“Yoga chitta vritti nirodh” says Patanjali, the fountainhead of yoga, which means blocking the activities of the senses. Blocking the activities of the mind/senses definitely cannot be connoted as suppression of desires for one of the five yamas (principles) of Ashtanga Yoga is ahimsa/non-violence, which means prohibition of an action perforce. Suppression therefore is considered an act of violence. A normal human being has five basic senses, the satisfaction of which is a must. When a normal human being holds the hand of a Guru and is in yoga then he / she crosses the sansar sagar and gains complete control and mastery over the 5 senses. The sense of touch (sexual sense) is one of these senses.

Yoga is not suppression of these senses and abnormal behavior just because you want to project yourself as a super being. Yoga is a mastery over the senses where if you choose to have sex then you will have, the difference is that the desire does not control you but you control the desire and you may indulge or may want to indulge for generating a specific kind of heat which is used to activate the higher senses (the orgasm has to be held back in this case and a yogi would maintain the sexual heat for long periods of time, like for 2 hrs to 48 hrs.). Complete control and mastery is what is the subject of yoga.

If I may add, the rishis of yesteryears were householders, and missed no aspect of physical life. A modern day yogi and a master, Ramakrishna Paramhansa was also a householder. Hence in Yog one is asked not to leave anything forcefully. The purpose of yoga is evolution, and yoga sadhna is aimed at achieving this state where you rise over your desires, not by suppressing them but by experiencing them and rising over them. Like a charioteer who controls the reins, a yogi becomes the master of his senses and controls them at will. As one progresses in Yog, anything: lifestyle, actions, thoughts etc that are gross begin to leave the person automatically.

Brahmacharya is another yama practiced by the practitioner of yoga, which requires a person to celibate during long periods of sadhna, for the potent energy which is lost during orgasm is conserved and utilised for higher purposes but it does not bar a person from having sex at all, for if that were the case the rishis of yesteryears would not have had many wives and children. One of the basic requirements of the body is sexual fulfillment, which would not let the person evolve if suppressed forcefully. That is why in texts like Manu Smriti there is mention of ganikas and vaishyas besides wives, for ancients very well understood that until the senses are satisfied, they would not let a person move beyond the basic desires which hold a person from evolving. Manu smriti gives four objectives of human life, dharma , arthe, kama and moksha. Dharma is righteous behaviour following codes of conduct of a civilized society, in ways to interact with gods and energies which run the creation, charity, service. Artha is the attainment of material objectives, wealth, name, fame etc. Kama, satisfaction of senses and desires. After attainment of these can one think of moksha which is liberation.