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Suppression Without True Rejection of the Sexual Impulse Does Not Solve the Issue for the Spiritual Seeker · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The first impulse of religious or spiritual paths with respect
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  to the sex impulse has frequently been to simply
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  suppress and deny it. When any form of energy is
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  forcefully suppressed, it acts like a coiled spring, storing
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  that energy and building up its potential power until such time
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  as it is able to overcome the force of the suppression, and
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  then it is released with a tremendous uprising of that
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  energy. The result can be explosive,
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  similar to the eruption of a volcano.
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  Pressures build up until the cover can no longer contain it
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  and it bursts forth. As practitioners struggle with
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  the force of the sexual impulse, they undergo mental, vital and
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  even physical torture as they try to contain it.
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  Self flagellation and the use of the Solis and the hair shirt
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  represent techniques used by those who try to overpower the
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  sexual drive by torturing the body.
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  Those who try forceful suppression frequently find the
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  energy turned in other directions, such as through a
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  form of gluttony or greed for food, or through the rising of
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  uncontrollable anger or an urge to dominate and control others,
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  in many cases aggressively and through bullying behaviour.
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  The turn of the nature toward one option or another depends
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  highly on which guna is predominant in the nature.
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  Rajas will tend toward the more aggressive forms and potentially
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  turn outwards towards judgmental actions combined with attempts
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  to control or bully others. Cuppa may tend towards
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  substitution with fulfilling a desire for food or luxuries.
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  Satwa may try to sublimate the energy into pursuits of an
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  artistic or intellectual nature. Srioro Bindo provides a clue
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  toward the solution when he suggests a substitution of
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  focus. The being rejects the uprising
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  of the desire in favor of this new focus.
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  Western psychology describes the concept of sublimation of the
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  sexual force into other forms, such as artistic activity or
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  intellectual pursuits for the spiritual seeker, However, these
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  forms do not fully answer the seeker's objective.
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  Certain spiritual paths describe an alternative where the intense
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  aspiration combined with certain psychophysical techniques can
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  lead to what they call the awakening of the Kundalini.
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  The serpent power coiled at the base of the spine at the first
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  chakra, which then mounts up the subtle channels through the
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  higher chakras until eventually it bursts through the 1000
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  petaled chakra at the top of the head and joins the physical to
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  the spiritual. Some paths attempt to harness
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  the energy and turn it directly to a spiritual purpose in what
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  are called tantric paths. While this may certainly be
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  possible, there seems to be a considerable acceptance of
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  indulgence of the sexual desire, which for most practitioners
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  does not actually lead to the desired liberation, but rather a
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  further strengthening of the sexual force and a form of
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  justification for indulging in it.
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  Humanity has tried numerous approaches to this question of
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  managing the sexual impulse. A review of these approaches and
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  what they have or have not succeeded in accomplishing can
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  aid us in finding a solution that actually succeeds in
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  achieving real mastery of the power active through the
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  Muladhara first Chakra. Srioro Bindu observes quote.
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  It is true that the mere suppression or holding down of
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  desire is not enough, not by itself truly effective.
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  But that does not mean that desires are to be indulged.
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  It means that desires have not merely to be suppressed, but to
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  be rejected from the nature. In place of desire there must be
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  a single minded aspiration towards the Divine.
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  As for love, the love must be turned singly towards the
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  Divine. What men call by that name is a
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  vital interchange for mutual satisfaction of desire, vital
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  impulse or physical pleasure. There must be nothing of this
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  interchange between Sadaks, for to seek for it or indulge this
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  kind of impulse only leads away from the sadhna.
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  End Quote. Reference Srioro Bindo, Bases of
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  Yoga, Chapter 4. Desire Food Sex page 70.