Prime Feature of Brahmacari
Meditationtime Forum Post
Date: Posted 5 years before Mar 30, 2018
MiBeloved 5 years ago
From LinkedIn:
Chaitanya wrote:
Whats your definitiion of Brahmacharyam?
Brahmacharya happens when one listens to themselves and others and their self expressing through others, and delivers whatever he commits to himself and others.
Being able to do whatever you commit to others and even to yourself is being Brahma. Then whatever CHARYA acts you do you will have what brahma has. You are then Brahmachari, Brahma through actions-delivering what you commit.
Brahmacharyam exists even if the body does not.
The above definition will apply even when there is no body.
Brahmacharyam is a space not a quality of body.
MiBeloved's Response:
In consideration of the varna-ashrama system or the lifestyle divisions recommended consistently through the Vedic literatures, both for dualists (Dvaita) and non-dualist (Advaita) sects, and also from the information given in the ancient social guidelines like the Manu Samhita, one gets the idea that to be brahmacari one has to be unmarried.
Here and there but not frequently there is an adapted definition which relates to householder or grihastas. In that usage the householder is regarded as a limited or partial brahmachari meaning that he or she maintains celibacy when there is no duty to procreate.
The four lifestyle changes for every individual in that system, is
Brahmacari ----Student
Grihasta ----Married individual
Vanaprastha ---- Retired socially involved individual
Sannyasi ----Renounced socially separated individual
Those persons, who successfully evaded the grihasta and resulting vanaprastha stage, had only two lifestyles patterns which were:
Brahmacari ----Student
Sannyasi ----Renounced socially separated individual
It is for this reason that sannyasi was so much respected in India. It is because they avoided the grihastas and its subsequent stage (vanaprastha retiree). The direct and very obvious feature of this denial relates sexual indulgence which is at the heart of the married life, the prime pleasure access for a human being..
Really, we may ask ourselves this question:
What would married life be without sexual indulgence?
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For those persons who feel that brahmachari concerns conduct (achari) which facilitates access to brahma spiritual energy, and that it has nothing or very little to do with celibacy, then if they are in the lineage from Adi Shankaracharya we would need to hear from them as to why the Acharya set up the sannyasis order? Why did he take sannyasi? Why in the discussion with the debater, the debater’s wife challenged Shankara to explain sexual love? Why did Shankara not explain it but had to possess a body of near dead king, revive that body, live with that king’s wives, indulge in sex and then go back and win the debate.
Why is it that sex and no other aspect of human existence is stressed. Unless this is explained it will be hard to swallow that brahmacari in so far as it is a social conduct, a life style, includes sexual expression.
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To put some salt in the wounds of the persons who oppose this, I give a verse from the discourse between Uddhava and Lord Krishna (my translation):
रेतो नावकिरेज् जातु
ब्रह्म-व्रत-धरः स्वयम् ।
अवकीर्णे ऽवगाह्याप्सु
यतासुस् त्रि-पदा जपेत् ॥१२.२५॥
reto nāvakirej jātu
brahma-vrata-dharaḥ svayam
avakīrṇe 'vagāhyāpsu
yatāsus tri-padāṁ japet (12.25)
reto = retaḥ — semen; nāvakirej = nāvakiret = should not expell; jātu — even; brahma – attentiveness to brahman, implying celibacy; vrata – vow; dharaḥ — one who maintains; svayam — itself; avakīrne — having passed out; 'vagāhyāpsu = avagāhyāpsu — plunging in water; yatāsus = yata – control + asuḥ — breath; tri-padām — three lined Gāyatrī verse; japet — he should respect.
Translation:
As a person maintains attentiveness to the brahman spiritual existence, which implies celibate vows, he should never expel semen. If by itself the semen is passed out, he should plunge in water, and after doing breath control exercises, he should repeat the three-lined Gāyatrī verse. (Uddhava Gita 12.25)
Alfredo 5 years ago
I am glad you took upon the discussion and provided some answers.
You have the authority to do so, and I lack it, mostly, thus people started pummeling me and I got involved and it perturbed my yoga practice.
I am eagerly waiting for the answer by Chaitanya, it will be funny to see the pirouettes he will engage in to answer you.
