Is it OK to Masturbate? – Sadhguru Answers

Semen is of an extraordinary level of potency. You are using it to spill it on the JNU bedsheets, okay? If that's how you're using it, well, that's your compulsion. We have a biology, we cannot put it under the carpet, it's there. Body has its needs, as there is physical hunger, so there is sexuality, but to what extent is your choice. So in the yogic culture, this is called as virya. It is one of the most potent things. Obviously, it has a potency if you know how to explore. Namaskaram Sadhguru. I want to know that when a student steps into college, all of a sudden he gets… he or she gets access to a huge amount of pornographic material, which so far was off-limits for him or her. And in the process, he or she enjoys that. And as we said, he experiences, he or she experiences heaven on earth. But… and we even have nicknames for those people who overdo it, they masturbate. We overdo it sometimes. So how do we know how much of that is good or bad? And so, can we have the truth about masturbation? Oh, looked like a popular question. See, we have a biology, we cannot put it under the carpet, it's there. It's best we address it for what it is. But right now the problem in the world is, because certain religious institutions in the world took this attitude that the very biology of the human being is wrong. Because of this, culture started hiding it under the carpet. Well, in this culture, we never had it, but after the British came and left, we became more prudish than the British. But before that, if you look at our temples, all the outside temple art is all pornographic, if that's what you want to call it. But we don't call it pornographic. We are only talking about the various dimensions of human biology. Because we don't see it as wrong, but we see it as the periphery of life. If you stay there only, you will stay on the physical dimension forever, you will not explore anything else. So in the temple art, always it's the periphery. You are supposed to look at that and understand it's the periphery of life and try to make an attempt to go deeper, but at the same time not to be in denial of it. Not to glorify it or not to be in denial of it is the most important thing. But in your college, watching these things on the… whatever, your internet or whatever, people tell me that… somebody told me, I don't know if these percentages are correct. When I was asking, what is the content, I was trying to understand the internet and its content, what is the real content on the internet, they're telling me, you should know, they're telling me seventy percent of the content on the internet is pornography. Is it so? Is it so? You must be the expert. Is somebody doing PhD on it? They told me seventy percent. I said seventy percent is unreasonable and sick levels of pornography. If it occupies a small percentage, it's okay. Seventy percent of a technological platform which could do millions of things unfortunately is pornographic. Just biology of life is very unfortunate because once you come as a human being, your biology is not the front end of your life. It is one part of your life. This cerebral capability came so that your intelligence becomes the front end of your life and if you become conscious, your consciousness becomes the front end of your life. Biology is the front end of a bull. It's okay for him, that's all he knows. But biology should not be the front end of a human life. It is part of our life. We are not denying it. So, at a certain stage in your life, it's like this. A ninety-five-year-old man went for a medical checkup with his doctor. The doctor did a thorough checkup and said, Hey, old boy, you're doing great for ninety-five, no problem with you. Then the old man asked, Doctor, but what about my sex life? Then the doctor looked at him and asked, Thinking about it or talking about it? So, at different stages of life, there are some times you only think about it and talk about it. There are some times you indulge in it. These are passing phases of life. How much of it is needed for you, you are the best judge. But at the same time, you came here not to explore your biology. At least you should have gone to MSc in biology. You shouldn't be wasting your time in a technological institute exploring biology. Does it mean to say you don't have biology? You don't have biological needs, you have, it's fine. But it must be on the periphery. It should not become the core of your life because it will reduce you. In the sense, a creature which was purely biological evolved into a place which has an intelligence of its own beyond its biology. See, animal intelligence works for its biology alone. How to get its food, how to get its mate, this is all its entire life is. If human intelligence also functions like that, you are belaying the evolutionary process. You are seeing how to go back, take the evolutionary process backward. Not necessary. This does not mean you do not have a body. Body has its needs. As there is physical hunger, so there is sexuality. You have to address it in some way. But to what extent is your choice. But definitely it should not be the front end of your life because you're rolling back evolutionary scheme of putting your intelligence and consciousness in the front. Instead of that, you're putting your biology in the front. How important is a man's semen for physical, mental and spiritual well-being? Can wasting our semen damage us spiritually? Well, you know, semen is the basis of your physical existence, whether you're a man or a woman. You have come into existence because that is fifty percent of the ingredient. Yes? Well, we have skin, we have epithelial cells, we have hair, we have many other aspects of body, you know, heart, liver, kidney, so many things. All these cells are of a certain potency in their own way. But semen is of an extraordinary level of potency, it can create a whole new life. Well, today you can take an epithelial cell and do lot of things in a laboratory and maybe we can clone you, all right? So the potential is here also, but it is not in the same dynamics as it is in the… a cell, which is… which you're referring to as semen. So in the yogic culture, this is called as virya. Virya also refers to what you call as vajra, which means stability or diamond, which is the hardest thing. So in the human body, virya is considered to be like vajra. That means it is one of the most potent things if you know how to use it. Well, how to use it means you can use it to produce a child. That's one thing. Well, if you are… this question is coming because you are using it to spill it on the JNU bedsheets. Okay. If that's how you're using it, well, that's your compulsion, you're doing whatever you're doing. I'm… this is not something to be judged morally. That's not the point. It's a question of what is the level of compulsion that one has. But anything in this body, can it be transformed into a different level of function? Absolutely. Not just semen, just everything in this body can be transformed. See, suppose I give you all soup making ingredients, same soup making ingredients to every one of you, do you believe all of you will produce the same soup? No. You will produce five hundred varieties of soups, those same ingredients. That's all that's happened with us right now. All of us are fundamentally same ingredients, but see how different each one of us are. Different soups. Well, if I give you soup making ingredients, either you can make a great soup or a lousy soup. Depends what kind of skills you have, isn't it? So this goes for everything, not just for semen. Every dimension of your body and your mind, you can transform into something tremendous or you can make it mediocre or you can make it a serious problem. Every aspect of your life, that goes for this aspect of life also. This same energy, see, people are making it literal translations, but if you want to produce a certain, let's say epithelial cells, how much energy the body spends on it? And if you want to produce a cell which you call as semen, how much energy body spends is very different. This can be scientifically established. So, when you're investing so much energy in that, obviously it has a potency if you know how to explore. But are you competent to explore? Are you capable of exploring? Do you have the necessary sadhana and guidance to do that? That's a big question mark.