Brahmacharya with the help of medicines

QUESTION: Hi Dhananjay
Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts and knowledge with others and for starting such a group.
Coming to the topic mentioned above, I heard that there are some ayurvedic medicines, which as a side effect or main effect, can cut down the sperm production in men and make him virtually impotent. This means that even though there is semen produced or ejaculated by a man, the sperm count is reduced enormously, which is in a way conserving the body's energy/prana.(My understanding is that the major prana is lost in the production of sperm and not other fluids. Please correct me if my understanding is wrong here)

So, can this kind of inducing brahmacharya provide the same benefits as done with will power?.
And also is this good for the person in the long run?

ANSWER:  Hello Chandra,

Trust you are keeping well. Coming to the answers,

The use of any medicine or food supplement be it ayurvedic or other cannot help a man achieve true Brahmacharya if he were to expend his semen. One's sperm count in semen has nothing to do with 'Prâna' or vital energy in the body. Hence one does not conserve Prâna by reducing one's sperm count. There are many men with a low or absent sperm count who are extremely capable both physically and mentally and who possess good amounts of Prânic energy. The sperm within semen is only the medium of transfer of life energy and not the energy itself. The sperm is the electric wire and 'Prâna' the electricity. If there were no electricity, then what would be the use of the electric wire?

Prâna is not lost in the production of physical sperm in the absolute sense. Prâna is lost in 'surcharging' the sperm with life energy. The physical thing called sperm by itself has no power (like the electric wire without electric current). It is the induction of enormous amounts of life energy into the sperm that makes the sperm potent and capable of creating another life. And this life energy is directed to the sex glands under commands of the mind. So one has to control the mind to control and conserve this life energy.

We need to realize here that the final aim of Brahmacharya is to help man negate and erase the negative traits/tendencies (Vâsanâs) lodged within him due to past negative karma and thereby make it viable to reclaim the true state of purity and divinity that he represents as the soul. For this, he has to undertake a long journey first abstaining, then overcoming and finally becoming fully independent of desires for the sense temptations by realizing his true nature of soul bliss that is infinite in comparison with sexual pleasure.

This immediately points at the need to abstain from sexual pleasure at the mental level. It is not the body which enjoys sexual enjoyment but the mind. The body is again only the medium (like the electric wire transmitting current) which performs the sex act under the directions given by the mind. The body is only a mass of flesh that cannot enjoy or suffer. It is the mind which experiences the dualities of pleasure-pain, heat-cold etc.. This will make it clear that any effort at Brahmacharya merely aimed at suppressing the flow or altering the constitution of the sexual fluid is of no use even to the smallest extent. As long as the mind is not kept in check from enjoying sexual pleasure, one cannot derive the benefits of Brahmacharya in total.

Taking medicines that produce impotency will not make any difference as regards to the desires and cravings in the mind that are fueled by past karma. Taking such a medicine will not evolve man even a single step further in the process of evolution. Even if the entire sexual system in man comprising of all the sex glands were to be surgically removed, there would not be the slightest change as regards to the desires/wants and sexual cravings on a realistic basis (in terms of the ignorance wound around the soul). Removing this ignorance around the soul is a procedure that involves working at the highest, most subtle and abstract levels; for we are dealing with cleansing the dirt around the Âtman (soul) and the soul is formless, colorless, timeless, deathless and invisible. One has to first reach the level where he starts to comprehend what this soul is in reality and achieving this comprehension is something beyond the ability of the body, mind, intellect, consciousness and ego. These lower vehicles can only help man progress to a certain extent in the direction of enlightenment but cannot be used to know the soul. One can know the soul only from the soul. For achieving this supreme state, one has to fully rise beyond the limitations of the body, mind, intellect and ego.

A man who is enslaved by the concept of sexual pleasure cannot achieve this objective even to the smallest extent. He would achieve nothing more than wasting time and causing bodily harm by trying external aids such as medicines to change the constitution of his semen. In the long run, such an approach would leave him more debilitated and degenerated than the layman who has a normal sex life!

God bless and have a nice day :-)
Dhananjay

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QUESTION: Thanks for the detailed reply! Though I don't intend to follow or recommend this approach and wanted to the know the theoretical aspect only, you have more than answered my question, but still I have a doubt which I am not able to hide...
In the hypothetical case you have discussed, getting 'atma-jnana' may be a far cry, but I am just interested to know how things are going on at the pranic level...., as in the case of an impotent man or some one who is sexually disfunct by what ever means, how is his prana wasted as compared to one who is indulging...
May be I can give an example from mythology such as Arjuna becoming impotent from the curse of  Urvasi, etc.
Please pardon me if I am asking too much or a stupid question.
Thanks!