What is the true meaning of Brahmacharya?

Brahmacharya is lossely defined in Hinduism as celibacy or restrain from sexual activity. It is also categorically stated as a basic principle of Yama in the classical Patanjali Yoga Sutras. However, one need to ask is it true that Brahmacharya really means celibacy?

Sexuality as we know it is a basic human need. It is only natural to have sexual inclinations and desires as it is a basic human survival tool. Without sex, there will not be any reproductive capabilities and humanity as we know will slowly dwindle and go extinct.

The sankskrit definition of Brahmacharya also does not directly pinpoint to celibacy as such. Brahma means God while acarya means action. So literally it means god-action. So literallty what sage Patanjali means here is that we have to see, smell, hear, touch and taste god in all we do. Thus, all our actions become god's action and doing and we literally would be devoid of karmic consequences. There's not an iota of celibacy in this!

Further to this, lots of ancient sages recommend that a human being goes through marriage life and experience sexual bliss and union. This category of sages include the great sage Agasthiar and the great sage Thiruvalluvar of which the ancient Thirukurral is authored by. The Thirukurral has also devoted the last segment of its pages to sexual union and bliss. All this goes to show that the sages of yesteryears are in favour of natural sexual progression.

What the sages has said about sexual activity is only one. And that is sexual activity in moderation and not in excess. Sexual activity in excess would cause loss of vitality to the body. As such the sages adviced that sexual activity of 2 times per month to the maximum to safeguard the sexual vital fluid which brings about Ojas and Tejas (radiance) to the body.

Another dimension that can be explored is that, there is evidence of glorifying the sexual activity in ancient India, where we can see temples built in India which depict sexual activity. Even the most reknowned sexual text still remains the kamasutra which also originates from the ancient land of India. Further to this, there is also a branch of spirituality practice known as Tantra which bases its practice on advanced sexual techniques to attain enlightenment. Therefore all this goes to show that celibacy is not really encouraged for our spiritual practices.

Besides this, the most important fundamental thing is celibacy would be suppressing our natural sexual desire. This suppression would slowly lead to anger and depression which would result in many unwanted things. The more one suppresses his/her urges, the worse it becomes. The worst thing about this is also, suppressed sexual desires become unfullfilled desires, thus resulting in karmic imprints which would result in further births and death cycles.

All this is definetely unwarranted. Therefore, we should stop emphasising on celibacy as brahmacharya. Its a verry narrow interpretation by few unenlighted souls. Instead brahmacharya should be defined as God-Action, all actions is by god. Thus the true meaning of what sage Patanjali has said in his Yoga Sutras.

As Buddha has said before, pull the guitar string too tight and it breaks, string it too loose and there's no music...string it in the proper way and there will be melodious music. Therefore same with sexuality, too much of it would destroy us, none of it would make us docile and suppressed, in moderation it becomes melodious and harmonious....

Aum.