Page:Hatha yoga - or the yogi philosophy of physical well-being, with numberous excercises.djvu/239

Rh sex relations. With but one or two exceptions the lower animals have sexual relations only for the purpose of perpetuating their kind, and sexual excesses, drains and waste such as man indulges in is almost entirely unknown to the lower animal.

As man has advanced in the scale of life, however, he has brought to light new functions of sex, and there is an interchange of certain higher principles between the sexes, which does not occur to the brutes or to the more material forms of human life—this is reserved for the man and woman of developed mentality and spirituality. Proper relations between husband and wife tend to elevate, strengthen, and ennoble, instead of degrading, weakening and defiling the participants, as is the case when the said relation is based upon mere sensuality. This is the reason that there is so much marital inharmony and discord when one of the partners rises to a higher plane of thought, and finds that his or her partner is unable to follow. Thereafter their mutual relations are upon different planes, and they fail to find in each other that which they might wish for. This is all we wish to say upon this particular part of the subject here. There are a number of good books upon the subject, that our students may find by inquiring at the centres for advanced thought literature in the different cities and towns. We will confine ourselves in the remainder of this short chapter to the discussion of the subject of the importance of preserving sexual strength and health.

While leading a life in which the actual relations of the sexes does not play an important part, the Yogis recognize and appreciate the importance of healthy