Have you heard the word ‘celibacy’ in English or ‘brahmacharya’ in Vedic language? If yes, then what was your reaction when you first heard it, regardless of whether you were married or not? Most of us might have said, “No, not my cup of tea!” While this is a common reaction springing usually due to lack of understanding for celibacy, the importance of celibacy cannot be ignored or denied. Even if you are negative about celibacy while reading this post, do read it further and decide for yourself whether celibacy is beneficial or not. Let us us start by a simple understanding of importance of celibacy.
Why Practice Celibacy: Understanding it Through a Simple Example
Just imagine a situation wherein you are hurt due to which bleeding starts instantly. What will be your next step in this situation? Well, it will be to do anything that can stop the bleeding. Why will you do so? Well, you will do so because otherwise the body will become weak if excessive blood gets lost. So, is the case with abrahmacharya or incontinence of sexual impulses that simply weaken the body as well as mind, explains Dadabhagwan who is the Indian spiritual master. Such impulses results in losing semen, a vital essence for maintaining the harmony amongst body, mind, and soul.
Why Preserve Semen: Comprehending it Through its Significance in Safeguarding the Body
Just an impulse in the body, a sexual thought in mind, or even a one-time intercourse results in tremendous loss of semen, a major but subtle cause of several chronic diseases in the body. This semen is the ultimate essence of the body complex. It is the final extract of our nourishment required for keeping the body, mind, and soul in harmony; but is dissipated in sex.
Just as yogurt is not the milk’s end product because it is further converted to cream and finally to butter, whatever you breathe, eat, and drink results in semen, the essence of the body. According to Ayurveda, food is converted into juice, juice into blood, blood into flesh, flesh into fat, fat into bone, bone into marrow, and marrow into semen. These are known as sapta dhatus or seven substances. Therefore, semen is the essence of these substances.
When this semen gets lost, the body and mind are likely to lose their power. Even imagining about sexual pleasures depletes the vital energy of semen. This loss results in irritated nature, lost balance of mind, quickly getting upset even in minor matters, exhaustiveness, weakness, bad memory, impotence, premature old age, and diseases and nervous diseases. Further, such people quickly come under the control of anger, fear, and laziness. Above all, senses are likely to go out of control. So, do you think without such control, we can be or live as humans?