Commandment 7: Brahmacharya - Celibacy (Patterns of behavior for the unfoldment of the 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 operants. 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 blesseth both ourselves and society.
If you like to arrange a workshop or like to learn advanced healing yagnyas please contact
yogni@agnihotrausa.net
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 operants. 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 blesseth both ourselves and society.
If you like to arrange a workshop or like to learn advanced healing yagnyas please contact
yogni@agnihotrausa.net
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