Technically, celibacy means your efforts of self-restraint, particularly mastery of perfect control over yourself or freedom from lust in thought, word and deed. Celibacy is purity in thought, word and deed. The term ‘celibacy’ is from the Latin ‘caelebs’, meaning unmarried or single, and signifies the state of living unmarried. But Celibacy is not mere bachelorhood. It includes the control, not only of the sex or reproductive organs, but also of all other acts in thought, word and deed. This is the definition of Celibacy in a broad sense of the term. The door to Nirvana or perfection is complete Celibacy. Complete celibacy is the master-key to open the realms of Elysian bliss. The avenue to the abode of supreme peace begins from Celibacy or purity. This is applicable to all, whether they are married or unmarried. For those who are already married, celibacy means disciplined sexual enjoyment and for unmarried people, they must avoid the sexual enjoyment till they are appropriately married.
There cannot be any language without vowels. You cannot draw a picture without a canvas or a wall. You cannot write anything without paper. Even so, you cannot have health and spiritual life without Celibacy. Celibacy brings material progress and psychic advancement. It is the basis for morality. It is the basis for eternal life. It is a spring flower that exhales immortality from its petals. It is the substratum for a life of peace. It is the shield for waging war against the internal demons—lust, anger and greed. It serves as a gateway to the bliss beyond. It opens the door of liberation of soul. It contributes to perennial joy, to the uninterrupted and undecaying bliss.
Just as the oil comes up in a wick and burns with glowing light, so also, the semen flows up by the practice of Yoga Sadhana and is converted into Tejas or Ojas. The Celibate shines with aura in his face. Celibacy is the bright light that shines in the house of the human body. It is the blossomed flower of life around which the bees of strength, patience, knowledge and purity wander about humming hither and thither. In other words, he who observes Celibacy will be endowed with the above qualities.
The scriptures declare emphatically:
"Ayustejo Balam Veeryam Prajna Sreescha Yashastatha
Punyamcha Sat-Priyatvamcha Vardhate Celibacyya"
By the practice of Celibacy, longevity, glory, strength, vigor, knowledge, wealth, undying fame, virtues and devotion to the truth increase.
It is Secret of health and longevity.
Pure air, pure water, wholesome food, physical exercise, outdoor games, walking with brisk steps, rowing, swimming, light games like tennis—all contribute to the maintenance of good health, strength and a high standard of vitality. There are indeed many ways to gain health and strength. These ways are doubtless indispensably requisite. But, Celibacy is the most important of all. Without Celibacy, all your exercises are nothing. It is the master-key for opening the realms of health and happiness. It is the corner-stone of the edifice of bliss and unalloyed felicity. It is the only specific that keeps up true manliness.
The preservation of semen is the secret of health and longevity, and of all success in the physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual planes. He who has even a little bit of Celibacy will tide over a crisis of any disease very easily. If it takes a month for an ordinary man for recovery, this man will be completely all right in a week. There are instances of men who have attained longevity and intellectual powers despite their loose, immoral ways. But they would have been still more powerful and brilliant had they possessed a good character and continence as well.
After Dhanvantari had taught all the details about Ayurveda to his disciples, they inquired about the keynote of this medical science. The Master replied, "I tell you that Celibacy is truly a precious jewel. It is the one most effective medicine—nectar indeed—which destroys diseases, decay and death. For attaining peace, brightness, memory, knowledge, health and Self-realization, one should observe Celibacy, which is the highest Dharma. Celibacy is the highest knowledge; Celibacy is the greatest strength."
Practice of Celibacy gives good health, inner strength, peace of mind and long life. It invigorates the mind and the nerves. It helps to conserve physical and mental energy. It augments memory, will force and brain power. It bestows tremendous strength, vigor and vitality. Strength and fortitude are obtained. The eye is the window of the mind. If the mind is pure and calm, the eye also is calm and steady. He who is established in Celibacy will have lustrous eyes, a sweet voice and a beautiful complexion.
Celibacy promotes concentration.
By the establishment of continence, vigor is obtained. The Yogi gets perfection by attaining perfect mental and physical Celibacy. Celibacy helps him in gaining divine knowledge and other miracles. When there is purity, the rays of the mind are not dissipated. Focusing of the mind becomes easy. Concentration and purity go together. Although a sage talks a few words only, a deep impression is produced in the minds of the hearers.
A man who has the power of Celibacy can turn out immense mental, physical and intellectual work. He has a magnetic aura around his face. He can influence people by speaking just a few words or even by his very presence. He can control anger and move the whole world. Look at Mahatma Gandhi! He had acquired this power by constant and careful practice of Ahimsa, Satyam and Celibacy—non-violence, truth and celibacy. He influenced the world through this power alone. Through Celibacy and Celibacy alone can you get physical, mental and spiritual advancement in life.
It is worth repeating that a true Celibate possesses tremendous energy, a clear brain, gigantic will-power, bold understanding, retentive memory and good thoughts. Swami Dayananda stopped the carnage of a king. He broke the sword with his hands. This was due to his power of Celibacy. Jesus, Sankara, Jnana Deva and Samarth Ramdas were all Celibates.
Even among electrons, there are bachelor electrons and married electrons. Married electrons manifest in pairs. Bachelor electrons exist singly. It is these bachelor electrons only that create magnetic force. The power of Celibacy is seen in electrons also. Will you practice Celibacy and develop power and spiritual force? Nature is your best teacher and spiritual guide.
Strict abstinence is not merely from unlimited sexual intercourse, but also from auto-erotic manifestations, from homosexual acts and from all perverse sexual practices. It must further involve a permanent abstention from indulgence in erotic imagination and voluptuous reverie. All sorts of sex anomalies and evil habits of various sorts like masturbation and sodomy must be completely eradicated. They bring about a total breakdown of the nervous system and immense misery.
Celibacy is absolute freedom from sexual desires and thoughts. A real celibate will not feel any difference in touching a woman, a piece of paper or a block of wood.
Celibacy is meant for both men and women.
Mere control of the animal passion will not constitute celibacy. This is incomplete celibacy. You must control all the organs—the ears that want to hear lustful stories, the lustful eye that wants to see objects that excite passion, the tongue that wants to taste exciting things and the skin that wants to touch exciting objects. To look lustfully is adultery of the eyes; to hear anything that excites passion is adultery of the ears; to speak anything that excites passion is adultery of the tongue.
The eight breaks in Celibacy
You should carefully avoid the eight kinds of enjoyment, namely, looking at women with passionate resolve, touching them, playing, praising the qualities of the other sex, talking in private, determination, nearing the other sex with the desire for gratification and the actual sexual act. These eight kinds of enjoyment are eight kinds of breaks, so to say, in the current of celibacy practice. You must avoid these eight interruptions with great care, sincere exertion and vigilant circumspection. Only he who is free from all these breaks can be called a true celibate. A real celibate should ruthlessly avoid all these eight breaks.
A celibate should avoid looking at a woman with lustful eyes. He should not have the desire to touch her or go near her with evil intention. He should not play, cut jokes or converse with her. He should not praise a woman’s qualities within himself or before his friends. He should not speak to a woman in secrecy. He should not think of women at all. He should not have a carnal desire to have sexual enjoyment. A celibate should, without fail, avoid sexual intercourse. If he breaks any of the above rules, he violates the vow of celibacy.
Lustful look, lustful thinking and wet dreams are all failures or breaks in Celibacy. Be chaste in your look. Give up lustful look. A lustful look itself is a break in Celibacy. This causes internal discharge of semen from the system. Cultivate sublime, divine thoughts. Do meditation regularly. You will be established in Celibacy.
Difference Between Physical Celibacy and mental Celibacy
It is very necessary that you should be pure in mind if you wish to be a Celibate. Mental Celibacy is more important. You may succeed in physical Celibacy, but you must succeed in mental Celibacy also. That state of mind wherein no single sexual thought enters the mind is termed mental Celibacy. If thoughts are impure, the sex impulse will be very strong. Celibacy depends upon regulating the whole course of life. When you cannot control the lustful thoughts, at least control the physical body. Physical Celibacy must be strictly practiced at first. Control the body when the sex impulse troubles you. Mental purity or mental Celibacy will gradually manifest.
Surely it is better to control your acts at least than to indulge actually in sensual pleasures. Gradually the thoughts will be purified if you persist in your meditation. Eventually there will be direct control of the mind also. A sexual act, a sexual contact, revives all bad ideas and gives them a new lease of life. Therefore, the body should be controlled first. Physical Celibacy must be maintained first. Then only you can achieve mental purity and mental celibacy.
You may be able to stop copulation for months and years, but there should not be any sexual craving or attraction for women. Evil thoughts also should not arise when you look at a woman, when you are in the company of women. If you succeed in this direction, then you are established in perfect celibacy. You have crossed the danger zone.
Thought is the real action. An evil desire is tantamount to adultery. The desire is more than the act. But, there is a great deal of difference between the actual shooting of a man and thinking to shoot a man, between actual copulation and thinking to have intercourse with a woman. Philosophically speaking, thinking to shoot a man or thinking to have copulation is the real act.
Even if there is a single impure sexual thought in the mind, you can hardly expect to have strict mental Celibacy. You cannot then be termed as one in whom the seminal energy flows upwards towards the brain for being stored up as Divine Energy. There is a tendency for the semen to flow downwards even if there is a single impure thought. The state of mental Celibacy must be kept up even amidst temptations and sickness. Then only you are safe. The senses begin to revolt during times of ailment and also when you come in contact with sense objects.
If thoughts of a lustful nature manifest in your mind, it is due to hidden passion. The cunning diplomatic mind seeks silent gratification by looking at a lady and talking to her. Mental copulation takes place secretly or unconsciously. The force that drags you is hidden passion. The sex energy has not been sublimated thoroughly. The vital being has not been regenerated and purified perfectly. This is the reason why impure thoughts enter your mind. Do more meditation. Do selfless service in some form for the society. You will soon attain purity. Learn to cleanse your mind with the water of purity or celibacy, with the soap of divine love. How can you expect to become pure internally by merely washing the body with soap and water? Internal purity is more important than external purity.
Continue the life of Celibacy. Herein lies your spiritual progress and realization. Do not give a new lease of life to this dire enemy lust by repetition of the sinful act. Keep the mind fully occupied. Intense musing on the objects of sense does more harm to the inner spiritual life than actual sense-gratification. If the mind is not rendered pure by your acts, mere mortification of the external senses will not produce the desired effect. Although the external senses are mortified, their internal counterparts, which are still energetic and vigorous, revenge upon the mind and produce intense mental disturbance and wild imagination.
It is the mind that really does all actions. A desire arises in your mind and then you think. Then you proceed to act. The determination of the mind is put into action. First there is a thought and then comes action. Therefore, do not allow the sexual thoughts to enter the mind. No space is empty at any time. This is the law of nature. If one thing is removed from a place, immediately another comes in to take its place. The same law holds good in the case of the inner mental world also. Therefore, it is necessary to entertain sublime divine thoughts to replace evil thoughts. As you think, so you become. This is the immutable psychological law. The vicious mind is gradually divinized by entertaining divine thoughts.
A common complaint
There is always a complaint amongst men that they do not get good success in celibacy despite their earnest efforts and sincere practices. They get unnecessarily alarmed and discouraged. It is a mistake. There is a thermometric registration in the spiritual realm also. It is very subtle. The spiritual thermometer registers or indicates the advancement in mental purity even to the minutest degree. You want a pure intellect to comprehend the degree of purity. Intense activity, burning renouncement and active desire for bring on the highest degree of mental purity quickly.
Even if anyone does meditation for just half an hour, the spiritual thermometer registers at once a minute degree of Celibacy or purity. You are unable to note it on account of your impure intellect. Do meditation regularly for one or two years and then compare your state of mind with that of the previous year. You will surely find a vast change. You will experience or feel more calmness, more purity, more inner moral force or strength. There is no doubt of this. Because the old vicious impressions are very powerful, it takes some time for mental purification. You need not be discouraged. Never despair. You have to fight against the impressions of beginningless time. Therefore, a great deal of exertion is needed.
Through Celibacy get over the miseries of mundane life and attain health, strength, peace of mind, endurance, bravery, material progress, psychic advancement and immortality. One who has a perfect control over the sexual energy attains powers unobtainable by any other means. Therefore, dissipate not thy energy in sensual pleasures. Conserve thy energy. Do noble deeds and practice meditation. You will soon become a superman. You will commune with God and attain Divinity.
Be Happy – Celibacy Is A Boon Of Life
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