Maithuna or Mithuna is a Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 term used in Tantra

Tantra

Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....

 most often translated as sexual union in a ritual context. It is the most important of the five makara and constitutes the main part of the Grand Ritual of Tantra variously known as Panchamakara

Panchamakara

Panchamakara, also known as the Five Ms, is a Tantric term referring to the five substances used in a Tantric puja or sadhana:...

, Panchatattva, and Tattva Chakra.

Although some writers, sects and schools e. g. Yogananda consider this to be a purely mental and symbolic act, a look at different variations (and translations) of the word maithuna clearly shows that it refers to male-female couples and their union in the physical, sexual sense and is synonymous with kriya

Kriya

Kriya most commonly refers to a "completed action", technique or practice within a yoga discipline meant to achieve a specific result. Types of kriya may vary widely between different schools of yoga. Another meaning of Kriya is the outward physical manifestations of awakened kundalini...

 nishpatti (mature cleansing). Just as neither spirit nor matter by itself is effective but both working together bring harmony so is maithuna effective only then when the union is consecrated. The couple become for the time being divine: she is Shakti

Shakti

Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...

 and he is Shiva

Shiva

Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...

. The scriptures warn that unless this spiritual transformation occurs the union is carnal and sinful.

Yet, it is possible to experience a form of maithuna without physical union. The act can exist on a metaphysical plane without sexual penetration, in which the shakti and shakta transfer energy through their subtle bodies alone. It is when this transfer of energy occurs that the couple, incarnated as goddess and god via diminished egos, confronts ultimate reality and experiences bliss through union of the subtle bodies.

Main Significations for Maithuna

• Paired polarity
• Couple
• Loving couple
• The amorously entwined couples featured on Indian high-reliefs and statues found in temples such as Khajuraho
  Khajuraho
  The Khajuraho Group of Monuments in Khajuraho , a town in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, located in Chhatarpur District, about southeast of New Delhi, are one of the most popular tourist destinations in India. Khajuraho has the largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous for...
  
   and Konarak
  Konarak
  Konarak may refer to:*Konarak, Iran, a city in the Sistan va Baluchestan Province of Iran*Konarak County, an administrative subdivision of Iran*Konarak, an alternative spelling for the Indian city of Konark...
  
  .
• The zodiac sign of Gemini
  Gemini (astrology)
  Gemini is the third astrological sign in the Zodiac, which spans the Zodiac between the 60th and 89th degree of celestial longitude. Generally, the Sun transits this area of the zodiac between May 21 to June 20 each year...
  
  , which in India is not a figure of twins as in the West, but that of a man and woman representing Maithuna, derived from the Sanskrit word 'Mithuna', a couple.

Other spellings

• Mithuna, mithunam: Sexual union, copulation, intercourse (Sanskrit)
• Maithunam dravyam: the unrefined fluid from intercourse (D.G. White, p. 84)