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The Concept of Pancasila in Indian Thought
Prajāpati to satisfy their query. Prajāpati answered to both of them, but his answer was partial; Indra found the answer unsatisfactory, though Virocana could not realize the incompleteness of the answer. Indra, therefore, came again to Prajāpati and showed his dissatisfaction and asked him to give a satisfactory answer. Prajāpati was pleased on his inquisitiveness, but for this he asked Indra to observe brahmacarya' for another thirty-two years. After this he again went to Prajāpati, but again the answer given by Prajāpati did not appeal to him; therefore Prajāpati further asked Indra to observe 'brahmacarya' for another period of thirty-two years. Thus Indra underwent 'brahmacarya' for one hundred and one years to find out the true nature of ātman in which he was ultimately successful. This reveals that a constant effort by way of 'brahmacarya' helps in the attainment of ultimate knowledge of truth; in other words, truth and brahmacarya' can be said to have been related as means and end. By this 'brahmacarya' of Indra both conventional and etymological meanings of the term are to be understood
However, in the sense of sexual continence 'brahmacarya' is mentioned in the Upanişads, though not in its extreme sense. In fact the Upanişads demand a sort of physical preparation for the spiritual fight for which cleansing, fasting, continence, solitude, etc., as purificatory of the body are enjoined;1 by continence is meant abstinence from sexual relations with any woman other than one's own wife, and having such relations with one's own wife is nothing but brahmacarya'.2 It can be seen that continence meant in the Upanişads is not complete celibacy but something like kāmamithyācāra-virati of Buddhism. Actually there are two standards of morality, the ideal and the social. The ideal standard is personal, as in the case of non-violence it means abstinence from all types of violence; similarly in the case of brahmacarya also it means complete abstinence from sexual
1. Indian Philosophy--S. Radhakrishnan, vol. I, p. 218. 2. Praśna. 1.13.
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