ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>K&#256M (Skt. k&#257ma)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="KM"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279K&#256M (Skt. <i>k&#257ma</i>), meaning desire, longing, concupiscence, sensuality or lasciviousness, is counted among the five cardinal sins or sinful propensities. In common usage, the term stands for passion for sexual pleasure and it is in this sense that it is considered an evil in Sikhism. In Br&#257hma&#7751ical literature <i>k&#257m</i> is not always disdained. K&#257m as K&#257madeva is a god in the Hindu pantheon comparable to Eros of Greek mythology and Cupid of the Romans, and is as such not contradictory to spiritual life. <i>K&#257m</i> (gratification of desire) is in Hinduism one of the four, objectives (<i>puru&#7779&#257rthas</i>) of human life, the other three being <i>artha</i> (acquirement of wealth), <i>dharma</i> (discharge of duty), and <i>mok&#7779a</i> (final emancipation). Jainism and Buddhism, which arose as protest movements against Br&#257hma&#7751ical ritualism and superstition, however looked upon <i>k&#257m</i> with horror. For <i>munis</i> and <i>&#347rama&#7751as</i> of Jainism and Buddhism and for <i>yog&#299s</i> of the S&#257&#7749khya school, <i>k&#257m</i> was to be deliberately suppressed to achieve ultimate release. As a result, they preached celibacy and asceticism.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Gur&#363s rejected Br&#257hma&#7751ical superstition as well as self-mortifying austerities. Yet they recognized the four <i>puru&#7779&#257rthas</i>, referred to in <i>gurb&#257&#7751&#299</i> as <i>ch&#257r pad&#257raths</i> or the four human pursuits. However, in Sikhism <i>k&#257m</i> is not unrestricted gratification of carnal desires, but an impulse which needs to be kept under check like other impulses and passions. Unrestrained propensity towards <i>k&#257m</i>, especially sexual relationship outside the marital bond, is condemned in the strongest terms in Sikh codes of conduct as well as in the Scripture. It is a destructive evil and a deadly sin. To quote Gur&#363 Arjan, N&#257nak V : "0 K&#257m, thou landest people in hell and makest them wander through many births, enticest all minds, swayest all the three worlds and undoest one's meditation, austerities and restraint. The pleasure is ephemeral and thou afflictest high and low alike" (GG, 1358). Gur&#363 Te<u>gh</u> Bah&#257dur, N&#257nak IX, says : "In the sinning heart reigns <i>k&#257m</i> and the fickle mind breaks out of control. <i>K&#257m</i> castes its noose even upon <i>yog&#299s, ja&#7749gams</i> and <i>sanny&#257s&#299s</i>. Only those imbued with God's Name (fall not a prey to it) and are able to go across the ocean of existence" (GG, 1186). Bh&#257&#299 Gurd&#257s describes an ideal Sikh as one who is loyal to his wife and "regards all other women as mothers, sisters and daughters" (<i>V&#257r&#257&#7749</i>, XXIX. 11). Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh also said : "Love your own wedded wife ever so more, but do not go to another woman's bed even in a dream." Sikh codes of conduct strictly prohibit extramarital relations.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While prescribing self-control and restraint and not total annihilation of <i>k&#257m</i>, the Gur&#363s suggested two ways of channelizing and sublimating it. On the one hand, they pronounced <i>grihastha</i> or married life to be the ideal one, and, on the other laid down love of God and absorption in His Name as the essential principle of spiritual discipline. Says Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh, "Hear ye all, I proclaim here the truth : only they who love God find Him." The image of a devotee most common in Sikh Scripture is one of a wife deeply in love with her <i>kant</i> or husband presently separated from him, and waiting, craving, praying for a reunion with him. Such fervent devotion cannot but bridle the wayward passion in man. According to Gur&#363 Arjan, a person who has cultivated the love of the Lord's feet would desire neither kingship, nor worldly power, nor even <i>mukti</i> or liberation (GG, 534).</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"><i>&#346ab&#257darth Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib</i>. Amritsar, 1964<BR> <li class="C1"> Sher Singh, <i>The Philosophy of Sikhism</i>. Lahore, 1944<BR> <li class="C1"> Avtar Singh, <i>Ethics of the Sikhs</i>. Patiala, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"> Nripinder Singh, <i>The Sikh Moral Tradition</i>. Delhi, 1990<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">L. M. Joshi<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>