You cannot have perfect celibacy unless you follow the auxiliaries. You have to take particular care about your diet and the company that you keep. Anything that brings impure thoughts in the mind is bad company. You need to fly away from the company of worldly-minded persons. Get away from the bustle of cities and tumultuousness of the world as and when you find it feasible. Those who talk of worldly affairs will quickly pollute you. You mind may waver and begin to wander. You will have a downfall.
Do not read amorous and bad novels or fiction. Do not visit the bad cinema and theatre. And do not make friendship with undesirable boys. What you need is a complete change of your vision, your attitude towards the opposite sex. Behold the Divine Mother in every woman other than your wife and consider her as your own mother.
Proper Food
Gradually reduce salt and tamarind. Salt excites passion and emotion. Salt excites and strengthens the desires. Lesser amount of salt brings in a cool condition of the mind and the nerves. It helps meditation. You will suffer a bit in the beginning. Later on, you will enjoy a saltless diet. Practice at least for six months. In this way, you will be able to realize your own face glory quickly. All that is wanted of you is sincere and earnest effort. Do not overload your stomach at night. The night meals should be very light. Half a litre of milk or some fruits will constitute a good regimen or menu at night.
Both for celibacy and tongue-control, take a few basil leaves early in the morning. In the evening take Neem leaves. Start with one leaf, increase it to ten, one per day. Take ten for a couple of months; then you can increase it to twenty. This is very good for health and body as well.
Avoid bad company
What is the state of your mind when you attend a ball party or when you read “The Mysteries of the Court of London”? What is your state of mind when you attend the religious conglomeration or when you are on the banks of Holy Rivers in a secluded place or when you study the soul-elevating classical scriptures? Compare and contrast your mental states. Remember that there is nothing so utterly ruinous to the soul as evil company. Aspirants should shun ruthlessly all sorts of evil company. They should not listen to the stories concerning women, the luxurious ways of rich persons, pungent food, vehicles, politics, silken clothing, flowers, scents and so on, earned out of bad money because the mind gets easily excited. It will begin to imitate the ways of luxurious persons. Desires will crop up. Attachment will also come in.
The bad cinema produces an evil tendency in man. He cannot remain even for a day without attending a show. His eyes want to see some half-nude pictures and some kinds of colours; and his ears want a little music. Young girls and boys become passionate when they see the actors in the films kissing and hugging. Those who want to develop themselves in the spiritual line should entirely shun the cinema. They should not attend even the so-called religious films. They are not really religious films. It is a kind of trick to attract people and collect money. What is the spiritual caliber of the actors there? Spiritual people only can bring out impressive stories with good morals that can elevate the minds of the spectators.
Put an end to going to exciting films if you have got that habit. Do not witness vulgar sensuous scenes wherever it may be. Do not indulge in seeing naked pictures. All these tend to increase passion and deplete your semen stock. You should strictly avoid these.
Novel-reading is another evil habit. Those who are in the habit of reading novels that deal with passion and love cannot remain even for a single second without novel-reading. They always want their nerves to be tickled with some sensational feelings. Novel-reading fills the mind with base, lustful thoughts and excites passion. It is a great enemy of peace. Many people have started circulating libraries for distribution of novels on a small subscription basis. They have not at all realized how much harm they are doing to the country. It is better they chalk out another vocation to get their livelihood. They spoil the minds of young men by the distribution of these worthless novels, which help to excite their passion. The whole atmosphere is polluted. Do not read novels. They taint the mind. Do not read those journals which excite you lower instincts.
Immoral songs produce a very bad, deep impression in the mind. Aspirants should run away from places where vicious songs are sung. Do your best to divert your mind and eyes from external objects that prompt sexual desires. Give up the sort of reading, conversation, imagination and associations that are likely to stimulate the sexual desire. Do not converse with those who are eager to convey irritating news and disturb your mental poise. Live with spiritual advanced men and stop reading all books except those that are directly spiritual.
When thoughts of lust arise in the mind, do not wrestle with them. The best method is to ignore them. If you are not successful in doing so, be in the company of someone who is superior to you spiritually, who is more advanced than you spiritually. If you go into seclusion, the mind will chase you and down you in sensual thoughts. You will lose your balance. Be careful. The sensual thoughts will pass away with a little vigilance.
An evil thought enters the mind and there comes an erection of the organ. Is this not a marvel? Because this occurs very often, it does not appear to you as a miracle or a marvel. You have ignored this vital point on account of your ignorance. Mind is a great electricity battery. It is a big dynamo indeed. It is a powerhouse. The nerves are insulated wires to transmit the electric currents, nerve impulses, to various organs, tissues and the extremities, hands, legs and feet. There is a vibration of thought in the mind owing to the vibration of psychic Prana. This force of thought is transmitted with a tremendous lightning speed along the nerves to the organs. The physical body is fleshy mould prepared by the mind in accordance with the lust for its own experience and enjoyment. The mind sways the organs of an undisciplined passionate man who has boisterous revolting desires. It becomes an obedient faithful servant of a trained and mature Yogi.
An ever-vigilant celibate should always watch his thoughts very carefully. He should never allow even a single bad thought to enter the gate of the mental factory. If his mind is ever fixed on his object of meditation, there is no room for the entry of an evil thought. Even if an evil thought has entered the trapdoor of the mind, he should not allow the mind to assume a mental state with this idea. If he becomes a victim, the thought-current will be transmitted to the physical body. Burning of the desires and the physical nervous system will follow. This is a serious condition.
The bad thought should be nipped in the bud by supplanting counter divine thoughts. It should not be allowed to penetrate the physical body. If your will is strong, the evil thought can be driven at once. Pranayama, vigorous prayer, thinking, self contemplation, meditation and ritual company can nip the evil thoughts in the bud at the threshold of the mental factory. The combat will be keen in the beginning. When you become purer and purer, when your will-power develops, when you develop more purity and when you have a habitual meditative mood, you will be established in physical and mental celibacy. Understand the power of thought and utilize it profitably. Understand the ways of the mind. Learn how to use the pure will. Become a vigilant, dexterous watchman of your thoughts. Curb them before they raise their heads out of the mind through skill and wisdom.
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 thought and then comes action. Therefore, do not allow the sexual thoughts, to enter the mind.
That which is thought of is spoken by the tongue. That which the tongue speaks of, the organs of action do. That is the reason why it is said in the Vedas: “Let my mind think of auspicious things.” Entertain sublime divine thoughts. The old evil sexual thought will gradually vanish, just as the old nail in a plank goes away by inserting over it a new nail.
The glory of association with the wise saints, great persons and philosophers is indescribable. The glory and power of religious gatherings is described in various ways in the Bhagavata, the Ramayana and other scriptures. Even a moment’s company with wise people is quite sufficient to overhaul the old vicious thoughts of worldly-minded people. The magnetic aura, the spiritual vibrations and the powerful thought-currents of developed adepts produce a tremendous influence on the minds of worldly persons. The personal contact of divine people is a blessing in reality for worldly persons. Service of saints purifies the minds of passionate men rapidly. Religious gatherings elevate the mind to magnanimous heights. Just as a single matchstick bums huge bundles of cotton in a few seconds, so also, the company of saints burns all ignorance, all thoughts and thoughts of passion and evil actions within a short time. This is the reason why many prophets have spoken so highly of Religious gatherings in all their books.
If you cannot get good Religious gatherings in your own place, you can visit places of pilgrimage. Study of books written by realized persons will also be tantamount to Religious gatherings. The only potent specific for inducing burning desire for liberation is Religious gatherings.
Cultivate Discretion and Renunciation
A discriminating person does not note any difference between a male and a female. The same elements—passion, anger, greed and affection with material things—that are present in a man are found in the female also. It is only a lustful person who is filled with burning passion that finds imaginary differences. The differences are all mental creations or Kalpita Bheda.
Nothing can tempt you in this world if you develop sense of renunciation of material things as and when required with strong determination, if you subdue your desires, and if you shun the unreal, impermanent sensual enjoyments and pleasures of this fleeting world as dung and poison. You will have no attraction for earthly objects. Lust will be unable to take hold of you. You will have eternal peace and infinite bliss.
Constantly remember: “Through the grace of God, I am becoming purer and purer, every day. Pleasures come but not to stay. Mortal flesh is only clay. Everything will pass away. Celibacy is the only way.” Develop discretion and renunciation.
Some Buddhist monks who always keep a human skull with them. This is to cause renunciation in them and to remind them of the impermanent and perishable nature of human life. A philosopher once kept in his hands the skull of a lady and began to philosophize thus: “O skull! Some time back you tempted me with your shiny skin and rosy cheeks. Now, where are thy charms? Where are those honeyed lips and lotus-like eyes now?” Thus he developed intense sense of renunciation. If you analyze the different parts of the human body and keep a picture of flesh and bones before your mind’s eye, you will have no attachment at all for your body or the body of a female. You may try this method.
Remembrance of the skeleton and the dead body will induce renunciation in your mind. Say that it is the truth. The body has come out of the filthy discharge. It is full of impurities. In the end, it is reduced to ashes. If you remember this, renunciation will dawn in your mind. Attraction for women will gradually vanish. If you place before your mind the sickly figure of a woman or the picture of a very old woman, you will develop un-attachment. Remember the pains of the unreality of objects, and the bondage that comes from attachment to wife and children. Try any method that suits you best.
Sit down and think, calmly and honestly, what beauty there is in a person whose body is composed of flesh, bones, nerves, fat, marrow and blood. Where is the beauty in the same woman when she becomes old? Look at the condition of the eyes and the body of a woman after an attack of fever for seven days! What is the state of her beauty? Where is the beauty if she does not take bath for a week? The stink is abominable. Look at the senile woman aged eighty five who is sitting at the corner, with rotten eyes, shrunken cheeks and skin! Analyze the parts of a woman, realize their true nature.
If you desire much for sensual pleasures, woman is the greatest cause of delusion for you. Women may become the flames of vice. They become burning fire, which destroys man like a dry straw. They burn from a long distance; so they are more dangerous than fire. The lovely damsel is like a poisonous drug that destroys life by causing lustful intoxication and clouding the power of discrimination. This mysterious world began with woman and has woman for its sustenance. How, without renunciation of woman, is it possible to attain the eternal bliss of God? The bodies of those handsome damsels who are so much fondled by foolish men are taken to the cemetery after they expire. Beasts and worms feed upon their flesh. Jackals and kites tear off their skin. Without renunciation of sensual pleasures, it is impossible to have Self-realization.
Here, it is to be mentioned that there is no intention to offend the respected ladies. The both genders of the human society are impressed upon the force and the glory of celibacy and the evil effect of lust after they perform their duties to the society as the nature warrants under proper limits and code of conduct for a civilized society. Celibacy should be practiced by both men and women. Women also can keep a mental picture of the component parts of the body of a male in order to create in themselves disgust for the physical body of a male and to develop renunciation.
Mere condemning of lust is not sufficient to wean the mind from sexual craving. Remember this point well. Lust is potent. Lust is virulent. Lust is formidable. Lust is uncontrollable by persons of weak will. A woman should be aware of the charms of a man which entice her and make her a prey to man and man should be aware of the charms of a woman which entice him and make him a prey to woman. A woman is a temptress for man and a man is a tempter for woman. Man also has much charm in him to entrap a woman. Man appears more handsome in the eyes of a woman than a woman in the eyes of a man. Man also tries to entrap a woman by his dress, ties and bows, by his smile, outward show of affection, glances, gestures, flowery words, various ways of dressing his hair and other tricks.
Lust is a potent force, very difficult to be got rid of. That is the reason why some religious leaders censure and condemn women in order to create dispassion and discrimination in men and wean them from lustful tendencies and aggressive attacks. They have criticized women not out of hatred, prejudice or dislike, but out of compassion for elevating people from the quagmire of materialism. Their criticism of women implies and includes criticism of man also. Their criticism aims at weaning the minds of worldly persons from sexual sin and creating disgust for sexual pleasure, and dispassion for worldly objects. This is misunderstood by people.
The same scriptures and saints who censure women in one place praise them in another. They say, “Women should be honored. They are better half of the world. They are manifestations of the energy. Only those who honor women can attain prosperity.” Therefore, O women! Try to know the heart of the scriptures and the saints and become wise.
The minds of young people are saturated with impure thoughts and desires owing to vicious company and the false modern civilization. Even the company or talk of a woman is quite sufficient to drag the mind into vicious thoughts. So, I have to place before the minds of the vast majority such a mental picture that the very company of women will do havoc. When I say that a woman is only a leather bag, I do not hate women in any way. It is only to produce disgust and induce renunciation. Really, a woman should be adored as Mother. She is the creator, generator and nourishing personality of the universe. We owe our origin to her and stand obliged for the pains she takes while delivering us to this beautiful world. We can not square up the debts. She must be revered. Today, religion and ethics are preserved and maintained only through the devotional element in women. Devotion is a fundamental characteristic of ladies. We must hate lust, but not women.
In the beginning, till you acquire discretion and renunciation, you must treat the company of woman as poison. When you obtain them, then lust cannot take hold of you. You will see and realize, “Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma. All is creation of God only.” You will have self introspection. The sex idea will then vanish.
A vow is a great help
A vow of celibacy will give you sure protection against temptation. It is a strong weapon to attack lust. If you do not take a vow of celibacy, the mind will tempt you at any moment. You will have no strength to resist the temptation and you will become a sure victim. He who is weak and effeminate is afraid of taking the vow. He brings in various excuses and says, “Why should I be bound by a vow? My will is strong and powerful. I can resist any sort of temptation. I am practising will culture.” He repents in the long run. He has no control over the senses. That man only, in whom the subtle desire for the object to be renounced lurks in the corners of the mind, brings in such sort of excuses. You must have right understanding, discrimination and dispassion. Then only your renunciation will be lasting and permanent. If your renunciation is not the outcome of discrimination and dispassion, the mind will be simply waiting for an opportunity to get back the object that has been renounced.
If you are weak, take a vow of celibacy for a month and then extend it to three months. You will gain some strength now. You will be able to prolong the period to six months. Gradually you will be able to extend the vow to one or two or three years. Sleep separately and do vigorous prayers and meditation daily. You will hate lust now. You will experience freedom and indescribable joy. Your partner-in-life also should do prayers, meditation and attend religious gatherings as many as possible.
If at any time, you feel that you could not be able to keep up your vow of celibacy, tell yourself that you have done an unpardonable crime in breaking the vow of celibacy. How can there be religion or spirituality where there is passion? You are a mature person. Why should you repeat shamelessly that old ignoble act, bringing this excuse: “Old desires are powerful; circumstances are strong.” Nobody will hear your answer. You will have to curb your passion whenever it raises its hood.
Will culture and auto-suggestion
Sit alone in your meditation room. Close your eyes. Slowly repeat again and again the following formulae. Let the mind dwell on the significance of the formulae also. Saturate the mind and intellect with these ideas. Your whole system—flesh, blood, bones, nerves and cells—should powerfully vibrate with the following ideas:
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I am all-purity, every thing is pure in me, I am not to be associated with such materialistic things any more, My will is pure, strong and irresistible |
Om Om Om |
You can have a sitting at night also. Sit for ten minutes in the beginning. Gradually increase the period to half an hour. Keep up this intention during work also.
Change the angle of vision
You should entertain your vision of Mother or Goddess or pure soul towards females. Women also should visualize as father or God or pure soul towards males. Pure love will degenerate at any moment into passion when one is careless and non-vigilant.
The cultivation of the vision is very difficult. You may fail to develop the vision that all women are your mothers and sisters one hundred and one times. It does not matter. Stick to your practice tenaciously. You are bound to succeed eventually. You will have to destroy the old mind and build a new mind. Nevertheless you will have to do it if you want to attain immortality and eternal bliss. You will surely succeed if you are fiery in your resolve and if you have an iron determination. The vision will gradually manifest by constant practice. Soon you will be established in that sense. Now you are safe.
A man or a woman should practice self-analysis and self-examination. They should have a proper understanding of the ways in which lust operates and plays, and the things and emotions which excite passion and the manner in which one falls a victim to the other. Then only control of lust is possible.
The mind will again try to do some mischief inwardly. It is very diplomatic. It is very difficult to find out its ways and secret underground operations. It demands a subtle intellect, and careful repeated introspection and vigilant watch. Whenever the mental image of a woman crops up in your mind with evil thoughts, repeat mentally, “Om Durga Devyai Namah” and do mental prostrations. Gradually, old evil thoughts will die. Whenever you see any woman, entertain this visiom and repeat mentally this Mantra. Your look will become chaste. All women are manifestations of the World Mother. Destroy the idea that a woman is an object of enjoyment and substitute the idea that she is an object of worship.
Change the vision, change the mental attitude. You will have heaven on earth. You will be established in celibacy. This is an important method for becoming a true Celibate. See soul in all women. Reject all names and forms and take only the underlying essence. All names and forms are unreal.
For a scientist, a woman is a mass of electrons only. For a tiger, she is an object of prey. For a passionate husband, she is an object of enjoyment. For a crying child, she is an affectionate mother who gives milk, sweets and other indulgences. For a jealous sister-in-law or mother-in-law, she is an enemy. For a person having discretion and renunciation, she is not a combination of flesh, bone, urine, faecal matter, pus, perspiration, blood and phlegm.