understandingABOUT SEX Manypeople ask me about woman and man relationships, and sexual pleasure,and all that. They ask whether it is sinful. I say: 'It is not.'But you should know that there are many more pleasures than that.Sexual pleasure is only a copy of the true pleasure when you arein union with yourself, when both forces within you, the feminineand the masculine aspects within yourself, are united. The unionbetween man and woman is just a duplicate of that one.
So, God sends us into this world not withoutany instruments to remind us of the Kingdom of God. It is justthat we have forgotten that these are reminders only. We justlove the copy and forget the original. And that's what makes ourlife miserable. And even then, we could not enjoy the copy completely.Therefore, many of the man and woman relationships are rocky,and the sexual relationship between you is not that holy, notthat mutually respecting, but it is sometimes abusing, and justa frustration release, a kind of instrument. Therefore, if wetruly want to enjoy this life, we should enjoy the true life,which is a hundred thousand times better than the life that weknow on earth. By knowing that life, we can also enjoy this life.
..... Whenyou look at a naked Indian holy man, you feel elevated; you feelno shame, no desire, no lust, nothing. Nothing steals into yourmind about lower levels of thinking about that man, and you justhave veneration. If you don't have even veneration, at least youhave nothing, not even curiosity. But the scenes in the moviesare differently motivated. They mean to provoke people, and thatis why it is kind of selling the body cheaply. That is not supposedto be so, because the body is the temple of God. That's the onlything that is the matter. That is what is not correct about themovies. I don't mind looking at people without clothes; I havelooked at them before.
..... Manypractitioners, maybe not knowing a Master, or not being initiated,or not having a proper understanding, or not yet having a properpractice, misunderstand that to be a practitioner we must putdown everything and be cold to all relationships. It is not true,it isn't true. This is why in the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu says 'Ordinarymind is the Tao'. When you achieve the Tao or enlightenment, themore you are enlightened, the more you are relaxed and the moreyou become very loving. You might not demand physical relationshipswith another person, but you just act in a normal way and do yourduty. Anyhow, it is difficult to understand this, but you willin time. God is not so narrow-minded as to forbid us to love ourhusband or wife the way we used to. God is not so cruel as toseparate a loving couple in order to attain Him. We must enlargeour heart to love God and also to include other beings, includingour own family members. If we could love other beings that aredistant to us and strangers to us, why can't we love our familymembers, our immediate beloved ones? rust be natural, loving morethan ever before, then we keep our family harmony intact. Otherwise,if our partner is unhappy, it is difficult to be happy our self.
In general, men and women when they are married,it is not only for physical contact alone, but it is for warmthand care, and in the name of meditation you must not abandon yourpartner with any excuse at all. Because that is your duty to showyour love and care to another human being, and you have committedto that duty so you must do it. Loving another person is an honour,it is progress, it is not a degrading process. Understand! Youhave to love each other just like a Master loves you, even withor without physical contact.
..... Q. Many Eastern religions have the tendency to viewthe flesh or the body almost as something to be discarded as garbage.I feel that when I came into this body, I signed a contract tocare for it as best as I could, to make it function to live withinthe realm of this world. One has the powers of the mind, the Godpowers, but doesn't this require a sort of balanced view, tryingto live well on both realms, as long as you live on both realms?
M.Yes, it should be so. It would be more balanced. What the religioustexts mean is that we shouldn't overindulge in our fleshly sensationsand desires, and forget the spirit. Sometimes it is said to anindividual at that moment only, or to a group of individuals only,to people that need to hear that statement. Then it became a generalguideline and it lost its meaning. When it was said at that moment,it was very strong and correct. But it is later recorded and givento other groups, and it is no longer correct. So, do what youfeel like, but do not overindulge in any fleshly desires. Howcan you forget the flesh? You cannot starve the body and meditate.You must keep it, it means that you shouldn't always take careof the flesh and have no time for the spirit. Some people do that,therefore this statement is for them. Jesus also said to forsakethe flesh for the spirit, but He ate and took care of His bodyas much as He needed.
..... Q. How do I escape from my flesh, my love and desirefor the opposite sex!
M.Don't get away from it, otherwise we will have no more children.Just stay cool and have one at a time. (laughter) Have one partneronly, okay? If you have a soul mate that you find is good foryou, and a three-dimensional love, physical, emotional and mental,it is fine. And then, the so-called fleshly desire will lose someof its strong hold on you after you regulate it with a stablerelationship or within marriage. So don't worry, it is just thebeginning.
..... Q. Must one work or deal with sexual energy in orderto gain enlightenment?
M.No, no, just relax. (laughter) All the energy and the struggleyou spend to fight with your sexual urge, is better spent in meditation.Why should you torture your body so much! It is a natural phenomenon,and it will lessen its intensity with time. If you are married,everything, even passion will become very much lessened. The moreyou meditate, the more heavenly enjoyment you will find. Sex,I will tell you, is just a substitute for heavenly bliss. Andbecause most of us lack the real pleasure, we ding to the lowersubstitute. But once we know the real thing, the other loses itscharm. Just like when we grow up, all the toys, the plastic modelcars have no more great meaning to us. It is because we have aMercedes Bent, we have a Rolls Royce, a Cadillac, or any othercar. We know it goes faster and is more useful. So don't worryabout sexual problems, just get enlightenment.
After enlightenment don't fear that you willlose everything. You just enjoy things more intensively, but youknow when and how, and do not abuse your power of enjoyment likeyou did before enlightenment. You might have sex now and again,if you wish and enjoy it. But enlightenment is your main aim inlife, and it will never leave you after initiation. It keeps pushingyou, you can't just not go forward, you can't just be ignorantagain. And even if you have a little exercise now and again withyour wife, so what? God doesn't care that much! (laughter) Youfear too much of everything. Even a little sex scares you. Nothingis so scary!
..... Q. Do you have homosexual disciples?
M.Yes. Do I have to report to you their private business? You see,homosexuality is just a misconception about their awareness. Theymisunderstand their body's function. And when they become enlightened,this will be less and less, because they will identify themselvesless with the body, but more with the spirit. Therefore there'snothing wrong with that. Yeah, when the children are very young,they play with plastic models and they cling to their teddy bears,but when they grow up, they will leave them. So do not worry aboutyour misidentification with your body or with your birth appearance.It's alright, just get enlightenment, and everything will fixitself in due course.
..... Q. You said You denounce immorality. What is meant bysexual misconduct? Is that wrong?
M.I do not denounce anything. I just propagate correct way of life.And you are free to follow it, okay?! I do not denounce anything.If you feel that is a denouncement, it's not true. Just that yougo into the wrong direction. Now you should go back to the rightone, if you want to arrive at your destination which is the Kingdomof God. Too much sexual abuse and indulgence tires your body,exhausts your mental power which should be conserved for the greatestenlightenment, and to help yourself and to help mankind. It'smore noble that way. That's all, yeah. Sexual misconduct meansyou have too many girl friends, too many boy friends, too manyhusbands and wives. It exhausts your storehouse of energy, okay?!
..... Q. Master, what's fornication?
M. Why do you ask me? You already know whatit is. If you are in it then please just correct it, get married,that's all. [Laughter] Nothing to worry about. But I may tell you,if it is love, then it's of no sin. Understand? If you are married,but hate each other every minute, then what is marriage good for?If the love is pure, God will accept it. It depends on if youhave love or not, okay! I see love as a marriage bond, not thecertificate. I see your heart's commitment as the marriage vow,not the magistrate's signature. Correct?
..... Q. Master, canYou please advise me as to how I should control my monstrous sexualappetite? I need God grace.
M. This...? I don't have experience.You know what? There are many remedies. But most people when theyate too much meat and drink the wine and all that, it will excitemore of their passion. We already have enough so-called animalpassion within us, so we do many things like the animals do. Thiswe can not control.
Because we inherit the animalquality while we live in this kingdom, part of it, because ofthis body. So now, if we want to control that, we must minimizethe intake of intoxicants and exciting food, things like that.There are foods for sexual empowerment. The people look for that.Some people like that. So the old kings, they always eat specialkinds of foods, because they have so many wives.
There are many foods to controlthe sexual drive. The first stage is vegetarian diet, pure vegetariandiet - no eggs, no fish, etc., and no liquor, alcohol, no intoxicatingthings. Many things we, the ordinary
people, pay high prices for, mostlyare poison. And I am always wondering why people spend a lot oftheir money to poison themselves. But anyhow that's their privatechoice and free will.So if you ask me how to minimizeyour sexual energy, there are many things to do. You switch tovegetarian diet, eat a kind of simple, not too much oily and excitementspice and things like that. And then drink plenty of cool water.No champagne, champagne is the worse thing, reserved only forwedding days. You know uh! I don'tknow. I heard about that. I don't know. They said like that.
But the most simple is to bebusy, doing something meaningful, helping other people; and thenyou forget your own problem. I don't know how you have time tothink about this drive even. You know, if you stay up all nightlong, reading like me, I think your sex drive will drive itselfaway (laughter and applause),because sex drives are scared, scared of the work.
Do something. There is so muchsuffering in this world, do some volunteer work in your sparetime. Feel the suffering of your fellow beings. Merge yourselfin the sacrifice and the joy, the pure joy of serving all of them. Bring happiness,bring noble happiness to other people. That will bring noble happinessto you, too.
You have read so much bad,maybe porno information. Now don't read it any more. Switch toholy books. Read the Bible, read the Buddhist sutras, read theKoran, read whatever information you have on holy life, okay?Hinduism books, anything you want, yoga exercise, holy saints'teachings, so much to read.
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