In India, sexual energy is identified with cosmic energy. Sexual intercourse is treated as a paradigm of divine ecstasy and Kama (desire) is regarded as the third of the four primary goals of life.
Images representing the outward appearance of sexual energy are worshipped as divine emblems. And it is said that the joy of actual sexual intercourse - undertaken in the same spirit as worship of an outer image - can help evoke that permanent, blissful state of which each human intercourse is just another reflection.