impregnated” since some of my friends who read my manuscript found the word “blessed” to be very funny. Judaism and early Christianity celebrated sex. Amazing it may sound, Bible did not condemn incest between Lott and his daughters even though it condemns homosexuality. The world became extreme strict on ethics and morality after St. Paul & St. Augustine condemned sex as evil. It is about time, all of us look at sex with an open mind. Incest and homosexuality are rampant since people are trying to suppress their normal sexual feelings in the name of God and spirituality. Any time when some one suppresses sexual feelings, it will bounce back with double the force and destroy life. So it is better to have proper sex in day to day lives. Many marriages are ending up in divorce since one spouse denying other spouse intimacy due to some absurd religious beliefs. What I wrote is true, even though some may not agree with that.

Dear Ed Viswanathan,

Welcome to the blog.

The very foundation of our lives- sex and sexuality- today is faced with a crisis. The true self has lost itself to hollow rituals and beliefs dictated by a few.

Thank you for your comment. I have not read your book but I will read the link that you have send.

I look forward to your comments on the blog.

Chaitali

Namaste Mr. Viswanathan

Strange coincidence this. I was browsing the net for some information on mantras the other day and I came across your website. And now here you are!! I have yet to read your site in detail but I definitely will.

Thanks for the interesting comment.

Hi Ed

You have a very interesting site and especially the fact that you mention Rajneeh (Osho) in your chronology map as A Guru of Tantric practices. Hardly anyone understands that. Just curious why you think so?

You are absolutely right about the slow dissolution of sexuality over the years into a dark, shameful space. This blog is a small attempt to reassess and rescue it from its distortions. Hopefully to also contextulaize it in its spiritual heirarchy as truly the Swadisthana as an 'abode of the self'. Hope to read more of your insights here.

Thanks Chaitali, Anusheh & Jasjit for your very kind words. What you wrote “The very foundation of our lives- sex and sexuality- today is faced with a crisis” is very true. It is a shame some consider sex as a taboo and refuse to discuss this subject in open. Today Sex is seen every where and only a fool will ignore the importance of sex. In US vast majority go to church at least once a week and at the same time, this is the same nation where 1 trillion dollar porn business is thriving… What a paradox? It was during my preparation to write a book on Hindu Culture, I became fully aware of the sexual content of our scriptures. Instead of feeling bad about that, I appreciated & admired what I read. Thank God that Rishis or kings did not cover anything up. Even Kama Sutra was regarded as a very valuable scripture by our great Rishis. In India, nobody was allowed to become a Sanyasin without undergoing “Grahasthya Ashrama”. Every one was forced to follow four ashramas., Brahmcharya Ashram [ Celibate a student life until age 25] , Grahasthya Ashram [married - householder’s life 25-50 years ] , Vanaprastha Ashrama [ live in society but live more spiritual in nature 50-75 years] Sanyasa Ashrama [ give up city life and meditate on God] . Only sage Suka, the celebrated son of sage Veda Vyasa, was allowed to jump from Bramacharya Ashram to Sanyasa Ashram at a very young age. According to legends, Adi Sankara was prevented from climbing “Sarvantnya Peedam” in Benarans by Goddess Saraswathi, as she forced him to answer questions regarding Grahasthya Dharma. Sankara as a celibate did not know anything about “Grahasthay Dharama” So he left his body and occupied the body of a Brahmin who just died in Kashmir and learnt every aspect of Grahasthya dharma and answered questions of goddess Saraswathi, before climbing sarvantnya Peedam. Catholics and Iskon can avoid all their problems if they allow their priests and devotes to marry. They are denying sex and that is the reason why they get into all kind of problems. There is nothing wrong with Catholic priests. They are sincere and devoted to their mission. But unluckily, when they deny sex with women, they are forced to go after young altar boys. Sex like a spring should NOT be suppressed. It should be properly tackled so that we can get the maximum benefit out that. If we deal with sex properly, we can elevate ourselves spiritually. Religion are mere aids and they are not the final goal. “Spiritual Maturity” and self-realization are our final goals and sex plays a very important part in achieving “spiritual maturity.” Like Jasjit wrore some where else, people need sexual healing.

how you see the it depends on that the spirituality would like to know more about this subject