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PG

The only sex in this book is pretty much the sex Gandhi tries not to have…or regrets having.

In terms of sex, the main event happens when Gandhi's father is dying (1.9.10). The author is in the bedroom paying attention to his wife—presumably that means sexy times—and not tending to his father when he dies.

He'd been taking care of his father earlier that night (and for days before), but that isn't enough for Gandhi. He thinks he should have been devoted to him nonstop. So even though Gandhi likes sex early in life, it pretty soon takes on a dark meaning for him. Perhaps the incident scars the author, and maybe it contributes to his later taking of the brahmacharya (celibacy) vow.

He fails twice to implement celibacy in his life—in other words, he breaks down and has sex with his wife, even though he thinks he shouldn't. "I failed twice" (3.7.4). There are also a few times when he finds himself with a prostitute that some other man has taken him to; he doesn't sleep with them, but he blames himself for these incidents all the same. So, even someone with such powerful self-mastery as Gandhi still has a sex drive. Indeed, he later says he hasn't achieved "complete mastery over thought" (4.25.11). It's not enough simply to refrain from having sex; he wants to eliminate the thought of it from his mind altogether.