The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana

The Kama Sutra is famous as an ancient Hindu sex manual. But its significance goes much deeper -- it is also a spiritual guide. In the Tantric sects, the union of the god Shiva and the goddess Shakti symbolizes the union of all opposites in the One, and also symbolizes the unity of the individual consciousness with the One. As the Upanishads put it, "In the embrace of his beloved, a man forgets the whole world, everything both within and without. In the same way, he who embraces the Self knows neither within nor without."