Brahmacharya (Celibacy) Quotes (Miscellaneous) R1
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The document discusses the significance of brahmacharya, or celibacy, as a crucial spiritual and physical practice for enhancing inner energy and achieving higher states of consciousness. It cites various spiritual leaders and scriptures that emphasize the importance of self-control, chastity, and the transformative power of conserving sexual energy in attaining spiritual knowledge and enlightenment. Furthermore, it highlights that true success and liberation come from mastering one's desires and maintaining strict discipline in both thought and action.
Brahmacharya (Celibacy) Quotes (Miscellaneous) R1
- 1. Brahmacharya (Celibacy) Quotes Quotes by Sri Aurobindo 1. The practice of Brahmacharya is the first and most necessary condition of increasing the force within and turning it to such uses as may benefit the possessor or mankind. All human energy has a physical basis. The mistake made by European materialism is to suppose the basis to be everything and confuse it with the source. The source of life and energy is not material but spiritual, but the basis, the foundation on which the life and energy stand and work, is physical. The ancient Hindus clearly recognized this distinction between Spirit and Matter, the North Pole and the South Pole of being. Earth is the gross Matter and Brahman is the Spirit. To raise up the physical to the spiritual is Brahmacharya, for by the meeting of the two the energy which starts from one and produces the other is enhanced and fulfills itself. This is the metaphysical theory. The application depends on a right understanding of the physical and psychological conformation of the human receptacle of energy. The fundamental physical unit is the retas, in which the tejas, the heat and light and electricity in a man, is involved and hidden. All energy is latent in the retas. This energy may be either expended physically or conserved. All passion, lust, desire wastes the energy by pouring it, either in the gross form or a sublimated subtler form, out of the body. Immorality in act throws it out in the gross form; immorality of thought in the subtle form. In either case there is waste, and unchastity is of the mind and speech as well as of the body. On the other hand, all self-control conserves the energy in the retas and conservation always brings with it increase. But the needs of the physical body are limited and the excess of energy must create a surplus which has to turn itself to some use other than the physical. According to the ancient theory retas is jala or water, full of light and heat and electricity, in one word, of tejas. The excess of the retas turns first into heat or tapa which stimulates the whole system, and it is for this reason that all forms of self-control and austerity are called tapas or Tapasya because they generate the heat, or stimulus which is a source of powerful action and success.
- 2. Secondly, it turns to tejas proper, light, the energy which is at the source of all knowledge; thirdly, it turns to vidyut or electricity, which is at the basis of all forceful action whether intellectual or physical. In the vidyut proper, electricity, Ojas is the primal energy which proceeds from ether. The retas jala to tapas, tejas and vidyut and from vidyut to Ojas fills the system with physical strength, energy and brain-power and in its last form of Ojas rises to the brain and informs it with that primal energy which is the most refined form of matter and nearest to spirit. It is Ojas that creates a spiritual force or virya, by which a man attains to spiritual knowledge, spiritual love and faith, spiritual strength. It follows that the more we can by Brahmacharya increase the store of tapas, tejas, vidyut and Ojas, the more we shall fill ourselves with utter energy for the works of the body, heart, mind and spirit. Quotes by Sri Adi Sankaracharya 1. Brahmacharya or spotless chastity is the best of all penances; a celibate of such spotless chastity is not a human being, but a god indeed… To the celibate who practices unbroken brahmacharya, what is there unattainable in this world? By the power of the unbroken brahmacharya, one will become just like me. 2. In his celebrated work “Vivekachudamani,” Sri Sankaracharya, one of the brightest stars in the philosophical and religious firmament of India, has this advice for spiritual aspirants: “If, indeed, thou hast a craving for liberation, shun sense-objects from a good distance as thou wouldst do poison, and always cultivate carefully the nectar-like virtues of contentment, compassion, forgiveness, straight-forwardness, calmness and self-control.” Quotes from Spiritual Scriptures 1. The Chhandogya Upanishad says, “Only those who (observe) brahmacharya will attain to Brahman (Supreme Reality). For them there is freedom to act as they wish in all the worlds. Now, what people call yajna (sacrifice) that is really brahmacharya? What people call worship (Ishta), that is really brahmacharya. What people call Vedic sacrifice that is really brahmacharya? For only through brahmacharya does one understand the Atman (the Self). (8.4.3, 8.5.1-2) 2. The Prasno Upanishad stresses the same point. When six highly evolved aspirants approach sage Pippalada seeking the Highest Brahman, the Rishi tells them, “Stay
- 3. here another year observing austerity, brahmacharya and faith. Then you may ask questions as you please and, if I know, I will surely explain all to you.” (1.2) 3. Srimad Bhagavatam has this to say, “The highest form of tapas (austerity) is the abstinence from sexuality and not in the performance of body-torturing rites. Heroism lies in the conquest of one’s sensual, lustful nature and not in mere combativeness. And Truth is seeing God in everything and not mere factual speech.” (1.11.18.43) 4. In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna exhorts spiritual aspirants to be “fearless, serene, restrained in mind and established in the vow of continence” and meditate on Him to reach the goal. (6.14). He says that a person aspiring to enter the “Imperishable Principle” should lead a life of continence and asceticism. Such a person is assured of liberation at the time of death. (8.11-12). Sri Krishna also warns about the pitfalls of progressive degeneration if one does not control lust and anger. “It is lust; it is anger, born of Rajoguna, insatiable and prompting man to great sin. Know this to be the enemy in man’s spiritual life. Knowledge is overcast by this eternal foe of the aspirant after knowledge. Therefore, controlling the senses at the beginning itself, slay this foul enemy, the destroyer of all knowledge and realization.” (3.37-41) 5. Know that in this world there is nothing that cannot be attained by one who remains from birth to death a perfect celibate… In one person, knowledge of the four Vedas, and in another, perfect celibacy – of these, the latter is superior to the former who is wanting in celibacy. - The Mahabharata 6. And those students who find that world of God through chastity, theirs is that heavenly country; theirs, in whatever world they are, is freedom. - Chhandogya Upanishad 7. Sensuality destroys life, luster, strength, vitality, memory, wealth, great fame, holiness and devotion to the Supreme. – Gita 8. It is only traveling on the waves of celibacy that one reaches the level of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. The awakening of Kundalini can only happen if we have celibacy under absolute control. The awakening of the Kundalini is beset with practicing absolute celibacy for a continuous period of 12 years. Mahavira practiced celibacy for a continuous period of 12 years. Gautama Buddha followed and absolute celibacy was also practiced by Jesus Christ for reaching the status they finally achieved in life… becoming an enlightened one! The practice of absolute celibacy directly leads towards gaining enlightenment within this life.
- 4. Brahmacharya Vrata does not mean sexual inactivity. It must be practiced mentally to gain purity of thought so that absolute control over the five senses and the mind can be established which shall lead one towards attaining the stage of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. 9. The Yoga-Sutra packs many things into each of its verses, but reserves a separate verse for celibacy. Then the scripture goes on to refer to celibacy again in other verses. The Great Austerity Celibacy is actually one of the major austerities. The Yoga- Sutra lists “austerities” (tapas) among the three basic actions of yoga. (The other two activities of yoga are “Self-Study” and “Devotion to the Lord.”) Austerities are given first place in the Sutra. So one truly interested in yoga and God-knowledge will be very interested in austerities. The only other austerity that is on a par with celibacy is meditation itself. Effective traditional austerities include celibacy, fasting, solitude, silence, Pranayama, holding an asana, and meditation itself. But among all austerities, sexual continence is arguably the most important. It inaugurates profound changes in the physical and astral bodies of the aspiring yogi. Chastity dramatically improves his concentration and meditation. It is the storehouse of his merit and accumulates Shakti, sometimes called “Ojas.” 10. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, a key fourteenth-century text, says those who practice brahmacharya need no longer fear death. 11. In the Mahabharata again, you will find, in the Santi Parva, “many are the branches of Dharma, but Dama is the basis of them all’. Quotes from the Bible Matthew 19: 8 - 12 8 He said to them, ‘For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery.’ 10 The disciples said to him, ‘If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient (advisable) to marry.’ 11But he said to them, ‘Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made
- 5. themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He, who is able to receive this, let him receive it.’ 1 Corinthians 6: 18 – 20 18 Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 7: 1 – 10 1 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote. It is well for a man not to touch a woman. 2But because of the temptation to immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4For the wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not refuse one another except perhaps by agreement for a season, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, lest Satan tempt you through lack of self-control. 6 I say this by way of concession, not of command. 7I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own special gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. 8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain single as I do. 9But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion. 10 To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband 11(but if she does, let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband) – and that the husband should not divorce his wife. 1 Corinthians 7: 25 – 35 25 Now concerning the unmarried, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26I think that in view of the present distress it is well for a person to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek marriage. 28But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a girl marries she does not sin. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.
- 6. 29 I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown very short; from now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the form of this world is passing away. 32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; 33but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, 34and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. Addition to Revision 1 From Hua Hu Ching by Lao Tzu One I reach the Integral Way of uniting with the great and mysterious Tao. My teachings are simple; if you try to make a religion or science of them, they will elude you. Profound yet plain, they contain the entire truth of the universe. Those who wish to know the whole truth take joy in doing the work and service that comes to them. Having completed it, they take joy in cleansing and feeding themselves. Having cared for others and for themselves, they then turn to the master for instruction. This simple path leads to peace, virtue, and abundance. Note: Tao means the Creative Word, the command of God Be It! This Creative Word is at the back of anything and everything that exists. It reverberates in the entire Creation and can be heard at Third Eye by human beings. Lao Tzu is advising us to unite with this Creative Word he calls Tao. Two Men and women who wish to be aware of the whole truth should adopt the practices of the Integral Way. These time-honored disciplines calm the mind and bring one into
- 7. harmony with all things. The first practice is the practice of undiscriminating virtue: take care of those who deserve; also, and equally, take care of those who do not. When you extend your virtue in all directions without discriminating, your feet are firmly planted on the path that returns to the Tao. Twenty-Six There are two kinds of blessings. • The first are worldly blessings, which are won by doing good deeds. These concern the mind, and thus are confined in time and space. • The second is the integral blessing, which falls on those who achieve awareness of the Great Oneness. This awareness liberates you from the bondage of mind, time, and space to fly freely through the boundless harmony of the Tao. Similarly, there are two kinds of wisdom. • The first is worldly wisdom, which is a conceptual understanding of your experiences. Because it follows after the events themselves, it necessarily inhibits your direct understanding of truth. • The second kind, integral wisdom, involves a direct participation in every moment: the observer and the observed are dissolved in the light of pure awareness, and no mental concepts or attitudes are present to dim that light. The blessings and wisdom that accrue to those who practice the Integral Way and lead others to it are a billion times greater than all worldly blessings and wisdom combined. Thirty-Nine If you go searching for the Great Creator, you will come back empty-handed. The source of the universe is ultimately unknowable, a great invisible river flowing forever through a vast and fertile valley. Silent and uncreated, it creates all things. All things are brought forth from the subtle realm into the manifest world by the mystical intercourse of yin and yang. The dynamic river yang pushes forward, the still valley yin is receptive, and through their integration things come into existence. This is known as the Great Tai Chi. Tai chi is the integral truth of the universe. Everything is a tai chi: your body, the cosmic body, form, appearance, wisdom, energy, the unions of people, the dispersal of time and places. Each brings itself into existence through the integration of yin and yang, maintains itself, and disperses itself without the direction of any creator.
- 8. Your creation, your self-transformation, the accumulation of energy and wisdom, the decline and cessation of your body: all these take place by themselves within the subtle operation of the universe. Therefore agitated effort is not necessary. Just be aware of the Great Tai Chi. Note: Yin and Yang are the Ida and Pingla Nerve Channels that transfer the Life-Force from the Third Eye to the Base of Spine. From here we disperse this energy to the outside world by attention through Thoughts, Speech and Deeds. We fail to apply any restraint on our worldly activities and hence miss the golden opportunity of human birth given to us by the Grace of God. Human birth is the opportunity to unite with the Creative Word and know our Creator. Forty-Four This is the nature of the unenlightened mind: • The sense organs, which are limited in scope and ability, randomly gather information. • This partial information is arranged into judgments, which are based on previous judgments, which are usually based on someone else's foolish ideas. • These false concepts and ideas are then stored in a highly selective memory system. • Distortion upon distortion: the mental energy flows constantly through contorted and inappropriate channels, and the more one uses the mind, the more confused one becomes. • To eliminate the vexation of the mind, it doesn't help to do something; this only reinforces the mind's mechanics. Dissolving the mind is instead a matter of not-doing: • Simply avoid becoming attached to what you see and think. Relinquish the notion that you are separated from the all-knowing mind of the universe. • Then you can recover your original pure insight and see through all illusions. Knowing nothing, you will be aware of everything. • Remember: because clarity and enlightenment are within your own nature, they are regained without moving an inch. Forty-Seven Dualistic thinking is a sickness. Religion is a distortion. Materialism is cruel. Blind spirituality is unreal. Chanting is no more holy than listening to the murmur of a stream, counting prayer beads no more sacred than simply breathing, religious robes no more spiritual than work clothes.
- 9. If you wish to attain oneness with the Tao, don't get caught up in spiritual superficialities. Instead, live a quiet and simple life, free of ideas and concepts. Find contentment in the practice of undiscriminating virtue, the only true power. Giving to others selflessly and anonymously, radiating light throughout the world and illuminating your own darkness’s, your virtue becomes a sanctuary for yourself and all beings. This is what is meant by embodying the Tao. Sixty-Two Do you wish to attain pure Tao? Then you must understand and integrate within yourself the three main energies of the universe. • The first is the earth energy. Centered in the belly, it expresses itself as sexuality. Those who cultivate and master the physical energy attain partial purity. • The second is the heaven energy. Centered in the mind, it expresses itself as knowledge and wisdom. Those whose minds merge with the Universal Mind also attain partial purity. • The third is the harmonized energy. Centered in the heart, it expresses itself as spiritual insight. Those who develop spiritual insight also attain partial purity. Only when you achieve all three-mastery of the physical energy, universal mindedness, and spiritual insight-and express them in a virtuous integral life, can you attain pure Tao. Sixty-Three There are three layers to the universe: In the lower, Tai Ching, and the middle, Shan Ching, the hindrance of a physical bodily existence is required. Those who fail to live consistently in accord with Tao reside here. In the upper, Yu Ching, there is only Tao: the bondage of form is broken, and the only thing existing is the exquisite energy dance of the immortal divine beings. Those who wish to enter Yu Ching should follow the Integral Way. Simplify the personality, refine the sexual energy upward, integrate yin and yang in body, mind, and spirit, practice non-impulsiveness, make your conscience one with pure law and you will uncover truth after truth and enter the exquisite upper realm. This path is clearly defined and quite simple to follow, yet most lose themselves in ideological fogs of their own making.
- 10. Sixty-Five The interplay of yin and yang within the womb of the Mysterious Mother creates the expansion and contraction of nature. Although the entire universe is created out of this reproductive dance, it is but a tiny portion of her being. Her heart is the Universal Heart, and her mind the Universal Mind. The reproductive function is also a part of human beings. Because yin and yang are not complete within us as individuals, we pair up to integrate them and bring forth new life. Although most people spend their entire lives following this biological impulse, it is only a tiny portion of our beings as well. If we remain obsessed with seeds and eggs, we are married to the fertile reproductive valley of the Mysterious Mother but not to her immeasurable heart and all-knowing mind. If you wish to unite with her heart and mind, you must integrate yin and yang within and refine their fire upward. Then you have the power to merge with the whole being of the Mysterious Mother. This is what is known as true evolution. Sixty-Six The first integration of yin and yang is the union of seed and egg within the womb. The second integration of yin and yang is the sexual union of the mature male and female. Both of these are concerned with flesh and blood, and all that is conceived in this realm must one day disintegrate and pass away. It is only the third integration which gives birth to something immortal. • In this integration, a highly evolved individual joins the subtle inner energies of yin and yang under the light of spiritual understanding. • Through the practices of the Integral Way he refines his gross, heavy energy into something ethereal and light. • This divine light has the capability of penetrating into the mighty ocean of spiritual energy and complete wisdom that is the Tao. The new life created by the final integration is self-aware yet without ego, capable of inhabiting a body yet not attached to it, and guided by wisdom rather than emotion. Whole and virtuous, it can never die.
- 11. Sixty-Seven To achieve the highest levels of life, one must continually combine new levels of yin and yang. In nature, the male energy can be found in such sources as the sun and the mountains, and the female in such sources as the earth, the moon, and the lakes. Those who study these things, which are only hinted at here, will benefit immeasurably. Because higher and higher unions of yin and yang are necessary for the conception of higher life, some students may be instructed in the art of dual cultivation, in which yin and yang are directly integrated in the tai chi of sexual intercourse. If the student is not genuinely virtuous and the instruction is not that of a true master, dual cultivation can have a destructive effect. If genuine virtue and true mastery come together, however, the practice can bring about a profound balancing of the student's gross and subtle energies. The result of this is improved health, harmonized emotions, the cessation of desires and impulses, and, at the highest level, the transcendent integration of the entire energy body. Sixty-Nine A person's approach to sexuality is a sign of his level of evolution. Un-evolved persons practice ordinary sexual intercourse. Placing all emphasis upon the sexual organs, they neglect the body's other organs and systems. Whatever physical energy is accumulated is summarily discharged, and the subtle energies are similarly dissipated and disordered. It is a great backward leap. Seventy The cords of passion and desire weave a binding net around you. Worldly confrontation makes you stiff and inflexible. The trap of duality is tenacious. Bound, rigid, and trapped, you cannot experience liberation. Through dual cultivation it is possible to unravel the net, soften the rigidity, and dismantle the trap. Dissolving your yin energy into the source of universal life, attracting the yang energy from that same source, you leave behind individuality and your life becomes pure nature. Free of ego, living naturally, working virtuously, you become filled with inexhaustible vitality and are liberated forever from the cycle of death and rebirth. Understand this if nothing else: spiritual freedom and oneness with the Tao are not
- 12. randomly bestowed gifts, but the rewards of conscious self-transformation and self- evolution. Seventy-One The transformation toward eternal life is gradual. The heavy, gross energy of body, mind, and spirit must first be purified and uplifted. When the energy ascends to the subtle level, then self-mastery can be sought. A wise instructor teaches the powerful principles of self-integration only to those who have already achieved a high level of self-purification and self-mastery….In any case; know that all teachers and techniques are only transitional: true realization comes from the direct merger of one's being with the divine energy of the Tao. Seventy-Two If you wish to gain merit and become one with the divine, then develop your virtue and extend it to the world….Let go of all conflict and strife. Practice unswerving kindness and unending patience. Avoid following impulses and pursuing ambitions which destroy the wholeness of your mind and separate you from the Integral Way. Neither become obsessed with circumstances nor forego awareness of them. To manage your mind, know that there is nothing, and then relinquish all attachment to the nothingness. Seventy-Three The teacher cannot aid the student as long as the student's spirit is contaminated. The cleansing of the spiritual contamination is not the responsibility of the teacher, but of the student. It is accomplished by offering one's talent, resources, and life to the world. Also, to the teacher and to the immortal angels that surround him, a healthy student can offer his pure energy, and a depleted student can give at the very least food, or wine, or service. When one gives whatever one can without restraint; the barriers of individuality break down. It no longer becomes possible to tell whether it is the student offering himself to the teacher, or the teacher offering himself to the student. One sees only two immaculate beings, reflecting one another like a pair of brilliant mirrors.