Celibacy and Women

QUESTION: Dear Dhananjay,

Thanks a lot for your previous answers, and I do get motivated every time I read the answers from this forum. Infact always keep me motivated to be celibate.

Today my question is Celibacy for women.
As you said loss of semen is draining of energy(vital force), and leads to various problem. However, women weather they indulge in sexual gratification or not, they don't loose anything as men( of course ovum etc release). So please tell me how does celibacy helps them( apart from sense control)? Because they don't loose energy as men do. Atleast earlier days they use to give birth to babies often which might have brought the great physical toll. However with advent of advanced medicine, modern women don't feel the necessity.

Thanks in advance.
Shriharsha

ANSWER: Hello Shriharsha,

Good to receive your query, especially since it concerns Brahmacharya as regards to women considering it is a topic over which not much is known in general.

Q: Do the rules of celibacy apply equally to women in the same way as they do to men? And if so, what are the factors that are involved?
A: As we know the 'semen' in man and the 'ovum' in a woman are gross components by the fusion of which a 'zygote' is formed further to conception. This zygote then becomes the embryo and develops into a baby with the complete human form within the mother. In other words, the ovum and semen are the gross, physical manifestations of life force within man and woman. The power that exists in semen to create a new life is not merely in the physical fluid called semen but is further to the induction of a very large amount of life energy or 'Praana' into semen, following which this 'fluid' becomes empowered to aid reproduction.

Scriptures define semen (veerya) as a compound consisting of water, vidyuth (electricity), tejas (light) and other physical components such as enzymes and protein. Note the words vidyuth and tejas. These are the direct representations of Praana (life energy) within the fluid that actually aids fertilization to create life. It is for this reason that a man feels drained, weak and lifeless further to losing semen. By losing semen, he has lost the very electricity, light and life energy that were formed in the body as the end product of digestion. Semen is hence the net sum or end product of all life sustaining processes that occur within the body. It is the penultimate distillate of distillates, the nectar of nectars and the supercharged fluid meant to create another human being. No other fluid in the body can create life.. So it follows that conservation and transmutation of this super-fluid amounts to rapid build up of life energy.

What is it that a man looses when he expels semen? He loses the sum total of all his life energy (praana) and vitality. The weakness, energy drain and exhaustion that he experiences are not merely by losing a few milliliters of the organic body fluid called semen but due to losing the praana/vidyuth/tejas that the seminal fluid has been charged with. The fluid is only a medium, just as an electric wire is the medium to transmit electricity. When we use electricity to light a bulb, it is the electricity that is getting spent and not the wire! We get a bill at the month end for the electricity we have used and not for the length of wire we have installed! Note the difference. Semen by itself at the physical level can be compared to the wire. Just as the wire without electricity has no power, semen by itself is just a fluid without power. It is the induction of life energy in the form of praana/vidyuth and tejas into this fluid that make the ordinary fluid into a supercharged fluid capable of creating life. So when we say semen is precious, it is precious because it contains praana/vidyuth/tejas which are the sum total of all life energy. Semen only happens to be the fluid medium through which these life energies are being transmitted just as the wire transmits electricity.

What has been explained above as regards to men applies equally and in parallel to women. Just as men have semen (veerya), in women there is a corresponding fluid called 'RAJAVEERYA' that carries the ovum. In case of man the ejaculation of vital fluid is external and outward as it's function is to reach the female and ensure conception. In case of a woman, there is no outward ejaculation of her 'Rajaveerya' but a release of this vital fluid within her own body to receive the male sperm and ensure conception. In other words the woman secretes an equivalent fluid of the male semen but that which contains the ovum and whose function is to stay within her to aid formation of the 'zygote' which then becomes the embryo and finally the child. This 'Rajaveerya' contains  the 'ovum' - The female reproductive element that has an equal part in creating life. Now what is the ovum? It is again nothing but a gross manifestation of the woman's life energy. It is the female seed derived after drawing from all the essences and life forces within her body.

Let us now take an example. Let us assume there is a man who is constantly indulging in strong sexual thoughts and fantasies through the course of a day for many days without indulging in actual ejaculation. What would be the outcome? There would be two important outcomes in this scenario:

1. He would find himself more tired and less strong as compared to the strength and energy that would have been at his disposal if he had kept himself totally free from these sexual thoughts.

2. He would shortly experience a wet dream within the next few days during sleep and loose his semen.

What can we learn from this example? That in spite of not physically 'ejaculating' the man found himself tired and experienced some energy loss and this energy loss became complete further to 'ejaculation' during the wet dream. Now what made him feel tired and less energetic after fantasizing in spite of refraining from a voluntary ejaculation? There must have been some other 'component' that he lost in spite of not losing his physical semen. This 'component' was nothing but the praana/vidyuth/tejas part of his semen. It was the energy with which his semen had been super charged. It was the 'electricity' we referred to in the electric wire earlier. The energy loss he felt was due to losing this very subtle energy by sexual radiation. Constant fantasizing made him radiate large amounts of mental, physical and emotional energy into thin air. The same energies which had super charged his seminal fluid got dissipated through radiation. Further to losing its praana/vidyuth/tejas component, the physical fluid called semen  almost becomes powerless and is of no use to the body. The body hence throws it out during a wet dream.

Just as the man radiated large amounts of his vital energy into nothing via fantasizing, women also loose much energy and vitality further to indulgence in sexual thoughts and deeds. The first signs of this energy loss via radiation are fatigue, tiredness and irritation. Unlike man there is no external ejaculation. But 'Rajaveerya' that has been secreted from the sex glands (ovaries) of the woman looses its share of Praana and life energy during sexual fantasy or indulgence and becomes a lifeless fluid like semen from which the vidyuth has been taken out. This equivalent fluid which women produce also gets sapped of its true power and supercharge meant to create life. Once 'Rajaveerya' reaches this state, it becomes useless to the body and is expended once a month during the course of the woman's 'menstrual periods'. Women who are highly sexed and amorous have invariably been found to be nervous, high strung, irritable, frustrated and physically weak as they near middle age while virtuous, restrained women devoted to their family and staying away from sex as the chief form of pleasure tend to live a healthy, happy and contented life. Thus women suffer exactly the same loss of energy, vitality and life essence as men further to recreational sexual indulgence.

It is for this reason that Brahmacharya is a mode of life that is to be carried out in thought, word and deed both in men and women. Mere restraint from ejaculation of semen doesn't serve any purpose. Impure thoughts will eventually expel semen through a wet dream. What is required is ensuring that sexual thoughts are not let to grow and multiply within the mind in the first place. Only then can the production and formation of semen in men and Rajaveerya in woman be restricted and controlled. Once this is achieved, vital energy which earlier went into making the male or female reproductive elements, now becomes available for other constructive purposes like deep meditation and spiritual growth.

In a man who is a complete Urdhvaretha yogi, the very formation of semen is arrested. He directly makes use of his Praana for higher purposes without letting it form into physical semen. The process of transmutation is required for a man who wants to convert physical semen into 'Ojas'. Where is the need for transmutation in case of an Urdhvaretha? He prevents the very formation of semen in the first place! So the question of transmutation doesn't arise. Similarly in women Yogi's of the highest order, the very occurance of the monthly menstrual period stops. Where is the need for her period when there is no impurity to be thrown out? Menstrual periods in normal women signify expulsion of the unused ovum and the endometrium (inner lining of the uterus). In case of a lady of spotless chastity in thought, word and deed, the very formation of these elements gets stopped. Since there is no toxin or unused impurity to be expunged, such Holy women are known to get free from the menstrual period eventually just as an Urdhvaretha gets free from wet dreams. This is the highest state of Brahmacharya. Only a self-realized soul can be a complete Urdhvaretha. It takes a minimum of 12 years of absolute practice of true Brahmacharya with the grace of god to get established in this state.

Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita (Chap II-59): "Rasavarja, Rasopyasya, Param Drushtvaa Nivarthathey" - "O Arjuna, even the relish or tendency to enjoy sense pleasures leaves the man after he has realized the supreme". Till such a time the tendency to fall exists even in the most advanced celibate. One must forever be cautious against the onslaught of lust till such a state has been attained.

To sum up, women need to be as equally cautious as men when it comes to shunning recreational sexuality. The energy and life force they loose due to lust is on par with man. On the other hand, transmutation of vital force (Rajaveerya) into 'Ojas' helps women derive benefits on par with men. A man and a woman represent bifurcated forms of the one single energy - The one universal force - The Almighty Lord, for the soul is beyond gender and the soul is just a fragmented form of God like a drop of salt water separated from the mighty ocean.

God bless and have a nice day :-)
Dhananjay

[an error occurred while processing this directive]---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dear Dhananjay,

I sincerely impressed with the knowledge you posses. Infact I been trying to tell lot of my friends the benefits of celibacy, and some of the questions( the one above) I could not answer properly. With answers from this forum I am able to mend ways to my friends in the path of celibacy.

However I wanted to ask  the scriptures you refer to back your claims( it would be helpful for me to go through that and propogate the idea of celibacy). When I meant scriptures I am talking apart from BG( as I am going through it through properly) like Upanishad( which upanishad in general stress it, coz I read few I did not get that much information). Please let me know it would be of great help for me to give idea to many people and propogate Celibacy in a practical way.

Thank you again ,and thank you for doing omen service.

Regards,
Harsha