Maithuna

<p >The Sanskrit word मिथुन <strong ><a href="http://gnosticteachings.org/faqs/sex/1669-what-is-maithuna.html" title="Maithuna is a reference to sacred sexuality" target="_parent" sl-processed="1" >Maithuna</a></strong> is used in Hindu Tantras (esoteric scriptures) to refer to the sacrament (sacred ritual) of sexual union between husband and wife.

<a href="http://gnosticteachings.org/faqs/sex/1669-what-is-maithuna.html" title="Maithuna is a reference to sacred sexuality" target="_parent" sl-processed="1" >Maithuna</a> or Mithuna has various appearances in scripture:</p>

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<li ><strong >Mithuna:</strong> paired, forming a pair; copulation; the zodiacal sign of Gemini in Vedic Astrology, which is depicted as a man and woman in a sexual embrace</li>

<li ><strong >Mithunaya:</strong> to unite sexually</li>

<li ><strong >Mithuni:</strong> to become paired, couple or united sexually</li>

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<p >By means of the original Tantric <a href="http://gnosticteachings.org/faqs/sex/1669-what-is-maithuna.html" title="Maithuna is a reference to sacred sexuality" target="parent" sl-processed="1" >Maithuna</a>, after being prepared psychologically and spiritually and initiated by a genuine teacher (guru), the couple learns how to utilize their love and spiritual aspiration in order to transform their natural sexual forces to purify the mind, eliminate psychological defects, and awaken the latent powers of the <a href="http://gnosticteachings.org/faqs/psychology/1720-what-is-consciousness.html" title="Consciousness is the basis of perception" target="parent" sl-processed="1" >Consciousness</a>. The man represents Shiva, the masculine aspect of the creative divine, and the woman represents Shakti, the feminine aspect and the source of the power of creation.

This method was kept in strictest secrecy for thousands of years in order to preserve it in its pure form, and to prevent crude-minded people from deviating the teaching, other people, or harming themselves. Nonetheless, some degenerated traditions (popularly called "left-hand" traditions, or black magic) interpret <a href="http://gnosticteachings.org/faqs/sex/1669-what-is-maithuna.html" title="Maithuna is a reference to sacred sexuality" target="parent" sl-processed="1" >Maithuna</a> or sacramental sexuality according to their state of degeneration, and use these sacred teachings to justify their lust, desire, orgies, and other types of deviations from pure, genuine <a href="http://gnosticteachings.org/faqs/sex/1675-what-is-tantra.html" title="Tantra means " or="" target="parent" sl-processed="1" >Tantra</a>.</p>

<p >Krishna: “And I am the strength of the strong, devoid of lust and attachment. O best of the Bharatas, I am sex not contrary to dharma.” (Bhagavad Gita 7.11)</p>

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<h1 >Quotes about <a href="http://gnosticteachings.org/faqs/sex/1669-what-is-maithuna.html" title="Maithuna is a reference to sacred sexuality" target="_parent" sl-processed="1" >Maithuna</a></h1>

<p >The Tantric student must be endowed with purity, faith, devotion, dedication to Guru, dispassion, humility, courage, cosmic love, truthfulness, non-covetousness, and contentment. Absence of these qualities in the practitioner means a gross abuse of Shaktism.

Sexual intercourse by a man with a woman <strong >who is not lawful to him</strong> is a sin. The Vaidika Dharma is very strict on this point. It forbids not merely actual <a href="http://gnosticteachings.org/faqs/sex/1669-what-is-maithuna.html" title="Maithuna is a reference to sacred sexuality" target="parent" sl-processed="1" >Maithuna</a> but Ashtanga or eightfold <a href="http://gnosticteachings.org/faqs/sex/1669-what-is-maithuna.html" title="Maithuna is a reference to sacred sexuality" target="parent" sl-processed="1" >Maithuna</a> namely Smaranam (thinking upon it), Kirtanam (talking of it), Keli (play with women), Prekshanam (making eyes at women), Guhya-bhashanam (talking in private with women), Sankalpa (wish or resolve for sexual union), Adhyavasaya (determination towards it), Kriyanishpatti (actual accomplishment of the sexual act).

A Tantric can have copulation with his wife. He calls his wife his Shakti. Wife is a house-goddess Griha-lakshmi or Griha-devata united to her husband by the sacramental Samskara of marriage. She should not be regarded as an object of enjoyment. She is his partner in life (Ardhangini). The union of a man and his wife is a veritable sacred scriptural rite. - Swami Sivananda, <a href="http://gnosticteachings.org/faqs/sex/1675-what-is-tantra.html" title="Tantra means " or="" target="_parent" sl-processed="1" >Tantra</a> Yoga</p>

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<b>Maithuna</b> or <b>Mithuna</b> is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit" title="Sanskrit" >Sanskrit</a> term used in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantra" title="Tantra" >Tantra</a> most often translated as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantric_sexuality" title="Tantric sexuality" class="mw-redirect" >sexual union</a> in a ritual context. It is the most important of the five makara and constitutes the main part of the Grand Ritual of Tantra variously known as<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchamakara" title="Panchamakara" >Panchamakara</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchatattva" title="Panchatattva" class="mw-redirect" >Panchatattva</a>, and Tattva Chakra.</p>

Mithuna, Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India.</div>

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<p >Although some writers, sects and schools e. g. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogananda" title="Yogananda" class="mw-redirect" >Yogananda</a> consider this to be a purely mental and symbolic act, a look at different variations (and translations) of the word maithuna clearly shows that it refers to male-female couples and their union in the physical, sexual sense and is synonymous with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriya" title="Kriya" class="mw-redirect" >kriya</a> nishpatti (mature cleansing). <sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maithuna#cite_note-1" >[1]</a></sup> Just as neither spirit nor matter by itself is effective but both working together bring harmony so is maithuna effective only then when the union is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consecrated" title="Consecrated" class="mw-redirect" >consecrated</a>. The couple become for the time being divine: she is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakti" title="Shakti" >Shakti</a> and he is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva" title="Shiva" >Shiva</a>. The scriptures warn that unless this spiritual transformation occurs the union is carnal and sinful.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maithuna#cite_note-2" >[2]</a></sup>

Yet, it is possible to experience a form of maithuna without physical union. The act can exist on a metaphysical plane without sexual penetration, in which the shakti and shakta transfer energy through their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtle_bodies" title="Subtle bodies" class="mw-redirect" >subtle bodies</a> alone. It is when this transfer of energy occurs that the couple, incarnated as goddess and god via diminished egos, confronts ultimate reality and experiences bliss through union of the subtle bodies.</p>

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Maithuna

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