Hindu culture embraced eroticism and sex as an essential ingredient and institutionalized it in the four exalted goals of Hindu life.
In the Book of Genesis, after creating heaven and earth, God commanded, “Let there be light.” And there was light. By contrast, according to the Rigveda, the most ancient of all Hindu scriptures: “There was no existence and there was no non-existence; there was no death and there was no deathlessness; there was no night and there was no day; there was darkness all around; in such an environment, an element self-manifested out of tapas (heat). That element was desire. (na asat asit no iti sat asit tadanim, na mrityuh asit amritam na tarhi na ratrayh ahnam asit. tamah asit tamasa guhyam agre… tapasah tat mahina ajayat yekam. Kamah tat agre samavartat adhi manasah retah prathamam yat asit (Mandala 10, Sukta 129).
Thus, whereas light was the first element in the Judeo-Christian tradition, it was desire for Hindus. On the surface, this may appear insignificant. But this difference has manifested itself in profound ways in social mores and inhibitions, as well as laws and legal prohibitions, in the countries and cultures shaped by these two different views of the genesis of the universe.
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