THE HOLINESS OF SEX: A RELIGIOUS ISSUE

People are shy to talk about sex when it comes to a social gathering, religious ceremony, classroom setting, media, and public place, etc. Even preachers are avoiding matters related to sex and they don’t talk about this matter by considering it a dirty or sensitive issue. On the other hand, readers are aware that recently many so-called “Spiritual Giants” (Religious Gurus) are caught in rape cases. They were behaving (talking) as if they have victory over sex. They were trustworthy by people. I am talking about us (Indians) and not about all people (around the globe). It is also a reality that when some close friends sit together, they enjoy sharing stories of sexual immorality of other people. They share each other about the joy of their own intimate experiences of sexual pleasure too. In this way, they get training also to do “sexual things.” Many people are hypocrites because they are sexually immoral but forced to present themselves as righteous people to get acceptance and respect from others. Many people share with their close friends about their sexual pleasures or experiences of their adulterous acts. According to the word “many”, I don’t know how “many” but I know that they exist in India in a big number. Many are judgemental against others and jealous of other people (who enjoy sexual pleasure). They hate others because others are involved in adultery but they themselves enjoy that. We see in the news that youths (boys and girls) are being beaten by the crowd because of their sexual relationships (love affairs). We don’t know how many in those particular crowds are “holy” and “blameless” to judge these so-called immoral couples. We know that while beating these love birds, those heroes of the crowd speak sexually abusive words and by which we can conclude that those heroes are not holy but they can do many things if people are not around. There are so many things but I have presented only this much to share a little glimpse of the present scenario. Things are not simply like this. There are serious reasons behind that. I can’t present everything because I am a limited man but I will narrate something special.
Many Spiritual leaders (not all) of India have presented sex as the enemy of  Spirit (spirituality). They see sexual desires as a challenge to win. If they win sex, they won everything. It is believed and religious scriptures are interpreted by modern spiritual teachers by explaining that Sages (Saints) tried to win sexual desires and while they were trying to win, they were tempted by different powers. When they were involved in extreme devotion, they were lured by different powers to indulge in sexual desires. Whoever could pass that test, was the winner over sex and it is believed that the particular sage has reached a special stage where a normal man can’t reach. That is one of the reasons, religious teachers try to win sexual desires and encourage others to crush sexual desires. They try to avoid intimacy with the opposite sex to grow in spirituality and advocate the same for others. When these spiritual teachers are their heroes (religious icons), youths try to follow their words and when they (youths) fail, they hate their bodies. This type of attitude towards sex brings an environment in the community to avoid matters related to sexuality and sexual issues. There are other groups of Spiritual teachers who try to prove that sex is not unholy but it is not right for spiritual leaders because if they are involved in worldly pleasures, they can’t serve the community better. So, to avoid the personal burden and to fully involve in the work of goodness, they avoid sexual pleasures. There are modern youths who are straight forward and they directly ask, “if sex is unholy, why these saints are born of sex?” If sex is unholy, why Holy God is creating life out of sex? Many of these youths are arrogant and they don’t believe in the so-called myth of sexual morality. They don’t want to limit sex in boundaries. I don’t favor them but I am presenting about the reality of the modern community. There are confusions and objections to explanations, which finally lead to chaos or confrontations. There are other groups in the Indian community which believe that sex is holy by nature but it is misused when it crosses the boundaries of religious scriptures and sanctity of the marital relationship. So they believe that a religious leader or a layman can enjoy sexual-relationship only in marriage and the extramarital affair is unholy. In many religious sects, it is almost compulsory to get mary and involve in spiritual activities. Of course, there are religious rules of dos and don’ts in the marital sexual relationship too. When we dig deep, we find that there are so many thoughts and ideologies, which influence our youths and our silence on these issues  makes it more complicated. When we try to answer, there come many more questions that demand complete answers from us. A long way for religious teachers to go to deal with these questions. Even it is not easy to get questions from them.