Learning From The Dwellers Of The Kama Sutra Land

On his visit to Khajuraho, Bishwanath Ghosh was fascinated by a gardener who became his guide for the temples of love on a beautiful morning in October 2007. Here is an excerpt from Ghosh’s blog ‘Letter From The Land Of Kama Sutra,’ where he vividly narrates the guide’s interesting description of the temple of Vishwanatha:

He did a namaste and disappeared again. By now the sun had risen high and I walked across the lawns. A group of Westerners had gathered around a smartly-dressed guide and were listening to him. The guide spoke fluent English and from a distance I could catch the words “bestiality”, “homosexuality”, “vices,” “illusion and delusion.”

When I got closer, I realised he was explaining the presence of erotic carvings in a temple. He told the foreigners that when you enter the home of God, you should get rid of all worldly distractions — that’s the message of the Khajuraho temples. And then, like a chemistry teacher, he summed up: “Lust converts to love, love converts to devotion, devotion converts to spirituality, spirituality converts to super-consciousness.” I got the point.