THE TRUE MEANING OF BRAHMACHARYA (Sri Swami Krishnananda)
Together with the insistence on the necessity of a guru in the imparting of knowledge, the Upanishads are also never tired of hammering upon another qualification of the student of this knowledge: brahmacharya. In many places it appears that brahmacharya and Brahman are almost identified. Wherever there is brahmacharya, there is also Brahman-knowledge. Very significant is this word,-brahmacharya. It is the conduct of Brahman that is actually called brahmacharya. Charya is conduct, behaviour, attitude, disposition, demeanour, and Brahma is the Truth. The conduct of reality is brahmacharya. So, when you conduct yourself in a manner not in contradiction to the nature of Truth, you are supposed to be observing brahmacharya. And what is the nature of Truth which you should not contradict in your day-to-day conduct and which is supposed to be brahmacharya? The nature of Truth is non-sensory existence. Truth is not a sensible object. It is not seen, it is not heard, it is not tasted, it is not touched, it is not contacted by any of the senses of our individual personality. Therefore, to desire for the objects of sense would be a contradiction of the nature of Truth. Brahmacharya is sensory non-indulgence. The opposite of sensory indulgence is the attitude of brahmacharya. Our present-day activities are mostly a refutation of the principles of brahmacharya, and so we are weak in every respect. We are unable to see, unable to hear, unable to touch, unable to walk, unable to speak, unable to digest our daily meal. Everything has been weakened, because our senses refute the existence of God. When you see an object you deny God, because the denial of God and the perception of an object are one and the same thing. When you hear a sound, you deny God. When you taste, when you touch, when you have any kind of sensory activity there is an unconscious refutation of the indivisibility of the existence of God. Brahmacharya has thus been, by an extension of its meaning, regarded as sense-control. But sense-control is not the whole meaning of brahmacharya. It is a spiritual attitude to things that is called brahmacharya, which implies, of course, automatically, sense-control. When it is day-light, when the sun is up above our heads, it is understood that darkness has gone. But day is not merely the absence of darkness. It is a positive kind of enlivening and energising phenomenon, a power that we receive from the sun, including light. So, brahmacharya is not merely a withdrawal of the senses from contacts with objects, though it implies that also. It is an inward positivity of attitude. In brahmacharya, you become a positive person, with a content of your own, independent of any kind of external aid. You have a stuff of your own, as they call it. That is brahmacharya. FOOT NOTE: Taken from "The Secret of the Katha Upanishad" THINK OF GOD ALONE (Sri Swami Chidananda) Time is indeed most precious. It can never come back. It is rolling on with tremendous speed. Every second must be well utilised for The achievement of God-Realisation, the goal of life. --Swami Sivananda (This saying on the wall of the Samadhi Mandir was read carefully by Sri Swami Chidananda before giving the following talk.) The essential point for all of you to ponder is that time is flying away. Days turn into weeks, weeks into months, months into years. Day by day our life span decreases, various distractions take our mind away from the goal. How do you expect or hope that your life will be crowned with God-realisation, illumination, liberation, bliss, peace, perfection? How do you expect? It is only when one thinks ceaselessly of God and God alone, when one thinks of God alone to the exclusion of all thoughts other than God. To such a person there is not only the possibility, we may almost say, taking into consideration the factor of God's grace, that there is the certainty of attaining God-experience in this very life, even now and here. For a person who has one's mind, one's inner gaze, steadily fixed upon God and God alone, ceaselessly without break, who does not allow any other thought to intrude-one who is totally fixed in God, one hundred per cent, without the intrusion of any other thought- the interior of such a person is not human, it is no more mental, the interior of such a person is God. For God dwells, infills totally the inner firmament of that being's consciousness. That being is in a state of God-consciousness, not human consciousness. For this we should pray. For this we should ceaselessly make effort-with humility, without egoism-aware that even this movement is being initiated by God, carried on by the power of His grace-where I am nowhere and He alone is. And we pray to the Almighty, the transcendental Being, we pray to Holy Master that they may vouchsafe this blessing and boon upon one and all of you! Amen. K RAJARAM IRS 28526 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZoqV35XWnqfDmHa%3DEH%3DhAOEP7XeBNqZ%3Dx81u8A7FoU_pNQ%40mail.gmail.com.
