Is celibacy the middle path? How do we get to know of God’s expression in its totality without the feminine-masculine principle?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See, you are made up of both, feminine and masculine. Both aspects are in you. Now, celibacy is not the only way. It is not a practice. Celibacy is something that happens when you realize that you are not the body, and the genders masculine and feminine are only for the body and not for the consciousness. The consciousness is beyond. When you realize this consciousness is beyond, then you go beyond the gross pleasure. At some point of time you will say, "Enough is enough. I want to just go inside". That is when the mind turns inward. So you should not negate anything, but when the energy in you rises up, then you will naturally move towards a joy that is free from feverishness and excitement. It is said, one minute of samadhi (experience of meditation) is equivalent to 1000 units of sex. How much joy you get in one unit of sex, a thousand units of sex is one samadhi. And that one minute of samadhi is equivalent to a billion years of rest. Do you want that? Then you have to go beyond these regular things. See, you have to give up something to get something. If you want to really enjoy a nice good meal, you have to give up eating junk food all day. If you are stuffing yourself with a bag of potato chips from the morning, you can’t enjoy your lunch because you won’t have the appetite for it, right? When you are hungry, then you are able to enjoy a good meal.