There are very few taboos from which human society has suffered so much as the taboo on sex. The reason is not difficult to understand. Procreation is the most basic of all human urges. Human welfare and happiness rest on the creation of a happy family, on love, and on sex. The obscurity in which the subject has been veiled has deprived young people of counsel and guidance in making their lives happy. The results are visible all around us - unhappy marriages and a high divorce rate among older people and a violent reaction to the extreme of "Free love" amongst the very young. The sex taboo is also hurting the country where it can least afford to be hurt today - in it's population control programmes.
Although surgery has proved to be the most successful form of population control so far, the subject has been treated with an extraordinary amount of reticence.
Family planning propaganda posters and films all pour out statistics of progress. Men are reassured that vasectomy is a reversible operation, that it will not affect their manhood. But a veil of silence is drawn over some of the crucial facts, and the most vital question which a man invariably asks - "Will it affect my virility?" is often left unanswered.
The false modesty has not helped the program. Village studies have shown that their wives often dissuade men from vasectomy. Many find the giggles of the womenfolk too hard to bear.
When this inhibition does damage to so vital a program as population control it must be done away with. In what follows, an attempt is made to explain further the function of sex and reproductive glands and the exact manner in which surgery affects them.
The faculty of sex and reprocreation depends on the sex glands. These produce not only sperm, but also testosterone - the sex hormone. Testosterone is essential for sexual vigor, virility and youthfulness in men. All the characteristics which are normally associated with manhood - muscular physique, deep voice, hirsuteness etc. - depend on the sex hormone. The sperm, on the other hand, is needed for reprocreation.
Men in whom the sex glands perform twin jobs, normally are both fertile and virile, they can perform sexual intercourse satisfactorily, impregnate fertile women, and possess all the male qualities and characteristics. If one of the functions of the sex gland is not being performed well, depending upon which of the two functions is affected, the man will be either "Virile but not fertile" or "Fertile but not virile". Sub fertility and sub virility of various grades are very common.
A man's fertility can be affected for a number of reasons: Even when produced normally by the sex gland, the sperm may not appear in the semen due to a block, a breach or even the absence of the vas duct, which could be caused by a birth defect, a disease, or by injury. It can also be induced by an operation (vasectomy). Infertility due to blockage is curable by surgery. On the other hand those in whom the sperm is not produced can be helped by hormone therapy.
Virility on the other hand depends on the production of the sex hormone in men. Sex hormone is produced in the largest amounts in young men. With advancing age and a prolonged sex life, the sex glands tire out, the hormone level declines. Disease, excessive indulgence in sex and stimulants such as alcohol contribute to the exhaustion of the sex glands.
What is often not realised is that the exhaustion of the sex glands leads to premature aging. Premature aging can be prevented only by an adequate supply of the natural sex hormone. Synthetic hormones can ameliorate but cannot achieve what the natural sex hormone can do. What is more, while the synthetic hormone has the side effect of suppressing sperm formation and so is considered a male contraceptive, the natural sex hormone keeps spermatogenis active and alive. One way to increase the natural sex hormone is by the operation called vasectomy.
So far vasectomy has only been considered a way of preventing conception. But it has an even more important function - by relieving the testes of one function - that of producing sperm - it stimulates their other function - of producing the sex hormone.
Vasectomy is a five minute procedure. there is no pain or discomfort, no hospitalization or bed rest and no staying at home either. There is only one incision of about a centimeter and one stitch. There are no bandages - just a supporter. If the need arises the operation can be reversed.
The hormone producing part of the sex glands is strongly activated when the Modified Steinache 2 vasectomy is performed. This leads to great increase of the sex hormone, thus making the weakest virile.
Modern surgery provides virility to the weak, children to the childless, and fertility control to those who need it. In ancient Indian medicine too, surgery was usually regarded as the most important healing art. "Dhanwantari imparted perennial youth by performing an operation on the scrotum and Giving in addition the elixir of life so that man lived his full span of a hundred years on earth evergreen". (Our Golden Heritage by R.J.Vakil).
"The Elixir of life flowed from the Divine pitchers of physicians, and the surgeon's knife brightened the prospect of rejuvenation opening the portals of eternal youth" says Susruta. Modern surgery too often offers eternal youth.