Monday, 2 September 2013
THE MEANING OF BRAHMACHARYA ( CELIBACY OR CONTINENECE)
1. Brahmacharya literally means Achara or conduct that leads to the realization of Brahman
or one’s own Self. It means the control of semen, the study of the Vedas and contemplation on
God. The technical meaning of Brahmacharya is self-restraint, particularly mastery of perfect
control over the sexual organ or freedom from lust in thought, word and deed. Strict abstinence
is not merely from sexual intercourse, but also from auto-erotic manifestations, from homosexual
acts and from all perverse sexual practices. It must further involve a permanent abstention from
indulgence in erotic imagination and voluptuous reverie. All sorts of sex anomalies and evil
habits of various sorts like masturbation and sodomy must be completely eradicated. They bring
about a total breakdown of the nervous system and immense misery.
2. Brahmacharya is purity in thought, word and deed. It is celibacy and continence.
Brahmacharya is the vow of celibacy. The term ‘celibacy’ is from the Latin ‘caelebs’, meaning
unmarried or single, and signifies the state of living unmarried. But Brahmacharya is not mere
bachelorhood. It includes the control, not only of the sex or reproductive Indriya, but also of all
other Indriyas in thought, word and deed. This is the definition of Brahmacharya in a broad
sense of the term. The door to Nirvana or perfection is complete Brahmacharya. Complete
celibacy is the master-key to open the realms of Elysian bliss. The avenue to the abode of
supreme peace begins from Brahmacharya or purity.
3.Brahmacharya is absolute freedom from sexual desires and thoughts. A real Brahmachari
will not feel any difference in touching a woman, a piece of paper or a block of wood.
Brahmacharya is meant for both men and women. Bhishma, Hanuman, Lakshman, Mira Bai,
Sulabha and Gargi were all established in Brahmacharya.
4.Mere control of the animal passion will not constitute Brahmacharya. This is incomplete
Brahmacharya. You must control all the organs—the ears that want to hear lustful stories, the
lustful eye that wants to see objects that excite passion, the tongue that wants to taste exciting
things and the skin that wants to touch exciting objects.
5.To look lustfully is adultery of the eyes; to hear anything that excites passion is adultery
of the ears; to speak anything that excites passion is adultery of the tongue.
***** SWAMI SIVANAND JI MAHARAJ
or one’s own Self. It means the control of semen, the study of the Vedas and contemplation on
God. The technical meaning of Brahmacharya is self-restraint, particularly mastery of perfect
control over the sexual organ or freedom from lust in thought, word and deed. Strict abstinence
is not merely from sexual intercourse, but also from auto-erotic manifestations, from homosexual
acts and from all perverse sexual practices. It must further involve a permanent abstention from
indulgence in erotic imagination and voluptuous reverie. All sorts of sex anomalies and evil
habits of various sorts like masturbation and sodomy must be completely eradicated. They bring
about a total breakdown of the nervous system and immense misery.
2. Brahmacharya is purity in thought, word and deed. It is celibacy and continence.
Brahmacharya is the vow of celibacy. The term ‘celibacy’ is from the Latin ‘caelebs’, meaning
unmarried or single, and signifies the state of living unmarried. But Brahmacharya is not mere
bachelorhood. It includes the control, not only of the sex or reproductive Indriya, but also of all
other Indriyas in thought, word and deed. This is the definition of Brahmacharya in a broad
sense of the term. The door to Nirvana or perfection is complete Brahmacharya. Complete
celibacy is the master-key to open the realms of Elysian bliss. The avenue to the abode of
supreme peace begins from Brahmacharya or purity.
3.Brahmacharya is absolute freedom from sexual desires and thoughts. A real Brahmachari
will not feel any difference in touching a woman, a piece of paper or a block of wood.
Brahmacharya is meant for both men and women. Bhishma, Hanuman, Lakshman, Mira Bai,
Sulabha and Gargi were all established in Brahmacharya.
4.Mere control of the animal passion will not constitute Brahmacharya. This is incomplete
Brahmacharya. You must control all the organs—the ears that want to hear lustful stories, the
lustful eye that wants to see objects that excite passion, the tongue that wants to taste exciting
things and the skin that wants to touch exciting objects.
5.To look lustfully is adultery of the eyes; to hear anything that excites passion is adultery
of the ears; to speak anything that excites passion is adultery of the tongue.
***** SWAMI SIVANAND JI MAHARAJ
STORY - Passion’s hold over man’s mind. Socrates and his disciple
One of the disciples of Socrates asked his teacher, “My venerable master, kindly instruct
me how many times a householder can visit his legal wife.” Socrates replied, “Only once in his
lifetime.”
The disciple said, “Oh my Lord! This is absolutely impossible for worldly men. Passion
is dreadful and troublesome. This world is full of temptations and distractions. Householders
have not a strong will to resist temptations. Their Indriyas are very revolting and powerful. The
mind is filled with passion. Thou art a philosopher and Yogi. You can control. Pray, kindly
prescribe an easy path for the men of the world.” Then Socrates said, “ A householder can have
copulation once in a year.”
The disciple replied, “O venerable sir, this is also a hard job for them. You must
prescribe an easier course.” Socrates then replied, “Well, my dear disciple, once in a month. This
is suitable. This is quite easy. I think you are satisfied now.”
The disciple said, “This also is impossible, my revered master. Householders are very
fickle-minded. Their minds are full of sexual Samskaras and Vasanas. They cannot remain even
for a single day without sexual intercourse. You have no idea of their mentality.”
Then Socrates said, “Well said, my dear child. Do one thing now. Go directly to the
burial ground now. Dig a grave and purchase a coffin and winding sheet for the corpse before
hand. Now you can spoil yourself any number of times you like. This is my final advice to you.”
This last advice pierced the heart of the disciple. He felt it keenly. He thought over the matter
seriously and understood the importance and glory of Brahmacharya. He took to spiritual
Sadhana in right earnest. He took a vow of strict unbroken celibacy for life. He became an
Oordhvareta Yogi and had Self-realization. He became one of the favourite disciples of
Socrates.
How to Rise Above Sex
*****There is another important angle to this matter of Brahmacharya ( CELIBACY, CONTINENCE). And that pertains to
your aim and ambition in life. What is it that you want out of life? What great desire dominates
your life? Is there something that is a consuming hunger in you? Do you want to become the
highest musical genius in this world? Or do you want to become the fastest Olympic runner or
weightlifter in this world?
***** No matter what your ambition is, if there is some one overwhelming
or all-consuming hunger in you, then all other problems recede into the background. They do not
present a great difficulty. But, if you do not have such an overwhelming ambition in one
direction, then everything becomes a problem and sex also becomes a problem.
****Therefore, the
right way of solving this problem of sex is to rise above it so that it becomes something not
important. You have to rise above sex—not wrestle with it, but rise above it. Because, if you do
not have an overall concentrated urge or ambition in life, then the clamour of these little senses
becomes a great din in your life. Your life will always be under that clamour.
**** But, if you have
got an overwhelming urge for something else, then this clamour does not reach you at all,because you are too busy engaging your entire attention in some other direction.
So, the rightway of solving this situation of sex is to rise above it, by developing great love for God, greatlove for an ideal, developing passion for a pure life, a moral life, an ethical life, an ideal life andnurturing Tivra Mumukshutva for attaining liberation.
***If intense Mumukshutva is there, then all other things recede into the background. They become less important. So, if you want to attainvictory over the clamour of the senses, you must arouse within yourself a great fire of higher aspiration. Then, what happens? In order to attain that upon which your heart is set, you give yourself so totally to it that you have no time for other things.
****Even great scientists do not have this problem, because they are all the time completely absorbed in their scientific research. They do not pay much importance to food or clothing or bathing or anything.
Why? Because they are all absorbed in, and interested in, something else. That is the way of becoming established in Brahmacharya, in successful Brahmacharya, in effective Brahmacharya
# H.H. SWAMI CHIDANAND JI MAHARAJ ( DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY , RISHIKESH. INDIA.)
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Sex Education
WHAT PLACE has... instruction in sexual
science in our educational system, or has
it any place there at all?
****Sexual science is
of two kinds-that which is used for
controlling or overcoming the sexual
passion, and that which is used to
stimulate and feed it. Instruction in the
former is as necessary a part of child's
education as the latter is harmful and dangerous and fit therefore only to be
shunned.
*** All great religions have rightly
regarded kama as the arch-enemy of man, anger or hatred coming only in the
second place.
*** According to the Gita, the
latter is an offspring of the former. The
Gita , of course, uses the word kama in
its wider sense of desire. But the same
holds good of the narrow sense in which
it is used here.
This , however, still leaves unanswered
the question, i.e., whether it is desirable
to impart to young pupils a knowledge
about the use and function of generative organs.
*****But the sex education that I stand for
must have for its object the conquest and
sublimation of the sex passion.
**** Such education should automatically serve to
bring home to children the essential
distinction between man and brute, to
make them realize that it is man's special
privilege and pride to be gifted with the
faculties of head and heart both, that he
is a thinking no less than a feeling animal as the very derivation of the word shows,
and to renounce the sovereignty of
reason over the blind instincts is,
therefore to renounce a man's estate.
##Mohandas KARAMCHANDA GANDHI ( MAHATAMA GANDHI)
*** HARIJAN.
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