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268
TATTVĀRTHA SŪTRA
another person. 10.
The Nature of A-brahma or Incontinence :
The act of maithuna-that is copulation-constitutes abrahma or incontinence. 11.
Maithuna or copulation means an act on the part of a mithuna or couple. The word 'mithuna' or 'couple' ordinarily stands for a pair of a woman and a man, but here it is to be understood in a somewhat broader sense. The pair in question can be made up of a woman and a man, a man and a man, or a woman and a woman; moreover, it can be homogeneous (that is, made up of two beings belonging to some one species, e.g. two men) or heterogeneous (that is, made up of two beings belonging to two different species, e.g. a man and an animal). An act of manas, speech or body impelled by sexual passion on the part of such a couple is called maithuna or copulation—that is, a-brahma or incontinence.
Question : When there exists no couple but a single man or a single woman impelled by sexual passion indulges in sexual misconduct making use of some inanimate object or his/her own bodily parts like hands etc.—would that be a case of copulation according to the definition just proposed ?
Answer : Of course, for copulation only means any act whatsoever impelled by sexual passion. And this description certainly applies to the said misbehaviour on the part of a single person; hence it too is a case of defilement designated copulation.
Question : Why has copulation been called a-brahma ?
Answer: What is not brahma is a-brahma. And brahma means that whose observance is conducive to an augmentation of virtuous merits; on the other hand, a course of action which, when followed, results not in an augmentation of virtuous merits but in a nourishment of defilements is a-brahma. Now copulation is an act involvement in which immediately initiates the process of an augmentation of all defilements and a diminution of all merits; hence it is that it is given the designation a-brahma. 11.
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