Contemplative Sexuality

MAITHUNA is the central axis around which most of the TANTRA YOGA metaphysics turns and it is a frequent topic in religious hindu sculpture and art.

Missionaries, people from the occident and even hindu men influenced by the occidental culture regard these works of art to be pornographic and claim that sexual YOGA is a perverted and degraded form of oriental spirituality.

But scholars with high qualifications (such as WOODROOFE, DASGUPTA, COOMARASWAMI, ELIADE and others) established the irrefutable truth that these images are not pornographic at all, but represent in a symbolical way a metaphysical doctrine and a sacred act.

MAITHUNA has therefore nothing in common with sexual orgies. It symbolises the eternal union of Spirit and Nature and epitomizes the fulfilment of the contemplative love or the spiritualized sexuality.

The dominant idea of the MAITHUNA rite and of its TAOIST equivalent is that sexual love can become a profound meditative worship in which the participants become living embodiments of the Divine.

MAITHUNA implies also a transmutation of the sexual energy that is generated, i.e. a trasnformation of its attributes.

It is well known that TANTRA YOGA uses a complex symbolism of the subtle human anatomy. The spinal column represents the axis of life, having its roots in the Underworld and its branches in Heaven.

The base of the spinal tree is the site of The Serpent Power, the symbolic image of the divine power (vitality) manifested in Nature and sleeping under the spell of MAYA.

Sexual YOGA consist of the awakening of the Serpent and of its controlled ascent from the roots of the spinal tree to the branches. This process defines the spiritual enlightenment and the final liberation of the human Self.

When the Serpent stays at the base of the spinal tree, it manifests as sexual energy; when moving upward, it is called KUNDALINI; when at the top of the tree, it manifests as spirit.

During the MAITHUNA rite, the Serpent is awakened and raised, being eventually directed toward the contemplation of the Divine embodied in woman and man.

The two lovers sit facing each other, the man in full lotus posture (padmasana), the woman sitting in his lap and wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck in a state of ecstatic surrender.

The Tibetan name of this position is YAB-YUM, which means "the Mother-Father". This posture is obviously static: the couple remains motionless and prolongs the embrace so that the energetic exchange is passive and receptive rather than active and demanding.

Nothing special is done to arouse the sexual energy: it is permitted to follow its natural flow, without being seized and exploited by the will.

However, the mind and the senses are not permitted to jump randomly, but are consciously yet effortlessly directed toward experiencing "that which is" (the immediacy of the present experience).

Both TANTRIC and TAOIST traditions emphasize the necessity for both lovers to control and refine the sexual energy (orgasm without ejaculation) and to remain in an undemanding state of mind, not using the discriminating reason but relying on the combined forces of the body, the soul and the spirit as a whole.

For us the importance of these ideas reside less in technical details and more in their psychological value. These ideas represent a highly evolved attitude toward relationship, sexuality and life.

If these ideas would be assimilated by the modern civilisation and put to work, they would contribute unexpectedly to clarify our confusions related to marriage and sexuality.

The profound meaning of the sexual YOGA cannot be understood unless we understand the basic principles of TANTRA and TAOISM.

The TAOIST doctrine is based upon the idea of being in harmony with TAO (the Supreme Principle). It is "man-in-profound-and-conscious-relationship-with-his-environment". This vision opens the senses and thus reveals the contemplative side of the sexual experience.

This is called dhyana in TANTRA. Both TANTRIC YOGA and TAOIST YOGA stress the importance of controlling the breathing, because the rhythm of breathing determines the expansion of perception. The crucial importance of breathing is one of the important keys for understanding this approach.

The perfect control of breathing (Pranayama) is attained when its rhythm is spontaneously stopped without resulting in the disappearance of life. This is done by letting the breath flow in and out freely, without any interference, but with a keen and continuous awareness of the process.

The breath starts to slow down to such a degree that the movements of inhalation and exhalation are almost imperceptible: the breathing seems to be immobilised.

The way we breathe defines the way we experience and lead our lives. This imperceptible, immobile breathing defines a non-capturing attitude towards life (WU-WEI), a detached non-action in the sense this term is defined in Bhagavat Gita: action with no ego-involvement.

The immobilisation of breathing leads to the disappearance of the mind-patterns (VRTTI-S), which leads to the immobilisation of the orgasm. Yet the meaningful idea both for breathing and for orgasm is not "immobilisation", but "not being aware of" (in the sense of being totally effortless).

Just as the contemplation of breathing slows it down almost to immobility, the contemplation of lovemaking slows it down up to suspending it into an endless orgasm.

The slowing down of the body processes has no value in itself: they are just the outer sign of the disappearance of "ego"; the ego forces and pushes the pleasure instead of letting it take its natural course.

The orgasm is spontaneous when it happens by itself, in its time, and when the movements of one's body are dictated by a need to "respond" rather than to "demand." The active sexual intercourse is just an imperfect imitation of what should happen by itself in an attitude of non-interference.

From the point of view of contemplation, the sexual love is a revelation. Long before orgasm, the sexual upsurge manifests as a psychic exchange of warm love that radiates between the lovers.

This warmth is so powerful that they feel as if they would ecstatically melt into each other. Thus, the sexual appetite transforms itself into the most tender and respectful love that can be imagined.

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