The pursuit of love and pleasure is well documented in Indian literature and theoretical texts, its sensual and powerful nature weaving its way into the history of Indian culture. Kama, as this pursuit is so called, is all encompassing of pleasures of both carnal and more educated stature, such as the pursuit of enjoyment in drama and musical endeavors. In the literature based on the more literal sense of “love between two people” there are two distinct types of this affection: that of the carnal desire that all people possess, no matter their strength of ascetic beliefs, and the sacred love that is felt between husband and wife. The stark contrast and pull between these two types of love is felt throughout the Indian prose on Kama and is even extended into the realm of the gods, who are not above their own sexual hunger. In examining the two it is important to take into account the religious aspect that sexual consummation has because of its relationship to divine love. This paper will scrutinize both the love and lust discussed in Indian literature and will argue that ultimately though the carnal love is important to both divine and mundane life, the spiritual love is ultimately the most revered form of love that a man and woman can possess.
The first desire that will be looked at is that of the sexual lust that all people, divine and mortal, both feel and often succumb to. This love is found frequently in the poetry and dramas of the time, the rich and exotic language lending to it an almost otherworldly feeling. The first of these pieces that will be examined is the excerpt from “Signs of a Girl in Love” which comes form Vatsyayna in Kama Sutra. This portion of Kama is laden with the bashful nature that is expected from ...
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...ranslated to the weakness that lust has in its grip on humans. Even though it can come across as such a strong desire, even when presented with love incarnate himself, Shiva was able to overcome his urges just as all men can. This degradation of lust and the connection that true love has to the divine world shows that in the end sacred love is more powerful that sexual yearning.
Kama itself does not have to incarnate itself in the love between two people but this type of Kama runs rampant in much of Indian literature. The contrast between love and lust is frequently explored with both sides getting their fair share of representation in literary works. When all is said and done, however, the sanctified love that goes beyond the physical aspects of man is more honored among literary works and is more highly acclaimed among both men and their divine counterparts.
A History of Marriage by Stephanie Coontz speaks of the recent idealization of marriage based solely on love. Coontz doesn’t defame love, but touches on the many profound aspects that have created and bonded marriages through time. While love is still a large aspect Coontz wants us to see that a marriage needs more solid and less fickle aspects than just love. The first chapter begins with an exploration of love and marriage in many ancient and current cultures.
With the success of business amongst the common folk, Siddartha earns Kamala’s interest, and the two consent to partake in more intimate and personal activities: “[Siddhartha] returned to the lovely Kamala, learned the art of love, practiced the cult of pleasure, where more than anywhere else giving and taking became one…” (Hesse 59). The “art of love” that Siddhartha discovers derives from his intimate relationship, and the erotic “giving and taking” that he experiences with Kamala (Hesse 59). Through his interactions with Kamala, Siddhartha learns about the abstract idea of love; he becomes educated on the desires of others and what they find enjoyable. Siddhartha discovers value in this new idea of love created by the common folk. His discovery, and further development of the emotion opens up his mind and allows him to begin to love other humans and objects around him. Siddhartha desires become more emotionally attached due to love, and he begins to experience life in a new perspective, by giving more value to his surroundings. This new value is evident when he encounters his son in the future. Despite the son’s ungratefulness and
Love and affection is an indispensable part of human life. In different culture love may appear differently. In the poem “My god my lotus” lovers responded to each other differently than in the poem “Fishhawk”. Likewise, the presentation of female sexuality, gender disparity and presentation of love were shown inversely in these two poems. Some may argue that love in the past was not as same as love in present. However, we can still find some lovers who are staying with their partners just to maintain the relationship. We may also find some lovers having relationship only because of self-interest. However, a love relationship should always be out of self-interest and must be based on mutual interest. A love usually obtains its perfectness when it develops from both partners equally and with same affection.
Love can sometimes be seen as a counterintuitive and unconventional sense of life. The irony in it all is love could either be as warm as the Sunday morning sun or as cold as a New England winter when touched by the heart or the skin. As we grow up, if we believe we are cherished by the most respectful and admirable person, we give up the most vulnerable parts of ourselves: the body. However, throughout modern society, people tend to use sexual intercourse as a form of personal pleasure and gain without the obligations of emotions. Henceforth, stated in Sharon Olds’ “Sex Without Love”, premarital sex may be against God’s intentions to be pure but at the same time people love the priest more the teachings and are willing to go against the Lord
Paragraph one intro-What is the origin of this universal feeling known as love? It all starts with the history of love. There really is no marked beginning of this feeling that has no evidence of its existence. It could have begun scientifically with Neanderthals, or even religiously with Adam and Eve-the theories and stories are endless. Some psychiatrists claim it begins with the Oedipal suppression, where the son feels a form of love for their mother just as their daughter would feel the same for their father. As they mature and meet a potential mate who shows similar characteristics to their parents, passionate love forms between them. There is no specific answer as to why any one person falls for a particular type of person, only theories, and approaches. In this essay, we will look at all aspects of love and just what it does to the brain as well as what parts it deactivates, the things you go
Kamala spent years teaching Siddhartha about the art of love. After many years of being together, Siddhartha admits to her, “I am like you. You, too, do not love – how else could you practice love as an art? Perhaps people of our sort are incapable of love. The child people can love; that is their secret” (Hesse 63). At this point in his life...
Relationships are composed of multiple manipulating factors: trust, honesty, attraction, passion, compatibleness, and many other emotion rattling components. However, the fundamental ingredient that commences a healthy relationship is love. Love is comparable to the seeking for enlightenment. “Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal” (113). Love is natural; it is not sought out or prospective. Love is not tangible. It brings a comfort, protectiveness, disillusion, and the million of nervous butterflies that clutter a stomach. Hermann Hesse journeyed through Siddhartha’s life covering his ambivalent relationships throughout the novel. Siddhartha’s relationships fluctuated with the changes he made for himself. Once a Brahmin, he respected his father’s thoughts and followed his teachings. Craving to be a Samana, he left behind love in order to find a new. When that was not enough, his love desired more and materialistic items captured his soul. He wanted to be taught love from who he thought was a prime master only to run away from her in the end. His love then was to find his Self. The river washed all his relationships into one place. Through Hesse, Siddhartha proved that without his relationships with his father, Kamala, and himself, his path to enlightenment would have not developed.
Love and hate are powerful and contradicting emotions. Love and hate are also the subjects under examination for several centuries yet even to the present day; it remains to be a mystery. For the past centuries, writers and poets have written about love showing that the stories of love can never fade way. For this essay, I will discuss three English literature sources that talk about the theme of love and hate. These are the poem Olds "Sex without Love”, the poem Kennel "After Making Love We Hear Footsteps and the story by Hemingway "Hills like White Elephants. I will use the poems to compare the traditional stance of sex that are within the parameters of marriage and love versus the belief that love is in itself an act of pleasure
In this poem the main character is lustful of both the new man she has met in Paris as well as the man she left behind her homeland, although she was under the false perception that it was love. The often confused words 'love' and 'lust' are becoming used interchangeably more and more every day. Indeed, many definitions are being loosened up, and many words are being used improperly. When people use the words 'love' and 'lust', they should be more careful which word it is that they mean to say.
Barbara Lee Fredrickson, a psychologist, introduces a new conception of love to the readers. She tries to simplify the perception of love most people have known for their entire life. The special bonds and magical bond that continues the love for eternity are all myths and lies. Something that poisons our minds to be committed to one another. The definition of Fredrickson’s conception of “love” is more scientific than emotional. When defining love, it is more dependent on the activity of the brain, “positivity resonance”, and love hormones. The claim that Fredrickson makes in Love 2.0 does give a critical point of love, that it is simpler than you think. However, not every conception of love does Fredrickson explain it to be biological. The
The poets integrated ?metaphysical conceits? as focal parts of these poems. Along with these, they used effective language as a basis for their convincing arguments, they included subjects of periodical importance (e.g. ?courtship? and ?religion?), and use very clever structures that are manipulated in order to make the poem read in the desired way. The very clear indication of the theme in question was strongly aided by the way in which the personas portrayed the emotions they felt and the way they showed their attitudes towards the subject. Considering all these factors, the poets made critical arguments to the mistresses in order to alter their views, thus changing their minds, on denying the poets the sex that they desired so strongly.
In this essay I would like to emphasize different ideas of how love is understood and discussed in literature. This topic has been immortal. One can notice that throughout the whole history writers have always been returning to this subject no matter what century people lived in or what their nationality was.
Over many years philosophers and psychologists have proposed various aspects of love. Love is wildly varied in its expression and its experience; its study can contribute benefit from both the incisive and rigorous views yielded by psychologists and the wide-angle, social, cultural, and historical views employed by sociologists.
This essay focuses on the theme of forbidden love, The God of Small Things written by Arundhati Roy. This novel explores love and how love can’t be ignored when confronted with social boundaries. The novel examines how conventional society seeks to destroy true love as this novel is constantly connected to loss, death and sadness. This essay will explore the theme of forbidden love, by discussing and analysing Ammu and Velutha's love that is forbidden because of the ‘Love Laws’ in relation to the caste system which results in Velutha’s death. It is evident that forbidden love negatively impacts and influences other characters, such as Estha and Rahel, which results in Estha and Rahel’s incestuous encounter.
The Kama Sutra is a widely known work of literature; most people recognize this book for its erotic teaching of sexual positions. Although “sexual unions” are a small portion of the Kama Sutra, there are many other lessons to be learned from this doctrine in accordance to Hindu laws. This Ancient manuscript was written by a religious student and philosopher by the name of Vatsyayana; his ideas were based on old Hindu legends and lost texts that are prevalent in Indian culture. Although no one is quite certain of when Vatsyayana lived, it is said to be between fourth century BC and sixth century AD (Burton & Spellman, 1986, p.13). In 1838 a Sir Richard F. Burton translated the Kama Sutra for the Kama Sastra Society of London and Benares; this is the most well known translation and is the most commonly used (Burton & Spellman, 1986, p.50). Burton made his translation simple, but it is still difficult to apprehend the Kama Sutra with out some knowledge of the book’s organization and style as well as the common concepts of Indian and Hindu culture; by examining those first you can then appreciate the content of the Kama Sutra.