Namaste and a very warm welcome to all of you in this daily live meditation session with me Dhyanshri.
We are on the path of Yoga Sutras from Patanjali and in the Ashtanga Yoga section where Patanjali is first of all establishing the rules,
The values that are required for a yogi to base the foundation and then build the practice of yoga,
Build the practice of meditation further.
In the past sessions we discussed the four values that Patanjali instils in the yogi about truthfulness,
About non-violence,
About non-greed and so on.
Today there is the value of Brahmsha Raya which Patanjali would like to describe in his sutra.
Let us understand what is this value because this is an interesting topic.
It has several different interpretations in different schools of thought.
Patanjali says Brahmacharya Pratishtayam Virya Lava.
What that means is by establishing oneself in sexual continence,
Vigor is gained.
As I said there are several schools of thought about the topic of sexuality,
About the topic of Brahmacharya.
Different people,
Different traditions have given different meanings to the word Brahmacharya.
One line of thought says it means strict celibacy.
It means that you completely condemn sex,
You completely condemn sexuality and the monk,
The yogi,
The meditator has to absolutely abstain from any sexual activity.
From the physical sexual activity,
From the mental sexual thoughts,
Any kind of sexual activity is something that is coming in the way of the practice,
Is coming in the way of the yogi,
Of the meditator.
This strict celibacy has been preached,
Has been taught,
Has been practiced in different schools especially in yoga.
It has been for thousands of years mostly interpreted as celibacy.
What this has to be understood,
This energy that is behind sexuality has to be understood.
Otherwise celibacy which sounds to result in all these amazing attributes that yogis describe can also become the reason for misery.
Ten monks they were training for several years their practices of yoga,
Meditation,
Celibacy and there came a day where they had to give tests on their value of celibacy,
Their establishment in celibacy.
So they were lined up all naked,
A bell was put on their male parts and there was a supervisor who was there to judge whether all these ten monks are established in celibacy or not.
They invited a young lady,
Stripped her naked,
Made her walk along this line of ten monks which were all meant to hold their celibacy.
Nothing happened until the ninth but the tenth monk the bell rang tingling tingling.
The monk was very ashamed,
He realized that he is not fully established in celibacy,
He apologized to his superior,
He said give me one more chance,
Give me one more chance to prove my celibacy because after so many years of practice now this was the time to prove that he can control his sexuality,
He can control all what celibacy is about.
The supervisors they agreed okay maybe first time it is a mistake so they gave him another chance.
Once again all the monks were lined up,
The bells still tied to their male parts and the woman,
Another woman was made to walk and pass by these ten monks until the ninth nothing happened by the tenth the bell again rang tingling tingling this time even more crazily and the monk was once again very embarrassed,
He was very much disappointed with himself,
He apologized to all his superiors that were taking the test and once again pleaded that he could give the test once again and this went on and on he gave another round failed again and every time in every round the bell rang even stronger the tingling tingling went even stronger and came to a point where in the final try the when the woman passed by this monk the bell rang so strong that the bell fell down in order to pick the bell up the monk bent down pick the bell up just in that moment all of the nine bells went tingling tingling tingling.
Sexuality cannot be just suppressed.
Sex is an energy that cannot be just suppressed as it is taught in celibacy if it is suppressed in one end it comes out of the other end if this is suppressed physically it results in psychological issues of anger of depression of all these things that are psychological extremities these are linked directly to the sex energy so this line of thought of celibacy which is in which is the interpretation of brahmacharya has its own flaws has its own pros and cons see that we are not living the life of monks we are not living the life of renunciation so celibacy is not the path for us but what does then brahmacharya means does that mean sexual continence sexual moderation for from my suggestion witnessing of the sexuality witnessing of the sex energy is brahmacharya brahmacharya the brahma is that the source of energy and charaya is the movement of that source so you have to witness in your own life in your own experience what is this energy that rises within you and when it rises you feel that the whole world is amazing and as it rises up you see that with that sexuality your tastefulness for life your vigor for life your desires for life they're all rising up you feel once again alive in the moment it this energy falls back this energy is released you see once again just like the sandstorm stops you see the whole world in front of you also stops once again you fall back to somewhere in an abyss where there is no desire there is no world the world that we are living in if you see is so much constructed out of sexuality out of this perception based on the sex energy so it is very important to understand the source the source of this energy and this manifestation of this energy into sexuality and your relationship to this source to this sexuality to this expression and to manage that and to ride the wave like a surfer to be on top of it is to me brahmacharya is to understand and utilize in your life so that you are in harmony with yourself otherwise just because of this sex energy which is the source of creation which is the source of potency you will always swing between two ends in the psyche of depression and of anger when the energy is not there if you fall into deep abyss you will feel depressed if you if the energy is rising up and is suppressed and is unable to express it will result in anger so on the spectrum of depression and anger you are living somewhere in between and constantly cycling every few days and you see that there is no way that you can come out of that cycle there is no way that you manage the cycle understand the cycle the way is to witness the way is to become self aware to observe oneself through these cycles to first of all start learning what that means for oneself then to start learning how to manage that cycle for oneself and then to the ultimate which is the true celibacy which is to come out of the cycle to to come out of the sexuality of the compulsions and to be able to utilize this energy to channel this energy to higher centers of being of love of intelligence of spirituality with that little insight from Patanjali on celibacy on brahmacharya on sexual moderation on witnessing the sexuality and sex with oneself let us move into silence let us move into awareness which helps us to become aware not only in the moments of meditation but also as we proceed along in our day it helps us to become that self aware person which can then witness everything that one is experiencing please close your eyes take a posture that is comfortable for you take a nice deep breath inhale from the nose and exhale from the nose allowing your body to rest with every breath allowing your mind to rest shifting awareness inwards allowing it to settle in your inner space in the present moment.
For a few moments,
We will shift the awareness and focus it at the Mooladhara chakra.
Which is the center at the base of our spine,
The area below the genitals,
The sex center.
Focus your awareness on the inner space.
The area below the genitals,
At the base of your spine,
The area touching the ground,
Wherever you are sitting.
Let that stabilize,
Let your awareness settle there.
Beyond the physical sensations,
Feel the energy,
The pulsation,
The aliveness,
The energy that phys Kind of the center.
All your attention,
Awareness,
Away from the thoughts,
Away from the head,
Away from the head and focus down at the Mooladhara chakra,
The base center,
The base of your spine.
All your attention,
Awareness,
Away from the head,
Away from the head and focus down at the Mooladhara chakra,
Seated firm,
Stable in your root chakra.
Feel the energy,
The power,
The strength,
The grounding as your awareness holds itself at the root chakra,
The area below the genitals at the base of your spine.
All your attention,
Awareness,
Away from the head,
Away from the head and focus down at the Mooladhara chakra.
Sense of stillness,
Centeredness,
Stability arises in your body,
In your mind.
Allow the stillness,
Centeredness,
Instability to grow in your body,
In your mind,
As you focus on the root center.
All your attention,
Awareness,
Away from the head,
Away from the head and focus down at the Mooladhara chakra,
Like a tree rooted in the ground,
Stable in your body,
In your body,
Stable,
Sourced from the ground.
You rooted in Mooladhara chakra at the base of your spine,
Sourcing your energy from there,
And gently letting go of the focus,
Letting go of the effort,
And stay in this effortless stillness with awareness,
In this silence with awareness.
All your attention,
Awareness,
Away from the head,
Away from the head,
Away from the head,
Your body,
Your mind,
Rooted in this Mooladhara chakra,
The sex center,
Stable like a tree,
While your awareness expands like the space around the tree,
Effortlessly,
And slowly,
As you focus on the root center,
All your attention,
Awareness,
Away from the head,
Awareness back to your body,
To your mind,
This stable alignment of your sex energy,
Of your body,
Of your mind,
And the awareness of it all,
And gently and slowly,
You may open your eyes with me,
Maintaining this state of stability as you proceed in your day.
Please pass on this message of yoga,
Of stability,
Of centeredness,
With awareness of self-awareness to your friends and family.
Namaste.
