Is celibacy essential for spiritual progress ?
As long as the mind dwells in the plane of the body and sense pleasures, it cannot think of subtle things. Sex is not a physical need of the body like food and water. It is a mere psychological need and in fact a remnant of the animal qualities of man. Just as the body has a few vestigial organs, sex is a vestigial faculty of the human mind. When animals have only physical means of reproduction, man has higher means. When a teacher teaches a student and passes on knowledge, the student becomes partly a mental progeny of the teacher. When an artist draws a picture which represents his thoughts, it becomes a means of his mental proliferation. Every work of creativity leaves a mark about the person in the lives and minds of generations to come. This is a unique way of reproduction endowed to man.
As long as the mind dwells in the plane of the body and sense pleasures, it cannot think of subtle things. Sex is not a physical need of the body like food and water. It is a mere psychological need and in fact a remnant of the animal qualities of man. Just as the body has a few vestigial organs, sex is a vestigial faculty of the human mind. When animals have only physical means of reproduction, man has higher means. When a teacher teaches a student and passes on knowledge, the student becomes partly a mental progeny of the teacher. When an artist draws a picture which represents his thoughts, it becomes a means of his mental proliferation. Every work of creativity leaves a mark about the person in the lives and minds of generations to come. This is a unique way of reproduction endowed to man. An animal physically attains immortality through its offsprings. A man attains mental immortality through his deeds. Both these are imperfect means to immortality. A still higher means is religio
