Sex and Procreation

Both Ananda Subramanian and Gauranga Kishore wrote blog posts about sex and spirituality recently.

Coincidentally, this is part of the topic of the live podcast that David Jorm and I are doing this Saturday at 10 am AEST ("Sex, Marriage and ISKCON"). You can tune in here. You can also contribute via facebook, twitter, or by phone - (+61 431 929 675).

For my ten cents for today: Ananda, Kama-sutra seems to indicate to me that sex for pleasure (including sex acts that do not produce offspring) has always been part of Indian civilisation, as is the case with all human societies, and in fact with all mammals. As you point out, however, chemical contraceptives have not.

Sex for pleasure and sex for procreation are not necessarily contradictory. In fact, both are mentioned together in the Bhagavatam:

Thereupon, for sexual pleasure, begetting offspring and tasting heavenly nectar, the Lord developed the genitals, and thus there is the genital organ and its controlling deity, the Prajāpati. The object of sexual pleasure and the controlling deity are under the control of the genitals of the Lord.
- Srimad Bhagavatam 2.10.26