Quotes from Spiritual Scriptures and Internet

1. The Chandogya Upanishad says, “Only those who (observe) brahmacharya will attain to Brahman (Supreme Reality). For them there is freedom to act as they wish in all the worlds.Now, what people call yajna (sacrifice), that is really brahmacharya. What people call worship (Ishta), that is really brahmacharya. What people call Vedic sacrifice, that is really brahmacharya. For only through brahmacharya does one understand the Atman (the Self). (8.4.3, 8.5.1-2)
2. The Prasnopnishad stresses the same point. When six highly evolved aspirants approach sage Pippalada seeking the Highest Brahman, the Rishi tells them, “Stay here another year observing austerity, brahmacharya and faith. Then you may ask questions as you please and, if I know, I will surely explain all to you.” (1.2)
3. Srimad Bhagavatam has this to say, “The highest form of tapas (austerity) is the abstinence from sexuality and not in the performance of body-torturing rites. Heroism lies in the conquest of one’s sensual, lustful nature and not in mere combativeness. And Truth is seeing God in everything and not mere factual speech.” (1.11.18.43)
4. In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna exhorts spiritual aspirants to be “fearless, serene, restrained in mind and established in the vow of continence” and meditate on Him to reach the goal. (6.14). He says that a person aspiring to enter the “Imperishable Principle” should lead a life of continence and asceticism. Such a person is assured of liberation at thetime of death. (8.11-12).Sri Krishna also warns about the pitfalls of progressive degeneration if one does not control lust and anger. “It is lust, it is anger, born of Rajoguna, insatiable and prompting man to great sin. Know this to be the enemy in man’s spiritual life. .Knowledge is overcast by this eternal foe of the aspirant after knowledge. Therefore, controlling the senses at the beginning itself, slay this foul enemy, the destroyer of all knowledge and realization.” (3.37-41)
5. Swami Yatiswarananda, a former Vice-President of the Ramakrishna Order, says, “In the higher forms of Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism, great stress has been laid on the observance of perfect brahmacharya in thought, word and deed. You find it in the ‘Sermon on the Mount’, in the ‘Vinaya Pitaka’ of Buddhism and in the Upanishads, in the Gita and in the Bhagavatam. A socially accepted form of moral life alone is not enough for a spiritual aspirant. He must attain perfection in moral virtues, especially brahmacharya.
6. Know that in this world there is nothing that cannot be attained by one who remains from birth to death a perfect celibate… In one person, knowledge of the four Vedas, and in another, perfect celibacy – of these, the latter is superior to the former who is wanting in celibacy. - The Mahabharata
7. A wise man should avoid lust as if it were a burning pit of live coals. From the contact comes sensation, from sensation thirst, from thirst clinging; by ceasing from that, the soul is delivered from all sinful existence. - Lord Buddha
8. And those students who find that world of God through chastity, theirs is that heavenly country; theirs, in whatever world they are, is freedom. - Chhandogya Upanishad
9. These sexual propensities, though they are at first like ripples, acquire the proportions of a sea on account of bad company. - Narada
10. Sensuality destroys life, lustre, strength, vitality, memory, wealth, great fame, holiness and devotion to the Supreme – Gita
11. It is only traveling on the waves of celibacy that one reaches the level of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. The awakening of Kundalini can only happen if we have celibacy under absolute control. The awakening of the is beset with practicing absolute celibacy for a continuous period of 12 years. Mahavira practiced celibacy for a continuous period of 12 years. Gautama Buddha followed and absolute celibacy was also practiced by Jesus Christ for reaching the status they finally achieved in life… becoming an enlightened one! The practice of absolute celibacy directly leads towards gaining enlightenment within this life. Brahmacharya Vrata does not mean sexual inactivity. It must be practiced mentally to gain purity of thought so that absolute control over the five senses and the mind can be established with shall lead one towards attaining the stage of Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
12. The Yoga-Sutra packs many things into each of its verses, but reserves a separate verse for celibacy. Then the scripture goes on to refer to celibacy again in other verses. THE GREAT AUSTERITY Celibacy is actually one of the major austerities. The Yoga-Sutra lists “austerities” (tapas) among the three basic actions of yoga. (The other two activities of yoga are “Self-Study” and “Devotion to the Lord.”) Austerities are given first place in the Sutra. So one truly interested in yoga and God-knowledge will be very interested in austerities. The only other austerity that is on a par with celibacy is meditation itself. >Effective traditional austerities include celibacy, fasting, solitude, silence, pranayama, holding an asana, and meditation itself. Another austerity that needs to be mentioned today: Restraining yourself from playing “fashion saddhu” and dressing yourself up in religious garb to get attention and notoriety. That would be a worthwhile austerity for some. But among all austerities, sexual continence is arguably the most important. It inaugurates profound changes in the physical and astral bodies of the aspiring yogi. Chastity dramatically improves his concentration andmeditation. It founds the storehouse of his merit and accumulates shakti, sometimes called “ojas.”
13. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, a key fourteenth-century text, says those who practice brahmacharya need no longer fear death.
14. In the Mahabharata again, you will find, in the Santi Parva: “Many are the branches of Dharma, but Dama is the basis of them all’.
15. Kabir: ‘mun ka chalta tan chale taakaa sarvasva jaaya.’ ( The one who follows the lead of his mind looses everything ).
16. “The one who has conquered sexual passion has conquered the whole world” – Srimad Rajchandra (a Gujarati sage, a spiritual counsellor to Mahatma Gandhi)
17. Bhagavad Gita’s warning:
    Thinking about sense-objects
    Will attach you to sense objects;
    Grow attached, and you become addicted;
    Thwart your addictions, it turns to anger;
    Be angry, and you confuse your mind;
    Confuse your mind, you forget the lesson of experience;
    Forget experience, you lose discernment;
    Lose discernment, and you miss life’s only purpose.
18. A Buddhist sutra
    • We moan for rest, alas! but, rest can never find;
    • We know not whence we come, now where we float away.
    • Time and again we tread this round of smiles and tears;
    • In vain we pine to know whither our pathway leads,
    • And why we play this empty play
    • Rise, dreamer from your dream, and slumber not again!
19. In one place Gandhiji said, “I want to think, but thoughts do not come.”  Ramana Maharshi read this statement and said, “He has AtmaJnana.  An ordinary man struggles to control his thoughts and fails, whereas a Jnani has to persuade himself in order to engage in thoughts.”
20. Thoughts are the last things to overcome. So long as thoughts are there, Atma Jnana is not there.  Thought has to die a natural death.  When the mind becomes unmind, then one doesn’t see duality whatsoever.  So long as the mind is there, duality is there, because thought is in duality.  You think OF some object.  Therefore your meditation is not real meditation.  The meditation has to stop; but how does it stop?  Only through meditation.  Through thought alone thoughtlessness can come, and then you see the futility of thought.  That is the way. So long as there is thought, the thought itself is real and the things of which it thinks are also real.  When you think of something it is real for you.  Of how many things do we think?  The whole world is dependent upon thought only.
21. Ramkrishna Paramahansa says, “For the one who observes the state of celibate for 12 years, the channel (medha nadi) becomes active. Due to this, the intellect becomes very sharp and the person becomes talented. His intellect can comprehend the subtle very easily. Only with the help of such subtle intellect one see God”.
22. Swami Vishnu-devananda (disciple of Swami Sivananda). This energy is very difficult to conquer. Every sage and saint and Yogi in the Himalayas has had problems. It is not only you who has this problem. Because they go into the Himalayan caves, do you think it means the problem goes away? It multiplies rather. So don’t worry about this feeling. Sublimate it. Each time, repeat your Mantra and if this feeling comes even then, offer it as an offering to God. If anyone says that he has conquered sex, he is not true to himself nor true to the world. It takes till the last breath. You never know when Maya will attack you. Even if you are a hundred-years-old, it still can overcome your thinking.
23. Christ was known as a celibate. His statement, “Some are eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven” very plainly refers to celibacy. It also refers to the Kingdom of Heaven within that is attained through celibacy. (“The kingdom of heaven is inside you,” He says elsewhere.) Christ speaks beautifully of celibacy again in His Parable Of The Three Brides. One “bride” uses up the “oil” in her lamp and is thus unable to “receive the bridegroom” — of Christ Consciousness.
24. ‘Love and lust are as far asunder as a flower garden is from a brothel.’ – Henry David Thoreau
25. The physicist who established the three laws of motion, Isaac Newton, put a stop to any and all sexual activity throughout his 84 years. One of history’s greatest thinkers did give some insight into his sex life (or lack thereof) in a message to philosopher John Locke, according to Newton biographer James Gleick. “The way to chastity is not to struggle with incontinent thoughts but to avert the thoughts by some ploy, or by reading, or by meditating on other things,” Gleick quotes Newton.
26. Those who waste the fluid are tyrannized by Kal [the negative power]. Those who waste the fluid lose all. Those who waste the fluid suffer greatly…He who wastes the fluid always suffers. He who wastes the fluid gets into extreme troubles…He who does not control the fluid is degraded….By self control one gets everything. – from “Pran Sangli” of Guru Nanak
27. ‘Just after the act, both the partners feel extreme drainage of energy, still no one understands the importance of celibacy.’ – Saint Kabir
28. Brahmacharya is undertaken by the yogi — the one seeking to to completely still his mind so as to experience the Divinity directly within. The yogi seeks to eliminate all “vrittis,” or fluctuations of consciousness. Vrittis include thoughts, memories, and sensations. Thinning the mental and bodily vrittis is the most difficult human attainment and brings him surely to samadhi — union with God. The yogi sees right away that sex thoughts and thrills are just another vritti, and one of the grosser ones at that. The vitiating effect of sexual incontinence makes one unable to concentrate well, or bear the strain of yogic meditation, or to hold the transcendental perceptions. Celibacy and sex restraint, on the other hand, improves concentration dramatically. It is thus “fuel” of concentration and meditation.
29. The first thing you do, when you become a monk (serious spiritual aspirant), is to take a vow of celibacy. Thus celibacy is both the best entry level austerity, and also a necessary companion of the whole trip. Along with meditation and the devotional attitude, celibacy is one austerity that brings rapid results. According to the yogic scriptures and the experience of saints, brahmacharya is essential to the attainment of samadhi. And samadhi is the real goal of meditation, yoga and spiritual practices.
30. All of the profound spiritual traditions point to “desire” as the enemy of spiritual enlightenment. In the great parade of desires, sexual desire is the pre-eminent leader. It is even responsible for bringing each new embodiment. (Beings are reborn from the astral plane primarily because of lust.)
31. One of the impacts of sin is to veil the way to higher life. This is why the divine masters such as Buddha, Christ, and Sankara always demanded celibacy for an aspirant right from the beginning. Sexual sin has a huge impact in confusing the seeker, and veiling the path to God. One lacks the merit to even hear of true or effective teachings. Sexual immorality even prevents one from having an elegant and prosperous material life, let alone the higher life of saints. On the other hand, celibacy generates merit for the bettering of life, the creation of favorable circumstances, and even the unveiling of the Divine Mystery.
32. In the Bhagavad-Gita the divine incarnation Krsna states that lust covers up a man’s wisdom and discriminative faculties, and compares lust and anger to the smoke that covers up the light of a flame, then turns and compares lust to an insatiable fire that destroys man. Arjuna asks Krishna why men continue in a state of evil:
    • “Now then, by whom led, does a man, O descendant of Vishnu, practice sinfulness, as though unwilling and impressed by force?”
    • “It is lust, it is anger, born of the quality of rajas. Know this to be the great devourer, great sin, and the enemy on earth. As by smoke fire is enveloped, and the looking glass by rust, as the womb envelopes the fetus, so by lust discriminative knowledge is enveloped. Enveloped is wisdom by this constant enemy of the wise in the form of desire, which is insatiable as a flame.“ – Bhagavad-Gita 3:36-38
33. CELIBACY AS TECHNICAL NECESSITY – Beyond providing the simple merit that leads one to higher secrets, and beyond its proof of devotion, celibacy has huge technical implications in meditation and the gaining of samadhi. The meditator and yogi is attempting a very difficult feat: that of reversing his life force back up the spine instead of down, opening up perception of the higher Reality. The sex drive itself is the great “locomotive engine” pulling the life force down the spine and out the senses. Without slowing the juggernaut of the outgoing sex drive, there is little hope of reversing the outgoing senses and accomplishing yogic pratyahara. When the spiritual man pursues celibacy or even sexual restraint, he gives a blow to the nose of the foremost “desire demon” keeping him bound to the world-illusion. The wise yogi instead first pools, then  reverses that energy, actually utilizing it as the “engine of enlightenment” to pull the life force up the spine. But you cannot do this unless you begin to restrain it. Perfection is not necessary for the development of substantial progress. Even the attempt to restrain yourself from sex thrills brings great merit and new spiritual progress. Gradually the sex energy becomes like a rocket ship lifting you easily to the higher states. So stored up sexual energy, along with devotion, powers the flight to  samadhi.
34. In the Jnana-Sankalini Tantra, Shiva says, ‘Torturing the body is no austerity–Brahmacharya is the best austerity. A man of unbroken continence is no man but a god’.
35. “I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs–how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world–how he can please his wife– and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world–how she can please her husband.” Corinthians I 7.32-34
36. Every single time we satisfy our lusty desires it is like adding fuel to the fire. Gratification of sex desire awakens more sex desire every single time. It is very addictive and as soon as you give in to the addiction it becomes harder to stop. It is like alcoholism and drug addiction; you have to stop it altogether because every sip of liquor or experience of the drug bears the tremendous danger of falling back into the addiction with even more force than before.
37. Lust is a weird thing. It hangs a lure before you as if it is unlimited happiness, but when we try for it, we seem to be advancing towards that, which makes us more agitated. Then suddenly it is all gone and we see that happiness is now out of grasp and far away. Yet it seemed as if we missed it only by a whisker, so we try again to get it, thinking, “This time I will get it.” Again maya pulls the lure before we can get it and again we notice it has gone farther away. The whole cycle repeats.
38. So half lust, quarter lust, 1% lust, or 0.0001% lust — lust is lust.
    Making it habitual is like opening the door to it. But even if we give one atom of space, it will make way soon and force us to occupy the door. Like the camel which sneaked into its owner’s tent. At first he gave only enough room for its head, but it used that room to barge in with so much force that the owner had to give more and more room. Eventually he had to give so much room that he eventually left the tent and had to stand in the hot sun! So in the lust matter its either zero or 100%, nothing in between.
39. “Brahmacharyena Tapasa Deva Mrityumupagnata. The Vedas declare that by Brahmacharya and penance the Devas have conquered death. How did Hanuman become a Mahavir? It is with this weapon of Brahmacharya that he acquired unsurpassable strength and valour. The great Bhishma, the grandfather of the Pandavas and the Kauravas, conquered death by Brahmacharya. It is only Lakshman, the ideal Brahmachari, who put down Meghanada, the man of inestimable prowess, the conqueror of the three worlds, the son of Ravana. Even Lord Rama could not face him. It is through the force of Brahmacharya that Lakshman was able to defeat that invincible Meghanada. The valour and greatness of emperor Prithviraj was due to the strength of Brahmacharya. There is nothing in the three worlds that cannot be attained by a Brahmachari. The Rishis of yore knew fully well the value of Brahmacharya and that is the reason why they sang in beautiful verses about the glory of Brahmacharya.” – Swami Sivananda
40. The scriptures declare emphatically: “Ayustejo Balam Veeryam Prajna Sreescha Yashastatha, Punyamcha Sat-Priyatvamcha Vardhate Brahmacharyaya” – By the practice of Brahmacharya, longevity, glory, strength, vigour, knowledge, wealth, undying fame, virtues and devotion to the truth increase.