Sex and Karma

Karma, as seen by most people, is a passive force. But in reality, the root of the word “karma” has to do with action, work deeds, and functions. Karmayoga, the principle lesson found in the Bhagavad Gita, defines karma only as action. More importantly, karma is the determination of whether an action is right or wrong. In Indian tradition, the rightness or wrongness of a given action has to do with dharma, or duty; but one’s duty is not what one is told to do. Rather, it is the meaning that underlies your life, that determines what you should do with everything that is you.

But what do sex and karma have to do with one another? It is that right-seeking sex will build positive karma, while wrong-seeking sex will build negative karma. Regardless of what you have been taught, sex is not always “bad” or “good” in a spiritual sense; rather, it is the intention behind it that may or may not be evil. Sex itself is a neutral action.

In Indian belief, right actions result in deposits of good karma, and evil deeds result in deposits of bad karma, in one’s soul. Whether at any given moment you have good karma was referred to as apurva, the “unpreceded” state. Karma itself is the action, not the state, so you (to make it ridiculously simplified) karma yourself good or bad, while your apurva has the state of being good or bad. Karma, these actions, are transient. Your good deed and bad deed will be in the past soon. However, your apurva is a constant state.

Just to give you an idea of how it works, imagine a little boy wearing white sitting on the edge of a huge mud puddle. He splashes at the edges, getting just a little mud on his clothes; then he decides to take the real plunge and runs through the middle, splashing mud all over his clothes. The splashing – the actions – are transient. The fun is soon gone. But the mud is left behind, and the trouble will start when he gets home to his mother (which he can delay, but never completely put off). Instead of cleaning his clothes, she makes him clean them himself, and it takes him a long time to figure out how, and then a long time to get every trace out. The cleaning, also, is transient. But the state of the clothes, if not acted upon, is permanent.

In just the same way, karmic actions stain our souls, to end with consequences either now or in a future life. It is much better for apurva overall to not splash in the mud to begin with – but then you never find out how to clean the mud from yourself!

Many researchers and theorists believe that sex and karma can be closely related, in that sex can create karma both good and bad. Sex expresses itself primarily through the first and second chakras, those that are closest to the base of the body and to the Kundalini at the base of the spine.

Sexual energy is among the most intense of human energies, related closely to intensity and focus. When used without regard to good or evil, it can be very destructive indeed (imagine sex with the intent to destroy the other person or someone else in a relationship with either participant, and you can easily see just socially and personally how destructive it is!) The karmic actions of sex stain or clean our apurva, which we have inherited throughout many lifetimes. Do we owe someone because of actions that harmed them? Then we must make up for the damages.

Karma is changed not by the other person’s perception, not by the perception of God, but by our own perceptions. Did repaying the debt completely eliminate the negative effects on the apurva? Then we have had a positive karmic effect.

In essence, the relation between karma and sex has everything to do with taking responsibility for the self in sexual relations. This makes it closely related, also, to self-control, the critical component of sex magick. If you have not controlled yourself adequately, then you can’t possibly improve your apurva, and you will feel guilty rather than powerful. When you accept your apurva, and the fact that you have shaped it yourself, without self-abuse in that acceptance, you can start to change your karmic actions for the better.

Using sex and karma together can be wonderfully healing. What actions cause guilt, and which cause you to feel good about yourself, rather than just physically good? The latter actions change your apurva for the better, and result in more positive karmic power for you.