7. Brahmacharya - Habits to unfold Divine
Brahmacharyena tapasa raja rashtram virakshati
Acharyo brahmacharyena brahmacharinamichhati
-Atharva Veda II-5-17
Purport: Wisdom dawns by penance of brahmacharya. A nation sustains
by penance of brahmacharya.
Commentary:
Brahmacharya is commonly understood as celibacy or sexual
continence. The root meaning of the Sanskrit word connotes setting
up a pattern of behavior in consonance with the harmonious
unfoldment of the Spirit within. The aim of all endeavor is “Not my
will but Thy will be done.”
Celibacy results in conservation of Prana (Life Force) for more
fruitful purposes, provided mind is trained to cooperate.
Brahmacharya means control of sexual lust, avoidance of
overindulgence in sensuality and consequently attempting to rid
oneself of hatred, envy, greed, fear and anxiety. Agnihotra, the
first aspect of the Fivefold Path of the Vedas, is a potent material
aid to bring about the transformation of the mind.
Celibacy brings about immense resilience and we experience an influx
of energy at all levels. Conservation of sexual energy contributes
to spiritual regeneration and we delve deep into subtle tiers of
consciousness. The flow of energy which was drained off towards the
sexual function can be channeled towards the higher task of Self
realization.
It is not possible to control sex without simultaneously exerting
control over all sense organs. To achieve this state we must first
learn the “why” of it. How does it concern me? Why should I take the
trouble to undertake this penance? Is it going to benefit me in my
worldly life? This is part of Swadhyaya, the fifth aspect of the
Fivefold Path. We soon realize that we must learn to exert control
over our thoughts. Practice of the previous six commandments leads
to purification of the intellect and sublimation of thought. It is a
matter of experience that control over the palate helps a good deal
to control sex. We then learn to distinguish between hunger and
appetite.
The Brahmacharya way of life is a gift from the ancient Vedic seers.
All your hidden treasures will be unsealed by its practice.
Egotistic pattern of behavior is blasted by practice of Brahmacharya.
Everyone wants to command but none wants to obey. Resuscitation of
Brahmacharya way of life will teach us to be humble as little
children and the gates of “The Kingdom of Heaven” will be thrown
open. Brahmacharya way of life rids us of all misery that is our
desert. It is the only way to put an end to all misery.
Modern medicine has failed to rid humanity of misery for the simple
reason that it does not take into account man in his totality, i.e.
body, mind and soul. Daring attempts are made by modern psychiatry
to bring happiness to the corporeal frame by manipulating
psychological channels. But again they do not go beyond body-mind
complex and hence the supreme necessity of spiritual discipline to
lead a happy life on earth. The Fivefold Path ushers you into
Brahmacharya way of life. The first two aspects of the Fivefold Path
are material aids to the process of spiritual unfoldment.
Man is not a simple contraption which responds to stimulus inputs.
Biopsychological operants need to be considered by therapeutic
psychiatry if it aims at bringing peace to mankind. Brahmacharya way
of life, the Fivefold Path, has to be imprinted upon children in
their most impressionable period. Behavioral patterns have to be
stamped even before
kindergarten age if education aims to evolve Self culture.
Our happiness depends upon our way of life. Action and intellect act
and react. Good Karma sublimates the intellect. Purified intellect
exerts control over sense organs. This leads to imperturbability of
the mind, indifference to the duality of pleasure and pain and
happiness is ushered in like a ripe fruit falling in your lap. If
mind is overruled by senses, the intellect gets disfigured and bad
action follows. If mind joins the intellect in its power to choose
between right and wrong, senses are compelled to submit. This is how
the spiritual discipline works.
Psychiatry engineers artifacts which are external. Psychiatry is
administered while spiritual practice is volitional. Brahmacharya
brings about changes in the will power. It teaches us to be best
managers of our energy potential. The drain on energy is plugged.
Targets of primary importance are stressed so that we come to know
for ourselves what is necessary and right for us.
Let us learn that objects are mere symbols whence desire is
triggered.
Control of sense organs may be restrictive in the beginning.
Anything that is restrictive may be disagreeable but in due course
of time the burden is redeemed and there is nothing but joy. This is
the process of Tapa (self-discipline), the third aspect of the
Fivefold Path.
“The journey of life can be safely conducted and the Supreme world
of Vishnu reached by keeping a watchful eye over the senses. The
body is a chariot to which the senses are yoked like horses. The
charioteer, understanding, holds the horses in check with reins that
are mind. The soul occupies the chariot; the world of objects is the
path over which the senses move. If the reins are not held wisely
the senses will go out of control and the chariot will not reach the
destination. Wise man controls the mind and his senses are like good
horses.
—Kathopanishad III—3, 4, 5, 9
“(It can be accomplished) by practice and detachment.”
—Bhagavat Geeta 6-35
Let us organize our tomorrow by self-discipline today. Let us not
defile the bodily tabernacle and turn it into a den of thieves. The
thieves are passion, anger, greed, temptation, pride and jealousy.
Let us learn to exert control over sense organs. It cannot be done
overnight. It can neither come by mere wishful thinking or through
listening to intellectual discourses. It comes only in the company
of saintly persons. Let us imbibe the spiritual discipline in our
lives as householders. Let us inculcate in our children by
practicing what we preach.
From a painfully restrictive society of medieval times we have
rocketed ourselves into exuberance of permissiveness. Neither is
conducive to freedom. We behave like freed people and not free
people. Freedom implies freedom from worry, tension, anxiety,
misery. This involves discipline. The words disciple and discipline
stem from the same root.
The younger generation is brought up with jet planes, TV.,
spaceships, mass communication media, instant foods and
psychotherapeutic operands. They refuse to put faith in merely
action-oriented legalistic moral code of institutionalized
religions. They are also familiar with the instability, insecurity,
void and tension syndrome of which they are hapless victims. They
try to seek relief in drugs, sex and hippy non-conformism with no
success. They are at the crossroads of destiny. It is either perish
en masse or live together in tune with the Divine blueprint.
Accentuated intellectual faculty no more permits them to adhere to
hypocritical make-believe morality. Attenuated mental faculty puts
heavy obstacles in the determination to practice the spiritual path.
Under such conditions only the package deal of the Fivefold Path of
Vedic wisdom, grounded in scientific foundation of revealed
knowledge, will pull us up from the abysmal state. All messengers of
God, all prophets have stressed the same message of the Fivefold
Path in their revelations in words suited to their times. In the
scientific society that we live in we have to revert to the ancient
language of Vedic wisdom. This is the Fivefold Path.
Brahmacharya way of life is character building in the light of
scientific knowledge. Man is considered in his entirety as body,
mind and soul and evolution proceeds with this premise. There are
fixed natural laws in the physical realm; this is borne out by
methods of experimental science. There are fixed laws in the mental
and the spiritual realm also. While dealing with human happiness it
is not enough to consider only the psychosomatic man.
Sealing off the threshold at the endocrine or psychosomatic level
will never lead us out of misery. Let us repeat: man is body, mind
and soul. Let us pay heed to the spirit that unfolds within.
Practice of Tapa (self-discipline) of Brahmacharya alone will bring
us out of misery and land us in the eternal “Kingdom of Heaven”
which is our birthright.
Our daily actions are the warp and the woof of the pattern of life
we create for ourselves. It might be useless to talk about the
spiritual path if it does not benefit us in the workaday world. By
observing the commandments we become more equipped to face our
worldly problems. Practice of Brahmacharya makes us a different
person. Our attitudes change and the world is different. We must try
to understand why this mode of life is a necessity for happy living
and then we must, with determination, take steps to tread the
Fivefold Path. This is the essence of the message of all prophets.
Continence, with full cooperation of mind and intellect, is the
cornerstone of a happy life as a householder. It blesses both
ourselves and society.
Om Tat Sat!