Brahmacharya & 'Purushartha-s'
Question
dear sir,jai shri ram,i have a confusion regarding brahmcharya.the four purusarthas of human life describe sex as one of goals of human life.whereas brahmcharya is against sex.plz clear my confusion.why some yogis never marry or never do sex in life.isn't it against the four purusharthas.and can brahmcharya be followed with desire(kaamna) of having sex only with wife.
Answer
1. The purpose of the first three Purushartha-s (worldly objectives) namely Dharma (as in work), Artha (wealth), Kama (desire) is to help man realize their limitation (as the manifestations of Maya) and understand that they cannot give happiness. When he realizes the falsity of these three objectives, he becomes fit to work for the fourth Moksha through realizing himself as the Atman (self) which is the only source of eternal bliss.
Sexual activity has not been specifically described as a goal in any religion or culture. It is incidental in ones life and not central. Only when man realizes its purpose and limitation does he become fit to bloom in the real sense.
To reside in ones Atman (self), as the self is Brahmacharya. Abstinence from sexual activity for recreation is one of the means to attain this residence and not Brahmacharya itself as wrongly assumed.
2. When a Jiva (embodied soul) needs to experience a Purushartha to evolve further (by experiencing, realizing & convincing itself of the falsity of such an experience), it undergoes a particular experience. Else it does not. This applies to all Jiva-s, Yogi-s or non-Yogi-s.
3. When the urge for self-realization becomes strong, one eventually overcomes the desire for all forms of recreational sexual thought/activity. Then, the wife is looked at as a divine manifestation of the Lord and not as an object of sex. That is true Brahmacharya.
ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)