The Concept of Brahmacharya

THE CONCEPT OF BRAHMACHARYA

The wise in the hoary days had structured the human life into four stages – the Bramacharya ashram, the Grihastashram, the Vanprastashram and the Sanyasashram. The word ‘Brahmacharya’ is understood to mean celibacy. English dictionaries define celibacy as remaining single or abstaining from sexual relations, often for religious reasons. HOWEVER Brahmacharya does not merely mean to remain a bachelor. It actually refers to the diligent, focused study of the Brahman, and to learn to conduct one’s self in a proper way in society under all circumstances. With this goal in mind it was thought it would be more conducive that the students be celibate – so as to avoid unnecessary distractions to the mind! Hence Brahmacharya came to be equaled with celibacy. But what it really means is to lead a disciplined, pure life dedicated to the principle of universal love – which is God. Celibacy was prescribed for students and for those who were in the pursuit of knowledge. This is so, since truth can be taught only up to a particular point. Beyond that, it has to be assimilated by one’s own efforts. This is possible only if the seeker leads a focused and disciplined life. Otherwise his energy instead of being channelised for spiritual upliftment (to the higher charkas), will be dissipated away due to external distractions (one of the main being sex) in the lower charkas itself. Brahmacharya ashram may be likened to be the ‘foundation’ of a building. Thus if the foundation is strong, then it can safely be assumed that the rest of life will automatically taken care of. This is the reason why so much stress was laid on a celibate way of life – so that since early on in life it is inculcated in the child to live in discipline irrespective of the circumstances.

Sex was treated as a communion of love and trust for continuity of creation – just a physical, but sacred act for preparation of the male and the female to conceive a body for a soul to reside in. Hence in those days, it was the sacred duty of a person (male or female) to get into Grishastashram after the stipulated twelve year period of Brahmacharya ashram was over. If the person was a male then he had to have a decent means of living before he started his family. Propagation of the human race was necessary in those days of low mortality. For these reasons probably the great seers divided the life of an average human being into the four ashrams, namely, Brahmacharyashram (to be utilized to gain knowledge), Grihastashram to be spent in propagating the race and taking care of them), Vanprastashram (to develop detachment from worldly affairs and handing over the reins to the next generation) and Sanyasashram (to be spent in the discovery of God). In this way society could function smoothly. Thus throughout our scriptures, we come across innumerable instances of rishis and great seers having wives, the gods also have their respective consorts. They lead fulfilling lives of householders and chose teaching and propagating Knowledge as their profession and yet never strayed from the path of discipline, truth and God. However when one strays from this path and sex becomes lust, i.e. unbridled and mindless, done just for self-gratification - that is when the problem starts. This condition has to be avoided by all means. Although God gave man freedom but He gave him the mind and intellect to be able to discern. However, by not heeding the counsel of the intellect, uncontrolled indulgences have brought about moral depravation.

But for someone who wants to lead a life in the pursuit of discovering the Brahman, having a wife and children means making a proper shelter for the family and thus being rooted in one place. Further it means caring for them, thus trying to earn a living, implying a host of related worries. All this starts eating into his time for gaining knowledge. If this could be avoided, it would reduce a lot of hassles. Yet on the other side of the spectrum, if all took to a monastic life, it would create a great imbalance in smooth functioning of society. Therefore, for those rarest of rare who were totally dedicated towards the pursuit of knowledge, celibacy was prescribed as desirable so that such individuals could make optimum use of their time to attain their cherished goal.

But with the passage of time, the significance of Brahmacharya was lost and it became a rigid condition or rule to be followed in the pursuit of truth. But the question remains as to what is the use of being a Brahmacharya – just abstaining from the physical act externally when internally the mind is constantly engaged in the thoughts about it and the eyes are constantly roving to feast on the objects of desire. Unless the mind can be controlled, external conditioning really does not serve any purpose. This is the reason you have yogis and sanyasis who outwardly make a great show of their brahmacharya, but their ashrams are dens of sexual exploits which they not only help facilitate, but watch the acts being performed for perverse sense gratification and at times even indulge in the same – and all at the cost of the faith of the unsuspecting public who take them to be literally “God incarnate”. Thus, rather than emphasizing on just being celibate, it would rid the world of a lot of sin (and sinful people) if there is more emphasis on imbibing the spirit behind the concept of celibacy by the students on the path of the Brahman, so that they internalize the knowledge they gain – rather than on just remaining bachelors for the namesake!



Dr. POONAM MEHRA