Creation exists in opposites. For darkness, there is light. For sound, there is silence. For happiness, there is sorrow. For pleasure, there is pain.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. As one indulges in pleasure, whether food or sex, as an equal and opposite reaction, the body ages.
The spices in food render it tasty, but also corrode the lining of intestines and increase hyperactivity in body, leading to ageing. Sexual indulgence gives immense pleasure, but also leads to the loss of vital fluid called sukra.
In fact, the term coined in Ayurveda for sexual pleasure is ‘sukranash’ or ‘loss of sukra’.
According to Ayurveda, body is composed of seven dhatus—rasa, rakta, mansa, medas, asthi, majja and sukra. These seven dhatus are connected such that loss of one leads to the loss of those preceding it as well.
So the loss of sukra entails the loss of all other six dhatus as well. The significance of the Vedic practice of brahmacharya lies herein.
King Yayati, an ancestor of the Pandavas, extensively indulged in pleasures of various kinds. As a result, his body began ageing fast. He performed severe penance and earned the boon to exchange his old age with someone’s youth. He then asked his son Puru for his youth, who obliged.
King Yayati regained his youth, and went on to enjoy physical pleasures for about 14,000 years. Yet, he craved more. Finally, he realised that there is no end to the desire. He returned Puru his youth back and told him to get over physical desires.
So if with 14,000 years of youth and all the pleasures at his beck and call, Yayati remained insatiate, surely there is no end to physical desire. Satisfaction lies in rising over these desires, something which often eludes even the greatest of ascetics…
Long back, I met a babaji in the Himalayas. I asked him, how he took care of his sexual needs. He flushed with anger and instead of answering my question, he asked me to go away. I was stunned that a person performing rigorous penance in such a hostile environment, was attached to something like that. Had he risen over his basic senses, as Yayati had advised his son Puru to, he would not have had such a reaction…
While Ayurveda emphasises on celibacy, it does not prescribe suppression. Suppression of natural desire breeds disease in the body.
Yoga, therefore, prescribes ek tatva nirantar abhyas, that is, one-pointed focus, under the guidance of guru. If the focus of the person remains on the One, then nothing can shake or affect that person and the need to suppress does not arise.
Sanatan Kriya further details the techniques to conserve the sukra and to transform the conserved sukra into ojas, a subtler dhatu, responsible for the extraordinary radiance around a person. At an advanced stage, the ojas transforms into tej, which accounts for the mesmerising magnetism exuded by yogis.
The writer is the guiding light of Dhyan Foundation.
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