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Having examined the injunctions on avoiding women I now turn to regulations on sex. The ±ÊÄå³Ù²¹Ã±Âá²¹±ô²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ is clear that celibacy is a rule of yoga. The ³ó²¹á¹»·²¹ corpus instead offers a range of perspectives attuned to different stages of the practice. The ¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ acknowledges religious hypocrisy when it suggests it is commonplace to present oneself as a religious mendicant to get sex through deception without undertaking religious observances (¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ 47). More frequently attested than the use of deception to obtain sex are references to a prosaic approach to sex. Thus, the yogi who knows ±¹²¹Âá°ù´Ç±ôÄ« is worthy of success even if he behaves self-indulgently disregarding the rules taught in yoga (¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ 152). ³Õ²¹Âá°ù´Ç±ôÄ« is enjoined for those who have the qualities of auspiciousness, generosity and virtue and is achieved by the disinterested rather than the self-oriented (¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ 176). The practice should be done having set aside shame or shyness (±ô²¹ÂáÂáÄå) (¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ 177). Finally, of all the yogas this one is happiness-making as it results in liberation even though pleasure has been enjoyed (¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ 179). Though the ³Ò´Ç°ù²¹°ìá¹£aÅ›²¹³Ù²¹°ì²¹ counts having too much sex as a cause of disease (³Ò´Ç°ù²¹°ìá¹£aÅ›²¹³Ù²¹°ì²¹ 68-69) the Åš¾±±¹²¹²õ²¹á¹ƒh¾±³ÙÄå repeats the ¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ position and expands: ‘Every goal that is sought after is sure to be achieved here on earth by means of this Yoga, even after enjoying all pleasures. Using it, yogis are sure to attain total perfection, so one should practice it while having lots of funâ€� (Åš¾±±¹²¹²õ²¹á¹ƒh¾±³ÙÄå 4.92-94) (Mallinson 2007b). The Åš¾±±¹²¹²õ²¹á¹ƒh¾±³ÙÄå orients this yoga to the householder without any loss of efficacy: ‘Living in a house filled with children and a wife and so forth, internally abandoning attachment, and then seeing the mark of success on the path of yoga, the householder has fun having mastered my teachingâ€� (Åš¾±±¹²¹²õ²¹á¹ƒh¾±³ÙÄå 5.260) (Mallinson 2007b). Finally, the ±á²¹á¹»·²¹±è°ù²¹»åÄ«±è¾±°ìÄå states that all powers arise for whoever knows ±¹²¹Âá°ù´Ç±ôÄ«, ‘even someone living according to their own desire without the rules taught in yogaâ€� (±á²¹á¹»·²¹±è°ù²¹»åÄ«±è¾±°ìÄå 3.82).

To focus further on the ¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹â€™s prosaic rather than moral or erotic attitude to sex, the introduction to the section on ±¹²¹Âá°ù´Ç±ôÄ« states that the yogi who does this practice is worthy of success even if he disregards the rules (niyamas) taught in yoga (¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ 152ab). This prosaic attitude to the niyamas presumably refers specifically to sexual continence (brahmacarya) (though in the ±ÊÄå³Ù²¹Ã±Âá²¹±ô²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ 2.30 brahmacarya is listed as a yama not a niyama). This fits with the broader approach across the corpus that, once established in the preservation of semen (²ú¾±²Ô»å³Ü»å³óÄå°ù²¹á¹‡a), it is irrelevant whether principles such as sexual continence are observed.

Before the instruction shifts to how women should practice ±¹²¹Âá°ù´Ç±ôÄ« the reasons for men to practice are summed up. The oft-extolled verse on the fall of bindu leading to death and life from its preservation is given (¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ 167) before what I believe is an innovation: ‘New rajas appears in the yonis of women like vermillion (²õ¾±²Ô»åÅ«°ù²¹); one without vows (avrata) should go and enter there and should, through practice, preserve [it]â€� (¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ 168). Thus, there is an acknowledgement of the antinomian nature of this practice. The next verse indicates that the purpose for a woman who would practice ±¹²¹Âá°ù´Ç±ôÄ« is only the preservation of rajas (¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ 169), rather than perhaps for pleasure.

The trope of characterising women according to their physical attributes is common across Indian literature. Refreshing in switching the gender objectified, but still none the less objectifying, female practitioners are instructed to practice sex with desirable men (¾±á¹£á¹­²¹, also lovers, husbands) or those who know yoga, but not to practice ±¹²¹Âá°ù´Ç±ôÄ« with those who do not know the teachings of yoga (¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ 177cd-178). Further, of all the yogas this one is happinessmaking resulting in liberation even when pleasure has been enjoyed (¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ 179). This yoga is successful especially for ‘those who have meritâ€� (±è³Üṇy²¹±¹²¹³ÙÄå³¾) (¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ 180ab). The section on ±¹²¹Âá°ù´Ç±ôÄ« as practiced by a woman with the man in the position of consort is most unusual in the early ³ó²¹á¹»·²¹ corpus. Yet it is not only in relation to ±¹²¹Âá°ù´Ç±ôÄ« that women as practitioners appear. Immediately upon the conclusion of the passage on ±¹²¹Âá°ù´Ç±ôÄ« the ¶Ù²¹³Ù³ÙÄå³Ù°ù±ð²â´Ç²µ²¹²â´Ç²µ²¹Å›Äå²õ³Ù°ù²¹ goes on to describe ²õ²¹³ó²¹Âá´Ç±ôÄ« and ²¹³¾²¹°ù´Ç±ôÄ« which can be seen as a triumvirate of practices with ±¹²¹Âá°ù´Ç±ôÄ«, or ancillary to ±¹²¹Âá°ù´Ç±ôÄ«. In all the sources (except perhaps the Åš¾±±¹²¹²õ²¹á¹ƒh¾±³ÙÄå) the tone is clearly pragmatic not erotic or sensational. Liberation and pleasure go hand in hand with one another.