Life of celibacy is full of courage, adventure, humiliation, discipline, devotion, struggle and bliss, and much more.
ASA - Wow! AgtSP! It sounds like being alive! Most people now are dead!!!
Later, I will explain how.
First of all I would like to clarify that celibacy I am speaking of is better represented by the sanskrit word ‘brahmacharya’ which literally means ‘to dwell on brahman’. In simple words, it means to always be absorbed in thoughts of God.
In Vedic lifestyle, to follow brahmacharya means not to indulge in following-
1. Think about opposite gender.
2. Speak about sex life.
3. Dally with opposite gender.
4. Look lustfully at opposite gender.
5. Talk intimately with opposite gender.
6. Decide to engage in sexual intercourse.
7. Endeavor for sex life.
8. Engage in sex life.
Now I come back to the question, how is it to live the life of celibacy. In Vedas, celibacy is recommended for quick advancement in spiritual life. So celibacy must be observed for making spiritual progress. As a celibate, I found the life of celibacy to be a life of-
Courage- Whole civilization is promoting sense enjoyment and celibacy is just the opposite. So it certainly needs great courage to walk on the path.
HpS - ASA - All these apply to devotees in female body! Just have relations to become nice mother or marry Krsna!
Adventure - If something is very difficult to achieve, it becomes adventurous. In kaliyuga, whole atmosphere is surcharged to promote atheism and sensuality. To live in such society and still maintain high degree of purity is certainly very difficult. Many great warriors like Saubhari and Vishwamitra Muni also got wounded on this path. So to follow celibacy in Kaliyuga is certainly adventurous, it is very difficult to follow.
Humiliation- A brahmachari is supposed to live a vedic lifestyle. Vedas recommend that a celibate/monk should not do jobs. Rather should spend his time in cultivation of spiritual life and spreading spiritual message to others. But often people tend to take it as unproductive work, parasites for society ….. Those who don’t understand the value of spiritual life tend to ridicule the monks, and monks have to go through that. This humiliation keeps a celibate humble, which is far better than being proud.
Discipline - We follow the discipline of getting up early in the morning 3–4 am (no matter whether in Kashmir or Rameshvaram, summer or winter), taking bath and attending morning rituals, following the instructions given by Guru, doing practical services etc. These is no holiday for us, though our everyday is holy.
Devotion- We do have the facility to use our 24 hours in service of God, as we have no material responsibility. This is very helpful for always being God conscious. We can spend much more time in reading holy scriptures, developing its understanding, practically applying it in life, worshipping Lord etc.
Struggle At times services needed are quite challenging and we need to struggle to complete things on time. Also mind and senses tend to run here and there and we must struggle to keep it back on track. There is struggle to strike a balance between our services, personal spiritual practice and relationship with other fellow monks. There is struggle to maintain good relation with the superiors and managers of organizations.
Bliss, God is source of all happiness and more we connect to Him, our own life gets filled with joy and happiness. This inner bliss is so great that it keeps us from going astray. Lord Krishna says in Gita 6.22 -
yam labdhva caparam labham
manyate nadhikam tatah
“ In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness, realized through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty.”
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Of course the list is endless, this is a brief answer.
If one stays in family life then principles of Brahmacharya can be applied in following ways
- Don’t have sexual connection with anyone other than one’s own spouse.
- Within married relation, union must take place only when one wants to beget a good child, and not for any other purpose.
HpS - ASA - Thank you. Now.... can you give practical examples of each of these from your own experiences this year in ISKCON!!!?
