Brahmacharya

Brahmacharya is a very interesting concept but also a dry one. At least in initial stages it feels dry, but later on I don't know what exactly happens. But still it is interesting, you really get transformed bit by bit by practicing Brahmacharya, self control, it obviously helps rising above you body. It has a clear logic and it works too.

Most people are misinformed about the meaning of Brahmacharya. It is commonly thought to be celibacy. It is not celibacy, in fact celibacy has nothing to do with Brahmacharya. But let's first see what this Sanskrit word mean-

"Brahma" means the Supreme reality, God, or your true self and "charya" means proceeding with. Typically it suggests a virtuous life in line with God. You think what an ideal life would be and you live like that. An attempt to lead a perfect life, a God-like life, rising above your body and mind and continuously being with your true self or soul whatever you call it. A life which will make you understand God, will help you seek God. You cannot seek God if you are stuck with fullfilling the needs of your mind and body. It does not mean you completely ignore them, just that they are not priority. Earning wealth is not a priority, sensual pleasures are not priority, with heart completely focused on God. "To dedicate yourself with Brahma". That is why you see most "Brahmacharis" becoming Sannyasins, becoming swamis. You cannot remain focused completely if you are leading a social life, at one point you have to give it in the world. Tension will come, worries will come. Also you would be forced to commit small crimes which your soul doesn't absolutely allow. Since now you are a brahmachari you cannot ignore you voice, you have to live. That's why people ought to move away from the society, because it is a huge buzz, you cannot remain focused. Once in a while you will be definitely dragged down, you cannot commit yourself fully. Though it does not mean normal people like us cannot practice Brahmacharya. We can and in fact we should.

Now, first to understand what it is, we see what it is not. It is not celibacy. It was meant to rise above your body. It was to unify with your own true self, rising above the physical desires. But people misunderstood it to be celibacy. Because they have long tried to supress sex. We all know that the desire of sex is prominent in mankind and since we have tried to suppress it forcefully, it has risen to our minds. Now it is a very dangerous thing, if a desire rises up in the mind. If you have a desire to earn money it is a different thing. But if all your energies are spent solely to earn money, if your entire mental passion is money, then it is a problem and this is the rule for everything, including sex. Suppressing sex brings nothing. Suppressing anything brings nothing, because it is in its nature to rise back again. The more you suppress, the greater is the force with which it comes back. Now the entire mind is involved into thinking how to avoid it and it is just as good as the mind who lies lowly in desires. It is one and the same thing- both minds carry the same concept, polarity does not matter. Mind is obsessed about the same thing, It cannot rise above body, it cannot be in meditation. Now, since due to long suppression of sex by religious people, it has entered in to the mind and now everything is seen from the perspective of sex. When brahmacharya was said to be avoiding physical pleasures, people understood it to be avoiding sex. It is because their thinking is so sex polarised, everything "physical" meant sex.

Brahmacharya meant renouncing physical pleasures including sex. But if keep struggling with suppressing your desires, it does not bring anything. You become a battleground, for the ones who have not gone beyond, fighting with their own nature is senseless, but this madness in the name of religion continues. Brahamcharya has a meaning only when you transcend the desires, if you are good at suppressing it means nothing. You should be such that feeling should never arise, that's true practice. Keep suppressing all through the life brings madness only. Celibacy can bring madness but a normal sex life can never bring madness.

In India, people also consider brahmacharya as remaining unmarried. This is also wrong. Brahmacharya typically means celibacy till marriage and fiedlity after marriage. It is not necessary that a person practicing brahamacharya will not marry. The mechanical characteristic of your life means nothing. Whether you are married, or unmarried it means nothing, What resides in your heart is the one which matters. You may be a celibate monk but if you are not able to transcend it, it brings nothing. J Krishnamurti once said, "You want to know what my secret is? I don' care whatever happens". If you rise above your world, the desires will automatically dissolve. It happens naturally, celibacy will immediately follow, you will realize there is no need, it's all illusion. It does not mean denying sex, it means transcending sex, transcending every physical desires including sex.

Brahmacharya was one of the yamas of the Yoga Sutras. Self restraint is very important for spiritual progress. I realize this as completely true. Materialistic mind worries about the connection between this peculiarity, but there is indeed a connection. Only if you stop spending your energy towards wavering desires in a continuous loop, you have to give up on some task. Then your mind will automatically work towards its own nature, its own liberation. Only when you rise above it, you can cross it. While remaining in a ditch and looking upwards the sky won't make you reach there. Sky won't even take out a finger to lift you up, you only have to rise and it takes immense courage. It takes immense courage to deny your natural pleasures. It is simply heroic. This is why saints are highly revered, because the respect given to them on the basis of their renunciation is deserving.

Yamas and Niyamas are the complementary guidelines in the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali. Now, everybody must have known about the Baba Ramdev brand but nobody knows the real historical man- Patanjali and it will be a sin to write anymore without mentioning him. Now, Patanjali has been one of the most important figures in the history of mankind and not just Hinduism. Patanjali was a man of huge intellect. It is said that just how Einstein is for science, Patanjali is for Yoga. He is the father of modern Yoga, almost everything we know about Yoga today is due to the work this man did to revive Yoga for the mankind. His writing in Yoga Sutras is simply blunt. You see the title, it is "...And Now Yoga". Just simply put. We have been doing this and that and then we realized all are nonsense and then we decide for Yoga, hence the title. The thought is directly written and everything in it is written by purely step wise method. It looks like a science textbook. He was the most scientific person in Hinduism. He brought the religion to the level of science. He used intellect for the spiritual path and has used it so cunningly that no word of appreciation is enough. If you follow him, you simply get the results. He says in his Sutras that practicing Brahmacharya brings immense courage. You realize you are the consciousness which is universally present. And this brings a fearless life. Lack of courage and fear only comes through fear from mind, if you rise above it there is no fear. Bringing inner peace is a different and higher thing, it comes later but getting courage through this is spontaneous and throbbing.

Initially, brahamcharya brings very strange feeling. In fact every spiritual practice brings strange feeling initially. Your all preconceived notions fall apart, all what you have thought about the world, when you really see it through attention, it seems all different. All the answers are now useless, all theories,all theology, all philosophy falls apart and it creates a void and it is confusing. It does not bring satisfaction to its fullest. Because now what you have gathered since centuries is of no use suddenly and the void in life is impactful, you know that you are moving in a correct path but you feel something missing. Because we had imagined life to be something else so it takes time to adjust.

Brahmacharya involves conscious tasks. Whether you do it or not, it does not matter. What matters is whether you let it to disturb or not. If you are involved in the act, then it means your are simply in the ditch. The whole concept of tantric sex is to be conscious about it. To make realize that you are even above the pleasure. You are not receiving pleasure, it is a body need and it almost vanishes when you become old. Just how we feel kids as running behind toys, old people see youngsters as kids running behind these desires. You realize its all a matter of few time only. Just rising above is true practice. If you see the history of Hindu mythology, you will find sex all over it. It may mean two things, one is that they were having a open and natural attitude towards it or they had minds which had long suppressed sex. Now if brahmacharya was an ideal life and if it meant celibacy then what about the Gods involved in the sexual activity? Almost all gods are married and have kids. And then there is a guy known as Hanuman. He is widely known as a brahmachari. Even in some of his temples, women are discouraged to be entered or touching him. It is just uncontrollably amusing that they fear their God will get "dirty" if women enters there. That the chastity will be lost. I simply cannot stop laughing at this. He is a brahamachari since long time, he is supposed to be unaffected by ladies. And people don't allow women to go near him. This is the proof that man construct his god according to his own nature. Because man also fears women because he cannot control his desires and his constant religious conditioning that sex is bad, he is in a tussle. So he believes that Hanuman must also be in a tussle. Just like how a man may induce desires if a woman comes near him, he thinks Hanuman must also have same problem and that he will get angry.

 Forced celibacy to me does not make any sense. It does not make any sense to me that a God will make us like this and then without informing expects us to work our way out though it. If such is so, then he is a tyrant. It is funny how people just convert a character to suit their own understanding and purposes and builds their lifestyle around that concept. Hanuman's life can be huge ideal. How his devotion was, his bravery, focus and strength. He is also shown meditating, but nobody will meditate. They only want to pray.

                                           

And all other Hindu Gods are sexual too. All have kids. Now how is this explained? And how can one even explain Krishna? It is impossible for them. That's why now gods are worshiped in a limited way. Gods have been limited to have been doing only what suits the society. Surdas will write brilliant poems on the child Krishna but the adult Krishna is dangerous. He unites with numerous ladies.So Surdas does not go there, his Krishna is only a kid, he never grows up. Because nobody got the message. Krishna's message was to fully accept life as it is. To accept every aspect of it. Even when he knows this is all illusion he says in Geeta that he does his task religiously. He says that he knows the future but still actively involved in the present. People only understood that he knew the future hence he must be God, but they never understand the message why he is living in the present? Why is he performing his duties? Why is he even bound by duties? That's the recipe for his glory. Even while being a god he choses to so human like but in fact being a complete human. Almost one thousand interpretations of Geeta is written. Scholars have endlessly criticized, praised and what not, still we are not able to understand the man. That's how mysterious he is.

That's why Patanjali did not write Yoga Sutras in poetic form or in a literary form. Because then scholars must have jumped in, they would have twisted it. So, he wrote in a complete lucid manner and in a absolutely blunt way with almost no literary qualities. Usually we think, he did not know the art, but actually he was a master in it. Otherwise he would not have thought upto this level. He is symbolically depicted in the famous half-man, half-snake form indicating that he has risen above the duality of life and attained to ultimate oneness, and in doing so, has opened the door for others to achieve the same. Half of his body has been symbolically made into snake, because he is not seen as a person anymore.

                                                

In Yogic system and Jains, sex is not viewed as bad or sin, Brahamacharya is in fact practiced to preserve your sexual energies. The semen is said to be present in subtle form all over the body and it is very instrumental for the spiritual realization. That's why Brahmacharya is held as a supreme virtue. Lord Shiva also actively advocates Brahmacharya. Now, Shiva is a very interesting God. He is always shown meditating. Numerous stories about him is written, his accounts of long stay in Samadhi. Now here lies a question, he is a Supreme God, Vishnu, Brahma and all other myths worship him but he still meditates. He is the ultimate destroyer and still he is in constant focus state. Upon him does he meditate? This is a radical question, and the answer to it I say will bring revolution in Hinduism. Shiva being a Supreme Lord, all other worship him but still he meditates. For what?

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Carl Sagan

I would not hesitate to say that he is one of the most spiritual and loving person I have ever seen. Yes, a scientist can be a spiritual person and be proud of it because his understanding about spirituality is neither narrow-minded nor any less than extremely profound depth. He was a man who will have your feel deep reverence and humongous respect.

For those who don't know him, he was an American astronomer, astrophysicist,a professor at Cornell, a science popularizer and an author. He was a founding member of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly known as CSICOP - the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal). He has written hundreds of research papers and his work in astronomy is of very important significance. He initiated one of the most famous skeptical principles, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". And how can we forget Cosmos? His brilliant way of communication, soul-soothing voice and deeply humble nature, his sheer dedication towards work, his scientific understanding and inquisitiveness about nature makes him a complete package. There have been many brilliant scientists till now but very few touch the hearts of people- Carl Sagan is one of them and probably among the top of them.

His quotes are a fresh reading, very intriguing, profoundly written showcasing his exceptional skills. I am absolutely sure that a single article will never do justice to describe a man for whom the appreciation surpasses all the limits of English vocabulary. He time and again reminded us about the scarily large nature of our Universe but with added wisdom. He taught us to be a skeptic without losing wonder for the "vast and deeply humbling" Universe. I absolutely love this man and his smile.

If you want to know him, read this exceptional piece from him. When Voyager 1 spacecraft left from the planet to explore the solar system, engineers on Sagan's suggestion made it to turn back at take a photo of Earth and they got this-

 The absolute tiny dot is Earth. You probably need to look at it again to determine it. Now this surely can be a devastating picture completely redefining what we know about ourselves. It was the first time, somebody took a picture of the planet from this far. At this frightening picture Sagan wrote in his book Pale blue dot-

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.” 

Please please listen to this historic piece with added charisma of his voice as well!

Pale Blue dot

• Here is Carl Sagan taking on religion!

“How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?” Instead they say, “No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.” A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.”

• And Carl Sagan taking back on a very widely prejudiced thought about scientists being "dry" because they try to break things too much- 

“It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it not stirring to understand how the world actually works — that white light is made of colors, that color is the way we perceive the wavelengths of light, that transparent air reflects light, that in so doing it discriminates among the waves, and that the sky is blue for the same reason that the sunset is red? It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it.” 

• An excerpt taken from his one of the many essays-

There is a wide yawning black infinity. In every direction the extension is endless, the sensation of depth is overwhelming. And the darkness is immortal. Where light exists, it is pure, blazing, fierce; but light exists almost nowhere, and the blackness itself is also pure and blazing and fierce. But most of all, there is very nearly nothing in the dark; except for little bits here and there, often associated with the light, this infinite receptacle is empty.
This picture is strangely frightening. It should be familiar. It is our universe.
Even these stars, which seem so numerous, are, as sand, as dust, or less than dust, in the enormity of the space in which there is nothing. Nothing! We are not without empathetic terror when we open Pascal’s Pensées and read, “I am the great silent spaces between worlds.”

• He was a noted skeptic. After an unbiased study, he concluded that there is not enough evidence about any alien activity on Earth, but still for the trash people are- 

• And now it is time to look back at the pale blue dot quote- 

“Ann Druyan suggests an experiment: Look back again at the pale blue dot of the preceding chapter. Take a good long look at it. Stare at the dot for any length of time and then try to convince yourself that God created the whole Universe for one of the 10 million or so species of life that inhabit that speck of dust. Now take it a step further: Imagine that everything was made just for a single shade of that species, or gender, or ethnic or religious subdivision. If this doesn’t strike you as unlikely, pick another dot. Imagine it to be inhabited by a different form of intelligent life. They, too, cherish the notion of a God who has created everything for their benefit. How seriously do you take their claim?” 

• He was a very beautiful thought generator.

• Wish people understand this simple yet insightful message!

• Well that's "true"!

• Cosmic chemistry mixed with spiritual wisdom! My personal favourite

On religious terrorism and the importance of human

• This one shows his humble nature hammering the rude skeptics!

• And this is touching

Care for humanity!

• And what to say anything else for this than simply amazing?!

• With added benefits of well- refraining from pseudoscience, bad science, non-science and nonsense!

Here is a video of him describing astrology as bunk or bogus- His voice is simply touching!

Carl Sagan on astrology

He was indeed a great person, a reformer, brilliant scientist, a noted skeptic and a celebrity. His work for his students, the revolutionary Cosmos series and his amazing books will always be remembered. He is one of the most famous guardian of real science with deep insight and wisdom. 

This post is a second person-specific post. I have earlier written a similar style post for a brilliant philosopher Epicurus. Do check it out.

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