Why is one of the highest achievements in Dharma, Yoga, and Bhakti freedom from sex?

Question

Why is one of the highest achievements in Dharma, Yoga, and Bhakti freedom from sex, freedom from sex desire, and absolute celibacy?

Thanks for all the nice answers. The purpose of Dharma, Yoga, and Bhakti is to realize our true identity as an eternal being. Sex life isn't necessary on the eternal platform of existence.

DHARMA
http://japa-mala.org

Answer 1

Because this sex desire is what is keeping us attached to this material world. It is what makes this world go. It is a huge illusion. It is only selfish desire and nothing spiritual about it. It is based on the bodily conception of life and has nothing to do with us (the soul) if we don't give up sex desire and become celibate we will be attached to this body and material conception of life and it will be impossible to think of God at the time of death. Best to absorb the mind on the Holy names and offer all of our activities to God then we will very easily be able to give up this material bondage of sex desire and at the end of life Return to the eternal Kingdom. Where their is no more birth death, old age or disease or afflictions. There we all just love God and all of His associates.

Answer 2

Sex is the Basic Instinct (‘t’was a very average movie known only for showing Sharon's tïts and her re-crossing her legs); a year or ten after meeting someone we may forget their eye colour or what they were wearing but we will never forget their sex.

Sex is seen by some religionists as an enslaver; if you can tame that basic instinct, or at least manage it, that undivided power of energy and thought can go into contemplation of the divine.

The Holy Roman Catholic Crutch expected their priests to be Celibate; this used to mean 'Unmarried' but soon included 'Chaste'. Apparently back in the olden days when priests were overtly randy they used to get married too and when he died the wife would get all his stuff - the HRCC didn't like this cos it reckoned it was losing Stuff that was theirs by right so they brought in the Celibate rule and it's been in ever since for no other reason than the HRCC doesn't want to lose any more of its Stuff – it’s the richest corporation in the world and pays no property tax or any other tax.

There’s good money to be made from religion IF you can keep a straight face.

[edit]
Why is sex akin to 'seeing god' because the orgasm in French is "la petite mort" or 'little death'.

Answer 3

This goes back to an ancient idea that a discharge of sexual energy in the form of an orgasm depletes the organism of the energy necessary for spiritual transformation. This is in the tradition of renunciation of the world - the entire world, even its reproduction, as the world is nothing but a snare that traps the soul in a mesh of endless desire (Maya). To say that this is a severe way of looking at the world is an understatement.
You won't find any of these people saying "Gee, isn't Life miraculous?" For them, Life is the whole problem. That's why Zen Buddhists liked to cultivate rock gardens, in which nothing grew. Life is so terribly distracting...

Answer 4

You need to rephrase your question. Freedom from sex is not at all a highest achievement; but in fact, it's the first step - a beginning towards liberation.

There are many benefits of controlling your sexual desire like - better concentration, better will power, better physical strength. But, the basic idea is "Conservation of Energy" for spiritual purposes. A person who cannot control his carnal urge, can never control any of his senses & thus, remains a slave of his desires.

Answer 5

As Eastern philosophies focus on freeing the self from desires/wanting, sex would be included here. The desire for sex, or anything, is the avoidance of something else. Humans fear being alone. Sex and relationships are an antidote to this fear.

Answer 6

The idea of Dharma is to learn to transend the barriers or limitations placed on us by our thoughts and to find joy and freedom expression. We are slaves to our emotions, fears, desires, opinions, etc. Sex is one of the strongest of these. Even the most transformed humans tend to reach the boundary of their limitation in sex ual activity and the emotions surrounding that. So the thought was that if we free ourself from sex, that would bring us into greater state of freedom.

The problem is that that thought was incorrect. Limiting sexual experiences created another barrier that limits both joy and freedom of expression.

Answer 7

This world is like a banyan tree-everything here is upside down--what we call love is actually lust--there is real love in the spiritual world but in order to attain that love we have to give up selfish lust--a moth is attracted to fire but it dies by that fire-a praying mantis is attracted to a mate and then the female turns around and kills him -it isn't against dharma to have sex to have children with ones married partner--but to take shelter of sex as an answer to love will only lead to a huge let down-love is the opposite of lust.

Answer 8

"Bindu to Ogis" is the concept that sexual energy can be transmuted to spiritual energy by retaining that sexual energy and pulling it up through the chakra with awareness. (2 to 4 and higher). It is used explicitly in a joint effort in Tantra. The other schools I think really focus on a more permanent retention/transformation instead of exchange of that energy. Also, since the sex drive is one our strongest it creates much of the useless desire-noise in our beings, so schools have risen to limit its control over us.

Giving things up is a start. Eventually it is best for a person to give up giving up.

Answer 9

I've never heard that it is, but possibly because sex is one of the post potent drives in the human psychi.

The greatest achievements are freeom from desire and attachment.

Most of the Eastern philosophies and religions believe that the cause of suffering is "want" (or desire and attachment) in itself.

When we want something, we suffer because we don't have it. When we lose something, we suffer because we were attached to it, and we were attached to it because we wanted it.

Freedom of sex and sexual desire is simply one more aspect of freeing oneself of desires and attachments.

Answer 10

Why there should be freedom from sex? Sex is physical need and should be satisfied with wife only. Follow all yogas as laid down in Geeta.