Addressing the Arguments Against Management and Redirection of the Sexual Energy by the Spiritual Seeker

People tend to get very defensive about the idea of celibacy, sexual abstinence, Brahmacharya, however it may be termed. They argue that it is unhealthy. They argue that this is a process in Nature that ensures the continuity of the race, they argue that the suppression of sexual expression leads to all kinds of perversions and criminality, including pedophilia, rape, or utilization of power dynamics to pressure others into sex. All of these arguments have some basis in fact. However, the spiritual seeker or practitioner is not the general case, but a very specific instance for a very small percentage of the population, and thus, some of the arguments, such as those relating to continuation of the species, are actually not relevant here.

With respect to the health argument, a factual review finds that a case can be made either way, depending on the actual circumstances. Elite athletes, for instance, frequently abstain from sexual activity before a competition, based on their experience of the potential weakening effect short-term of the expression of sexual energy rather than holding it in the core of the being. This is easily understood. It takes energy to produce the sexual seed, the sperm, as well as the semen that carries the sperm. Every time a sexual act occurs, these elements are dispersed and then the body begins to devote energy to rebuilding them. This energy takes away from energy that could be used elsewhere in the system.

Where health issues can arise is when the sexual energy is artificially suppressed and yet creating pressures that disrupt the vital energy, the emotions and the mental focus. Active suppression can disrupt the nerves, the emotions, and the mental balance. On the other side, excessive sexual expression can deplete the core energy of the physical body and make the nerves weak and exhausted.

Positive health benefits have been noted by many, if the sexual energy is conserved and allowed to provide positive support to the physical foundation, and if it is re-focused on positive growth processes.

The artificial suppression, without redirection, of the sexual energy can, indeed cause unhealthy fixations that can lead to expression of sexual energies in ways that are harmful to others in the society. A potentially greater cause of these societal harms, however, lies in the hyper-sexual focus of the society at large. When sexual energy, sexual imagery, sexual provocation surround people on all sides, there is no doubt that it will breed a certain amount of fixation that is unhealthy, and without a reasonable outlet, it works to disrupt both internally and externally.

The solution here is to recognise that for the spiritual seeker, the optimum approach is to conserve and refocus the attention and the application of energy toward the spiritual objective. This is done through separation from identification with the ego personality and the external action, and shifting the standpoint to that of the psychic being, with its expression of love and devotion focused on the Divine.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “The contrary opinion of which you speak may be due to the idea that sex is a natural part of the human vital-physical whole, a necessity like food and sleep, and that its total inhibition may lead to unbalancing and to serious disorders. It is a fact that sex suppressed in outward action but indulged in other ways may lead to disorders of the system and brain troubles. That is the root of the medical theory which discourages sexual abstinence. But I have observed that these things happen only when there is either secret indulgence of a perverse kind replacing the normal sexual activity or else an indulgence of it in a kind of subtle vital way by imagination or by an invisible vital interchange of an occult kind, — I do not think harm ever occurs when there is a true spiritual effort at mastery and abstinence. It is now held by many medical men in Europe that sexual abstinence, if it is genuine, is beneficial; for the element in the retas which serves the sexual act is then changed into its other element which feeds the energies of the system, mental, vital and physical — and that justifies the Indian idea of Brahmacharya, the transformation of retas into ojas and the raising of its energies upward so that they change into a spiritual force.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 4, Desire — Food — Sex, pg. 75

The Supramental Transformation Represents a Radical Upgrade of Animal and Human Nature

Until such time as we become capable of drawing infinite energy from the universal force of creation, we have the issue of choosing how we utilize the energy that we have available to us. Through certain types of practices we can actually increase the available energy. The radical transformation of the mental, vital and physical being requires large amounts of focused energy.

One of the primary sources of the energy needed is already available to us through the operation of the subtle energy centers, if we harness that energy for the spiritual work. As we undertake this process we find that additional energy becomes available from the universal source as we naturally open and can receive and manage greater forces than in our normal, mostly closed-off status.

The energy of the first chakra, known as the Muladhara and as the ‘root chakra’, is a primary foundational energy that provides support and energy to the physical body. When it is utilized for sexual expression, it gets dispersed. It is a well-known phenomenon that after sexual union, the partners frequently tend towards sleep, highlighting the exhausting impact of the sexual activity.

We can understand the process by looking at the use of money. We work and earn money. We then can spend the money, save it, or invest it. Some of the spending goes toward the basic process of supporting the life-activities, food, clothing, shelter, transportation and support we provide (taxes, etc.) to the commons and the organization of society. Anything left over can be allocated toward other things. Many people spend the discretionary money to entertain themselves, to enjoy pleasures, such as use of alcohol or recreational drugs, acquiring various luxuries, or spending money on travel and entertainment, etc. In this way, substantial money is “leaked” and has only a short-term impact in terms of a pleasurable experience, and may actually have long-term negative effects depending on what types of pleasures have been chosen and what they actually do to the body, life force and the mind.

Those who exercise some control over their use of money may forego some of these short-term pleasures in favor of long-term benefits or objectives. They invest, or at least their use of discretionary funds is focused on things that build up the mind, life and body, not lead to its dissolution or breakdown.

Similarly, the sexual energy, as a foundational force for the physical body and the lower vital centers, can either be dispersed and the energy dissipated, or it can be “invested” in creating positive, uplifting and directed focus on a longer-term benefit. This is the underlying concept of the control of the sexual force in the spiritual practice.

Humanity tends to extrapolate from its current understanding and forms of fulfillment at the physical, vital and mental levels, to imagine what some future form of fulfillment will turn out to be. They expect to see the physical capacities expanded as an extension of current capabilities. Training the body may take an individual to new levels of performance, but they are within a fixed range. Similarly, the mind can be developed and trained, but remains still the basic apparatus of the mind.

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother foresee that just as the advent of the vital consciousness began to radically change physical nature, and just as the advent of the mental consciousness radically altered both the physical and vital existence, so the advent of the next evolutionary stage, the development of the supramental consciousness, will necessarily radically change the function and relations of the physical, vital and mental powers. Thus, a direct extrapolation within limits is not actually the process that Nature is following; rather, we can expect entirely new expressions of consciousness and power and new forms of action and relationship to develop. The energy required to accomplish these changes will necessarily come from the Divine. The working of this energy within the individual comes through aspiration (tuning) and receptivity to this higher force. By refocusing the use of the existing physical, vital and mental energy on the spiritual sadhana, the seeker creates the pathway, the opportunity and the readiness to receive and use that higher force without wasting or spilling it.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “The transformation of the sex-centre and its energy is needed for the physical siddhi; for this is the support in the body of all the mental, vital and physical forces of the nature. It has to be changed into a mass and a movement of intimate Light, creative Power, pure divine Ananda. It is only the bringing down of the supramental Light, Power and Bliss into the centre that can change it. As to the working afterwards, it is the supramental Truth and the creative vision and will of the Divine Mother that will determine it. But it will be a working of the conscious Truth, not of the Darkness and Ignorance to which sexual desire and enjoyment belong; it will be a power of preservation and free desireless radiation of the life-forces and not of their throwing out and waste. Avoid the imagination that the supramental life will be only a heightened satisfaction of the desires of the vital and the body; nothing can be a greater obstacle to the Truth in its descent than this hope of glorification of the animal in the human nature. Mind wants the supramental state to be a continuation of its own cherished ideas and preconceptions; the vital wants it to be a glorification of its own desires; the physical wants it to be a rich prolongation of its own comforts and pleasures and habits. If it were to be that, it would be only an exaggerated and highly magnified consummation of the animal and the human nature, not a transition from the human into the Divine.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 4, Desire — Food — Sex, pp. 72-73

Converting Primal Physical-Vital Force Into Spiritual Force

There is a well-known and widely described concept in the spiritual traditions of India whereby the basic force of the first chakra that manifests in the ordinary course through that centre as sexual energy is converted through various processes of tapasya, yogic concentration, into a force that can join the seeker to the spiritual consciousness. This process, known as converting ‘retas’ into ‘ojas’ is the basis for various actions of hatha yoga, pranayama and the well-known kundalini yoga. The basic force is envisioned as a serpent coiled at the base of the spine, the Muladhara Chakra. These practices are intended to concentrate the raw energy of the first chakra and instead of the energy going outwards in sexual activity, it is driven upwards through the subtle nerve channels energizing the higher chakras and bursting forth at the crown of the head through the 1000-petal lotus of the Sahasrara Chakra where it liberates the being from bondage to the lower nature and joins with the divine consciousness above.

We understand both from the ancient Vedic tradition, and from modern science, that an enormous power is ‘locked up’ in matter. In the Vedas, this power is Agni, the mystic fire, which is released from matter. In modern science, atomic fission and fusion illustrate the convertibility of matter into energy, enormous energy. A similar principle is at work in the liberation of the bound energy held in the first chakra so that it can be channeled and succeeds in liberating the being into pure spiritual consciousness.

In the integral yoga, Sri Aurobindo recognises this power, but he also describes a different process which has less potential for negative consequences to the being, whereby the aspiration calls down the force from above, which successively opens the chakras, purifying and releasing their energy from the top, down. This avoids potential imbalances of the physical body, the vital nature, the nerve framework and the mind that can occur when the primal power of the first chakra is released without proper preparation of the being to hold and channel it effectively.

There is considerable confusion about whether the sexual drive itself is to be used during this conversion process. Even if outward sexual activity is not present, the very action of inward concentration and indulgence creates vibratory patterns that disseminate the sexual energy and which do not, therefore, provide the needed energy at the higher levels. Some seekers are tempted to engage in occult forms of sexual satisfaction, thinking that it is ‘harmless’ and ‘invisible’. Yet this is clearly not the case. Others pick up on the vibrations so created. People feel the sexual tension and the pressure in the atmosphere, and it evokes whatever sympathetic vibrations potentially exist in the others nearby. Occult sex, like other forms of occult actions, has real and palpable impacts in the external world.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “To master the sex-impulse, — to become so much master of the sex-centre that the sexual energy would be drawn upwards, not thrown outwards and wasted — it is so indeed that the force in the seed can be turned into a primal physical energy supporting all the others, retas into ojas. But no error can be more perilous than to accept the immixture of the sexual desire and some kind of subtle satisfaction of it and look on this as part of the sadhana. It would be the most effective way to head straight towards spiritual downfall and throw into the atmosphere forces that would block the supramental descent, bringing instead the descent of adverse vital powers to disseminate disturbance and disaster. This deviation must be absolutely thrown away, should it try to occur and expunged from the consciousness, if the Truth is to be brought down and the work is to be done.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 4, Desire — Food — Sex, pg. 71