Tantra deals beautifully with the whole concept of sex. In the scriptures, Lord Shiva speaks to Devi Parvati on this subject. Those insights recorded over 5000 years ago are found to be relevant in biology today.
In order to be complete, to be whole, it is essential that we are able to accept and express both the masculine and feminine aspects of our nature.
But does it really happen? Are we allowed to express?
Right from the moment of birth, society labels you as either male or female. And it expects you to start behaving accordingly. Society simply does not allow boys to express their feminine side, or girls to express their masculine side. Right from a very young age, one half of our Being is suppressed.
Till the age of seven, till the social conditioning has not taken a deep root inside, the child is not conscious of being male or female. That is why a very young child has a sense of completeness. He is centered and secure. He is so beautiful and joyful to look at! By around seven, the child comes under society’s control.
A male child is not encouraged to play with dolls and kitchen sets. A female child is looked upon disapprovingly when she wants to play with racecars and rockets. Even when it comes to colours of their clothes and other belongings, there is discrimination. You choose blue for boys and pink for girls. Am I right?
In earlier days, the responsibility of parents was only to give birth to the child. At the age of four, they left the child in the Gurukul with the Master. In the Gurukul, the children were taught the Gayatri mantra – an initiation chant to kindle the intelligence - at the age of 7. If by 14 they had a spiritual experience of some kind, they were taught the Brahma Sutra – the greatest book on world philosophies, else, they were taught the Kama Sutra – the science of sex, so that they learnt the art of family life. If before the age of 21 they were enlightened, they were initiated into Sannyas. If not, they were taught the Yoga Sastras. This is how a child was allowed to evolve in its own way under the guidance and love of the Master.
But now, such strong conditioning goes into the child, which is so damaging for it. The child begins to suppress that part of himself which is not approved by society. We don’t realize it, but this period is traumatic for the child. He suddenly feels uprooted, cut off from one half of his Being. He starts searching for this suppressed half outside.
You see: Man’s inherent nature is fulfillment. He came from fulfillment and looks to attain it as well. So he begins, unconsciously, to search for the lost half, the suppressed half. He starts looking to the outside world for a substitute for his own lost half. The male child starts searching for a female presence, and the female child for a male presence.
This is where the whole idea of sex starts. This is how the idea of sex takes root.
In the period from 7 to 14 years, the child is closest to its parents. From them, the child collects images about how the ideal woman or ideal man should be. For the male child, the suppressed half of his own personality is replaced with his mother’s image and for a girl child, the suppressed part of her personality is replaced with her father’s image.
That is why every boy’s first heroine is his mother, and every girl’s first hero is her father. This is the unwritten law! This deep-rooted search is what lies behind the so-called Oedipus and Ophelia complexes of Freudian psychology. A boy expects care from his wife like the care he received from his mother and a girl expects the security and assurance from her husband that she enjoyed with her father.
In broken homes, where the child has been deprived of the mother’s or father’s presence due to death or divorce, the child carries a sense of incompleteness, because the imprint of the parents is the first, and the deepest. Even long after you are an adult, no matter how many differences of opinion you have with your mother or father, you can never remove their imprint from your Being.
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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.
Words from the Master
Apr 4, 2009 at 2:44 AM
Series: Words From The Master