Review: Deepak Chopra, Eat Your Heart Out!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 3, 2012
What is it about the Hindu text (later bowdlerized in Western press) known as the Kama Sutra? And why does it still resonate with people the world over, and not just in the Indian subcontinent?Sex and pleasure. Pure and simple.Unlike the religious dichotomy found within the predominantly Christian West (sex/love), the Kama Sutra is a text that does not segregate the act of sexual intercourse from the concept of sex itself. Whereas some schools of thought relegate sexual intercourse to a mechanistic act of procreation and nothing more, Stephen Williams, in his book "Kamasutra Positions: Stop Searching and Improve Your Sex Life," acknowledges the lasting impact that these Indian love lessons have made upon Indian society, and by extension the rest of humanity.India is a predominantly Hindu society, and as such, its religious and spiritual teachings permeate all aspects of life. (To be sure, pockets of secularism do exist.) It is within this atmosphere that various scholars and priests from all castes (usually Brahmin) wrote down, over the course of several centuries, numerous intimate positions for couples, usually featuring drawings of a man and a woman. Certain prominent attributes relating to nature, such as various plants, animals, and celestial bodies, were assigned to each unique sexual position, which reflected the everlasting emotional and spiritual connection between the Indian people and the natural world in which they resided. So such titles as "Splitting of a Bamboo," "Mare Position," "Crab Position," etc., as provided by Williams within "Kamasutra," provide the reader with the ability to mentally create an abstract pictorial of two individuals demonstrating a predominant characteristic or two of the object mentioned within the aforementioned position.Our Western society, however, has taken the Kama Sutra's original intent---to provide two individuals within a committed relationship with as many different opportunities for finding pleasure and happiness within themselves and with one another---and has tended to focus strictly upon the sexual perspective of the text. In many respects, the Kama Sutra has much in common with the Roman Bacchanalists and the Greek Hedonists, who sought pleasure for pleasure's sake and did not deny their desires(although, in this reader's opinion, the Romans tended to excess, whereas the practitioners of the Kama Sutra sought balance and moderation in their daily rituals). Williams does stress the happiness and pleasure factors throughout his work, as evidenced in his numerous exhortations to the readers to focus upon pleasing and satisfying each other. The end result is an intense emotional connection that has been accentuated by physical intimacy and closeness that helps reinforce and strengthen the relationship.Our society is saturated with sex: magazines; DVDs; Internet web sites; warehouses; etc. Yet the Kama Sutra accepts and takes the wonderful gift of sex and accentuates the sheer loveliness of its emotional foundations, rather than just the physical responses. Williams has selected many wonderful, relationship-enhancing positions in "Kamasutra" and has provided his fans with a special relationship aid that works for all people, not just those living in India.