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The literature of ancient India deals with a
great number of scientific questions. According to ancient
Hindu-wisdom, the life of a human serves has been described in
various ways such as the theme of Astronomy, Geometry, Phonetics,
Metrics, Grammar, Medicine, Politics etc and the total goal is the
:
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Dharma (the complete collection of
virtuous, religious works as a basis for Families, Civilrights,
Codex of Behaviour, Dharmashastra, written by Manu).
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Artha (material possessions, earthly
well-being, Arthashastra, written by Kautilya).
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Kama (love and all its associated
pleasures of the senses, Kamasutra, written by Vatsyayana).
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Moksha
Dharma is obedience to the command of
the Shastra or Holy Writ of the Hindus to do certain things, such
as the performance of sacrifices, which are not generally done,
because they do not belong to this world, and produce no
visible effect and not to do other things such as eating meat,
which is often done because it belongs to this world, and has
visible effects. Dharma should be learnt from the Shruti (Holy
Writ) and from those conversant with it.
Artha is the acquisition of arts, land,
gold, cattle, wealth, equipages and friends. It is further, the
protection of what is acquired, and the increase of what is
protected. Artha should be learnt from the king's officers and
from merchants who may be versed in the ways of commerce.
Artha should always be first practiced by the king for the
livelihood of men is to be obtained from it only.
Kama Sensuous love, emotional feeling of
attachment. In ancient Indian thought is recognized as the
stimulus of action and personified as the god of erotic love. This
is the enjoyment of appropriate objects by the five senses
of hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting and smelling, assisted
by the mind together with the soul. The ingredient in this is a
peculiar contact between the organ of sense and its object, and
the consciousness of pleasure which arises from that contact
is called Kama. Kama is to be learnt from the Kama Sutra
(aphorisms on love) and from the practice of citizens. When all
the three, viz. Dharma, Artha and Kama, come together, the
former is better than the one which follows it, i.e.
Dharma is better than Artha, and Artha is better than Kama. Kama being the occupation of public women, they should
prefer it to the other two, and these are exceptions to the
general rule.
Moksha is freedom from birth and death.
In Hinduism, liberation from the bondage of worldly action is
based on detachment and freedom within oneself. The nearest
English equivalent is salvation.
According to the Kamasutra, all of these
aspects of the life of a human being, should be of equal
importance, without any of these spheres taking precedence over
the others. In order to attain a fulfilled and meaningful life,
the striving after one goal shouldn't hamper the striving after
the others. Neglecting one of these areas leads to a diminished
stability and to a dangerous imbalance in man. Practicing dharma,
artha and kama makes it possible to lead a meaningful and joyous
life in this world and the next.
Sexuality and Erotic are seen as being
important, integrated elements of the human existence - the same
as eating - and apart from serving the sensual pleasures , also
help mankind to propagate , just as eating keeps the body alive.
The sensual pleasures of erotic and sexuality not only serve to
increase the joy of life and maintain psychological balance, but
aid the further development of the mental-spiritual spheres. The
senses are perceived as being a refinement of the physical on a
higher plane of consciousness whereby, in conclusion, sexuality
and erotic contain the secret of life within them.
The Origin of the Kamasutra
According to old Indian sources, the ten
thousand chapters of the Kamasutra were announced by Prjapati, an
abstract deity who, for a long time, was regarded as the god of
creation.
Mahadeva (the High-Deity Shiva) compiled the
ten thousand chapters which in turn were compressed into five
hundred chapters by Shvetaketu, a teacher of philosophy and the
son of Udalaka. The Kamasutra was transcribed by Vatsyayana in the
form of Sutras written in Sanskrit, the ancient Indian tongue,
which even today is a living, academic language.
 Sutras
are directives or memory-jogs for adepts, which because they take
the form of short, maxims in prose, which are difficult to
understand without a commentary. We are dealing here most probably
with predecessor of the teaching-books , which was handed down by
word of mouth.
The treatises of Shvetaketu on which the
Kamasutra was based, have been lost.
The translations from the Sanskrit which we have today, refer to
recognized commentaries made in later centuries.
Buy Books of :
Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana in English : A complete translation from
the original Sanskrit by S. C. Upadhyaya.
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