Prudishness.

[Guest guest]

Jai Sri Mataji

 

Dear Yogis,

being an old woman who is happily married to the best of

husbands, I would like to add a few comments to the delicate subject

which some of us found a bit startling; the BBC news item about the

prostitutes.

I am probably re-acting to the implication of prudery. But having

lived long enough to have experienced life in the 50's and 60's as a

young adult, there are not many topics which I am shy of discussing

from a fairly well-informed viewpoint,if the need arises.

There are however subjects which I would prefer to leave to men to

discuss in private and others which are strictly women's business.

I read newspapers as avidly as anyone but skimming the headlines

of the salacious and shocking, and focussing more on issues where my

attention may make some difference.

I am also conscious of the fact that a large number of yogis are

NOT actually married and for them celibacy IS normal.

In an ideal society marriage partners are chosen for young people

by mature relatives so that they don't have to THINK about who to

marry. And especially they don't have to think about sex.

Of course there is nothing wrong with sex but it is something

which happens naturally in a marriage. One doesn't have to think

about it.

When we grow to grandparent age the proper role is that of the

sanyasin - the one who has gone beyond the senses.

The care and tertiary education of the young adults should

naturally fall to people in my age group.

In the ideal society at this university level the young people

would regard their fellow students as brothers and sisters.

A young Western woman I know who married her Indian husband in a

Sahaj Marriage was regretting the fact that she could have made more

of her career if she had not married so young.

He pointed out that the most precious thing which she had done was

that she had preserved her chastity. Since he had come to live in

the Western world he could see that this was a remarkable

achievement.

One of the reasons it is so difficult for young people to do this

is because sexuality is such a mental thing in this modern world.

 

In fact it has nothing to do with the mind.

It is purely the province of the Mooladhara.

 

The modern preoccupation with thinking and talking about it is the

result of milleniums of patriachal traditions.

The behaviour of " Alpha males " is often amusing except when they

get carried away with nuclear missiles and threaten global

destruction.

The problem is not sexuality itself but desire/ avarice/

covetousness. This is a mental thing, and a function of the ego. It

may also involve a problem in one's Nabhi. There is a verse about

this in an old sanskrit grammar book:

 

'Lobhaat krodhah prabhavati Lobhaat Kaamah prajaayate.

Lobhaan mohash cha naashash cha Lobhah paapasya Kaaranam.'

 

Try saying it out loud- the sounds convey the whole picture which is

that-

" desire ignites anger, desire brings forth passion,desire also

causes delusion and utter destruction - annihilation and all evils. "

(my translation).

 

Consider also, the following translation by J.A.B. van Buitenen from

his excellent version of " The Bhagavadgita in the Mahabharata "

 

" Arjuna said:

What is it that drives a man to commit evil, Varshneya, however

reluctantly, as though propelled by force?

The Lord said:

It is desire, it is anger, which springs from the force of rajas,

the great devourer, the great evi: know that that is the enemy here.

This world is clouded by it as fire by smoke, as a mirror by dust,

as an embryo by the caul. The knowledge of the conscient is covered

by this eternal enemy desire, Kaunteya, as by an insatiable fire.

The senses, the mind and the spirit are said to be its lair: by

means of them it clouds knowledge and leads into delusion the one

within the body. Therefore, bull of the Bharatas, first control your

senses, then kill off that evil which destroys insight and

knowledge. "

 

Sri Krisna is not telling Arjuna, who is a married man and a father,

that he should abstain from sex. He is clearly telling him to curb

his five senses, to put his attention inside toward his Spiritual

ascent and in that way to avoid the common danger of being driven by

desire.

The close association of desire/anger is a salutory thought.

The images are all very fiery, Right-sidedness gone amok.

 

One of the saddest things about the modern world is the lack of

modesty and bashfulness which was not uncommon when I was young.

These are qualities which we are re-discovering in ourselves

through Sri Mataji's grace. When they are re- awakened within us we

naturally feel nauseous when we are confronted by the shocking

things around us.

For many of us it is still not possible to live within the shelter

of an ashram or even in a sahaj family home, and to have a house

where there is a meditation space where we do not have to also hear

the sounds of violence and immorality issuing from the T.V. while we

try to meditate or clear our chakras.

For those of us who do not have that tranquil surrounding, it is

not expected that we would want to see elements of the outside world

on this forum, which is why we felt uncomfortable, not because we

are prudish or un-aware.

with love from Aunty Lyndal