Amrit Sadhana

Is there a connection between orgasm and meditation? The thought seems to be horrifying to the moralistic mind. The common notion goes something like this: “The profane experience of orgasm cannot be in any way related to the sacred act of meditation.” Right?

“Wrong,” says the latest research of scientists published in the Scientific American, a magazine devoted to scientific discoveries. Research shows that orgasm and meditation create much the same effect in our brain.
It is well known that our brain is divided into two hemispheres: the right and the left. Each part has different functions, which are diametrically opposed to each other. Linear reasoning and language functions such as grammar and vocabulary often are lateralised to the left hemisphere, whereas artistic abilities, holistic approach are the functions of the right hemisphere of the brain. There is some evidence that the right hemisphere is more involved in processing novel situations, while the left hemisphere is most involved when routine or well-rehearsed processing is needed.
Considering this, the moralistic view that orgasm is profane and meditation sacred is unscientific. The bliss created by orgasmic experience gets registered in the brain. And so is registered the peace and silence generated by meditation. The scientific study says meditation and orgasm light up different parts of the brain. Meditation lights up the left prefrontal cortex — an area associated with joy and happiness. But during an orgasm, the left cortex remains totally silent. Meditation has also been known to create lasting change in the brain through a thickening of the cortex.
Osho has strongly put forward the spiritual value of orgasm. He said that orgasmic experience can be the gateway to superconsciousness: “The experience of orgasm itself is always nonsexual. Even though you have achieved it through sex, it itself has no sexuality in it. And my own understanding is that meditation has grown out of the experience of orgasm.”
Osho has also stated that human beings are magnetically attracted to sex because the orgasm attained through intercourse gives them an experience of timelessness and egolessness. This was another blow that angered people who had experienced neither orgasm nor meditation. It seems orgasm for them was equivalent to ejaculation.
Interestingly, the French term for orgasm is la petite mort or “the little death”. This little death is the death of the ego, or the state of egolessness, which happens after an
intense orgasmic explosion when the ego dissolves, maybe for a fraction of a second. With the ego, dies the sense of time. Hence, one feels timelessness. This is the bliss or samadhi or superconsciousness the mystics talk about.
Apparently, our ancestors were wiser than us because they had acknowledged and accepted sex very easily and naturally. There is a beautiful statement in Sanskrit that sex and superconsciousness are siblings. Kamananda and Bhrahmananda are sahodar (siblings). They had no qualms about uttering “sex” and “the Brahman” in the same breath because they were holistic people; they could perceive existence as one undivided whole. Their innocence was not polluted by the ethical attitude that creates guilt about everything that is natural, desirable or enjoyable. Sexuality is neither moral nor immoral, it is amoral, existential. It is the essence of creation.
Osho delves even deeper into the close relatedness of orgasm and meditation. He says that those who have not experienced orgasm cannot relax into meditation because they are bombarded by thoughts. They simply cannot get rid of the flow of thoughts because the energy that was unused in sex keeps lurking in the mind, creates a burden and so the person is bogged down by thoughts. The mind has to be uncluttered, unburdened so that you can dive into the depths of your being. If your basic needs are unfulfilled, how can you go beyond the mind?
Stress is killing the modern man because he has neither orgasm nor meditation as a support system. It is the same life energy that moves through these two. Condemning one and eulogising the other is not going to help.

— The author is in the management team of Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune. She facilitates meditation workshops around the country and abroad.