Doubts

1. It is helpful in the practice of Brahmacharya if one reduces the intake of salt and spices to the bare minimum. Completely giving up salt or spices is not necessary and often proves to be impractical in day to day life where it will not be possible to cook food for ourselves separately in the midst of a busy routine. About 1.5 grams of salt/day is required for the normal functioning of the body and for aiding normal muscle contraction and expansion. Excessive salt has the tendency of unsettling the nervous system and making one prone to oscillating emotions. Highly spicy food fires up the emotions and makes one prone to irritation and agitation. Brahmacharya cannot be practiced by an irritated or agitated mind. Hence cutting down on these helps one attain to a calmer mental and emotional state. This will make Brahmacharya easier and more within one's reach. In addition to this, consumption of more salt and spice than what is necessary for the body results in drying up of veerya (semen) as salt is highly anhydrous in nature and eats into the synovial fluid. This is one of the major causes behind people developing bone and joint problems in their later years.

The average man eating a spicy and highly salted diet consumes 6-7grams of salt a day which is very much on the higher side. This overloads the kidneys while eliminating the excess salt and leads to overall reduction of vitality and health of the entire system and especially the heart in the long run. Excessive consumption of salt leads to various cardiac problems, kidney stones, rheumatic and arthritic joint issues, loss of calcium leading to osteoporosis etc.. Excessive spices also dry up veerya and make semen watery and thin.

Turmeric (Haldi) is an excellent antiseptic and antibacterial agent. It can be sparingly used in food for its medicinal properties. Turmeric added to food in small quantities has a purifying effect on food and in killing germs. It can safely be consumed by the Brahmachari in small quantities.

2. It is preferable to avoid cooking onion and garlic with food and better to eat them raw in small medicinal doses. There are two main reasons behind this rule:

* Cooking onion and garlic causes certain changes in the molecular structure of these vegetables that results in faster fermentation and putrification of the cooked matter when it comes into contact with saliva and the digestive juices within the human body. It takes an average of 24-48 hours for food to be comletely processed and assimilated within the human body. Cooked onion and garlic which are prone to faster fermentation under the action of heat cause the release of by-products of this fermentation process into the blood stream. These by-products have a strong tendency to fire up stupor, anger, lust and inertia which are all Tamasic qualities. It becomes impossible to focus and concentrate on meditation. Wet dreams become frequent in people who consume large quantities of onion and garlic on a regular basis and reduce in intensity when the process is reversed. Hence consumption of cooked onion and garlic is best avoided.

* Cooking of onion and garlic destroys the purifying properties that these vegetables have on blood in the raw form. Both onion and garlic are excellent blood purifying tubers. Both these vegetables have the ability of killing harmful bacteria in the gut, intestines and especially in the blood stream. They are very effective in de-toxifying the system when taken raw in small amounts. Garlic is an excellent natural antibiotic. Onion is a very good diuretic and good for the kidneys. If eaten raw, once a week in small doeses, one can reap health benefits that lead to raidant health. The advisable quantity is one raw onion, once a week, eaten in the raw form with food and 4-5 cloves (pods) of garlic, eaten once a week in raw form while having food. Such a quantity when eaten, proves beneficial to health and will not in any way become an impediment to Brahmacharya.

3. Conversion of physical semen into Ojas (divine astral energy) is the process meant by sublimation and transmutation. It is the conversion of one form of Prana into another. Kindly go through all the past answers to get a detailed overview of the process.

4. The Bandhas which form a percusor to Pranayama are very important and useful in ensuring that 'Amrit' (nectar) that is formed in the brain by the transmutation of semen into Ojas does not flow down to get burnt by the Jatharaagni (gastric fire) in the stomach. For complete details on Pranayama and the methods of performing the Bandhas, kindly go through the book 'The Science of Pranayama' - by Swami Sivananda. The free, downloadable, online version is at: http://www.dlshq.org/download/pranayama.htm

ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)