Orgasm as a Divine Experience

It is interesting though that in Khajuraho: Temples of Ecstasy by LA Nairn and Aditya Arya, they managed to miss out the one and only known sculpture that represents homosexuality, ie, the masculine and feminine principles at work in man to man bonding, in the Kandariya Mahadeve Temple. Indeed, it has often been questioned if this is really about homosexuality, and if the figure giving the hand-job is not a woman (even with the beard). Thankfully, it is known that any bearded figure in Khajuroha sculpture represents, not just a man, but a man of standing, usually royalty.

All that aside, these are lovely illustrated books. In the Erotic Literature of Ancient India by Gita Govindam and Ananga Ranga we see the starting point is the illusory and elusive quest for happiness that justifies the acquisition of land, arms, power,  money; physical rather than metaphysical. And yet as the Taittiriya Upanishad put it, the seeker of truth “…saw that Brahman was joy: for from joy all beings have come, by joy that all live, and unto joy they all return.”

But joy, Ananda, is something we have to work towards. Even today when we hear much about effortless effort, it needs to be worked towards. And the starting point is recognising the sacredness in the ‘other’ as well as the ‘self’. And as creation is both sacred and sensual, the human body becomes central.

The trick is to bring a balance between our worldly and spiritual desires through our intimate, sexual and loving interactions. Indeed, the “…primary goal of Hindu religious scripture was to encourage and ensure that all human beings, their sexual orientation notwithstanding, would pursue a spiritual life. The emphasis was one of balance…”

Key practices were, and still are, Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion, and Gyana Yoga, acquiring wisdom (which we too often confuse with acquiring knowledge). One of the main gods to show our devotion to is Shiva; the creator and destroyer; static and dynamic, whose creative and dynamic aspect is Shakti. Shiva is Shakti, Shakti is Shiva. There is no one without the other. They are not separate beings; man and woman. They are one. It only takes a modicum of wisdom to recognise how absurd it is to talk of man and women in this context. Indeed Shiva/Shakti as Ardhanarishwara is androgynous.

Bringing it all together

As humans we have created so many hurdles and barriers for ourselves to discovering “the meaning and beauty of life and relationships” in their myriad forms as we progress on our journey to our natural state. Tantra shortcuts many of these, if we are able to see through their primitive magico-religious beliefs, derived from folk lore, especially those based on fertility cults. Focussing instead on the integration and sacred fusion of the body, mind and soul, where the orgasm becomes a cosmic or divine experience. As the Tantric text Ratnasana states, “He who realises the truth of the body can then come to know the truth of the universe.”

“Do not suppress your feelings,

choose whatever you will,

and do whatever you desire,

for in this way you please the Goddess.

No one succeeds in attaining perfection

by employing difficult and vexing operations;

but perfection can be gained

by satisfying all one’s desires

says the Prajnopaya Viniscaya Siddhi.”

In Erotic Literature of Ancient India, pg 155/157

Of course, this can only be achieved if done with full awareness and a sense of sacredness.

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Message me direct if you are interested in mindful, embodied, trauma-informed, or tantra-spiritually-informed 1-1 coaching robert.pinktantra@gmail.com

See my personal development / personality profiling book DISCover the Power of You published through John Hunt Publishing Ltd, 2017. ISBN: 978-1-78535-591-2

And for those who enjoy historical fiction, stories of underrepresented life’s, see my first novel Fermented Spirits published through Austin Macauley Publishers, 2022. ISBN-13: ‎978-1398437159