Machinery of the Soul 04: Sex, The Power of the Soul

Out topic today regards a very thorny subject related to sex.

We all have very powerful beliefs about what sex is in relationship to our self. When you combine that with spirituality or religion, then we have two very difficult topics.

In regards to the title our lecture, Sex, the Power of the Soul, for many people this may sound like an unusual theme. Let us read two quotes from Samael Aun Weor to provide some clarity:

Sex can liberate or enslave the human being. No one can attain integrity, no one can be deeply self-realized without sexual energy. Sex is the power of the soul.

Sexual Energy is without a doubt the most subtle and powerful energy normally produced and transported through the human organism. Everything that a human being is, including the three spheres of thought, feeling, and will, is none other than the exact outcome distinct modifications of sexual energy.

- The Perfect Matrimony

When we give lectures about the self-realization of the being, or any topic of religion or spirituality, and we are missing the component related to sex or sexuality, then we're missing something extremely important. We first have to understand why is sexual energy is the most powerful energy, and why is it that the “three spheres of thought, feeling, and will” are outcomes of the modification of sexual energy. We must understand what this means.

We have to reflect deeply upon this, because sex or sexuality lies at the very core, or ground, of our being. We don’t have to try to have a response, a sexual response, or have an attraction at some moment. It just happens. It is always there. It never ends, it never stops. That flow of creativity, or generative energy, or sexual energy.

Of course, the physical body grows older and can begin losing the ability to handle or receive that energy, but inwardly (within the soul), it is always there. The one who knows how to use their sexual energy remains potent into their 80s. Yet, on a cultural level we are abusing sex, and so we now are losing the ability to manifest the sexual impulse. Men only 40 or 50 years old are needing to take a pill in order to have sex. A study just released found that sperm count in men has declined 50% in 40 years, in the Western world. The most common form of cancer in women is breast cancer. For men, it is prostate cancer. These facts are marks of degeneration in our modern “civilized” world, due to the abuse of our sexual energy.

To really begin to understand the nature of our sexual energy is quite difficult. We need to reflect on what is our present state of being, and what is going on. Can we get to the root of this? Because at every moment, we have many different dimensions or aspects of our self when we think “I’m existing” or “I’m experiencing this moment.” What are all the factor that come into play, that cross at “this” moment?

We can try to simply this into a few streams of energy.

We have a continuum of experience. We are constantly experiencing, moment to moment. We are calling or feeling this experience as ‘self.’ We are experiencing our self, moment by moment. Well, we can say, we have perceptions from the outside world. Call them impressions or perceptions. We are constantly receiving this influx of impressions, through the sense organs. Those exterior perceptions then have to go through our interior world.

We see the world, not simply how it is, but instead we have a role in constructing our experience. The quality of the mind filters, modifies, and constructs the experience that we are having.

All four of these streams, which are illustrated on this slide, are just a simple way of looking at these factors. They are all interrelated. We have our exterior impressions, and we have interior impressions as well: a dream, or an experience in meditation, something that is inwardly going on. We can perceive things going on within our own mind through introspection, through going into meditation. Such experiences may not have a direct relationship to the external perceptions. But overall, they all interrelate – you can have an experience in meditation related to prior external perceptions. The external impression creates an imprint, an impression, in your mind, which you experience again in meditation. This is how all of these thing interrelate. You should meditate on this.

Of course, we have the energy that we constantly we need to be filing our body with: food, air, water. We cannot go without those things, the body will die. We need a constant influx of energy in food. The quality of that food will alter or change our mood, it will make our body more healthy, or less healthy. If we go without food, it has an impact on our psychology. That is why there is the slang people use today, “I’m getting hangry” – getting hungry and angry at the same time. When you get hungry, you are influenced to become more irritated. So, just by simple reflection, we can see how these different flows of energy can inter-relate. There is an interplay between them all.

Now, on the top, we have this stream of energy, we’ve called the Energy of Being, because all of these other streams of energy are occurring in our experience. There is some stream of energy. Something is there that is giving us the capacity to perceive all of this. It is one thing to perceive it: “I see the world in front of me changing.” Or, to see internally, to see the inner experience in meditation, “I see my mind changing.” That is very good, but what is it that gives me the capacity to see that?

Do you follow? One thing is to experience, and another thing is that which gives me the capacity to have that experience. The Being itself is that which has the capacity to experience. So, the Being comes into existence, and thus we have this fundamental, innate capacity of experience. We can consider that, the Being, a flow of energy, a Ray of Light. However you want to call it. At our very, very, essence, at our core, we use this term “Being” – because it is a Verb, an activity. It is an energy. It is always in movement, and that is the core capacity that we have for our existence, it is there within the spirit, the soul, the body, within our personality, within our ego as well.

That fundamental nature, or energy of Being, comes into our nominal experience, what we are experiencing right here and now, though layers of condensation. We can borrow, we can use some Sanskrit terms to talk about the condensation of the universe or energy of life. So, understand that the same energy that creates the cosmos is found within our own self. We are not divorced from that energy. It is within us, but, at a different modification.

In the very beginning, we have the Mulaprakriti which represents unmanifested potential energy, cosmic energy. That Mulaprakriti is fertilized by the Gods we can say, mythologically speaking. The prana is the first level of manifestation. This is the cosmic prana. This is the life force of the universe. This is the essence of life within all things. Prana is found in all the seeds, in the blossoming of every flower, in the development of life in all its levels. So, at that cosmic level, that prana is the Cosmic Christ, because the Cosmic Christ is what gives life.

It gives life in different levels. That prana condenses into deeper and deeper levels: the akasha, the ether, the four tattvas. There, at those levels of energy we have an interface to get that energy into our physical body. How do we get that body into our body? This is where the chakras come into play, in the vital body. Those chakras are connected – the chakras are connected to our vital body and then connected to the main major glands in our nervous system: pineal gland, pituitary gland, thyroid and parathyroid glands, thymus gland, adrenal glands, the pancreas, etc., and of course the sexual glands (ovaries and testicles). They, the sexual glands, are the lowest, and there, we can say, a final depositing of this cosmic energy occurs.

We literally have cosmic energy at our own level within ourselves. We have a level which we can work with that energy. Of course, it is sexual energy through which we create. We can use that energy according to our will, but what we cannot do, is turn off that energy. We can’t say, “no thank you.” You can’t turn it off. It is a constant flow of energy. You are charged with the responsibility of handling your sexual energy. You must do something with it. Even if you try to not do anything with it, try to be celibate, there is still a result that occurs psychologically if one represses sex.

It is firstly very importantly to understand that, when we talk about sexual energy, this is the root creative, generative energy of the universe. We must understand that literally. We have to understand how it manifests within our body. We have to understand there is no divorce, there is no discontinuity between the energy of sex we feel in our body through all these levels to the infinite cosmos.

What makes it so difficult comprehend this, is our mind, our ego, our desire. It does not know how to differentiate desire (lust) from sex. That is the biggest problem.

What are the functions of sexuality? What do we use sex for? Obviously, procreation is the function everyone already understands. We can reproduce through the sexual energy, clearly. The reproduction gives us a hint that we have some of the power of being a creator in that moment. Every function of sexuality has a creative element to it. All expressions of sexuality are creative. There is some result or creation always.

We talk about the second one, pleasure, depending on how we use sex, if we are using sex exclusively to extract pleasure out of it, then we will create desire. Now, pleasure or sexual enjoyment is a legitimate right that we all have. There is a legitimate enjoyment to sex, obviously.  But it is another thing to attempt to define or use sex to advance our desire. These are very different things. Again, we feel very confused by that, perhaps, because we don’t know what exactly sex is.

You see, the sexual attraction occurs. It just is already there. We don’t say, “I chose to be attracted to this” or “I chose repulsed from that.” It just happens. The ego directs it automatically in the wrong way in accordance with desire – then we think that sexuality is the same thing as desire. Of course this is wrong.  Our mind, our heart, our willpower can direct that impulse consciously, and that is our duty. We talked about doing our “cosmic duty” it previous lectures. We have to see the impulse, the sexual impulse, to know it, but we have ability, the right, and that duty to direct it in the superior way. That is whole point of spiritual practice. Because if this energy arrived from the Absolute, it can return to the Absolute. We are the sounding board. God is the Verb and He speaks and we are the sounding board which turns that vibration back, if we do our duty, which is the third item I listed here: psychogenesis, to create a new psyche.

Genesis means to create; psyche means soul. To create soul. This is an Alchemical work. Sexuality has a legitimate role in spirituality, but desire has does not have a role in spirituality. That is what we must adhere to, because it is all too common in this modern day to reject the protocols and rules of sexuality that have been in place for thousands of years. To also accept that sexuality plays a role in religion and spirituality, but then to not renounce desire, is a path of ignorance. When this occurs, such a person is combining the power of sex with a religious longing, but not renouncing desire. That is a very bad combination of elements, because sex is the power of the soul. If you are using sex in combination with spiritual pursuit, but you are keeping your ego very alive (you are not sacrificing your desires), you will you empower your ego. You will not have a real psychogenesis. You will instead have an ego-genesis (creation of the ego). There is always some type of creation, and when you create more ego you create more suffering.

We are going to talk a little bit about the symbolism found in all the world traditions, because I think it is important for everyone to understand that what we are talking about today is not a new theory. It is not a new contrivance. It is something is talked about publicly today, and was not talked about publicly in the past. But this is not a new doctrine. It is important that you understand that.

At the top picture here, we have some phallic stonework related to the entrance to the Temple of Dionysus. On the bottom there is Egyptian artwork of an ithyphallic representation, related also to Nut.

Let us understand these images with what Iamblichus wrote in Theurgia. Iamblichus was a profound theurgist, a true magician and one of the main philosophers of Neoplatonism. He says:

[W]e remark that the planting of “phallic images” is a special representing of the procreative power by conventional symbols, and that we regard this practice as an invocation to the generative energy of the universe. On this account many of these images are consecrated in the spring, when all the world is receiving from the gods the prolific force of the whole creation. […]

The powers of the human passions that are in us, when they are barred on every side, become more vehement: but when they are brought into activity with moderation and reasonable measure, they are sufficiently delighted and satisfied, and becoming pure in consequence, are won over and set at rest.

Iamblichus, Theurgia, Chapter 4, Rites, Symbols, and Offerings

That is a very beautiful description. We can tell that he understands the power of sex. This is how the Masters talked about same theme of this lecture in a hidden form. Today we are going to unveil and make it evident what he is talking about.

Today people look at the old religions and old cults and they see these phallic representations. There are a lot of ways that people react to them but few people understand. Someone might laugh and someone might scorn, and some might feel confused, and others wish there was some type of modern religion like that, but they do not even understand it. There are modern people, calling themselves pagans, who only know the outer doctrine but know nothing about the actual rituals and secrets. People talk of a “sex positive” religion but what they really want is an “ego positive” religion. People think that these Rites of Dionysus was just in relationship to what we today call bacchanalia – something related to sexual perversities and drunken orgies – but that is not accurate. All religions have a time of degeneration, we do not deny that, so that type of degeneration did occur in Rome and Greece. Today we see degeneration within the Church, yet, we know that Jesus did not teach sexual perversities. Therefore, let us understand that the original Rites of Dionysus, Baccus, the Saturnalia, etc., were not related to drunken orgies. Their true form is related to psychogenesis – because they knew the power of the creative act. They knew how to combine the power of sexual energy and how to renounce desire.

It is stated here that, when the humans passions are barred on every side, they become more vehement. This is a statement against the very incipient forms of celibacy which attempt to cut off or to just deny sexual expression. When a very ignorant form of celibacy is practiced, it is like trying to dam a river. When you put a dam on the river, that water begins to overflow somewhere else, right? It will fill up the valley that the river is in but then eventually, if there is no outlet that water will consume some other area. This is how fanaticism grows often, inside of religions, because they attempt to cut off the sexual expression and then what happens is they develop a fanatical mind. Because that sexual energy is transforming itself, and going into different aspects of the psyche without becoming “mature”. This results in a type of very superficial, rational mind is that becomes fanatical.

The key, of course, as it is pointed to here: we must enter into the door of sex with moderation. To learn how to work with it. If you just reject it, you don’t develop insight, you don’t understand what you are rejecting. If you simply go the opposite direction, instead of rejecting or repressing, that is also ignorant. To say, “I don’t want to repress that, I want to therefore jump to the other side, I’m going to express all my sexual desires.” That, as well, can lead to disastrous results right? Neither of those sides represents a comprehension of what that sexual impulse is. Between the pillars of repression and outright expression is the Middle Way of Comprehension. This means to work with it, but how exactly that is done is the key that people are missing.

People believe that because they have sexual desires – as I said before, the sexual impulse is always there – they believe such desires are the “real self.”  We believe that our desires are our core self. Do you understand that? Because if you don’t analyze this, you naively experience the sexual impulse always there, and the desire is also always there, so the desire is always activated through the sexual impulse. If you don’t analyze that, if you don’t comprehend that, you begin to believe that your sexual desire is your innate self. You begin to think your desire is who you truly are. And if you believe that, you think, “Well I should always express that, why should I deny that? That is who I truly am.” But that is a mistake. People do not realize this is the logic they are following, but there it is anyway. One cannot accept the elimination of desire if one believes such desire to be their true self.

What we are saying is that you can have psychogenesis, you create a new psyche within yourself. You can, as Jesus says, you can be “born again.” As Paul said, you can become the psychikon and the pnumakicon; the body of the soul, the body of spirit. That is what happens when you work with the sexual energy. You transform your mind. Not because you just believe, but because you harness the very creative energy of the universe.

As we said before, you can think of your creative energy as a river that is flowing from the Absolute Abstract Space, through different levels, until it reaches your physical body. There is no discontinuity, there is a complete progression of energy all the way down. In Kabbalah, we call that the descending ray of creation, the ray of light, the energy of creation, the Ain Soph Aur. We are going to talk about rivers, because when you read in the Bible, whether the New Testament or the Old Testament, you see many geographical areas. Three is a great symbolism in all that geography. It does not correspond to our physical world, it corresponds to our psychological and spiritual life.

When we talk about water, we are talking about energy, and the fundamental energy is always sexual energy. The River Jordan, for example, plays as prominent role in the Old and New Testaments. A Gnostic fragment, called the Testimony of Truth, says:

But the Son of Man came forth from Imperishability, being alien to defilement. He came to the world by the Jordan river, and immediately the Jordan turned back. And John bore witness to the descent of Jesus. For it is he who saw the power which came down upon the Jordan river; for he knew that the dominion of carnal procreation had come to an end. The Jordan river is the power of the body, that is, the senses of pleasures. The water of the Jordan is the desire for sexual intercourse.

– The Testimony of Truth

Everything we have said before is being restated there. This is the descending ray of creation, and energy comes into us, and ignorantly we just see it as the sexual impulse. We think it is just something to do with biology. We like to stand in two conflicting spheres at once. We like to be, perhaps, a spiritual person, a religious person, but then when it comes to the sphere of sex, we want to view ourselves materialistically, just as two physical bodies, or just my own body, satisfying (better said, creating) desires, saying “who am I harming?” You are harming yourself. Sexual expression either connects to you God or divorces you from God. That is the real crux, the real point, that we should be looking to ourselves about.

The energy descends down from the Absolute, and yes, we have a nature for that energy to continue to descend down and go out of the body. But we have another nature. We have the nature of the animal within us, and we also have the nature or the potential of God within us. As I said prior, we the ability to make a choice, “How do I direct that energy?” The energy is arriving without any effort, but the effort is making the choice of how to direct it.

In the Old Testament, the Book of Joshua, there is what is called the Turning of the River Jordan. In the New Testament, Jesus is baptized in the Jordan. This is a symbol shared by both the Old and the New Testament.

For some context: Joshua comes after Moses, and Joshua has the Arc, and he is leading the Israelites to cross over the Jordan. He listens to the commandments of God, which tells him what to do.

And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon a heap.

Joshua 3:14

What is so interesting here, the word “Jordan” means ‘descender’ or that which descends. So, you can understand why this River Jordan is the descending energy. But what is the Ark of Covenant? That is the question.

And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water […] And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

Joshua 3:15, 17

This passage and many different levels of meanings. A different level of meaning was discussed in a prior lecture called Fertility and Mastery. We are just talking about a basic level here, the turning of the river Jordan, the turning of the descension of energy. Where do we turn it towards? Towards the ascension of energy.

We can read some commentary on the Mahanirvana Tantra:

Passion, which has hitherto run downwards and outwards to waste, is directed inwards and upwards, and transformed to power.

- Mahanirvana Tantra commentary by John Woodroffe

The message here is that there is a capacity to transform the sexual energy. That there are ways for the sexual energy to emitted from the body, and there ways for the sexual energy to be transformed – not just physically but subtlety (energetically). Ok? We must understand that the sexual energy is not just physical material within our body. It is partly, but just as we have a body, and a soul, and a spirit, sexual energy has a body, a soul, and a spirit. Yes, we need to conserve and transform that energy physically, but we need a psychological transformation as well. When we begin to do that, that we give the capacity for that energy to go up.

By that energy going up, we achieve that Genesis, that psychogenesis. We develop new capacities of the mind, new powers. That is what is symbolized by the dry land. We must develop those new vehicles, new levels of mind, new levels of consciousness within our self. That takes what is a mushy, undifferentiated chaos, and bakes it in the forge, in the oven, and it takes that material and makes it into something solid. The furnace is an alchemical symbol of heat of sexuality. We have to know how use the heat wisely.

Today, we are an undifferentiated mass, psychologically speaking. Meaning, if you get rid of the physical body, and you take you take away the personality, the only thing left that you have is the psyche existing in the internal worlds, which is a mess. This is why our dreams are incoherent. We have no continuity of consciousness. We cannot pay attention. We change our minds. We have deep, deep seated desires to things we do not even comprehend or know about. So we are, inside, a dark chaotic mess. But when we intelligently work with heat of sexual energy, it creates that dry ground. That dry ground really means, what we call, the Solar Bodies. They are called by different names in different traditions, sometimes it is just called the subtle body. Many traditions believe we already have those subtle, solar bodies, but in reality, we only have an animal phantom of those bodies. We do not have true subtle bodies.

When the physical body dies, we are left with whatever those subtle aspects of our self. But those aspects are what we call protoplasmic. They belong to nature and return to nature; they are not really ours.  With the sexual energy we can create physically, obviously, but we also create psychologically – we can create the Solar Bodies. That is the dry land. When the dry land is there, the Israelites can pass over.

If we use sex in the wrong way, by activating lust, we also create psychologically – we create desires and the ego.

The Israelites represent all those particles of the Being that are trapped within us. Particles of wisdom that go back to the Being, back to the Is-Ra-El (Israel), which is a Holy Name for our Inner Being.

The Ark of the Covenant is directly related to sexuality and chastity. On top of the Ark of the Covenant is depicted two cherubim, two angels. Normally they are depicted with their wing tips touching, but what is not understood is really those cherubim are actually in a sexual embrace.

The Hindu Lingham is identical with “Jacob's Pillar” – most undeniably. But the difference, as said, seems to consist in that the esoteric significance of the Lingham was too truly sacred and metaphysical to be revealed to the profane and the vulgar; hence its superficial appearance was left to the speculations of the mob. […]

[A]ll these abstract pantheistic ideas are dwarfed and made terrestrially concrete in the Bible […]

[H]ow could those who invented the stupendous scheme now known as the Bible […] feel reverence for such a phallic symbol […] as Jehovah is shown most undeniably to be in the Kabalistic works? How could anyone worthy of the name of a philosopher, and knowing the real secret meaning of their "pillar of Jacob," their Bethel, oil-anointed phalli, and their “Brazen Serpent,” worship such a gross symbol, and minister unto it, seeing in it their “Covenant” – the Lord Himself! Let the reader turn to Gemara Sanhedrin and judge. As various writers have shown, and as brutally stated in Hargrave Jennings' Phallicism (p. 67) “We know from the Jewish records that the Ark contained a table of stone … that stone was phallic, and yet identical with the sacred name Jehovah … which written in unpointed Hebrew with four letters, is J-E-V-E or JHVH […].”

This process leaves us the two letters I and V (in another form U); then if we place the I in the U we have the ‘Holy of Holies’; we also have the Lingha and Yoni and Argha of the Hindus, the Isvara and 'supreme Lord'; and here we have the whole secret of its mystic and arc-celestial import, confirmed in itself by being identical with the Linyoni of the Ark of the Covenant.

The Secret Doctrine (1888), Vol. II, pt. 2, ch. 17, p 471-473, by H. P. Blavatsky

There really is no doubt, no speculation, that the Ark of the Covenant is completely sexual, but related to chastity at the same time. It is clearly state throughout the Zohar – but this is information that is just not talked about or it is not understood exactly what it means. Someone could read all of this, and they could know very well that the Holiest of Holies is related to sexual union, but they could still be engaging in desire and not know to work with that practically.

Now knowing this, if we go back to the Jordan, having the Ark of the Covenant in the Jordan River becomes explicitly clear: that chastity in the right way, combined with the descending energy, causing the water to turn upwards, causes the dry land to appear, causes the psychogenesis, causes us to be “born again.”

The same energy which creates the universe is deposited within the sexual glands of man and woman.

And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon a heap.

Joshua 3:14

The foot is a symbol of the sexual organ. The “foot” of God is the sexual organ. Sometimes, the foot represents the entire physical body, and then it is the big toe that represents the sexual organ. Either way, to have the bare foot in the waters of the Jordan means to turn your sexuality away from the worldly things, and towards the spiritual things. Moses removed his sandals to see God face to face – what the sandals represent is the world. You have the sandals on your feet, meaning your sexuality is turned towards the world. Taking the sandals off is a sexual euphemism for turning your sexuality towards the Holiest of Holies. Because, to walk in the world, you need the sandal, but to be with God, you are always psychologically naked and exposed to God.

We really have arrived at legitimate tantrism at this point in the lecture.

When we speak of tantrism, we must understand that it is not just sex. It is not just the sexual act – however, the physical sexual act does have a legitimate place inside of tantric philosophy and practice. We should understand though, just because something is tantric does not mean it is just about sexual intercourse.

Tantra is the whole understanding of how energy is used. So, if we return to the beginning of the lecture and how the energy descends from the cosmos into us, everything is an expression of energy. We have to learn how to handle that. How to work with the continuum of energy, and that is what tantrism really is.

What we also must understand that just because we are talking about sex doesn’t mean we are divinizing desire. Desire is something else.

There are three basic forms of tantrism – this goes across all of Asia, all of the world, all the tranditions that have tantric doctrine. Judaism of course does not have this word, tantra - but it does its counterpart which is 'daath'. Of course from Judaism we have Christian and Islamic esoteric traditions. Tantrism may be a Sanskrit word but its meaning is found in every authentic tradition. Many times it is called alchemy. Of course, we find it in ancient Greece and Rome, all of the mystery traditions and Hellenic systems, because we can find it in Egyptian tradition as well, all the way back to the beginning of civilization. We find this in every part of the world. There has always been these three forms, which we call White, Grey, and Black tantra.

We call them those colors because, it is related to purity, related to having no blemish (white). When you look at just pure light, it appears to be white, but when you look at light that has been obscured it turns grey and dark.

White tantra is the doctrine of this lecture.

White Tantra: those schools that produce beings who are clean of all egotistical desire, anger, lust, envy, etc. Such beings are known as Buddhas, Masters, Angels, Devas, etc. The “Right Hand” path.

In White Tantrism, the sexual energy is never emitted from the body. It is transmuted into subtle forms of energy. The power of the soul is developed through an immaculate use of sexuality. Immaculate means, ‘without blemish’.

Grey Tantra: those schools who want to be White but do not renounce Black methods. They are caught in the middle.

In Grey Tantrism, the sexual energy is sometimes conserved, other times emitted. Grey Tantra almost always leads to Black Tantra.

Black Tantra: those schools that produce beings who sustain and develop the causes of suffering, namely lust, anger, greed, pride, etc. Such beings are called demons, sorcerers, Maruts, Asuras, etc. The “Left Hand” path.

In Black Tantrism, the sexual energy is emitted and reabsorbed. The power of the soul is awakened inside the ego. This is incredibly important to understand, because even if a tradition is very old, and even if the person talking is in beautiful robes, it does not mean they are teaching White Tantrism. The crux is, are they talking about the removal of desire?

True White Tantrism is destroying the desire and ego. All the understandings we normally have, of what we hold the ‘self’ to be today, is not our true nature, it is not our true Being. What that true Being is, is a mystery to us, but that is what we manifest into, through White Tantrism

With Black Tantrism, you can develop many powers, you can learn how to go out of your physical body, you can develop concentration, you can learn how to meditate, but you can still be practicing Black Tantra, because you are not destroying the ego. You are awakening – you see, you can awaken inside of desire, or awaken by comprehending and destroying your desire. Very different things, but the philosophy, or the books, or the teachings look very similar. If you are naive you won’t know the difference.

That is why we must be so explicit here. There are so many teachings out there that will talk about conserving sexual energy and spirituality, and then they will say, “but then you have to orgasm, you have to ejaculate, you have to get rid of that energy… this is how we love God…” etc., etc.  When you combine a religious longing, a desire for self-realization, while performing a sexual act without the renouncing of desire, you are combining elements that very dangerous for your soul. Your soul is caught inside your ego, and if you don’t renounce desire, then you empower – because sex is the power – you empower your ego.

Normally, when people have ‘normal’ sexual relations with orgasm and ejaculation, they are getting rid of their energy by doing so. Thus, such people become weaker and weaker throughout the years. So, normally, someone has a sexual agitation the first thing (and only thing) that comes to mind is to find some way to get rid of it through sex, masturbation, pornography, etc. This is because society is ignorant and we don’t know that we are throwing away our own power. We are taught that it is good when in fact, to extract your sexual energy is to disempower yourself – we become feeble minded and frail. So, normally, as soon as someone has that impulse, it is like “well, I gotta get rid of this thing… I gotta get rid of this agitation…”, again through masturbation, prostitution, nightly sexual encounters with random people, etc. Nevertheless, even after all of this, we as a culture remain totally unsatisfied even though we are going into this deeper and deeper into satisfying sexual desire. Why? Because when you satisfy that, it grows. If you pour gas on a fire, it grows. When we feed desire, it takes more levels of our consciousness and traps it in desire, suffering, and pain.

However, in usual type of sexual relations, the body begins to grow older in an exaggerated way, and such a physical body begins to no longer handle as much sexual energy as it did in the past. So that limits the amount of desire which is created in the psyche, because the body wears out. The couple has children and many couples focus on the children more than indulgent sex and in this way, too, some of their loving relationship can be preserved – but often nothing is left after satisfying lust other than suffering, hatred, and divorce. This is not any type of tantrism because the couple is not combining their sexual practice with spiritual longing, and the energy is always expelled from the body.

Black Tantrism, however, is very dangerous because the vitality and strength of the body is preserved. Why? Because there are methods to return that energy into the body. When you practice Black Tantrism, you are reabsorbing that power, so the body and mind and remain strong for much longer, and therefore the amount of desire and egotistical power that grows psychologically is much greater. In the end, Black Tantrism always results in the most suffering and pain, but in the intermediate period, a lot of power can be attained.

In White Tantra, the energy is transformed and directed upwards. When that energy is directed upwards, to the superior levels of our consciousness, it awakens those superior levels of consciousness, and we can have experiences outside of our ego easier, and we know what true experiences are. We know what unconditioned consciousness is, because it is directly experienced. This is very different than to be awakened inside of the ego. But, for the person who does not know that difference, it is easy to be confused.

Whether it is called tantrism, maithuna, sexual magic, or alchemy, there are always these three forms. Do not be confused just because a school or doctrine has beautiful trappings of something religious and profound. Black Tantrism is often taught with beautiful words in temples adorned with religious art and carved stone. Do not rely on external appearances. If you want a practice to be helpful for your soul, it must be White Tantrism, which always, always, always keeps the energy within the body. No orgasm. No ejaculation. 100% transmutation. Some schools tell you to not ejaculate, but you should orgasm. That is Black Tantrism. Some schools say to orgasm only once in a while to “balance” the energies. That is Grey or Black Tantrism. Some schools tell you to have sex with multiple partners, with or without the loss of energy, this is also Black Tantrism.

It would be better to practice nothing, no spiritual practice at all, than to practice Black Tantra.

Theses doctrines have existed throughout civilization and across all cultures. Even inside of early Christianity, for many years. It is well documented in academia, of the widespread practice of a “spiritual marriage.” Of course, none or few understand what the lifestyle of a “spiritual marriage” actually is. They know that celibate or chaste men and women were living together in the same house, and often sleeping together in the same bed. However, because the scholars do not understand this lineage of alchemy, of tantrism, they don’t understand what these men and woman were doing.

There are several Greek words used to describe these communities.

Syneisaktism: the practice of a chaste man and woman (“virgin”) living together.

Related terms: the virgins subintroductae, the agapetae, the gynaikes syneisaktoi.

These names come from different writers describing couples, a man and woman, living together. Sometimes there was a community of chaste couples. We know a lot about these groups because many others in the Church were denouncing this repeatedly as being something bad.

There is good reason to believe that Paul knew about this practice, which is why when we read the first Corinthians, he says (paraphrased), “you should be married but you should act like you are not married.” It is has been debated by scholars about what that means. It means exactly this: to perform sexual union but keep chastity, because that is the turning of the River of Jordan.

Scholars state that syneisaktism or spiritual marriage was found everywhere:

Nor was syneisaktism a phenomenon peculiar to one locality; it can be found in Ireland, Syria, North Africa, and many other centers of Christianity.”

Clark, Elizabeth A., John Chrysostom and the Subintroductae, Church History, 46(1977), p. 173

Of one thing we can be sure: there was hardly a church province in ancient Christianity in which spiritual marriages were unknown.”

Seboldt, Roland H. A. Spiritual Marriage In the Early Church: A Suggested Interpretation of 1 Cor. 7:36-38, part 2, Concordia Theological Monthly Volume: 30 Number: 3 in 1959, p. 176-189

So, this is a tradition that goes back to antiquity, both White Tantrism and Black Tantrism. This is not just an Eastern doctrine – however, the in the West it was pushed into various esoteric societies. Unfortunately, almost without exception all of them degenerated into teaching Black Tantra by the early 1900s.

We are presenting all this information to show you that this is not some particular, “off the wall” idea. It is found in every tradition – but you must understand the difference between White and Black.

We are going to bring to light several quotes, to give you an idea of how it exists in traditions. That way, you can see it described by other teachers.

Rabbi Katina said, 'When the Israelites would ascend [to the Holy Temple] on the festival, [the priest/kohen] would roll up the curtain for them, and display for them the cherubim, who were joined together [in an embrace].' The priest/kohen would then tell them, 'Behold the beloved feelings for you on the part of the Omnipresent are like the beloved feelings of a male for a female'.

Rabba bar Rav Shila explains that "[The cherubim appeared in the engravings] as a man joined in an embrace with his female companion.

- Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 54a

The present, 14^th Dalai Lama has spoken about the relationship between celibacy (what he calls celibacy, and what we would call chastity) and the images in Tantric Buddhism which show yab-yum or the sexual union of deity and consort, man and woman.

Actually, [..] the sexual organ is utilized, but the energy movement which is taking place is, in the end, fully controlled. The energy should never be let out. This energy must be controlled and eventually returned to other parts of the body. And here we can see there is a kind of special connection with celibacy.

- H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, The Good Heart

In the view of Tantra, the body's vital energies are the vehicles of the mind. When the vital energies are pure and subtle, one's state of mind will be accordingly affected. By transforming these bodily energies we transform the state of consciousness.

- H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama

So, this is why we stated in the beginning of this lecture that there is an ignorant form of celibacy and there is an informed, type of tantrism, related to celibacy. We call this second type chastity to differentiate the two.

A great yogi named Vivekananda, wrote a wonderful booked called Raja Yoga. He talks about the transmutation of sexual energy, called ojas.

The Yogis claim that of all the energies that are in the human body the highest is what they call “Ojas.” Now this Ojas is stored up in the brain, and the more Ojas is in a man's head, the more powerful he is, the more intellectual, the more spiritually strong. One man may speak beautiful language and beautiful thoughts, but they, do not impress people; another man speaks neither beautiful language nor beautiful thoughts, yet his words charm. Every movement of his is powerful. That is the power of Ojas.

The Yogis say that that part of the human energy which is expressed as sex energy, in sexual thought, when checked and controlled, easily becomes changed into Ojas, and as the Muladhara guides these, the Yogi pays particular attention to that centre. He tries to take up all his sexual energy and convert it into Ojas.

It is only the chaste man or woman who can make the Ojas rise and store it in the brain; that is why chastity has always been considered the highest virtue. A man feels that if he is unchaste, spirituality goes away, he loses mental vigour and moral stamina. That is why in all the religious orders in the world which have produced spiritual giants you will always find absolute chastity insisted upon.

- Swami Vivekananda, Raja Yoga

You can see, he is talking about the power of sex combined with chastity. Let us continue in Hindu scripture and philosophy:

Words of Krishna: “I am sex which is not contrary to religion.” - Bhagavad Gita 7:11

“I [Shiva] am the semen, Sakti [the Goddess] is the generative fluid; when they are [perfectly] combined in the body [through this practice], then the body of the Yogi becomes divine [immortal].

Ejaculation of semen [orgasm] brings death, preserving it within brings life. Therefore, one should make sure to retain the semen within.

One is born and dies through semen; in this there is no doubt. Knowing this, the Yogi must always preserve his semen.

When the precious jewel of semen is mastered, anything on earth can be mastered. Through the grace of its preservation, one becomes as great as me [Shiva].

The use of semen determines the happiness or pain of all beings living in the world, who are deluded [by desire] and are subject to death and decay.

This is the ultimate Yoga .”

- Siva Samhita

From Taoism:

When ching is emitted the whole body feels weary. One suffers buzzing in the ears and drowsiness in the eyes; the throat is parched and the joints heavy. Although there is brief pleasure, in the end there is discomfort. If, however, one engages in sex without emission, then the strength of our ch'i will be more than sufficient and our bodies at ease. One's hearing will be acute and vision clear. Through exercising self-control and calming the passion, love actually increases, and one remains unsatiated. How can this be considered unpleasurable?

- Su Nu Ching

There is a lot of psychological malaise going on in the world today. There are a lot of problems. Psychologically, we are not advancing. Technologically, terrestrially, scientifically we might be advancing in certain ways. But psychologically, morally, ethically, we are not. If anything, we have more dangerous weapons to hurt ourselves and to harm ourselves. The fundamental destruction of ethics and morals does have a relationship with sexuality. We are not referring to the stupid type of morality which lacks reason - we are referring to the scientific type of chastity which says: If you conserve the sexual energy, you ennoble yourself, you empower the highest aspects of your Being, you awaken intelligence within yourself. If you foolishly use the sexual energy, and just get rid of it all the time, you are removing the most valuable thing in the world. Your psychology darkens, you develop all the malaise, all the problems, that supposed to be cured by pills today, but which are not.

All of the imbalanced psychology that we see today is grounded in misuse of sexual energy. The proper use of sexual energy is the foundation for mental health. It is not to say that if you practice chastity, and white tantrism, that you immediately cure all your mental illness in an instant – but it is the foundation. It is the power to help cure yourself of those mental illnesses.

The Gospel of Philip is another Gnostic text:

No one can know when the husband and the wife have intercourse with one another, except the two of them. Indeed, marriage in the world is a mystery for those who have taken a wife. If there is a hidden quality to the marriage of defilement, how much more is the undefiled marriage a true mystery! It is not fleshly, but pure. It belongs not to desire, but to the will. It belongs not to the darkness or the night, but to the day and the light.

- Gospel of Philip

I hope brings about some reflection, because we could have put many more quotes and slides but we wanted to remain cogent in our message. There is so much evidence and doctrine behind this teaching. This is not something that someone came up with in a random way. This is a tradition that goes back and is found in all of the civilizations. So what does that mean? I can come up here and tell you what to do, but you have reflect upon yourself about what you want to do. Because either these traditions are wrong, or, there is something that is wrong with the way that our culture views sexuality. They are in opposition – both cannot be true.

When you change your sexuality, when you work with it, what you are saying is: although I have this experience of myself today, although I have these desires at this moment, those desires are not my true self.

When you engage in desire, you saying: That is my true self. I want to go into that. Why should I renounce desire when it is my true self?

People say, “Why should I do this? I have this impulse, why would God give this ability of orgasm and ejaculation, to fornicate, etc.., if we are not to use it? Why wouldn’t God make us in a certain way to make sure this energy would be preserved?” This is precisely part of the point, which is that God is not interested in a bunch of ignorant, incognizant, individuals. God, the Abstract Space, wants all of the Beings to be cognizant of their own power, and the only way to do that is to be able to work with your own willpower, to have freewill, to make a choice and to define one’s self. If you are never given the choice to make a mistake, you will never know what a mistake is. This is precisely the knowledge of good and evil. This is precisely Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, under the Tree of Good and Evil. The Tree of Good and Evil is sex.

Sex, when it goes down and out, produces the ego – and we find false identity inside that ego. What is very important is to know that is not our true identity. When you practice sexual transmutation, you practice that through certain mantras, meditation, pranayama, and if you are married (a relationship based on love), you can practice that inside the sexual union itself, and that is the most powerful way, and it is something very serious.

Pranayama is the main way to move sexual energy in a positive fashion if you are single – not married. As we said before, the sexual energy is always there, flowing, and you must do something with it. You have to do something with it. The power of the breath has the capacity to transform sexual energy. There are different types of pranayama. Sometimes we combine the breath with a mantra. One of the main ones is called HAM SAH pranayama. Prana is the life force. Pranayama means to harness the life force.

There are diverse esoteric systems for transmuting the seminal entity into sexual energy. Certainly, the most powerful one (the Arcanum A.Z.F.) has to be performed by a man and a woman - we are talking specifically about the Sahaja Maithuna, sexual Yoga, White Tantra; elsewhere we will give all the details for that practice. Now, for the moment we are going to explain an exercise that can be practiced by single people as well as by those who are married. I am going to tell you the technique just now; please pay attention...

Sit down comfortably: the eastern way (cross-legged) or the western way (on a comfortable armchair). Relax your bodies as children do.

Inhale deeply, very slowly, and imagine that the creative energy rises through the spermatic channels up to the brain; mentally pronounce the mantra HAM like this: HAAAAAAAMM.

Exhale, short and quick, as you pronounce aloud the mantra SAH: SAAAAHH...

Undoubtedly, you inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. While inhaling, you “mantralize” the sacred syllable HAM (mentally, since you are inhaling through the nose); but you can articulate the syllable SAH with sound while you exhale.

The marvelous symbol that in the East makes the chaotic waters of life fertile is Ham-Sah, the Third Logos.

- Samael Aun Weor, The Transmutation of Sexual Energy (lecture)

Finally, talking about sahaja maithuna, or sexual magic, people are very confused about exactly one practices this.

Firstly, you have to be in a relationship based on love. Love is the foundation. You cannot be looking to gain powers or just for convenience. It has to be based on true feelings of love.

You must be living an ethical lifestyle. Meaning, you have to be serious about spiritual work. Not trying to live an unbalanced lifestyle. Without ethics, your practice will fail – because with you start these practices, you are empowering your soul, and you will be given energy to makes mistakes, and you will be given more obstacles to overcome, to pay your karma.

There needs to be an actual physical attraction as well. That stimulus has to be there. Eros has to be there. The word erotic comes from Eros – which is love. But the physical aspect of love is necessary, so there is a physical attraction necessary. Yet, we must not become identified with it either.

This is not a complicated practice. People think it has to be some type of ritualized, extremely dry and formalized practice. Every couple practices in their own intimate way. What is fundamental is to keep that practice simple, innocent, loving, and to not actively engage in desire. There is sexual arousal without attempting to engage in desire.

To repeat, White Tantra avoids all emission of sexual energy, so that is paramount. That is renunciation of orgasm and ejaculation for both man and woman. This must be clear, because a lot of people, they hear what we say but then they think there is some loophole, think they can do “this” or “that”. We must understand that it is not just the physical aspect, but also the energetic aspect which must be transmuted.

If man and woman would know how to withdraw without the spasm, if in those moments of delightful enjoyment they would have the willpower to control the animal ego, and if at that point they would retire from the sexual act without ejaculating the semen (neither inside the womb, nor outside of it or to the side of it, nor in any other place) they would have then performed an act of Sexual Magic.  This is what is called in occultism the Arcanum A. Z. F.

- Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony

The renunciation of desire in the moments of sexual arousal awakens the consciousness and reveals the soul’s mystical agape with Christ.

Mystical agape is pure love of Christ. A level of consciousness. It is not a belief. It is not a theory. It is an experience, a level of consciousness that you can only achieve if you have that transmuted sexual energy. The energy – there is a physical aspect and subtle aspects related to our subtle bodies. It is almost like a perfume, or a smoke, an incense, a musk, an extract, rising to the brain, rising to the higher levels of the consciousness, awakening the higher levels of the consciousness and feeling the true experience of bliss. The true experience of joy, of unconditioned consciousness, which has nothing to do with the orgasm.

The Cosmic Christ and sexual magic is the supreme synthesis of religious pursuit.

Christ and Sexual Magic are the synthesis of all religions, schools, and beliefs.  The Perfect Matrimony does not harm anyone.  All the priests of all religions, teachers of all schools, the worshippers of Christ, the lovers of Wisdom, can traverse the path of the Perfect Matrimony.  The synthesis does not harm anyone, rather it benefits all.  This is the Doctrine of the Synthesis.  This is the Doctrine of the new era.

- Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony

Questions and Answers

Q: What about “be fruitful and multiply” in Genesis?

A: Yes, to be fruitful and multiply… this is a translation of the original Hebrew which is convenient for those who do not want to renounce the orgasm.  Why would God need to give us a commandment to orgasm? That is not religion, that is just something we are already doing.  Religion is a teaching to help transform our state of Being. The word ‘multiply’ is the same word for Rabbi, but in a feminine sense. Rabbi vs Rabbah. Rabbi means master. If you just put a different ending letter and you have Rabbah, which is feminine. Rabbah, then, means feminine mastery. Sexual mastery. What that really means is to be fruitful and be a master. Master of what? The feminine. The Feminine in this sense, means sexuality. In a symbolic, kabbalistic sense, Eve is sexuality, and Adam is rationality. Of course, reproduction is possible if one is a master of their own sexuality – then, the Master can reproduce without orgasm or ejaculation. A single sperm can meet a single ovum, and this is not fornication. But that is something that requires a lot of esoteric discipline. See the lecture: Fertility and Mastery.

Q: The marriage of opposites, does this have to do with dialectical monism?

A: The Divine syzygy certainly can be understood in terms of dialectical monism. Man and Woman united represents the duality forming a unity. This is a symbol that has its reality within our own Being, because all the parts of the Being need to unite. Often when looking at tantric symbolism, of Shiva-Shakti, or Yab-Yum – sexual connection – people say that such a symbol is only a representation of the union of opposites that created the universe, or other symbolic aspects of the union of opposites. It is said by some that it is only a something only to be contemplated philosophically and metaphysically. Yes, it is true that these are profound symbols and we need to meditate upon them. But, we, right now, are the symbol of our living God, and by physically enacting that – actual sexual union – it has a repercussion psychologically and spiritually.

Also, from a philosophical stance, we provide a synthesis of doctrine here, because many of these doctrines, on a superficial level, appear to be antithetical. But, through thesis and antithesis we produce the synthesis. There are many anthropologist and philosophers, religious scholars, who actually see the common aspects of these religions, but because they do not know the traditions (only looking it at as an ‘objective’ third party) they do not understand what the real importance is. They say something like, “Well, sure, all religions are based on sex and fertility cults. Got it. Let’s move on to the next thing…” They just think, “of course sex is powerful and these cults were just celebrating life and enjoying the bounty of life…” But this, of course, is not an accurate understanding. The real importance is that sex can transform our psychology. That sex is spiritual, not because it creates children, but because it literally is the final descension of the root energy of the universe, and we are a vessel that can return that energy. And by doing so, we transform our state of consciousness. Our consciousness goes for that ride, when we send it back up, so to speak. We cannot do it without the sexual energy.

Q: Regarding chastity, sexual abstinence, and celibacy. It cannot be chastity if there is no sublimation of sexual energy. As Paul says, “if you are married, be as if you were single” or celibate. When someone says that chastity is sexual abstinence, it should be, instead of sexual abstinence, abstinence of orgasm, whether you are single of married. Right?

A: Yes, I agree with that. There is a lot of confusion between these terms. Most people, when they say celibacy, they just mean a total cutting off – of not using the sexual function at all. As I said prior, that will cause a lot of problems, because that energy is very powerful. It will affect your mind; it produces fanaticism and pedophilia, because the sexual impulse, begin unable to mature, remains infantilized. So, we prefer the word chastity, which means ‘proper use of sexuality’, which of course, is sexual transmutation. So, there is chastity as a single person, and chastity in marriage, and it both cases, one avoids the orgasm. That is what the Lord said, “thou shalt not fornicate.” People think, if they are with their spouse, then it does not count. If you want to procreate like an animal, you don’t need religion, you are free to do so, but do not think that is the way of the Lord.

We have the ability to procreate like an animal through fornication, or we can procreate within our self, to achieve the immaculate conception. The immaculate conception is the result of the immaculate use of sexuality. It is a sexual conception within our consciousness. The immaculate conception does not occur by cutting off sex, and it does not occur through orgasm. It arrives through the transmutation of sexual energy and the removal of desire.

There is also a way, through certain yogic methods, to procreate physically as well without the need of spilling millions of sperm. Only one sperm is needed, you know, to fertilize. So, God can do that too, when that is needed. To have a child through sexual yoga is possible, but, that occurs through the Will of the Father, not the self-will of the ego. But, do we need to add to the seven billion people of the world today? There is no shortage of physical bodies for the souls today. People think that if everyone became Gnostic, there would be no one left on Earth. No. If everyone practiced transmutation, surely the world would be a paradise, and God would instruct us on creating more physical bodies in accordance with the will of God. Don’t worry about that.

Q: About physical attraction. If you are attracted to that person, you must be desiring that person.

A: This is a very common question. Yes, in our case, we have a lot of desire. So, the two things are enmeshed together, and that is where we start this work. We know of The Perfect Matrimony, but in the beginning, it is a very un-perfect matrimony. The Perfect Matrimony is the result, right? We have a psychological problem inside, so, we need to find a partner that matches those types of problems we have. The funny saying is, “The devil with paints needs to find a devil with a skirt.” Basically, everyone in this world is at a very low level. But, we work with our present material. By attempting to achieve greater levels of chastity, on all the levels of the mind, you learn.  Physical chastity is just the first level, and the beginning couple often has difficulty achieving physical chastity, but you learn through the practice. You cannot just think about it, and then magically you know how to be chaste. You learn through the practice. When you achieve physical chastity, then next, you must achieve chastity one level below that, you go one story deeper into the subconsciousness. Now, there are desires you can see, which you did not see before, because there is more light. Then, again, another level deeper, and again more desires. You did not recognize them before, because these are more subtle. You do this again and again, symbolically, 49 times.

Q: What about if someone is single? How do they work on their desires?

A: In the same way except the person must perform pranayama instead of sexual magic. Everything else is the same essential process: through the transformation of impressions and within meditation. There is still a development of deeper levels of understanding. Traditionally, these teachings would require an enormous amount of prerequisite work before you would be initiated into the secret teachings of sexual transmutation and sahaja maithuna. It could take multiple lifetimes of being a monk or nun before gaining access to this doctrine. If we are married, today, we must take advantage of these teachings today. If we are single, we should not fret or worry, because our Inner Being knows what we need and will provide what we need. A tremendous amount of work is done in chastity as a single person.  The creation of the dry land, the superior vehicles, that is another thing. That does require sexual union.

Q: Does the prana energy manifest in any other way beside sexual energy?

A: Yes of course. In every cell of the body there is prana. We can categorize the different manifestation of prana if we wish. Prana is our life, our vitality. However, the sexual impulse is the most potent form, and it is also the primary way we can control and direct its flow. The impulse arrives without us needing to do anything, really, but we can change the flow, to reverse the River of Jordan. Through breathing, through pranayama, we also can change the direction of the flow.

Q: What about masturbation?

A: Masturbation is a huge problem. Of course, it is a loss of energy, it is indulgent of desire, and it creates poisonous psychological results. It needs to be renounced completely. It is worse than intercourse with orgasm, because there is a loss of energy outside of the vagina, it creates a greater loss than if it occurs during sexual connection. The penis undergoes peristalsis after ejaculation which provides some replacement of vital energy when this occurs in the vagina. When it occurs outside, that peristalsis only manages to get cold air, and this causes an additional damage.  There are also some teachings that talk about masturbation without orgasm or ejaculation – this is also wrong! That is a type of black vajroli mudra. It does not work like that. You need the opposite force (male-female). Of course, we teach the white vajroli mudra as a part of our Exercises of Rejuvenation, because everything has its opposite. But that is too much to talk about here. Masturbation makes one dumb, sadly. I say ‘sadly’ because so many people are doing it. It diminishes the intellect. People don’t want to hear that, but it is the truth. There may be people who are still intellectual, who masturbate a lot, but, they use their rationality only to satisfy their growing ego. Their reasoning becomes 100% subjective and their only moral compass is: that which satisfies my desires is “good” and that which does not satisfy my desires is “evil.”

A person who is interested in these teachings, they much first renounce the habit of masturbation if they have it. They will then learn that they may be very acutely aware of how addicted they are to it. It is a real addiction. It takes a lot of effort, but it is possible to overcome those negative habits.

The Great Work is the most difficult thing, but it is also the most wonderful thing.

Q: About HAM SAH. Here I did not see any mention of retaining the breath.

A: To clarify the HAM SAH: you breathe in through your nose slowly, and deeply. You do not rush that. You fill your lungs up, and hold it for a moment. Not forever, just for a second or two. When you exhale, it is very relaxed. The exhale is different than the inhale. The inhale is slower, and the exhale is a little faster, but it does not need to be very loud, or be a big dramatic event when you say “SAH”.  The more you practice, the more you can sense how that energy is flowing. In the beginning it may be a little more vague. When you start practicing it, it becomes obvious that the energy starts the flow. The mind becomes clearer, the vital body becomes clarified, and the mind becomes a little sharper. Some people like to do HAM-SAH like it is a work out, like to “reps” with a lot of force, huffing and puffing, breathing heavily, and that is not really it. It is not just physical breath, but the vital energy that needs to the move. The breath is just a part of it. My best advice is to reflect, because it is not physical, it is more related to your vital body, to the energy there, than just a physical exertion.

The HAM-SAH reminds us of the Swan of Immaculate Whiteness, the White Dove, the Third Logos, or Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a very deep topic. It is the third sephiroth of the Tree of Life, Binah. Binah is the aspect of the Trinity which splits into the Duality: a trinity of masculinity, and a trinity of femininity, which then unite. That is the mystery of Daath, which creates the whole universe. So, the Holy Spirit has a feminine and a masculine aspect. The feminine aspect is also known as the Kundalini. It is the tongues of fire above the apostles in the Book of Acts.

Everyone has the right to experiencing the Holy Spirit this but it is not a matter of belief. You have to do the work with your sexual energy.