Arthur Fonzarelli?<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 1:49 PM, Paul Rumelhart <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:godshatter@yahoo.com">godshatter@yahoo.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
In my personal opinion, his sexual proclivities or lack thereof are irrelevant.<br>
His views on and actions relating to nonviolence and civil disobedience are<br>
still to be cherished regardless of who he slept with or didn't sleep with. I<br>
don't know about others, but Gandhi has never been high on my list of people to<br>
look towards for examples of how I want to live my sex life. I'm hard pressed<br>
to decide who I should look towards as an example, but I'm sure that Gandhi is<br>
not it.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
<br>
Paul<br>
</font><div class="im"><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
----- Original Message ----<br>
From: "<a href="mailto:nickgier@roadrunner.com">nickgier@roadrunner.com</a>" <<a href="mailto:nickgier@roadrunner.com">nickgier@roadrunner.com</a>><br>
To: <a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>
Sent: Wed, March 30, 2011 9:43:21 AM<br>
Subject: [Vision2020] Sexual Revelations about Gandhi Blown out of Proportion<br>
<br>
</div><div><div></div><div class="h5">WAS GANDHI A TANTRIC?<br>
<br>
By Nick Gier, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho<br>
<br>
It is now widely known that Gandhi shared his bed with young women as part of<br>
his experiments in brahmacharya, a Sanskrit word usually translated as<br>
"celibacy," but generally understood as the ultimate state of yogic<br>
self-control.<br>
<br>
<br>
Gandhi believed that Indian ascetics who sought refuge in forests and mountains<br>
were cowards, and he was convinced that the only way to conquer sexual desire<br>
was to face the temptation head-on with a naked female in his bed.<br>
<br>
I take Gandhi at his word that he did not have carnal relations with these<br>
women—his sleeping quarters were open to all to observe—so he was not among the<br>
"left-handed" Tantrics who engage in ritual sex with their yoginis. Tantrics<br>
believe that, under the guidance of a guru and tightly controlled parameters,<br>
people can gain spiritual liberation by means of sexual intercourse.<br>
<br>
<br>
Gandhi was not a "right-handed" Tantric either, because this school views the<br>
male-female dynamic in symbolic terms only and proscribes intimate contact with<br>
women.<br>
<br>
<br>
For Gandhi the virtues of patience, self-control, and courage were absolutely<br>
essential to defeat the temptation to retaliate and respond with violence.<br>
Gandhi made it clear that each of these virtues were found most often in women.<br>
Gandhi once said that he wanted to convert the woman=s capacity for<br>
"self-sacrifice and suffering into shakti-power." Shakti, the power of the Hindu<br>
Goddess, is at the center of Tantric ritual and worship.<br>
<br>
The women around Gandhi were amazed how comfortable they felt in his presence.<br>
His orphaned grandniece Manu considered Gandhi as her new mother, and she simply<br>
could not understand all the controversy surrounding their sleeping together.<br>
The fact that women felt no unease in his presence was proof to Gandhi that he<br>
was approaching perfection as a brahmachari.<br>
<br>
Of the 16 women closely associated with Gandhi, nine were said to have slept in<br>
his bed. Most accounts of Gandhi’s sexual experiments focus on those with Manu<br>
in 1946-47.<br>
<br>
Although he conceded at the time that it “may be a delusion and a snare,” he was<br>
still confident that sleeping with Manu was a “bold and original experiment,”<br>
one that required a “practiced brahmachari” such as he was, and a woman such as<br>
Manu who was free from passion. Confessing as she might not even have done with<br>
her own mother, Manu told Gandhi that she had not ever experienced sexual<br>
desire.<br>
<br>
Presumably because of these ideal conditions, Gandhi predicted that the “heat<br>
would be great.” It is not clear whether Gandhi was speaking of yogic heat or<br>
the heat of the negative reactions that he anticipated.<br>
<br>
<br>
One has to admire Manu because it was she, not Gandhi, who suggested that they<br>
not sleep together any longer. One cannot admire Gandhi when he said that the<br>
experiments ceased because of Manu’s “inexperience,” not because of any failing<br>
on his part.<br>
<br>
Gandhi’s "sacred" experiments actually started at his Sevagram ashram as early<br>
as 1938, when his wife Kasturba was still alive. Sushila Nayar not only slept<br>
with him there, but also gave him regular massages in front of visitors.<br>
<br>
<br>
Sushila explains: "Long before Manu came into the picture, I used to sleep with<br>
him just as I would with my mother. . . . In the early days there was no<br>
question of calling this a brahmacharya experiment. It was just part of a nature<br>
cure."<br>
<br>
The fact that Gandhi changed the justification for these experiments after<br>
closer public scrutiny suggests that his motivation for these actions may not<br>
have been as pure as he wanted people to assume.<br>
<br>
In an extremely candid confession, Gandhi admits that at Sevagram he had made a<br>
grave mistake: "I feel my action was impelled by vanity and jealousy. If my<br>
experiment was dangerous, I should not have undertaken it. . . . My experiment<br>
was a violation of the establishment norms of brahmacharya." Gandhi, however,<br>
did not maintain his resolve, because shortly thereafter intimate contact with<br>
women of the ashram resumed.<br>
<br>
<br>
There is evidence that these activities were having a deleterious effect on the<br>
women’s mental health. There was intense competition among the women for<br>
Gandhi’s attention, and several visitors attested to definite signs of<br>
psychological turmoil among them.<br>
<br>
Swami Ananda and Kedar Nath, two visitors with substantial spiritual<br>
credentials, queried Gandhi as follows: “Why do we find so much disquiet and<br>
unhappiness around you. Why are your companions emotionally unhinged?”<br>
<br>
In conclusion, if we can call Gandhi a Tantric, then it is a very unique<br>
nonritualistic, nonesoteric practice combing aspects of both left- and<br>
right-handed Tantric schools.<br>
<br>
<br>
It also must be said, no matter how much we want to hold Gandhi in the highest<br>
esteem, that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that Gandhi was<br>
inconsistent in his justifications for his sexual experiments and not completely<br>
sincere in carrying them out.<br>
<br>
<br>
This would then lead one to question whether these experiments were a spiritual<br>
necessity or simply a personal indulgence and abuse of power. If the goal of<br>
the true Tantric is to transform sexual desire into something sacred, then<br>
personally I am less and less certain that Gandhi achieved this goal.<br>
<br>
<br>
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