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The Concept of Pancasila in Indian Thought
to its conventional usage and not to its etymological meaning. The Yama of brahmacarya plainly implies only the sexual restraint, and all other sensual desires are included in it, in so far as they are connected with sexual desires. Vyāsa in his comment on the Sūtras defines brahmacarya as continence which means control of the hidden organ of generation. 1 Vācaspati Misra, in his explanation of the same, says that simply control of the hidden organ of generation would not mean 'brahmacarya', for even if the organ of generation is held under control, one becomes attached to the sight of a woman, or upon hearing her talk, or upon touching her limbs which are the seats of kandarpa (passions), and therefore one cannot be said to have him established in continence. So it is not enough to have a check on physical sex indulgence only; it is also necessary that other organs that are very ardent for this are checked with full watchfulness and mental alertness.
The tendency to indulge in incontinence can be checked by the same method of 'pratipakşa bhāvanā', i. e. by the cultivation of opposites, as for example the desire "I will commit adultery with another's wife' can be checked by contemplating over the goodness of celibacy as an important step for liberation.
The special remark which Patañjali makes about 'brahmacarya' in another sūtra underlines the exclusiveness and importance of complete sex restraint that has come anew in the Brāhmaṇical thought. The life of a householder is put on the secondary level, and it is forcefully promulgated that an aspirant of spiritual happiness must be a celibate. The Sūtra declares “as soon as one is grounded in abstinence from
1.
TÀ FESTFATTETTU FA: I
-Vyāsa's Comm. on Pät. Yoga, 2. 30. The case is just the same, as the sight of man for women.
2.
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