Wet Dreams and Other Matters
Question
Hello Dhananjay,
I went through your previous answers on wet dreams.
After roughly 4 months of physical brahmacharya and attempted mental brahmacharya, I had a wet dream during the waking hours while I took a nap. There was pedophilic imagery, which highly disturbs me. I do not understand because I have been attempting with full sincerity to hold mental celibacy, shun sexual thoughts when they arise, and so forth.
1) How can this be explained?
2) How do I stay casual and well-engaged in society (roles must be played) when the exterior world is so sex-obsessed? I had a wet dream one day after watching a normal comedy movie with a few racy scenes, but it is disgusting how everything is driven toward the sex impulse.
3) How does the practice of pranayama, bandhas, and Nadi Shodana improve one's intelligence and mental functioning? Is IQ affected?
4) I will try my best to practice sadhana expecting nothing in return. How does one maintain a sense of purpose in life? When everything is merely a role to be played well, does one not feel vacuous on the inside?
5) In the last 4 months, despite no voluntary lapse and attempt for clean thoughts, 3 wet dreams have occurred. Is this a sign from the almighty that my practice is not destined to succeed?
Have all mental, spiritual, and physical gains correspondingly been destroyed?
I will admit, I have not been regular in my practice of meditation, pranayama, etc. I thought merely abstaining from sexual thoughts/acts would suffice but it appears that semen somehow leaks through? Is this the working of the astral plane?
6) In India there are a group of individuals who perform "Nadi Josi", a form of service which purportedly tells one of past and future births. Is this legitimate? If so, how can a directory be updated with names of each new person who is born?
7) Lastly, yesterday I contemplated the cycle of samsara while reading about a Saudi prince who owns over 300 Rolls Royce cars and the world's largest passenger plane. How does one accumulate SUCH good karma? Assuming he engages in no wrong, will his soul be positioned similarly in future births? Sometimes when viewing such wealth disparity it is hard to believe prarabdha karma could be so different that one person dies at 10 with cancer while another enjoys the world as a billionaire for 80 years.
I am eternally grateful for your answers. Please show me the right approach to consider for these queries.
Humbly yours,
SR
Answer
1. Past Samskara-s bring up such episodes when they surface. The way out is to displace such thoughts and replace them with opposite thoughts, through Vichara (inquiry) Viveka (wisdom) & Vairagya (dispassion for the unreal), always regular in Sadhana.
2. Put in your efforts, as suggested in past answers and be patient.
3. All faculties of the body & mind improve through Yogic practices (details available from past answers)
4. The sense of purpose concerns the Ego, which plays roles. The Atman (self) has no purpose and no roles. So play as required and be quiet, holding on to the self, in bliss & peace.
5. While a wet dream by itself does not reset practice, one should strive honestly to avoid the same. After many years of regular Sadhana, the issue will get resolved. First achieve a few years of unbroken practice, with all the necessary methods suggested. The answers will then be known by themselves.
6. Live in the present, the future will take care of itself.
7. Do your dharma and be quiet. That which has to come will come. Questions not concerning the practice of Brahmacharya to realize the self are not in purview.
ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)