Themes :
Sexual Union

Many mystics draw parallels between the ecstatic state and sexual union. This can be shocking to more orthodox religious sensibilities, but the comparison can be appropriate.

The kundalini is located at the base of the spine. Its rising is often signaled by a heat or pressure in the seat. A pleasant tension and sense of opening in the perineum -- the point between the anus and the genitals -- is felt.

Without wanting to sound crass, I can't deny that this sensation is similar to orgasm. But, whereas the typical sexual orgasm is focused outward and quickly dissipates, this energy turns inward and upward, spreading a glowing awareness of bliss throughout the body and mind.

Certain spiritual traditions such as Tantra and Taoism sometimes make a conscious use of this energetic parallel and seek to awaken the kundalini energy through sacred sexual practices.

On an even deeper level, this union is the merging of the individual sense of self with with the Divine, the Eternal Self.

Poems with the theme of Sexual Union

  For Freedom
  Abulafia, Rabbi Abraham Circles 3 (from Life of the Future World)
  Attar, Farid ud-Din About True Seekers
  Basava The waters of joy
  Berry, Wendell Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
  Broughton, James The Gardener of Eden
  Clare of Assisi Draw me after You!
  Clare of Assisi O blessed poverty
  Clare of Assisi When You have loved, You shall be chaste
  Emre, Yunus Let Them Have Paradise
  Fox, John Simple Living
  Fox, John When Jewels Sing
  Ghalib, Mirza The Rose with its redolent petals
  Granger, Ivan M. Bent
  Gyatso, Chone Lama Lodro A Dance of Unwavering Devotion
  Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) Covers Her Face with Both Hands
  Hawkes, Patricia Isabella
  Hayati, Bibi Before there was a hint of civilization
  Ibn al-Farid, Umar I sought her from myself (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
  Janabai There is nothing empty of divine
  Jayadeva My heart values his vulgar ways (from The Gitagovinda)
  Jayadeva When spring came, tender-limbed Radha wandered (from The Gitagovinda)
  Jeffers, Robinson Rock and Hawk
  John of the Cross Dark Night
  Kalidas (Edwards, Lawrence) The Mind Like a Firefly
  Kerouac, Jack Bowery Blues
  Kerouac, Jack The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
  Kuzminsky, Irina A Sequence of Embraces
  Lee, Li-Young Nativity
  Li Bai In the Quiet Night
  Li Bai Quiet Thoughts, Late
  Machado, Antonio The Waterwheel
  Mahadevi, Akka It was like a stream
  Maharshi, Ramana The Marital Garland of Letters
  Merton, Thomas A Practical Program for Monks
  Milarepa Response to a Logician
  Milosz, Czeslaw Late Ripeness
  Mirabai No one knows my invisible life
  Mueller, Lisel Why I Need the Birds
  Oliver, Mary Bone
  P'ang Yun (Layman P'ang) The mind is like a reflection in a mirror
  Rahman Baba The One
  Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Who is that Syama woman
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (2) From each and every pore (from Year of the Goddess)
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin Inner Wakefulness
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin A World with No Boundaries (Ghazal 363)
  Saraha The Royal Song of Saraha (Dohakosa)
  Sarmad My friend, engage your heart in his embrace
  Sarton, May Bliss
  Sarton, May New Year Resolve
  Saure, Gunter The Meeting
  Soseki, Muso Old Creek
  Stafford, William At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border
  Stein, Edith Novena Of The Holy Spirit
  Symeon the New Theologian By what boundless mercy, my Savior
  Symeon the New Theologian How is it I can love You
  Symeon the New Theologian The Light of Your Way
  Szekely, Edmond Bordeaux I will praise thy works (from The Communions)
  Tagore, Rabindranath On many an idle day have I grieved over lost time (from Gitanjali)
  Tilopa Song of the Mahamudra (Tilopa's Song to Naropa)
  Tukaram The Price?
  Underhill, Evelyn Dynamic Love
  Vivekananda Kali the Mother
  Waghray, Raj When the heart speaks...
  Whitman, Walt [2] Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes (from Song of Myself)
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