Artifact Research by Gary Madden

The scope of Indian Philosophy is very wide. According to this, philosophical knowledge does not aim merely at satisfying our theoretical and speculative interests, but wants to realize highest truth of life. So it does not only aim at theoretical but also practical approach to spiritual truth.

In this article, we will do research on the advanced concept of Kama (Sensual Pleasure) from ancient times in India. How our life style was deeply connected with this concept. We also noted that this ancient Indian theory was having so prosperous view that it is still relevant for our modern lifestyle. Now let us focus on the meaning of Kama.  Kama is pleasure, sensual gratification, sexual fulfillment, please of the desires, Eros and the aesthetic enjoyment of life.

Indian Philosophical Schools also give us the concept of our aim of life which they said Purushartha. The term Purushartha consists of two words, viz., Purusha and Artha. Purusha means person or self and Artha means aim or goal of human life. The concept of Purushartha basically indicates different values to be realized in human life through the efforts of human being.

There are four Purusharthas or aims of life as propounded by Manu in his Manu Samhita, viz., Dharma (Virtue), Artha (Wealth), Kama (Pleasure) and Moksha (Liberation). One can find the reference of these Purusharthas have taken a new and ordinary form. Dharma is always related with duty, artha is always related with money, Kama with pleasure and Moksha with death.

Kama is ordinarily termed as physical pleasure, Vatsayana in his book Kamasutra gives the definition of pleasure which is as follows –

“Kama is the enjoyment of the appropriate objects by the five senses of hearing, feeling, seeing, testing and smelling, assisted by the mind together with the soul.”

The urge to enjoy pleasure and satisfy desires is the most powerful incentive for individual progress. It is said all that man does is inspired by Kama. As Manu was concerning Kama as desire, one person can say, it is a desire for pleasure. Now it may be sensuous pleasure, mental pleasure for getting through satisfaction or impulse for sexual pleasure.

Kama in a broader sense means desire and in a narrow sense sexual desire. According to Hindu and Buddhist Philosophy , desire is the root cause of human suffering. In Bhagavadgita desire leads delusion and bondage to the cycle of birth and death.

Man sacrifices because of the desire for rewards. Not a single act of him appears ever to be done by man free from desire. According to Manusmriti, he who performs his duties out of desire properly will reach in a position of fulfilling all the desires and deathless state in turn.

In Indian Philosophy, sexual discussion is not an untouchable thing but their interpretations are different from each other. According to Hindu point of view, sex can be either a means to liberation and happiness in life or a great cause of suffering depending upon how we approach the same. A person who can overcome these, successfully achieve salvation. It can be done either by abstaining from it or by indulging in it. The former concept is the path of Vedanta Philosophy and the later is the way of Tantras, which is also a part of Indian Philosophy. One is the way of suppression but the other is the way of expression through detachment and understanding in which sexual energy is sublimated and transformed into a higher form of energy. It is just the way you learn to handle fire. Sexual desire is the ultimate of all desires and unless it is overcome , one is never can be free from the bad effect of Maya (Illusion).

In Hinduism there is permission for sexual activity up to a limit without any conflict with principles of Dharma (Virtue) and used for the purpose of procreation, perpetuation of family and social order. Here sexual activity is part of obligatory duty and not to be misused for enjoyment as it would lead to attachment, delusion and one’s downfall. In Hindu ethics, sexual relationship outside marriage is not permitted except in special circumstances.

According to Hindu law books, there is a clear demarcation between legitimate and illegitimate sex, sex itself is not considered to be unclear or sinful because sexual desire is an important and legitimate aspect of human obligators. It is created by nature to perpetuate life towards material balance.

Sex established as an important aspect of Hindu society from ancient times. Married women were not allowed to meet men in private when they were not accompanied by their husbands or in their absence.

According to Hinduism, sex is an important aspect of human life, but lust is not. Lust is one of the chief enemies of man.

In Indian Philosophy creation itself is a continuation of the union between Purusha (Male) and Prakriti (Female), the male and female aspect of the world-appearance, which is symbolically represented in the form of Sivaling. Creation ends when this union ends. So, sexual desire is also the last stronghold of Prakriti and the final refuse of our attachment with this world-appearance.

After this long discussion we can conclude that sex is very much important aspect in Indian Philosophy. For this reason, ancient Indian sages composed the Kama Shastra on the basis of the Vedas. The famous Kamasutra is ultimately about wisdom and our creative cultivation. It is written by the sage Vatsayana sometimes between first and sixth century AD. The Kama Shastra is recognized as the true living text of the original Kama Shastra. The aim of the sixty four Arts of the Kamasutra is not merely to be a good wife but to be skillful, playful, understanding, sexually refined, beautiful and intelligent woman.

The ancient Indians were very good evolutionists because it is clear from evolution that sex and survival are the two most fundamental sources which motivated our continued existence through healthy, intimate, close relationship with each other.

The Charvakas, one of the important and very ancient heterodox school of Indian philosophy regarding sensual pleasure as the supreme end. The interpretation is utterly different from other schools. According to the charvaka we have only one life, there is no after-life in a heavenly kingdom nor is there a succession of rebirth as most Indian schools believed. They said sensual pleasure is produced by the intercourse of the sense organs with their objects. According to them, pleasure arising from the embrace of a woman and other objects of enjoyment is the highest good.

The school of Charvakas is often represented as propounding a crude form of hedonism.  They rejected any notions of absolute righteousness and wanted to establish a philosophy of pleasure-seeking (Kama) as a primary goal of life. The special importance upon happiness by Charvakas confronts directly to the emphasis placed upon suffering which is accepted by the other schools of Indian Philosophy.  

Now we want to focus on Tantra and Tantric sex also because without discussing these aspects of Indian Philosophy this article is incomplete.

Though the Tantra Philosophy is a part of Buddhism but that has its roots in Hinduism and Jainism also.

The Buddhist does not believe in an independent or separately existing external world. They believe that the external world and the inner world are the two sides of the same fabric. The dynamic forces of the universe under different from the inner forces of human mind. Moreover, these dynamic forces are not only for one’s own good but for that of all living beings and it is the aim of the Buddhist Tantras.

The word Tantra is related to the concept of waiving and its derivatives hinting at the inter-woveness of things and actions, the independents of all that exists. The continuity of inter-action of cause and effect, as well as in spiritual and traditional development. According to Buddhism, Tantra are invariably of a mystic nature, which tries to establish an inner relationship of things , the parallelism between mind and universe, rituals and realities, the world of matter and the world of spirit. This is the essence of Tantrism.

According to Tantric Philosopy, the greatest source of energy in the universe is sexual and places high value on ritualized intercourse. Sexual orgasm, according to them, a cosmic and divine experience. The path of Tantra is a spiritual one which includes and appreciates the experience of our sexuality and sensuality as a conscious meditation and also erotic and cosmic energies.

Tantra sees the whole universe as a divine play of Shakti (Female power) and Shiva (Male power). It considers that the union of these two powers as a foundation of universe. So here we can notice that this conception of sex is totally different from the western thought about sex. In that Tantra is as much about pleasure as about procreation. Tantric sex is more to do with opening the mind. It is a spiritual practice and it involves control over muscles and one’s orgasm. Tantric sex attempts to awake powerful psychic energies through which we can enter into higher states of consciousness.

Tantra   transforms sexuality from simply doing to actually being. There is no end in Tantric sex. Tantra teaches us to worship your sexual partner and to transform the act of sex in a sacred involvement.

Most of modern thinkers propound that Indian Philosophy is so much spiritualistic which is separate from our materialistic world. But this is not true. Though Indian philosophy is unlike the Western concept about sensual desire, but from the very inception their approach is more effective on the practical ground.

Bibliography:            1. Outlines of Indian Philosophy – Dr. Jadunath Sinha.

                                2. Kamasutra – Vatsayana

                                3. Sarvadarshansangraha – Madhavacharya

                                4. The Essence of Buddhism, Ch. II.