Theos-Talk Archives (August 1998 Message tt00114)

M K Ramadoss wrote:
> The traditional view is that celibacy is essential for spiritual progress
> and enlightenment. There is the contra view of Krishnaji which questions
> this. I will try to post Krishnaji's view on this which may be very relevant.

	Of course, frequently one is given a set of choices, none of them good,
and therefore one must choose the least harmful. That was the essential
point Leadbeater was trying to make when he taught his students
masturbation: it is better to relieve the sexual tension than it is to
live with it.

	George Orwell, in 1984, pointed out that chastity (a better, more
general term) is a useful political control device. At least according
to Freudian psychology (I am not sure what the current point of view is,
and would appreciate correction if I am wrong), when the body is
deprived of sexual release, the energies can be channeled somewhere
else. The political (either secular or religious) body that demands
chastity can redirect the energies to the service of the political body.
It's a great way to manufacture fanatics.

	Now, in magical practice, there is a theory that psychic energies and
sexual energies use the same physical and etheric channels, and that
chastity increases the effectiveness of these channels. This would also
fit in with Leadbeater's observations (theosophy be the theoretical side
of occultism).

	Bart Lidofsky