Kamasutra Sex Education bears little resemblance to how we approach the subject today. How many of us have grown up with the notion that good sex is natural. If you haven't discovered it yet, take it from a consensus of sex experts, great sex is learned, not automatic.
Or as the Kamasutra states...
"Sexual behavior is to be learned with the aid of the Kamasutra and the counsel of worthy men, experts in the arts of pleasure."
Though Tantric practitioners would agree that "love is born of long practice," it's more common in the Tantric tradition for sexual initiation to be conducted by women.
Rites of passage at the time of puberty aren't common today as they were in many ancient indigenous cultures. As part of their education, young people of Vatsyayana's time were educated in sexuality, loveplay, and the 64 Arts.
The Kamasutra claimed that the preliminaries to sexual intercourse involve sixty-four elements, probably because they were sixty-four chapters. The arts number sixty-four, and form part of the practice of love. In short, the well-rounded lover in ancient India was conversant and competent in things such as flower arranging, playing music, games of the times, creating environments, war, and economics, just to name a few.
Young people of both genders were trained and initiated from a young age. Life and lovemaking skills were taught early. For example, the Kamasutra states "A young girl should take herself off to an isolated spot to practice the sixty-four arts." Further, the Hindu love guide admonishes a master to take a whole year to teach his maidservant "the secret techniques and art of sexual relations" before giving her hand in marriage.
How different this is from the way our modern institutions view adult involvement in the sexual growth and development of young people?
And while we're on the subject, how do adults today learn about the realities and joys of sexual pleasure? Very poorly, from our experience.
To learn about an alternative, click continue to read about Kama Sutra Tantra.
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KAMA SUTRA TOUR CONTENTS
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