Guidance from Sri Aurobindo - Volume 1

Sex Thoughts and Impulses

The year 1933

      How are we to reject a sexual movement?

      As you reject any other vital movement — by throwing it away or withdrawing yourself from it.

     Naturally, if you read about these things (novels etc.) they enter the mind and pass into the subcon-scient where they leave their impression. If the consciousness is not free from the sexual impulse, this impression can rise up from the subconscient and work in the mind.

      Which is the centre (chakra) from which sexual thoughts and impulses come?

      The lowest centre at the bottom of the spine. It contains many other things but also it is in its front the support of the sexual movements.

      What is one to do when the sexual sensations come?

      Turn away your attention and think of something else.

      Where is the root of the sexual impulses?

      In matter and vital.

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      So long as sex presents itself before me as thoughts I can turn it out as you suggested the other day. But the difficulty is about its impulses.

      The will ought to have the same mastery over impulses as over the thoughts. Many people find it easier to control an impulse than to prevent a thought.

      With what is the sexual impulse to be replaced? And of what Divine part is it a degradation?

      The Divine Ananda in the vital and in the body.

      Ananda — which is the source of the Divine Creation.

      Generally, does a bachelor get fewer sexual sensations than a married man?

      It depends upon the man — if he has strong sexual desires, he may get more.

      While listening to music this morning I felt as if stones were falling on me in the form of sexual sensations. A very strange experience!

      When the mind and the higher vital reject, they take this form which belongs to the vital-physical.

      If you want to reject, you have to reject patiently and persistently — these forces are not going to give up so early.

      Up to what stage do the sexual forces follow us?

      There is no rule about that. Some get rid of them early, — others keep them till the physical and sub-conscient are taken up by the Force altogether.

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The year 1934

      It is said that if one gets sex thoughts and impulses, one should practise what is called 'nigraha' for some time, so that during this time peace or purity may descend and change the lower habits. What does our Yoga say about 'nigraha'?

      Nigraha means holding down the movement, but a movement merely held down is only suspended — it is better to reject and dismiss, detaching yourself from it.

      With the peace and silence established in the being, do the sexual suggestions fall off naturally?

      If it is established all through, then it brings purity and the purity throws off the sexual suggestions.

      Some people get sexual suggestions in regard to anybody — beauty or character has nothing to do with them. Is there no rhyme or reason in this matter?

      None. The sexual impulse is its own reason to itself—it acts for its own satisfaction and does not ask for any reason, for it is instinctive and irrational.

      Will sex-dreams disturb one's sadhana? And what do they imply?

      Sex in the subconscient. If it is only in the subconscient, it should not be of much importance.

      Along with the sex thoughts, there are the egoistic thoughts about the power to attract others through one's physical charms.

      It is the usual vanity of the lower vital — it is very common. Any man can have an attraction for any

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woman, and vice versa, when the sex forces are active, but that attraction is not his, it is the pull of the sex force.

      Sometimes the physical feels the sex sensation, but it has greatly diminished elsewhere.

      In order not to have a hold, it must be pushed out from the vital also. Then the physical sensation only touches and passes.

      The sex thoughts do not seem to come really from within us. Most of them have even no connection with us. They are merely a play of the physical nature without any individuality in them. They pass simply from men to women or the other way round—often without our knowledge.

      Yes, that is what happens — but sometimes people, if they receive and indulge them, become themselves instruments for passing them on to others.

      Considering sex as something outside one, could one leave it entirely to the Mother for transformation?

      Yes — so long as it does not come inside, that can be done.

      What does "coming inside" mean?

      Coming inside means taking hold of you so that there is a push for satisfaction. Pressure from outside however strongly felt is not coming inside.

      After taking the position of witness, one feels strengthened to change it to that of governor in matters of sex.

      That is good. The Mother is pressing for the sex

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trouble to go out of the sadhakas, —as it is a great obstacle. So it must go.

      If sex is fought out up to the vital and remains only on the surface of the physical, cannot one have a "pure purity"?

      It must be pushed out from the physical also, to have a complete purity of the whole being. The mind and vital can have a pure purity even when it is there on the surface of the physical.

      Even when one has hardly any sexual feeling, how does the vital attraction come at times?

      If there is no sexual feeling or hardly any, that is a great gain. The difficulty then remains only in the vital pull for interchange and in the formative imagination. They have to fade out.

      Cannot one admire the beauty of women without any special sex attraction?

      If one admires all beautiful things, not women only, without desire — then there would be no harm. But specially applied to women, it is a relic of the "sex appeal".

      Talking with the other sex, one's consciousness does not always have the same ease as with one's own, even though there is no perceptible sex attraction.

      It is the sense of sex that causes that, even if there is no attraction. One must be able to deal with all without any sense of sex.

      I was walking on the road when some local women of low class passed by near me. Immediately

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I felt a vehement sexual sensation in the form of pain. By the time they had gone far the sensation too had left me. Was it due to the women? If so, how could my body come in their influence without my ever taking any interest in them?

      Why not? It is not their influence, but the influ-ence of the forces, which are around them.

      The sexual thoughts and sensations do not spare me even when I am attending Purani's and Kanai's classes! My vital is attracted toward some girls.

      How is it that my sexual centre has opened so widely that anything may enter?

      It is rather that you have become more conscious of the things that were coming.

      In the evening, just at the time of meditation, the sexual thoughts began to rush up. They were so haphazard that I do not know how to express them. I suppose my mind and vital have nothing to do with them; for they were seen to be coming exactly from the front part of the sex-centre. Absolutely no sensations or impulsions (only thought-formations). From where does this sexuality come?

      It rises from the purely physical then.

      I am not aware of what is going on with sex in me. The organ remains constantly in a stimulated condition.

      That is the mechanical physical reaction. By itself it has no importance. What matters is what is behind it — thought imaginations, physical sex sensation, vital

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sensation or what?

      You ask what is behind. It is the usual sex reaction from the atmosphere.

      What is the usual sex reaction from the atmosphere? Make it precise.

      Whenever I come across a woman, sex thought-imaginations begin at once to intrude mechanically. These things are seen coming from the front part of the sex centre. There are sometimes physical sex sensations too. However, all these reactions are in thought formations — there is never any impulse or conscious desire for the sex enjoyment in any part of the being— vital or physical.

      It is therefore only the body and the most material part of the mind that are still affected.

      Can a full bladder during sleep be responsible for sex?

      A pressure of water is often the immediate cause of sex movement in the organ (purely physical) and often sexual dreams.

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