#107 - Sexuality from the Hindu Perspective
“Our perception is to not stick with “this is my religion”. Religions are made by man, but Divinity or spirituality already exists in the universe.” -Dileepkumar Thankappan
Every religion has its own set of cultures and beliefs. We all have different perspectives when it comes to discussing such topics and matters, yet it is very important that we learn to also listen and respect one another's views to maintain our unity and peace.
Sexuality is openly discussed among Hindus. Children are guided by their parents and educated by their gurus. From the Hindu perspective, sex is a divine action within a committed relationship, which is marriage. Marriage is a sacred union and it involves not just two individuals but an arrangement between two families.
In episode 107, we are joined by Dileepkumar Thankappan, internationally known as "Avadhuta H.H. Jagat Guru Dileepji Maharaj" (Spiritual Name) and otherwise known as "Guruji". He is a world-renowned Yogi and Interfaith Minister from Tripunithura erstwhile, the capital of Cochin kingdom in Kerala, India. He is an honorable guest speaker and judge in many international conferences, events, competitions, festivals and is a recipient of several peace awards and titles for his yogic services to humanity.
Guruji shares with us the teachings of Hindu, and how sexuality is viewed from the Hindu perspective. He also discusses the importance of understanding the real meaning of life, and universal spirituality.
We are not defined by the religion we belong to, and we are not different or divided simply because we do not share the same faith or beliefs. What matters most is how we connect with God and live our lives in a way that honors Him.
Listen to Episode 107 to learn more!
Sexuality from the Hindu perspective
How a Hindu teen is taught about sexuality
Effective breathing technique to help balance your energy
What is Kamadeva?
Hinduism sees our bodies as God's creation.
What is Karma?
How to maintain a high level of gratitude
Episode Transcript:
Andrew Love
Welcome back to Love, Life and Legacy, everybody. This is the podcast dedicated to helping you navigate these hypersexualized times of ours. And if you want to go through life as an informed individual, you need information. You need worldviews and perspectives that go far beyond what you are accustomed to. And that's exactly what this episode is all about. I have interviewed this really cool guy that I met back in New York over 12 years ago. He is a legit Guruji. Okay, he's a guru. And I don't mean an Instagram guru. I'm talking about somebody who lived in a cave for a while. This guy, he used to tell me about a story about this guy who could breathe through his eye, another guy who lived until he was 123 yrs. old. Just a bunch of wild stuff. But the reason I wanted to talk to him was to understand what does Hinduism have to say about sex. And guess what, they have a lot of amazing things to say. I will be talking to him in this episode, just so you know, I will also be interviewing a rabbi. I'm also going to find somebody from the Islam faith. And I just really feel this is important to help us understand how other people view sex. And also, to glean the wisdom that these ancient traditions can provide for us so that we can inherit from the past and create a real strong sense of connection to sex through the ages. So please enjoy this podcast episode with Dileepji, the Guruji.
Welcome back, everybody. I have a cool guy on the podcast today who I met back in New York. And I don't know if you remember this, but one day, I sent out an SOS call to the universe. And I got Dileepji here to come out of nowhere. I don't know how you came, but you came to 43rd where I was. And I was dealing with some crazy tension in my body. And you just said, okay, lay down on the ground in my office. So I lay down, and you put your hand on my chest. And I could feel like the room was swirling. Everything was swirling, and I felt so much energy. I was like, can you feel that? Yes, my hand is so hot. I feel it. And somehow you just vacuum cleaned all the negative energy out of me. And I felt so good after that. So his name is, well, I call him Guruji Dileepji. I don't know your full name, Dileepji. I just know that you're Dileepji, and I know you're a guru or Guruji. But I've known him for over 10 years. It's been about 11 years, I'd say. I haven't seen you in a while. But he's a man of peace. And he goes to peace meetings all day everyday, because that's what he strives for. And he has a background of knowing a lot and participating a lot in Hinduism. So I want to pick his brain about sexuality from the Hindu perspective. So welcome, Dileepji. That was a crazy long intro, but welcome.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Namaste. And thank you, my brother, Andrew Love, for inviting me to part of this discussion.
Andrew Love
Yes, yes. So by the way, you can throw something at Dileepji and he won't react. He's committed to being peaceful everywhere he goes. I've never seen you out of context with just being happy and smiley. So thank you for joining us. And so where exactly were you born? Which part of India were you born in?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
I'm from Kerala State in India. That's a Southern West side of India. When you look at the map about India, the bottom part, south part, is very sharp edge, triangle type. He has like a three oceans, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. And half of that area to the West side is Kerala State. I'll say the land where St. Thomas the Apostle went and converted to El Brahmin families. This one is from my father's side.
Andrew Love
Oh, wow.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Older Christian than Europe and America.
Andrew Love
That's really cool history. In the South, is it hotter there? Is there more typhoons in the South? Or what's something unique about living in the south of India?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Usually, we have monsoon from June to September, so full rain, continuous rain. And you see more green in that state. And April and May are very hot. In between is a beautiful climate.
Andrew Love
Would you say that the land thrives because it goes through more difficulty like a good metaphor? You guys have to endure longer monsoon seasons, but it's greener because of it.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Yes, but I will say, we never had a problem with the water. We have enough food and all of the things. And people are more educated. They go abroad and live the festival.
Andrew Love
Got it. Did you grow up Christian?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
My parents never bother me about what religion to practice. But we used to go to church, Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox Church. I'm still a member there.
Andrew Love
I see. But you grew up with many Hindu people around you. Is the South mostly Hindu?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Hindus, Muslims, Punjabi Sikh community, and Jewish. They have a synagogue there.
Andrew Love
Really? Wow. I've never heard of ethnically Indian-Jewish people.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Yes. I'll say we have over 3500 years of business between the Middle East and India because Jewish people used to come to my state to get all the spices. And they trade to Mumbai to other countries they go. So they used to come there, that's why Jesus came to India. That's a story of what is the time when he was 18 years. He was living in India.
Andrew Love
That's cool. I had no idea. I cannot picture an Indian-Jewish man. But that's fantastic. I'm glad it exists. Now, okay, I want to pick your brain a bit about this because a lot of the West views sexuality through the Christian lens, which is a dysfunctional relationship. Because Jesus never married. He didn't speak openly about sex because he wasn't qualified, I guess. There's a lot of different theories, but he definitely didn't really talk about it. And that void created a lot of confusion. The fact that there wasn't an official word in the New Testament about sexuality clearly like instructions, people have had to interpret a lot. But I feel like Hinduism is far older. And it also deals with sexuality more openly. There are things about Tantra and things like that. But I feel like the Western perspective is pretty ignorant to that largely, I know there's more interest now. There are new age-y people who are revisiting that. But I feel like there's a lot of ignorance. So would you be able to talk to us a little bit about like in India, the average Hindu family, is sexuality something to be feared? Or is it openly discussed culturally?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
In that tradition, we have a system. A student will go to a master to learn for 25 years. And then they'll have a family and job for 25 years. Then they prepare to renounce for 25 years, and they will leave the family for 25 years. That's the way, that's the structure.
Andrew Love
What are these last 25 years, what are they doing?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Just like monks, they focus on the spiritual path.
Andrew Love
It's like you're sitting in the lobby waiting for the next life. And in those first 25 years, you're learning about all areas of life from your master. He's teaching about hygiene. He's teaching you about internal stuff. He's teaching about sex, everything?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Everything. They learn from masters, but usually, they won't go for free sex, or they won't have a relationship before the marriage. There's a traditional style. Of course, people still have relationships.
Andrew Love
Sure. But that's like the ideal.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
A thing like this is a sin. Think sex is a divine action. That's the way we think.
Andrew Love
But in that paradigm, sex is divine. Is it divine only in certain contexts like within a committed relationship? Or is it any form of sexuality is divine?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
There's a science about sexual/sex in Indian culture called Kama Sutra. They talk about different positions, how to do it, and all the stuff is there. Usually, masters won't teach to a student, because they want to make sure the student is mature enough to learn it. Otherwise, they would want. Because once people get some knowledge, they don't know what they're going to do. Because this is very difficult for a person to control.
Andrew Love
Sure. But what would a kid do like a 15-year-old kid who's learning the ways of life from Master? You start having many hormones. Your body's changing. You start to really notice things sexually. What is the guidance there for somebody in that situation? So in the Christian lens, it just saves it for marriage otherwise, it's a sin. This is the one place and we don't educate you about that. You got to figure it out on your own. But anything else will tell you a lot about how much you're going to burn in hell. So what's the approach for a formative 15,16, or 17-year-old?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Look at the histories, Hindu traditions, they have earlier marriages.
Andrew Love
Okay.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
They have arranged marriage. So selective, male and female, and they're mature. They know the puberty time, so they prepare them to have a marriage. So they arrange the marriage and they cannot have sex. Then they will wait for the time when education is finished. And then there's the wedding, then they'll have sex. Even before 25 yrs. old, they had this system.
Andrew Love
And what would happen, let's say if there's a guy and a girl. There's some sort of arrangement, and one of them had sex before they're about to be arranged. Would that be a negative? Would that be harder to match your child with another kid for that arranged marriage? Is that perceived to be a negative?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Some families, they used to feel like. But usually, masses are very mature.
Andrew Love
So there's communication?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
And they know how children are growing up. Their naughtiness and they'll feel it. So we have helped to control the bodies' sex appeal. They have different types of bodies.
Andrew Love
Yes. So within Hinduism, there's the act of sex is taught through Tantra and Tantric sex and all that. But then isn't there a way of controlling energies that are embedded into the ethos of Hinduism that if you are feeling sexual, you can do some breathing for instance, or do some meditation to calm yourself. Is that discussed?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Yes, it is. It's the major source for aggravating venom. But usually, they used to have more vegetarian food and less food. Not five times a day eating meat.
Andrew Love
Is that to reduce your energy so you don't have so much energy to spend thinking about sex?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
So when they eat a lot of meat and fish and egg, they have this aggressiveness in the body. They cool down the body. So they have different helps for that.
Andrew Love
Is that Ayurveda?
Andrew Love
Because I remember you told me this one. You said, don't drink hot drinks. And I was like, what are you talking about? How'd you make that up? But you were just talking about the type of body that I am. So what you're saying is that certain foods impact how you feel. And so, in terms of being unmarried, there are certain foods that you probably shouldn't eat because it might put you in a sexualized state. Interesting. So what do you think, what type of food would cause somebody to be more sexually aroused like meat, just staying vegetarian?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Meat, fish, certain fruits also aggravate. And fasting has a very important role in our system.
Andrew Love
How often do you fast?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Usually, I used to fast like one week. Water for years. Now, I eat one meal a day. That's it.
Andrew Love
So like intermittent fasting. I just want to go back real quick because a couple of weeks ago, I heard a guy talk. And he said something so I doubled back. And I researched it, and it's true. But India has the lowest divorce rate in the entire world. They have a 1% divorce rate. And they're doing arranged marriages, which is incredible. There's something to be said. So how much is arranged marriage? Like a team project where the parents are working with the kids and how much is still about getting a dowry? You're giving your daughter to somebody for some money kind of thing. How much of it is like now in this modern age, I guess? You're talking with your kids. And they're saying, well, I like this guy and all that. How much participation is involved?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
This is a crime in India now, last 30 years.
Andrew Love
A dowry is a crime?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Crime now, yes.
Andrew Love
Oh, wow.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
So a lot of change has happened. And divorce rate went a little bit higher now because of the Western style of life coming up. And but still, there's a group effort because once you're marrying a person means you might render a family. It's a group system. Campaign life is there. And so the family will reject you. If they see that you are doing something wrong to the family. That will make people do less mistakes. And sometimes, I feel if male or female, if they're not sexually fit, that will create a problem in their life for a longer period. But they take it because they had to stand in the community.
Andrew Love
Yes, so the families are communicating with each other and they're trying to see if they're a good fit. And if one family does something sneaky or they're mean, then the rest of their larger community will let them know that that's not cool. So there are repercussions.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Right. Before going to the court, people will enter in that subject.
Andrew Love
Yes, that's called accountability. And that's so important. Because I think there's no accountability in the Western way of dating. It's just feelings, no accountability whatsoever. And then different forms of arranged marriage where like within our movement, there are some parents that I know that have done some shady stuff. And yes, it's nice to have accountability. It's not good to exile family or something. But it's good to let them know, hey, that affects us all when you do stuff like that.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
All depend upon our imagination, I'll say. Christian or Muslim, Jewish tradition, they have set the mind of what the sex, sexual relationship. But when you look at the animal kingdom, they won't go and run around sex always. When they need it, they'll do it. But human beings are not, they can do 24 hours. They have that mindset like that. They need education from childhood out of respect. A lot of them you'll see the male-dominated sex is going on. That's also not good. If you respect, it should be the very tradition that they say, if you don't feel love towards each other then don't have sex. If you want to have a child, have sex. That's what marriage teaches.
Andrew Love
So if you don't feel love for each other, don't have sex. Does that mean that even if you're married, but you're not feeling loving towards each other, do not have sex? First, feel loving, then have sex? Amazing. Yes, divine because it's about spirit. It's about something higher than the body. Is there any discussion openly in the text of Hinduism or formal teachings about masturbation and just having sex with yourself?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Usually, those things are never talked about. But my experience with Master, they talk about it. The energy or the hormone changes, children want to do it. But that's a time the elders will know that this is happening. So they will take care of that. They talk with them. And they'll know that they are getting ready as the time they're arranged to marriage.
Andrew Love
Their bodies are getting ready. Yes, that's interesting. We educate a lot of people on how to harness that energy, because it's very creative and powerful energy. But we don't have any definitive teachings. Everybody's a little bit different. Do you have any effective breathing techniques that you know or anything that you do to not just sexuality but to focus your energy? Do you have any recommendations?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
I'm going to do a breathing technique called Pranayama. I use one nostril breathing and exhale to the other one.
Andrew Love
So you breathe in through which nostril, the left one?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Left. So you start, inhale. Close it. And exhale to the right. Inhale. Close it. Exhale to the left. Ten times a day, we'll do that. It will balance energy in the body.
Andrew Love
So that balances your energies?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Correct.
Andrew Love
Interesting. I like that. And so you do that just throughout the day?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
No, you need only morning ten times. In the evening, ten times. That's enough.
Andrew Love
Oh, I see.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Then another thing is to make the person always busy with different things. Not allowing them to sit. And we never allow our family members to watch pornography or any other stuff.
Andrew Love
How do you not allow people? India has great Wi-Fi, I'm guessing. In any country with a lot of people, their Wi-Fi is so much better than America.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Now they watch it because it's all around the globe. But at least when we grew up, we don't know what this is. When parents are elders know, then they'll talk about it.
Andrew Love
What about the gods? Because just before we started recording, you mentioned that there are 64,000 gods.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Many gods and goddesses. Early in Hindu culture, we can see a male god and a female god together.
Andrew Love
Okay, that's cool.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
One is Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva and their wives, and they have families. But at the same time, they have a secret family life. They have a spiritual partner. So it's very interesting to read all of this stuff. And they always talk about males and females being equal in energy level.
Andrew Love
So it's about harmony, balance. And did the gods, were they clear about sexuality? Because I know the Greek gods were really more human than gods in terms of their sexual problems. But what about in Hinduism?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Oh, we have a god only for sex. It's Kamadeva.
Andrew Love
And so that's what Kama Sutra comes from, is from this Kamadeva. So what does that name translate to? Sexy pants?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
That translated from Sanskrit’s name.
Andrew Love
And is that the full name? Or does the Kama mean…
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Actually, desire.
Andrew Love
Desire, okay.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Deva means god.
Andrew Love
So all the teachings about sex are through the lens of this guy?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Right. And we have this write-up about polyamorous sex.
Andrew Love
Like a book within the text? And it's just about this one god story.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Then in the book, they're not talking too much about this god, about the activities. All the poses and everything there. No other book in the world, only in Hinduism.
Andrew Love
Yes, sex is so confusing in most scriptures. Like in the Bible, the Old Testament, the Quran, and all this, it's confusing.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
There's a problem. They take it as a sin, then all the people have this mentality, “That's the sin. That's the sin.” And they cannot enjoy. Rather than educate them that this is a divine action to have procreation. It should be beautiful. And the thing is, even in Ayurveda, they'll say, our sex with your wife only once in a month.
Andrew Love
That's in Ayurveda? Because what happens if you have too much sex? What happens to you?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Actually, you're losing your energy from inside.
Andrew Love
I see.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Semen is a condensed form of energy from all the different types of fluid in your body. So you don't want to waste it. Use it properly.
Andrew Love
So once a month is healthy, and then what are some of the repercussions of too much sex?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Then they had to cut down the food. Less food.
Andrew Love
That's tough. But the repercussion of, let's say you have sex three times a week, does that take away from your creativity? Does it take away from your connection to god? What are the downsides?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
In Hinduism we say, God, created us in God's body, including us. For the five elements, we had to respect that body. Any actions in the body, and whatever you do, we have to celebrate that moment in your life. Even breathing, you had to. Take it to do an action going on as a type of constant meditation. Even sex is part of that. When you go to the deeper level of that mode, you are not going to feel it. Or you'll want to do 24 hours. You enjoy. You stay in that blissful state. And I have no spiritual way to think about what I'm doing.
Andrew Love
I can definitely see that. It's just you're more, I guess, present if it happens less because it's special. And I think you saying that for all the women listening they're like, yay. For all the men that like, no, shut up. But I do agree that frequency adds to the value of it a little bit more. Just like anything, the more rare something is, the higher the value it's perceived to be.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
You're a single boy, you want to eat ice cream. You enjoy. Then you take a second one or take five. You won't be going to eat for a long time. You will lose that quality.
Andrew Love
Yes, eventually you'll just get sick. I saw a guy eat too much ice cream, and it's ugly. No, I definitely hear you. And our culture is definitely oversexed. It's like, they can't even stop even though they're not enjoying it as much. And there are definitely mental and spiritual and emotional repercussions. And I guess even physical. Physical, you're depleted of a certain power that you would have otherwise. And so, I guess when you say you go by the clockwork of those four phases at 75, do both men and women leave their families and go pray in the woods for 25 years?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
In Hinduism traditional right now, people are living together.
Andrew Love
Husbands and wives will go. That's nice, but their priority is more on spiritual things.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
In India, whatever you do, everything's related to spirituality, in Hinduism.
Andrew Love
So how can you learn to appreciate people, especially the opposite sex? So in a culture like the Western world where everything is sexualized. You lived in New York, so you go to Times Square, and you see all the advertisements are sexualized. So when everything's being sexualized, how do you reverse that and start seeing the divinity in people rather than their body parts? Is there a process that you would recommend?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
This is my observation because I came to America when I was 30 yrs. old. So I had the balance here. If I came here earlier, I may be in a different style of life. So once they learn something from childhood, it's very hard to understand what we are talking about. That's where we try to mix people to understand different cultures. Slowly, they'll understand. Even the philosophical points, we say things to students, those who are from West, they won't pick up very fast. It's very hard for them because they never experienced it. We had to bring them to India and show them how life is there. Even Indians who are living in America are totally different.
Andrew Love
Yes, they maintain their own culture. But okay, I guess I'll phrase it in another way. But in Christianity, there's this idea of resurrection. So you fall away, you lose your way, and then to come back into the way is called, to be resurrected or to be born again. In Hinduism, somebody strays and they go away from the way, the true way of living. What are the teachings on how best to come back to the way?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
We have the Karma philosophy before any religion. So usually, we'll tell everybody that you had to live properly according to the teachings. For sure many make mistakes, they even think abort. Yes, I made a mistake. That moment itself will change the sectoral energy level. Whatever you think, whatever you do is connected with karma. Even with a high level of astrology teachings are in Indian philosophy. And if you get the new child in your house, and the astrorical start is different, it is seen that most of you are at home. Or when somebody is coming to your house to visit you, their astrology is different. So that will change the situation. And we have rituals, the different types of rituals.
Andrew Love
That's the purpose of the rituals, to become more vertically aligned. Like jumping on one foot or what?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
The spirit will walk around us. We never see that. But our great masters can see what is going on around us. So they have a ritual for that, and they burn certain herbs or plants.
Andrew Love
Yes, good and bad don't mix. One has to take over. Well, then, I'm just trying to squeeze all as much as I can from you as possible because you're right, this is new information for a lot of people. Do you have any advice for, I would say, we have all sorts of different people who listen to this? We have moms and dads, but we also mostly have younger people who are about to get married or recently married. Do you have any advice on how to stay in giving mode and to be happy? And that idea of being grateful all the time, do you have any advice for how to maintain a high level of gratitude?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Yes, there's a thing I will say we all are chosen divine beings at this time. Maybe we are from different religions or cultures, it doesn't matter. God never differentiates any of us. We all are made of the same five elements. But we had to get the practice of how to expand our consciousness. When you expand, you feel your partner or family members are divine beings to give the respect and allow in the full force. As the thing we need, how your mother feel allowed to as a child, same feeling you should have towards everybody. That's real love.
Andrew Love
And you do that? Do you practice that by meditating in the morning and opening your heart? Or how do you, because you live in New York City which is probably the most unloving place in the cosmos. How do you practice that?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
For me, I used to live in caves and mountains. So when I came here, it was very hard for me here. Even when you are going to see me say, hi. When I say hi to people, they'll say, something's wrong with this guy. I know that somebody grew up, then slowly, I learned it. And still, I say hi to people, and slowly they became friends. I feel comfortable. Sometimes people give a really hard time to me, I take it easy. I know their understanding is different than mine. So I should be wiser than others. I take everything nicely and move forward.
Andrew Love
I can attest to the fact that he walks the walk. I've seen him. He was even so calm and peaceful that he could sit through my sermons back when I was a pastor, and not throw a shoe at me. So yes, he's great. Thank you, Dileepji. This is really cool. I really feel like the whole story is taking bits and pieces, and creating a story that makes sense from all different cultures because God was speaking to all sorts of different people at different times. And the more that we can create this new world that's forming with all the wisdom from the different areas. And sex, I think we've been talking a lot about it. But that plays such a huge role. And building the future, obviously, is how the future is made. But our ability to have a healthy relationship with sex is so important for a peaceful society. You work at the UN a lot. The UN has a very difficult record with sex. Right now, so many things are coming to the surface about, they don't have that under control at all. And so, yes, I really appreciate your perspective and your wisdom. Do you have anything else you want to say before we go?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Yes. The thing is people supposed to read and educate about all other religious texts and philosophical texts and understand what is the meaning of life. Life is very short. So when you understand the meaning of life, it's totally different perception for us. Do not stick with me, this is my religion. Religions are made by man, human being. But the divinity or spirituality already exists in the universe. So that's the way. If you practice Christianity or Hinduism or Buddhism or Islam, just go deeper into the philosophy and understand what's the meaning, why they create this one, then you go beyond it. Even I will never promote Hinduism. There is no point to promote. When we are putting up automatically everything comes to you. That's the way it is. We had to open up. Even if I was very interesting to walk through the Jesus part, I went to Israel and Palestine and all that stuff and see. And somebody told me, Jesus had a relationship and a family, a second end story. So even stories from the Bible or any of the textbooks, we don't know if it's real or not. Sometimes people make up stuff. Or example, I'll say, as a man, you are the first people on earth by the same old testament talk about other people. But that neighborhood, maybe. People don't know about the other side of the world. Those days are different. Do not stick with certain points, you have to use the logical way. And science and spirituality should go hand in hand. Do not separate it. And science is not the ultimate answer for life. And the textbooks from religion is not the ultimate. What you experience your life as a measure for a person. To give the respect, learn it, and make sure you're studying and understanding. Not all people go to teachings and hear and go through this.
Andrew Love
Yes, they think they know already. Yes, I agree. I agree. And I think that the divinity, that idea of the closer you are to God, the more everything will make sense. So it's more of not adhering to stringent rules for the sake of your religion, but finding the best way to live with God. I really liked that. And I love how you were saying that in India, the priority is to make everything spiritual as much as possible. And I do believe that that's super important, especially for the work we do. Because the closer you are to God, the less you want to abuse other people's freedom, power or pleasure. Yes, thank you. Thank you for that wisdom, for that endnote. And is there any way that people can reach you? Do you want us to include your email in this?
Dileepkumar Thankappan
Yes, I can. Sure.
Andrew Love
Okay, you can send it to me later and I'll add it to the show notes. Thank you so much, Dileepji.
Dileepkumar Thankappan
www.guruji.us, you get all the information there.
Andrew Love
Okay, he's got a website. Okay, yes, I will include this for sure. Thank you so much. And we'll see you in the next one, everybody.
Andrew Love
Hey. Before you go, I wanted you to consider checking out High Noon Connect. So if you go to our website, highnoon.org, you'll notice, first of all, we have a brand new website which is beautiful. And also, you'll notice that there's the opportunity to join High Noon Connect. The essence of what High Noon is morphing into is a community. We are better together. And sexual integrity involves other people. If you're struggling with pornography, you need the help of brothers and sisters, of people in a community dedicated to helping lift you up. And even if you're not, if you're in a relationship and you just want more intimacy, more love, more joy. Or if you're single, and you just want to be a person that can live according to their values in the area of sexuality, and you want to be around a group of people who are fighting in the same way then please go to highnoon.org and sign up for High Noon Connect. There's a free version and a paid version. We want to make this as accessible as possible. And we're nonprofit, so we're not trying to make a buck here. We're just trying to create a community off of Facebook that gives a focused conversation, focused energy, focused attention on building sexual integrity as a cultural intention. So go to highnoon.org, we'll see you there.