Doubts

I. Maintaining Brahmacharya in thought, word and deed should always be the objective. The right way to maintain clean thoughts is by observance of the following:
1. Displacing negative thoughts with positive, as and when such thoughts arise and immediately diverting the mind to constructive activity or thought.
2. Preventing situations, circumstances and avoiding the company of people who contribute directly or indirectly to negative thoughts. This should be carried out to the best possible extent and at all times.
3. Maintaining a life of Yogic discipline through the eight limbs of Yoga and through right food. (refer details on food answered in previous posts)
4. Constantly reminding oneself that the world is a product of Mâya and hence unreal as in a dream. The Supreme is the only entity or force who is real. Hence chant God's name and be in God thought to the best extent possible and carry out all activities as an offering to God. It is God who has created this body and life circumstances to evolve the embodied soul. Life is like a stage performance where the soul evolves and undoes its mistakes to finally merge with the Supreme. So don't be attached to the happenings of life but carry them out as the duty bestowed by God for evolution of the embodied soul.

II. One can become thoughtless only in the state of 'Nirbîja Samâdhi' (complete merger with the Almighty while in the body through super-consciousness) after many years of Yoga and unbroken Brahmacharya. So one has to persevere and strive to reach such a state through a lifestyle based on the 8 limbs of Yoga. A serious Brahmachari must limit his interactions with the external world and all forms of external news mediums such as the T.V, internet, magazines, news papers etc.. to basic necessity and nothing more. The idea is to prevent adding the fuel of temptation to the fire of lust which is raging within. This will be very much required during the first few initial years of Brahmacharya when the mind and psyche are very vulnerable to lust and temptation. Just as a diseased and weak person is kept in a clean and sterile environment while being treated, till he gets well and develops immunity, it will be necessary for the Brahmachari to ensure that he stays clear of each and every source or object which stirs up his lower tendencies. In life situations where he cannot carry this out entirely, the contact with such people or circumstances must be brief, to the point and out of necessity. Nothing more. There will undoubtedly be a downfall if this matter is treated with laxity. This is to be followed very strictly till the time one becomes stronger and more spiritually evolved, whereupon there will be a lesser probability of fall.

III. The Urge to follow a life of Brahmacharya with a burning desire comes to a person gradually based on his efforts in reality. After having suffered much in the hands of the senses and after having realized a life of sexuality to be sweet in the beginning and very painful in the end, the tired and disillusioned Jivâtma realizes that there must be some other means to overcome the problems of life and reach permanence as regards the solution. After much efforts in its quest to know of such a method, it comes to know about the science of Brahmacharya through God's grace. This process has been described in the scriptures with the following analogy:

" The Jivâtma at this stage is like a drowning man in the middle of the ocean, thrown hither-thither by the mighty waves of sexuality and delusion, totally powerless and helpless against the monstrous waves and desperately trying to stay afloat. He knows the cause of this dangerous and perilous state as the result of his attachment to money and woman, but can do little to save himself. Then, the all merciful Lord of creation, out of sheer compassion and kindness, picks up the struggling and suffering Jivâtma which has undergone great pain through association with Mâya (cosmic illusion), thinking it to be real and places it in the boat of Brahmacharya".

Hence each and every aspirant who is into the practice of Brahmacharya should consider himself lucky to have been saved from the monstrosity of the ocean of sexuality and placed in the boat of Brahmacharya by the grace of the Almighty. He should make the best use of this opportunity by giving his all at being an honest and sincere student. His efforts should be persistent, determined and unfailing, following which the same hands of the Almighty guide and support him to progress further and reach the shores of Brahman without the fear of drowning in the mighty ocean of Samsâra (creation). Many tests, trials and difficulties come to the Brahmachari in the course of his voyage to reach the destination shore of self-realization. But one who is devoted to God with sincerity and longing is assured of support and success. Such a Brahmachari considers his state of purity and God-contemplation as more dear than anything else. To him, his state of Brahmacharya aimed at God-realization is a part of his very own self. Nothing is higher or greater. It becomes his highest priority in life. This is what Swami Vivekananda means through his words. Continuous and unbroken Brahmacharya with constant God-devotion and contemplation will lead to such a state.

IV. One should follow the discipline of Yoga to the best of his efforts and ability with constant God-contemplation, prayer and God-meditation. One should longingly pray and request God to show the right path and help one overcome Avidyâ (ignorance). This will unravel the default state of God-devotion and love present within each and every man, for the default nature of all creatures is God-nature itself. Ignorance and its results are an acquired trait.

What is Yoga? That mode of activity which leads man to a state where he gets closer and closer to the Supreme (his true self) by constant and sustained reduction of ignorance wound around his soul and finally merges into the Supreme through self-realization is Yoga. One who is striving for such an end is a 'Yogi'. Nothing more.

Unlike common perception and the incorrect western assumption of the concept of Yoga as mere physical postures, mere performance of 'Âsana' or physical postures is not Yoga. Âsana is only one limb of the 8 limbs of Yoga aimed at helping one develop a sound mind through a sound body. A man with a diseased, weak and a degenerated body cannot focus his mind and energies on the Herculean effort needed to attain to Yoga, so Âsana aims at relieving him from physical debilities and help reach a state where his body and mind are geared to take up the challenge. But this performance of Âsana should be parallely followed with a Yogic lifestyle starting with the Yama-Niyamas and culminating with God-contemplation which eventually leads to Samâdhi. Else, its use becomes partial and not complete. If another man can attain to a strong, healthy and robust body by some other sport/exercise or physical activity, that is equally fine. He can regularly play the sport or exercise and combine the other seven components of Yoga, deriving the same benefit and ascend in Yoga. What is important here is to refine oneself at the innate level and reduce one's ignorance. All the 8 limbs of Yoga are aimed at this effect and nothing else. Following the cleansing of the body, mind and psyche to completion, the Jivâtma (embodied soul) becomes the Shuddhâtma (pure soul) through self-realization and reverts to its Lordship.

This is why the human birth is so special and superior. It is the only birth where the faculties to think, analyze and execute at a higher dimension are made possible. Think of what? Think of ways to know oneself. To think of how to get free from repeated births and deaths and reach the state of permanence and bliss. An animal cannot do this.  The soul within a dog or a cow or an insect is equally divine, but has a thicker layer of ignorance around it. So thick, that the animal knows of nothing more than survival and self-preservation. So the entire life is spent in survival without the animal knowing who it is or why it has been created. This is not so in the case of man. He has a sharp and keen intellect with which he can work at understanding things and gain knowledge. He has an advanced mind with which he can persevere towards the goal. In other words, he is fully geared and ready to unravel the mystery of who he is, why he has been born and what he should do next.

The human body and mind is hence the Almighty's gift to the human soul. It has not been given to the animals. So it follows that one should fully make use of these faculties and work at evolving further. To effectively do this, one should fully stop those actions that bind oneself to the lower domains and lead to degeneration. If man does nothing more than eat, earn money, have sex for pleasure and sleep, day after day, month after month, year after year and life after life, he is leading a life worse than that of an animal. He is ignoring and neglecting all these advanced faculties that have been provided so he can reach the highest states of knowledge and bliss permanently and settling for the petty, minuscule, temporary pleasures of the senses. Having gone against nature, he will pay a costly penalty for this act of ignorance. This is why Brahmacharya is to be followed; so that he conserves the most vital of his energy to take him higher in understanding, negate his past karmas and finally realize himself. An endeavor of such magnitude requires enormous life energy which can be had only through the conservation and transmutation of reproductive energy. This is the purpose of the human birth; to attain self-realization and know who we are. All other activities are to be incidental and supportive to this aim and not contrary or at a tangent. And any activity that poses itself as an obstacle to this aim is to be shunned and avoided.

True love and devotion to the Supreme comes only by the grace of the Supreme. Only by the kind and merciful stroke of the Almighty to one who is deserving. To one who has such love and devotion, his body itself is the temple. He strives morning, noon and night to keep this temple called the body clean and pure physically, mentally and spiritually so it is fit for the Almighty to come and reside. For such a person leading a life of God-contemplation and Brahmacharya, where is the need to blindly visit a temple, perform a religious rite or abide by rituals? He is contemplating and meditating on the Almighty day in and day out through this temple called the body. He is making use of the mental faculties of intellect and imagination to ponder, contemplate and think of the Almighty as many times as possible, doing his worldly duties without attachment.

Most people blindly visit temples, perform religious rites and blindly follow rituals without knowing that none of these rituals will bear fruit in the absolute sense as long as there is no inner cleansing. Of what use is it to visit a temple or donate huge sums to charity if the man is constantly thinking in terms of his lower desires and sensuality? How can God be pleased when man has forgotten and has totally neglected the very purpose of the human existence, is acting contrary to it and merely goes to the temple, praying to God for good luck and fortune? On the one hand, God has provided the human body and mind so man could evolve further and reach the highest. On the other hand, the same man leads a life rife on wanton sexuality, cheating, debauchery and misconduct, whilst merely paying regular visits to the temple and performing religious rites. Such a life is the contradiction and falsity of the highest order. It is of no use in terms of the net result.

So for the man who is leading a life of purity & virtue, kindness, non-violence, truthfulness, Brahmacharya, constantly endeavoring to correct upon his mistakes as regards himself and others through applied action and God-contemplation, it does not matter whether he visits a temple or doesn't. The common man may spend most of his time thinking of himself and thinks of God when he visits a temple. Where is such a need for one who has surrendered to God through love and devotion? To one who has construed this body to be the temple and the soul to be God? To one who is ever grateful to the Almighty for this human birth and who has aligned its purpose with the purpose intended by God? To one who is striving for self-realization? Such a man is constantly in God-remembrance and God-thought through each and every action. It doesn't matter whether he contemplates on the Supreme within the precincts of his house, his workplace or the temple. The only thing of importance to him is being in God-thought with intensity, love and devotion. The physical building that he occupies may be his house, a temple or the middle of the road. It is really not of much concern.

So one should always fondly remember God as everything with love, surrender and devotion. It is enough if this is felt with strength and intensity. As an when one finds time during the course of the day, one should sit and meditate on the formless Supreme requesting the Lord to bestow Vidyâ (knowledge of the Supreme). If this is done with devotion and sincerity, it doesn't matter whether one visits the temple or doesn't; for in essence, the objective of visiting a temple is exactly the same -- God-contemplation. This is what God intended the human birth for, so man would make self-realization the chief objective and one cannot please God more than through sincere, honest contemplation via devotion, love and surrender. Such an attitude that God is everything and the ego nothing will automatically negate Ahamkarâ (ego) in course of time.

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