What is Purity?

Yesterday in my Religions of India class, my professor said something which I found rather profound about the subject of purity. He stated that purity is not something that can be attributed to religion, but rather to the society's desire for control over the lives of its members. People place importance on the concept of virginity not because of religious reasons, but because they wished to exhibit control and prohibitions on the self empowerment that arises when one embraces his or her sexuality. While Professor Timalsina was merely using this argument as a way to introduce the lesson plan on tantric goddesses, I was blown away with the resulting paradigm shift that his words gave me.

Raised in a relatively religious setting, I spent most of my youth judging those who appeared to embrace their sexuality, seeing them as inappropriately promiscuous and certain that they were going to live unfulfilled lives without someone to love and care for them. While I no longer believe that, I often have a hard time feeling happy with my life choices while constantly being bombarded with societal negativity. Sometimes it takes someone else's words to help you discover how you feel, and give you the burst of confidence in not feeling alone out there in the cosmos. I can only imagine how confident I would feel in my sexuality if I had not been raised to idealize this image of the ideal feminine-

but to idealize this divine female instead:


Definite difference, don't you agree? When we worship the image of a virginal female, we are denying the divine procreative power that lies within us all, and the energy that can be harnessed through embracing the sexual energy within us. I have nothing against the Virgin Mary, but I dislike that she is used as an ideal to marginalize women and the ecstatic energy that exists within us all. There are too many negative terms to describe a person's (especially a woman's) sexuality, and not enough positive ones. We in the West see ourselves as modern and sexually liberated, but we cannot claim this title accurately until we can throw off the oppressive shackles of our ancestors and realize the power within us in a positive and healthy manner.