you guys rock; naked brahmacharya, 2

[Guest guest]

cont'd>>>>><br><br>none of that is

relevant to our practice though -- as a yogi we can assume

you understand that, right? we are engaged in fine

tuning our respective paths, acknowledging and then

transcending self-identification with the body and the senses.

observing samtosha and satya, being content with the truth,

we learn to simply be with our bodies, neither proud

nor ashamed, but neutral. it is square one. you get a

hard-on -- so what? lightening doesn't strike. you don't

have to hide it, or display it, find something to do

with it or a place to stick it. you just let it be and

focus on your practice. <br><br>without garments

rubbing against us, especially constricting the genitals,

we have the added benefit of escaping the constant

prompting to mis-identify ourselves as globs of meat

encased in bags of skin, confined to constantly reacting

to the senses. in this way extensive beneficial

effects obtain toward stilling the mind, as taught in the

second yoga sutra of patanjali -- *yogas

chittah-vrtti-nirodhah*.<br><br>extrapolate from the example of straight teenage

boys who

have the good fortune to grow up in naturist families,

who wonder why their non-naturist friends get all

hyper over playboy magazine. what's the big

deal?<br><br>i personally have chosen to be celibate. group

digambara practice enhances that observance quite handily,

as i enjoy regular experience in interpreting

objectively many shapes and sizes of body. anatomy becomes

pure abstraction, just another thought to be

objectively controlled in the mind.<br><br>no celibacy vows

yet -- it was offered to me by beautiful example and

i fell into it after a life of thoroughly enjoyable

sex like breathing (sex vinyasa -- ha!). now i find

strict observance of brahmacharya becoming more and more

the foundation of my sadhana, not at all repressive

but liberating. it helps to dissolve the ego, the

greatest obstacle to being truly useful. but i don't

advocate it. those for whom it is right come to it on

their own, and there are myriad gurus, traditions and

organizations more effective than li'l ol' me at encouraging

the practice. i am not anti-sex or anything. i know

from experience that healthy sex certainly has the

capacity to be beautiful, useful, necessary and

enlightening.