Why do most “experts” say that masturbation is a good thing to do?
What is the Real Truth About
Masturbation?
by Anton Anderson
If you make a casual
search on the Internet, looking at self-help websites and
medical advice websites, you will find that most
commentators do not consider masturbation to be a problem or
a health risk. While there are religious sites that warn
that masturbators will suffer dire consequences, most other
sites give a green light for masturbation. So what is the
real truth about masturbation? Is it a harmless and natural
activity or is it a destructive habit?
According to India’s
Ayurvedic and yogic traditions the glands of our body are
fed by a subtle fluid called Shukra, which is roughly
equivalent to lymph. These schools of thought say that if a
person loses excessive amounts of seminal or sexual fluid
either in intercourse or in masturbation, then that person
will suffer from a depletion of Shukra which will result in
frequent colds, glandular swelling, joint pains and a raspy
voice in the first stage. If this is continued on a
long-term basis, the body weakened by excessive sexual
activity can be susceptible to very serious conditions such
as infertility, tuberculosis and even cancer.
From this standpoint
then it would make good sense to control one’s sexual
activity and especially to give up the habit of
masturbation. Is it possible to give up masturbation? Why
not! Although one website jokes that 90% of people
masturbate and the other 10% are lying, the fact is that
thoughtful and intelligent people can and do take measures
to promote their own physical, mental and emotional health
and learn how to control their physical desires.
It all boils down to
one crucial idea: do we want to be controlled by our
physical organs or do we want to control them with our
conscious mind. Ancient philosophers spoke of the chariot
and the charioteer. They explained that the horses of a
chariot are like our sensory and motor organs. The reins
that control these horses are our mind, and the driver is
our discriminatory intellect. If the reins of the mind are
weak then the horses will be out of control and the whole
chariot may crash.
Our body is like
this chariot. We have many physical desires but if we give
free indulgence to them we cannot maintain our health. Sure,
it is good to eat. If we don’t eat we will die. But if we
don’t control the quantity and quality of what we eat we can
become obese and this can lead to disease and premature
death. It is also good to sleep, but excessive sleep is not
healthy. We shouldn’t “kill” our physical desires (the
horses!) but we have to keep them under control. We should
find some means to make our mind strong and let our
discriminating intellect guide us along, rather than being
pulled by uncontrolled desires.
In this context,
then it makes good sense to do whatever we can to get
control of our sexual instinct. The thoughts that arise in
our minds come about in large part due to the influence of
our body on our mind. If we keep our body and environment
clean and pure, then we will have purer thoughts. The
science of yoga even prescribes foods and exercises that
help to balance our physical desires. It is not an
impossible task, but well within the reach of anyone who
wants to take back control of his or her life.
So, while some “experts” may say that “if it feels good, then do it” the
wisdom of the East says that it is better to live a balanced
and happy life by learning how to control and eliminate any
habit that is destructive to our physical, mental, emotional
or spiritual health. Masturbation is indeed a habit than can
and should be controlled.
If you would like to
learn how to apply the ideas in this article to your
personal life then please visit our website www.taketheaction.com
