Kama Sutra Rock & Roll

In our tiny, throuple unfiltered world it’s important to be always honest about how we feel and our sexual activities.

As one may well imagine, when there’re three bodies involved, the variations of sexual positions and activity are increased by a multiple. Then factor in and couple that with having two members of our throuple who possessed a treasure trove of sex toys – well then – the possibilities are nearly bottomless. Even without some hot Hindu handbook celebrating copulation, and originally written in Sanskrit, one could sincerely say, that’s really hard to top!

That ancient Indian tattered tome, the Kama Sutra, dedicated to eroticism, had nothing on us. In fact, our trio invented several positions that are not depicted in that mash-up manual of love from the Far East. Now, one could deduce that since the Kama Sutra’s illustrations are usually interactions between couples, which would be one of the reasons why what we were sometimes doing anatomically, as well as mathematically, is less likely. And yes, V, Y, and I were capable of the impossible, indeed (such as the impossible odds that two such gorgeous, young women had ended up in bed and entwined in life with an old man who had no more than an average amount of attractive physical characteristics).

The Hindu concept of Purusharthas is comprised of the four key goals in existence, that when obtained, lead to a happy and fulfilling life. In Hinduism, artha, is one of the four important aims one needs to target. It’s connected to financial prosperity, economic security, career, earning a living, and in general, wealth. Said another way; artha leads to the path of securing the means of life that allows one to be in the state one wants to live. 

Then there’s Dharma. It relates to rights, conduct, duties, virtues, and laws. It’s said to be that which is in accord with the principle of rta; the cosmic order of the universe and life itself, and that is the right way of living. Dharma pertains to not only the entire social order but also the individual. Some say it’s what all human beings must live by and accept if there’s to be sustained harmony, respect, and order in the world. Moral rights and religious duties are necessary for the pursuit, execution, and obtainment of one’s true calling and nature.

Moksha is associated with freedom from Saṃsāra (literal rebirth after death). It, moksha, is the release, emancipation, or liberation from the cycle of life and death. Self-realization, freedom, and self-knowledge are the key to discovering enlightenment within our lives. This third of the four components of Purusharthas is where the Hindu school of thought may be most divided and disagreed upon. So much for inner peace…

Kama may be understood either with or without sexual connotations. Whereas it is most definitely primarily paired with physical pleasure as interpreted by our senses, it is in addition, concerned with the aesthetic enjoyment of life. Select scholars have taught that kama is love that does not violate artha (or material property), the journey towards moksha (liberation of the spirit), or dharma. So, as supported by historical evidence, the Kama Sutra is not only a sexual position manual, it is a philosophical guide to the art of living, finding a mate, balancing one’s love life, worldly pleasures, and love’s true nature within this material plane we exist.

Compiled somewhere between 400 BC and the second half of 300 CE, located within what was once known as the Pataliputra region and is now called Patna. The Kama Sutra has been reputed to be penned by Vatsyayana Mallanaga. The writer is claimed to have authored the how-to-suck-and-screw book after many years spent in meditation. Mallanaga does cite in the prefix of the Kama Sutra the work of others he often referred to as scholars or teachers. Furthermore, Vatsyayana credits employing earlier writings and works of ancient others, albeit, most of those transcripts have not survived the ravishing of that master thief named time. Some of his aforementioned sources may date back to the Vedic era and may have come from parts of the Hindu Rigveda – a time that precedes the post-Vedic Sanskrit writings (i.e.: works such as the Ramayana or the Mahabharata).

The Vatsyayana Mallanaga’s Kama Sutra is a manual divided into seven separate books with sixty-four sections, and thirty-six chapters. The book boasts 1,250 verses of poetry and prose. It features a nayaka (a man), a nayika (woman), one vidushaka (jester), vita (pander), and pitamarda (the libertine). This is similar to the characters presented in the Natyasastra, an earlier classic. Many modern-day editions of the Kama Sutra provide illustrations to assist readers in better understanding the directions provided by the poetic verses therein. Most English-speaking people who are familiar with Vatsyayana’s original manuscript have read the translations by the British scholar and explorer, Sir Richard Francis Burton.

The original Sir Richard Francis Burton translated edition of the Kama Sutra comes with over three hundred detailed illustrations of the sixty-four sexual positions and palm-leaf manuscripts. There are many out there who would agree, that this packaging is the perfect epitome of a lustful layout of erotic instructions. Us, well, not so much.

I once asked Y and V if they’d ever paged through the Kama Sutra in their past. Not surprisingly, I guess, they both said no. It was something I had done a time or two with one or more ex-wives or former girlfriends. From what I best remember of those viewings of Vatsyayana’s work I found much of the prose and poetry uninteresting, and the pictures were less than attractive. Perhaps my visual dissatisfaction could be well explained by some form of deep-rooted, stereotypical cultural bias. I don’t really know.

The only thing I do know for sure is the only sexually intimate literature the last two women in my life and I were ever to share together was the printed information on the sides of, or inside the jelly lubricant packing box of the lubes we’d sometimes used when we rocked. Facts regarding whether it was alcohol-free, water or silicone or oil or natural or hybrid based. Hey, the wetter the better – stay fluid while we do it! And if you believe that when a lubricant is required it indicates your partner or partners, are just not that into you then you need to open up better lines of communication with whomever you lust and/or love and trust what you hear them tell you. I believe I speak for the three of us when I say it was more than enough reading of sexual advice, as opposed to actual action, for our throupled tastes.