Guest guest Posted November 17, 2006 Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 "As a brahmacari all you have is service to your guru, and if you want anything else you have to get married." Radhanath Swami I must admit I was puzzled when I first read this some years back, it was taped on the inside door of Baladeva Prabhu's locker in the Radha Gopinath Brahmcari Ashram. I must also confess that for quite a long time I really had no clue what Radhanatha Maharaj was talking about. I always heard him talking about service attitude but frankly speaking I didn't have a clue what that was. I think maybe at that time I thought I did, but now I realize I actually didn't. I still don't really but I'm beginning to understand a little bit. Any how that particular quote really stood out for me, because it is such a powerful and definitive statement and yet it was elusively mysterious. At that time I was really trying to understand what it meant to be a brahmacari and what I need to do to remain as a brahmacari for the rest of my life, and here it was yet it couldn't decipher its meaning. I could understand the words, but they were meaningless because I was no where near the state of consciousness necessary to grasp such a deep spiritual principle. The literal definition of the word brahmacari is someone who is acting or moving, from the Sanskrit word cara, on the spiritual plane, from the word brahma. So a brahmacari is someone who is acting on the eternal platform of the soul rather than on the temporary platform of the body. Therefore on its most basic level brahmacarya means celibacy, rather than sexually active relationships. As a male body it is natural that "I" (meaning my body) should have sex with other female bodies. The male species is physiologically and psychology perfectly attracted to and attractive to the female body. they are designed that way. Otherwise we wouldn't be here. Every species procreates. Sex makes the world go round. But as a spirit soul I have nothing to do with this material body male or female, and no interest in anyone else's body, and especially no interest in sex. Sex is two bodies relating to one another, love is two souls relating to each other. So if being a brahmacari means acting on the spiritual platform what does that mean. In vedantic language the spiritual platform is denoted as aham brahmasmi, I am sprit. But what does it mean to act on that platform? Daso' smi, I am a servant. Aham brahmasmi should lead to the natural conclusion of daso' smi. Unfortunately it often leads to the erroneous conclusion Aham Parama Brahmasmi, I am the supreme Personality of Godhead So, inherent in any discussion on the topic of brahmcarya is the topic servitude, because to serve is our constitutional position, and brahmcarya is acting in our constitutional position. Now we will shift from ontological to practical. What does service have to do with brahmcarya? This is multifacted issue and I will try to explore this crucial topic. Brahmacarya is the foundation of the success of the rest of the ashrams. The lessons one learns as a brahmacari are supposed to carry one to success in the other ashrams. From the brahmacari ashram one can either get married and enter the grihasta ashram or take to the renounced order of life, sanyasa. Both of these ashrams are extremely important and whether one is a grihasta or a sanyasi that is a position of huge responsibility, or said in another way, in both ashrams one is called to act as a leader. As a grihasta at the very least one has to be a leader for his wife and children and as a sanyasi one leadership responsibilities are magnified exponentially. And what is the essence of leadership? To lead is to serve. Service is the essence of leadership and to the degree that one has learned this lesson one's attempts at leadership will be a success or failure. So from this socio-spiritual perspective as a brahmacari one must learn to serve if he is to move on successfully to any other ashram. If one fully learns this lesson he can directly accept the sanyasa ashram, but most people need further education in this subject matter. So they enter the grhasta ashram, where they learn that being married isn't all fun and games. In fact the fun and games didn't last very long, it is a lot of hard work, a lot of service. And you thought there was a lot of service to do in the temple. And it only gets harder once children make their appearance. As a parent, if you are doing your job properly, you are a one hundred percent sold out servant to your new born child, twenty four hours a day. And then if one learns ones lesson properly then one can enter the vanaprastha ashram to purify oneself of the deep rooted attachments created in household life and then one can enter the sanyasa ashram and act as a true servant leader to society. So, from a this perspective that is the goal of the brahmacari ashram. To learn to be a servant. In the seventh canto of Srimad Bhagavatam Narada Muni describe s the duties of a Brahmacari, "Narada Muni said: A student should practice completely controlling his senses. He should be submissive and should have an attitude of firm friendship for the spiritual master. With a great vow, the brahmcari should live at the gurukula, only for the benefit of the guru ( SB 7.12.1)" The main principle is that a brahmcari must control his sense and serve his guru. The primary principle here is service, and the principle of sense control is secondary, it is subservient to the principle of service. The purpose of control the sense control is to be able to render service, we must not lose sight of this important principle. This principal is rooted in the philosophical understanding that bhakti (service) is the ultimate goal of life, and from bhakti automatically knowledge and detachement follow (vasudeve bhagavati . . .). One can not truly be a selfless servant unless one's senses are controlled, because until that point one is a servant of his mind and sense. And as Christ said one cannot serve two masters. So from this exoteric perspective one's success in life depends on learning these valuable lessons as a brahmacari. And as we Already discussed from the esoteric perspective a brahmacari is someone who is acting on the spiritual platform, as an eternal servant of the Supreme Lord and all of His parts and parcels. Now we look a little more closely the quotation that we began with and try to further understand its implications. Again from a very external perspective everyone who lives at a temple or anyone who vistis regularly knows that there is alot of service to be done. So if one is not willing to serve then one is really going to have a tough time living in a temple. That is of course a very superficial statement but none the less important. As a brahmacari, you better get used to service because thats all your going to be doing from the rest of your life. At least until you become a sanyasi and then everyone is serving you, you've made it to the top, your a temple president, a GBC, a sanyasi, a guru, and now you don't have to do any more service you attained the goal of life, so many surrendered souls waiting hand and foot ready to serve you. And as a reward for being so strict in your vows of renunciation now you have so many beautiful young women ready to do anything to satisfy your every desire. What more could one ask for? Unfortunately as conditioned souls we have a tendency to think like this, at least subconsciously. But as a brahmacari you have nothing but service, and if you remain a brahmacari and become a preacher/manager/leader/guru etc. your reward is more service. Devotional service is its own reward. Srila Prabhupada was once asked what he hope to attain by chanting Hare Krishna and he replied he hoped to chant Hare Krishna. Devotional service is the ends and the means. But if we learn our lesson properly, if we learn how to submissively serve the guru then we can carry that mood of service into all of our relationships. So this path of bhakti is nothing but service. Sridhar Swami translated bhakti as dedication as opposed to exploitation (karma) and renunciation (jnana). Those of us that are very serious about spiritual life must understand very clearly that we have chosen a life of service. If one accepts the renounced order without this understanding then his so called renunciation is fruitless, because as Radhanath Maharaj is fond of say, "real renunciation is renunciation of the false ego." If one's "renunciation' is increasing one's false ego then it cannot truly be called renunciation, it is sense gratification. Is not the conditioned soul tendency to be the enjoyer amazing? He even wants to enjoy his "renunciation!" So as a brahmacari all one has is service to Guru. Every act one performs with mind body or words must be an act of service. And certainly this is true for all aspiring devotees; this is the highest platform of pure devotional service. We are not interested in any particular ashram, we are interested in pure devotional service. The basic principle of Bhagavad Gita is that real sanyasa is doing everything for Krishna. "The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic, not he who lights no fire and performs no duty." (BG 6.1) But grhastas have some leeway in this regard. As Prabhupada would say, "The grhasta ashram is a license for sense gratification." In Bhagavad Gita he even defines celibacy as not having sex outside of marriage. Of course in other places he gave the ideal standard that a grhasta should only have sex for procreating a child. But in either case the grhasta ashram is a license for sense gratification, of course there is the physical act of sex which is a source of sense gratification, but more than that is all of the sublte sense gratification that goes along with that. The service and emotional support a wife provides, the happiness of raising one's own children which is based on the bodily concept of life, the opportunity to have one's own house and space to create a little kingdom in which one can play God, the freedom to do as one please not being responsible to any authority etc. so in so many ways the grhasta ashram is a license for sense gratification. Now it is important to understand two things in this regard. The first is that licenses are absolutely essential. The government gives certain stores liquor licenses to be able to sell alcohol and in this way there is some regulation and control and total pandemonium is avoided. So the grhasta ashram is absolutely essential for society and the vast majority of people need to experience it. And as Krishna explains in Bhagavad Gita one should not disturb people's minds by prematurely preaching renunciation to them. Rather one should engage them in work in such a way that they can be gradually purified. The other important point is that even in the grhasta ashram one can be a sadhu. In His instructions to Durvasa Muni Krishna says in regards to Maharaj Ambarisha "Since pure devotees give up their homes, wives, children, relatives, riches and even their lives simply to serve Me, without any desire for material improvement in this life or in the next, how can I give up such devotees at any time?" At that time Ambarisha Maharaj was the emperor of the entire world, with a wife, children, relatives, riches beyond imagination, but he was still perfectly situated as a sadhu, his entire existence was only to serve the Lord. But generally we find that the grihasta ashram is a license for sense gratification. According to dharmic principles one is allowed to have sex with one's wife, this may not be the best thing from a perspective of pure devotional service but it is not sinful. So the license is there. Now for those that don't want to experience this they must understand this topic very clearly. As a brahmacari you have nothing but service, for the rest of your life. Pure Devotional service is a life of selfless service. So the most important quality as an aspiring brahmacari one must cultivate is this service attitude. And this manifests in the material world primarily as compassion. That is the true quality of a sadhu selfless compassion for all living entities and pure devotion for the Lord. And if one's life is truly dedicated exclusively for the welfare of all other living beings one will not any desire for any kind of sexual relationship, as that type of relationship is always tainted with selfish desire. But there is no loss, "For it is in giving that we receive." And ultimately as we have to give everything up to and including our life. Srila Bhaktisiddhata Saraswati Thakkur prayed to be able to his body a sacrificial offering into the fire of the congregational chanting of the holy names. This is the path of the mahajans. The path of selfless love culminates in sacrificing everything for the beloved. As Christ did, and as all the great teachers have done and by there example shown us the way. This really what is meant by as a brahmacari all one has is service. Up till the day we die. In his last days Srila Prabhupada said that he wanted to go to New York to preach and die like a soldier on the battlefield, and he said if I die "just bury me on roof top." That is the mood of a true devotee of the Lord, up till the very last breath trying to serve. And when you give everything to Krishna, He gives himself to you. That is His promise. That is the goal of life and the true purpose of all activities, including the renounced order of life. There is much more that could be said about this, but I think we'll leave it at this for now. Sorry for such a long email. If you made it this far I congratulate you and thank you for taking the time to read this and accepting my insignificant service. Your Servant, Gauranga Kishore Das --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are d to the Google Groups "brahmacarisanga" group. To post to this group, send email to brahmacarisanga (AT) googl (DOT) com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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