So the real meaning of the Kama Sutra, when stripped of everything but its raw essence, is finding contentment within our own natural desires within relationships and creating sustainable, loving relationships with those around us. Thus, the Kama Sutra creates an outline of how to have loving relations with many people, not just in the bedroom…and more importantly, how to differentiate our desires.Īnd while it’s true that many of the cultural norms have shifted or are completely abandoned in the modern world, what we do see is a guide for finding fulfillment in love. Positive desire is self affirming and healthy, while negative desire damages us and others. There are two sides to desire: positive and negative. Hence, when this book was written, it was aimed specifically at those who wanted to understand how kama should be applied to their lives.īut it doesn’t just apply to sexual desire rather, it means desire in general. It deals with specific issues of that day, and how people- and in particular, men- should act in certain situations.įulfillment of love and desire was often overlooked or even shunned in much of Indian culture.

This led to kama (desire) being improperly understood and used by many people.Įach book goes about explaining the different means a man and a woman should come together that is positive for both of them and inline with their true needs for development. Kama Sutra literally translates to love lessons or Desire Song and was used as a guide for couples of all ages, courtesans to the king and was a great resource for the ancient holy women or priestesses residing in temples and were said to be a direct connection to deity and thus making love to them was extremely sacred. While many texts deal with the other 3, the Kama Sutra was written precisely because kama was often overlooked and ignored by teachers.

He then laid down general rules for living- dharma, artha, moksa and kama- known collectively as Puruṣārtha. In the beginning, Brahma created both man and woman in order to reflect the duality of creation. The Kama Sutra means the “desire song”, and is divided into 7 books: SEE ALSO: Puruṣārtha: The 4 Life Goals Of Hinduism So much so, that many people are convinced they know what it’s all about.īut in fact, the exact opposite is true: many people haven’t a clue…they think the entire book is about sex! So much time and interest has been spent in popular media dwelling over the contents of this book!

Video of karma sutra