Question: If we must end the lower vital or sex life for a higher life, then why did God create it? Also, what will happen to the world's population if so many people abstain from the sex life?

Sri Chinmoy: God created the lower vital life to propagate the human species when man had just emerged from the animal kingdom and was still governed largely by his animal propensities. But he expected and fully intended that as man evolved he would purify and divinise his lower vital life. By the time every human being on earth has become so divine that all lower vital activity has ceased, mankind will have evolved a totally new system of reproduction, but this will not happen for thousands of years.

Meanwhile, if you lead a pure, strict spiritual life, God’s creation will not suffer. If you are a celibate of the highest order, the world will not suffer from lack of population, because everybody is not accepting the spiritual life right now. You can see in your own family that your brothers and sisters do not care for the spiritual life. Let the world’s population depend on them. You think of God-realisation now. There are more than enough people on earth to take care of the population problem while every aspirant takes care of his God-realisation problem.

Another spiritual Master was asked this same question about forty years ago. He became furious. He said to his disciples, “If you have to think about that instead of about God, then why do you stay in my ashram? Ask me questions that will help you with your immediate spiritual life. You have come here to become God’s children, not to create children of your own.” Spiritual aspirants, as well as those who have not accepted the spiritual life, must remember that each child that a person brings into the world is a tremendous responsibility. Each soul is a spark of the divine Light. When you bring a child into the world, God gives you the responsibility to take care of it in a divine way. If you do not fulfil the responsibility, then not only are you harming the child, but also, because you are not fulfilling God’s Will, you are harming yourself karmically. So it is better for those who still feel the need to indulge in lower vital activity but who do not want to accept the responsibility of caring for children to use some method of birth control. The world population will not fall dangerously low because of this. All the souls that want and need to reincarnate will always have the opportunity.