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Physical Austerities, Self-Torture, Fasting and the Mastery of the Sexual Impulse · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  There is a considerable history within the religious and
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  spiritual traditions of the world of the use of various
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  forms of self-inflicted physical suffering to restrain the basic
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  sexual impulse. Part of this arises through an
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  attempt at disciplining the physical being to not stray from
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  whatever the specific objective of the particular path happens
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  to be. Another part arises through the
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  dogma that sex is a sin and the body is born sinful and thus
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  needs to be punished. Yet another part comes through
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  the vital nature's desire for excitement, attention, and
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  action. If it cannot get it through
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  sexual activity, then it substitutes various forms of
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  painful suppression as a sort of sadomasochistic alternative.
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  And part of it comes through a sense of frustration at the
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  inability of the mind and will to simply bring about compliance
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  by the vital nature and the physical body.
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  Whatever the reasoning behind adopting any of these methods,
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  the reality is simply that they do not actually succeed.
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  The result tends to be weakening of the body and the focusing of
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  the attention on the suppression of the sex drive and the
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  physical means being employed rather than on the aspiration,
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  the tuning of the consciousness to the spiritual force and the
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  strengthening and increasing the positive supportive action of
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  the body, life and mind in the spiritual transformation.
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  As we know, harsh suppression tends to increase the power of
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  the force being suppressed so that in the end it can become
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  even more aggressively powerful when it gets the opportunity to
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  escape from the active conscious will that is suppressing it,
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  Sriorobindo notes quote. Hurting the flesh is no remedy
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  for the sex impulse, though it may be a temporary diversion.
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  It is the vital, and mostly the vital physical that takes the
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  sense perception as pleasure or otherwise.
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  Reduction of diet has not usually a permanent effect.
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  It may give a greater sense of physical or vital physical
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  purity, lighten the system, and reduce certain kinds of tumus,
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  but the sex impulse can very well accommodate itself to a
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  reduced diet. It is not by physical means, but
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  by a change in the consciousness that these things can be
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  surmounted. End Quote Reference Sri
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  Aurobindo Bases of Yoga, Chapter 4 Desire Food Sex pages 80 to
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  81.