Mixing with people

Hello Chandra,

Trust you are keeping fine. Thanks for the queries. Let me try and put forward the answers.

Q1: How does a Brahmachari maintain his state of purity in the midst of the illusory world high on Maya?
A: There is a saying in the Bhagavad-Gita by Lord Krishna addressing this issue:

" The Yogi must live in the world, yet be out of it; He should be like the leaves of a lotus which though surrounded by water and sludge, never get wet or soiled."

What does this mean? It means that the Yogi develops the ability to let the sense perceptions pass through him but does not respond/react to them further to having firmly anchored himself in the fact that the beauty and attraction perceived by his senses are all false, unreal and temporary and that God alone is eternally and incomprehensibly beautiful

 In a gathering of people, say at the work place, there are different kinds of people with different attitudes and natures. A very large majority of these people constitute those who are rather strongly attached to sense pleasures and related activities. It is now the task of the Yogi to be in their midst while working, yet be unaffected and unruffled by the energies, vibrations, words and deeds put forth by them. To achieve this, the Brahmachari keeps the yardstick of reality and purity in his mind and discounts the words & actions of people as those occurring in a dream.

Can we suffer from a lengthy bout of depression lasting many days further to watching a very tragic and painful scene in a movie? No. This doesn't happen as we are in confirmation of the fact that the suffering and pain that are being shown on screen are just a moving set of images due to the effect of light. As soon as the cinema projector is turned off, the light stops getting projected and the screen turns blank.

Does an actor who gets shot in a movie really die due to the bullet? Or can he die through the shock of having been shot at? No. Actors attend to the scenes in the movie taking it as their job. As soon as the scene is captured and done with, both the hero and the anti-hero sit together behind the camera and chat amicably over a cup of coffee. They are able to do this as their involvement in the scene was at a superficial level in terms of gross reality. They mimicked the expressions of anger and hatred and put forward a show of killing each other. Once their part was played, they got back to normalcy and savored the coffee!

The Scriptures teach us that man's attitude and perspective towards life should be the same as that of the dreamer, cinema viewer or the actor. Neither gets affected as things are taken on a lighter vein and without the element of seriousness. The scriptures say that man is himself an actor in this divine cosmic drama called life - produced, directed and managed by the Almighty Lord.

The Yogi Brahmachari who is in the process of purifying himself has a very great task on hand. He is in the quest of remodeling himself at the very innate levels through major changes in his ways of thinking and action. The first qualities he needs to develop if he wants to succeed in this mighty task is to learn to be unaffected and untouched by what people say or don't say! Let people say what they wish; they too have the right of expression. Like the actor in the movie who listens to the director and accordingly performs, the job of the Yogi is to perform the duty entrusted to him and be unscathed by the reactions of those around him. Just as we take to the ramblings and mischief of a child with a smile and do not get angry or irate at the child, the Yogi similarly gives a wide margin to the eccentricities of people around him, all the time being in rock steady conviction and confirmation of his ideals and objectives. In the beginning this may appear a bit hard and one may find himself a source of ridicule. But with constant perseverance, patience and commitment, people will soon realize that it is only fair to let the celibate have his way when he himself has been non-judgmental, non-interfering and temperate as regards to their mode of thinking.

We as Brahmachari's should be serious as regards to our ideals, aims, objectives and goals and turn a blind eye and ear to what people have to say or don't say! While people might initially frown upon a celibate on coming across his do's and don'ts, everyone eventually has to respect a man who is polite, considerate and yet firm as regards to the conviction he has on his ideals. Practice and determination will gradually establish one in this line of action.

Q2: Does eating outside one's home affect Brahmacharya?
A: How does the food lovingly cooked by one's mother taste? How does it feel to sit at a table and be affectionately served by one's mother? The experience cannot be equaled in any other manner. Why is this? What is the governing factor behind the taste, hygiene and wholeness behind food cooked at home? The answer would be that the very energies, intentions and vibrations of the true love and affection that a mother/wife feels for her child/family get transferred to the food as an important ingredient! The best cuisine available at a very elite restaurant does not have this ingredient.

If a lady of the house cooks food with the loving and very genuine intention of welfare of her people, a part of her 'Praana' or vital energy flows out of her and enters the food that she cooks. Just as we can sense if a person has feelings of love or hatred towards us through the vibrations and attitude given out by a person even without verbal communication, 'Praana' can transfer from person to person and from the cook to the food. Food cooked at a restaurant by a commercial chef is prepared with a business like attitude devoid of emotions. It might be polluted with negative energy based on the nature of the person who prepared it. Eating such food 'contaminated' by negative energy most often leads to illness. Besides, food prepared at commercial outlets is high on additives/essences/colors and other chemicals which invariably cause deterioration of health. For the Brahmachari, flushing out of toxins within his body and ensuring 'new' toxins via these additives do not re-enter his body is of much importance. Keeping all these factors in mind, it would be best to avoid outside food to the best extent possible and commit oneself to food prepared at home.

God bless and have a nice day :-)
Dhananjay