Every day, when you have extra energy from food, from prana, from air that is more than just surviving, that energy gets stored. In the yogic understanding, it moves through the seven dhatus (”layers,” “elements,” “body tissues”), from plasma and digestion, to blood, to muscle, to bone, to the nerve cells, and finally to the creative potential. All that extra energy will make us aroused and want to make love.
The Flow of Energy
Professor Victor Frankl’s studies of concentration camps show that the first thing that disappears when you starve people is the wish for sex. There is just no polarity because there is no extra energy. All you have is the food for today.
However, the way that nature is programmed, when there is a bit of extra energy, that extra energy becomes a wish for procreation, and a strength, a virility in the case of men. That creative potential will either go towards a creative purpose, an art, a job, or transformation, or towards getting aroused. Arousal will either go towards a loving fusion, or it will be explosive through masturbation, or it will be suppressed. This is the flow of energy.
The Monastic Approach
Monks would tend to eat less. In Christianity, they speak of crucifying the passions, mortifying the body, so that there is less extra energy for the day and then they don’t get aroused. The monks aim to assimilate a very refined form of spiritual energy rather than getting energy from food that will lead to arousal.
Christian monks fast, hold vigils and don’t sleep through the night. Buddha attained enlightenment very much through fasting, and many Buddhist monks only eat until 12:30 and eat very little. They try to reduce their vital energy, and this is their way of managing the energy flow.
The Tantric Approach
When we refer to the tantric approach, we aim to put all the creative potential to use through transformation, sublimation, and purpose. Tantric practitioners can eat well, sleep enough and yet handle the creative potential. We don’t mind. We want to have a lot of creative potential, a lot of Ojas (the vital life force), and then we will sublimate it.
This is our point of view when it comes to periods of abstinence, but also generally in life. We handle the creative potential through sublimation, not through mortification.
The monastic path reduces the energy at its source, while the tantric path welcomes the energy fully and directs it consciously. Both are valid paths, but the difference is significant. To learn more about Tantra, you are welcome to visit our online or on-site retreats and events, and check out our articles and the YouTube channel.
This article was transcribed and edited by Tony from the following video:
