--> Skip to main content


Hindu Religion Views On Birth Control – Family Planning

Hindu religion views on birth control are part of human development and is based on the welfare of society and humanity. For Hindus, the question of family planning cannot exist in isolation from the well-being of the entire society, but as a fundamental part of the total process of human development. Social ethics in Hinduism are inspired by the idea of protection and welfare of the world. Lokasamagraha is taught in the Bhagavad Gita (111.20), the most popular Hindu scripture. The ideal requires from each member of society a way of life consistent with the general welfare of humanity. As overpopulation threatens this ideal, the moral stance clearly becomes that of population control.

In fact, according to later knowledge texts, only one child, a daughter or son, is necessary for the fulfillment of one’s religious duties as a householder. Manu – “By the birth of the first child alone, man pays off his ancestral debt… Only the first child is born of dharma (sacred duty); the rest are born of kama (passion)” (Manu IX. 106-107).

Actually, a son and a daughter would fulfill the religious, social and emotional needs of a Hindu couple.

Throughout their long history, Hindus have also laid down certain rules of sexual abstinence for householders.

There is no objection to contraception on religious or moral grounds in Hindu traditions. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad spells out a method of birth control for a man “who desires his wife, but does not want her to conceive” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad VI. 4.10). A temperate exercise of the sexual urges by the householder is recommended in the Shastras.