Spirituality & Sex - I

The recent incidents involving swamis and gurus who are known and recognized for their spiritual being and training had provoked me to think on the connection between celibacy and spirituality. Here are some of my findings based on some facts and my own perspectives. It’s a commonplace agreement in India where people seek guidance from learned or holy individuals the way people elsewhere might consult a psychologist or a counselor.

First of all there is a need to understand the monastic order in Hinduism and its provenance. Hinduism borrowed the concept of monasteries - and its peculiar kind of celibacy - from Buddhism. This was because Buddhism had grown to become one massive umbrella that held vast swathes of the Indian subcontinent in near-total control by the 8th century. When Adi Shankaracharya arrived on the scene to take Sanatan Dharma out of the morass, he selected some of the attributes of Buddhism to reinvent Hinduism.

In other words, there was no concept of renunciation in Hinduism until Shankaracharya arrived, at least not in any organised sort of way. The best that exists in Sanatana philosophy on the subject is Patanjali's statement, 'Swa-ang jugupsa, parai asansargah'. It means that with increasing spiritual insights, with greater realisation, with the mind's constant attachment with truth, there develops apathy for the physical body, and it loses its physical affiliation with others. This is considered a high state of spiritual being, and that is what has made celibacy the plinth of sanyas. Before Shankaracharya, Indian rishis were known to have families and children.

As was the case in any era, most of the people were discontent with their lives. They thought that the natural way of life and the kind of relationships they had were the reasons for their discontent and dissatisfaction and started looking for a new way of life. That’s when Buddhism showed them a new set of principles, ideals and a whole new life. So, most of them were moving to Buddhism from Hinduism. In order to avoid this, same kind of concepts were borrowed to Hinduism by Shankaracharya.

Also, Shankara travelled across India and other parts of South Asia to propagate his philosophy through discourses and debates with other thinkers, which the disciples of Buddha had been doing from centuries. He founded four mathas ("monasteries"), which helped in the historical development, revival and spread of Advaita Vedanta, same on the lines of Buddhist Monastries. So, he merely followed the "market leader" of the time, Buddhism, and in the process institutionalised renunciation to help Hinduism survive the crisis it was in because of the Buddhism

What's truly lamentable about those donning saffron but flouting the principles they erroneously pledged to uphold - including celibacy - is that they have forgotten the deep Sanatana value that their raiment represents. Interestingly, the idea of a single colour garment is also from the Buddhism, which floats yellow for renunciation. Yellow represents the shade of falling leaves in the winter, representing the departure from the world (of desires). So, in order to compete with Buddhism, Shankaracharya found the colour saffron, from the sacrificial fire According to him, anyone who is wearing this saffron robe is sitting on the funeral pyre, burning all his samskaras and making sure that no new ones are added. For it was only after all the samskaras were burnt that vairagya or dispassion could develop, and with it the spiritual insights for which one had made the conscious decision to become a sadhu or a sanyasi.

What do you think would be the reason for all the idols and impressions of erotic and compromising positions in the vast temples of India? Don’t you think that celibacy would finally lead to extinction of human race? Don’t you realise that our ancestors who had written the epics weren’t so stupid to make that happen?

Having understood the origin of celibacy and the significance of saffron, let’s go deeper into the world of spirituality, celibacy and renunciation, in the next post.