Sri Ramakrishna Math : The Vedanta Kesari, Editorial: Brahmacharya: The Virtue of Continence

Chastity, continence, or brahmacharya, is one of the five moral values, yamas, prescribed as preliminary disciplines in the Yoga system of Patanjali. It is essential for success in Yoga. In all religions it is greatly stressed. It is one of the five basic vows, vratas, in Jainism, where it is obligatory for all its votaries, monastic as well as lay. The Jain monks observe a vow of absolute chastity--mahavrata, and the householders observe it as an anuvrata, relative vow. In Buddhism also, brahmacharya is prescribed as one of the five values, panchasheel. In Hinduism, it is equally extolled. A Hindu is supposed to observe brahmacharya in three of the four ashramas or periods of life: brahmacharya or student life, vanaprastha or the period of retirement, and finally sannyasa or monastic period. Sex is allowed only during the householder-period and that too only for progeny. Christianity is also no exception. St. Paul advises the Christians:

I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain let them marry for it is better to marry than to burn.¹

You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.²

Sufi saints too seem to endorse the above statement of Jesus. A Sufi saint chopped off one of his legs. When asked why he did it, he said, 'I was meditating in my hut when I saw a woman pass by. Being tempted, as I stepped out of the hut, my conscience pricked me and warned me that I was following Satan rather than God. I immediately chopped off the leg which had first stepped out!' Rabia, one of the greatest Sufi saints, never married even though she had many offers. When asked why she didn't, her reply was simple: 'I belong to my Master. Ask this question to Him.'

India, of course, is steeped in the tradition of brahmacharya. Indians worship Shiva, the great Lord, Mahadeva, who is the greatest among the conquerors of lust. He burnt Cupid, the god of lust, by the fire of his third eye. Although he is married, no one can excel him in self-control. Then we have the illustrious grandsire Bhishma, who took the vow of life-long celibacy and kept it under heavy odds. Jain mythology is replete with illuminating and amazing stories of the practice of chastity even in marriage.

As the story goes, one man wanted to feed monks--a meritorious act enjoined upon the householders. When he approached the monastic head, the acharya, the latter advised him to feed the young son and daughter-in-law of a particular rich man--an act which, he was told, would be as meritorious as feeding a hundred monks. When asked why, the acharya disclosed the secret: Even before their marriage, the bride and the bridegroom were interested in leading a chaste life. The bride had approached the spiritual preceptor and had asked how she could practise chastity, even if partially, in marriage. The preceptor had advised her to practise abstinence during the dark fortnight of the lunar month, and accordingly the girl had taken an oath to do so. Similarly, the future bridegroom too, unknown to his future wife and without knowing her intentions, had approached another spiritual leader and had taken a vow to practise continence during the bright fortnight of the lunar month. When the couple got married they came to know of each other's vows, and honouring them, continued to practise brahmacharya even while living together.

This ancient story is reminiscent of the relation between Sri Ramakrishna and the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi who slept on the same bed together for several months without even a trace of body consciousness arising in their minds. Sri Ramakrishna was no less uncompromising than the great ancient acharyas, saints, sages and spiritual aspirants. He kept a very strict watch over his future monastic disciples, including Narendranath (later Swami Vivekananda) and did not even like him to be too friendly with Girish Chandra Ghosh, another great householder disciple, because the latter had led a reckless life earlier and because the marks of that licentious life were still present in him. He did not want any of his monastic disciples to acquire a blemish even inadvertently. It is told that once Swami Vivekananda experienced an urge of lust while meditating. He immediately sat on some burning coals near by. The wound took quite some time to heal. We know how perfectly established Swami Vivekananda was in brahmacharya. It is said in the Patanjali's Yoga Sutras³ that one who gets established in brahma--charya by the unbroken practice of continence in thought, word and deed for twelve years gains tremendous energy and a gigantic will power. He gains a unique power of convincing others by whatever he says. This was the secret of the tremendous impact of Swami Vivekananda's opening words, 'Sisters and Brothers of America', uttered at the Parliament of Religions. Continence gives a tremendous control over mankind. According to Swami Brahmananda, brahmacharya is the best tapas or austerity.

Probably the greatest advocate of brahmacharya in recent times is Mahatma Gandhi. The opinion of Gandhiji carries greater weight because he was a householder and yet took the vow of brahmacharya and fulfilled it successfully. He has devoted two chapters to brahmacharya in his autobiography, My Experiments with Truth. Gandhiji related all moral values to truth. For him, brahmacharya was essential for the right practice of truth and ahimsa. Besides, he realized its importance for social life, and has also described his experiments with the control of other senses, especially the sense of taste, and diet and fasting as aids to the practice of brahmacharya.

While this is the general attitude of the world religions towards conquest of lust and the significance of brahmacharya, it is worthwhile tracing in short the biological and sociological evolution of sexuality.

Survival instinct and sex instinct are the two strongest instincts in man. According to Darwin, we have inherited these instincts from our primitive ancestors. The sex instinct has its roots in our most primitive, simplest and multicellular ancestral living forms which first learnt the sexual mode of reproduction as they evolved from the asexually reproducing forms like amoeba.

However, man is also a social animal and existential problems arise when man's sexual instinct conflicts with the herd instinct. In the primitive human society competition for the mate was one of the major causes of social disharmony. This was later solved by the introduction of the institution of marriage and its gradually increasing refinement and sanctification. Curbing the sexual urge with the help of rules and regulations virtually became a norm in almost all human societies. These were sanctified by law and religion.

At the same time, humans also found that if the psychic human energy associated with sexual urge could be transmuted into higher channels, they could attain higher spiritual illumination which conduced to far greater fulfilment and joy in life. Thus human beings, in an attempt to rise above the animal nature--of eating, sleeping, fear and procreation--struggled to conquer lust.

But not many were there who could aspire for such lofty goals, nor was it possible for all. But with sex being considered a taboo, problems arose. Sexual perversions, sex-related crimes, repressions, hypocrisy, etc. were the result. Then came Freud with his epoch-making discoveries of the subconscious and the concepts of libido, id, eros, etc. Today we have reached a stage where sex is beginning to be looked upon merely as a means of recreation, and its biological, moral, ethical and spiritual aspects are being disregarded. One can become a parent today without sex and there can be sex without parenthood. The institution of marriage and its sanctity and inviolability is no more there. It has been replaced by new sets of norms, laws and concepts governing sexual relationships.

Authoritarian restraint of sexual behaviour of the orthodox religious society and puritan Victorian morals have been replaced by unhindered sexualization of modern culture. Literature, painting, sculpture and music have been sexualized. Stage, movies and television have been worse affected. 'So far, almost the only important achievement of this new instrument of communication (TV) has consisted in bringing into millions of our homes erotically charged, alcoholic atmosphere of night clubs, ugly commercials and endless murder and sex plays.'⁴ Popular press and advertising have not escaped. Even sciences, especially historical, psychological, biological and social, have been adversely affected. There is a greatly increased sex--mindedness in today's psychology, sociology and anthropology. Thus, what is a natural instinct has been converted into the ugliest form of cultural perversion. But spiritual seekers still continue to consider brahmacharya as the most important means of attaining the spiritual goal.

Let us now see why brahmacharya is insisted upon to such an extent in all religions of the world. The ultimate goal of all spiritual endeavour is to rise above body-consciousness and attain God-consciousness, and since lust is the grossest manifestation of body-consciousness, it is diametrically opposed to the spiritual goal. According to Advaita Vedanta, there is only one soul, Atman or Brahman. There is no duality in it. All idea of duality is an illusion. But there cannot be sex without duality. Hence how can it go with Advaita?

Even according to the dualistic schools of Vedanta and Jainism, the soul is pure, sexless consciousness. There cannot be a gender-difference in the souls. To realize one's true spiritual nature, therefore, one must rise above the idea that one is a body and is male or female. The very first step to this is to eschew lust in every form.

The goal of Patanjali's system of yoga is restraint of the thought waves arising on the surface of the mind. Now, these thought waves can arise due to external stimuli received through senses, or from subconscious impressions in the form of memory, imaginations or desires. These subconscious impressions are deep, as has been demonstrated by Freud. The roots of sex are indeed very deep. Unless they are rooted out, one cannot attain perfect concentration and samadhi.

Patanjali's yoga sutras describe five kleshas--the basic causes of suffering--one of which is raga or attachment to objects, activities and individuals which give us pleasure. Lust is one such raga, since it gives the maximum momentary pleasure. The ultimate cause of all suffering, however, is avidya or ignorance, and conquest of lust helps a great deal in attenuating avidya also. Avidya being the root cause, lust can die only when this avidya is completely destroyed.

According to the Tantras, brahmacharya is important for the awakening of Kundalini, the psychic shakti which lies dormant at the lowermost centre called the muladhara. When awakened, it ascends and passes through five more chakras to finally unite with the supreme spirit, Brahman, in the highest centre, sahasrara. Normally an average individual's mind dwells in the three lower chakras, the muladhara, swadhishthana and manipura, which correspond to the functions of eating, sleeping and procreation. The kundalini shakti also remains confined to these centres only. This concept very appropriately correlates with Freud's concept of the three levels of libido: oral, anal and genital.

It is believed that human beings derive maximum pleasure in sex. However, a child whose sex-organs and sexuality are not yet developed does not derive joy from sex. Instead, it gets joy in eating--the mouth is the centre of his pleasure. Now, just as sex is the next stage and the genital organ the next centre in the evolution of the pleasure principle in an individual, there could be further levels as centres of pleasure. The Tantras state that this is indeed the case. Anahata, Vishuddha, Ajna and Sahasrara are such higher centres. It is a mistake to think that sexual enjoyment is the maximum possible enjoyment one can have. All saints and sages vouch from their personal experience that an individual experiences greater and greater pleasure as his higher chakras bloom and open up, or become active. It is said that when the kundalini reaches the highest chakra and the sahasrara opens, the aspirant merges in samadhi and gets bliss equivalent to the pleasure of sexual union in every pore of the body! All worldly and even heavenly joys then pale into insignificance. It is said that the pleasure of sex-enjoyment and the superhuman enjoyments obtained in heavens are not even a sixteenth part of that obtained by giving up all desires.

1. New Testament, I Cor. 7,8-9.
2. St. Matthew, 5, 27-29.
3. II, 38.
4. Pitirim: Sorokin, Sane Sex Order, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai 400007. 1970. p. 27.