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Gandhi's Teachers : Rajchandra Ravjibhai Mehta
6. In the mundane sense, brahmacharya is celibacy or
control over sex drive in thought, speech, and action. In the spiritual sense, brahmacharya is an effort to attain Godhood and a means for self or soul realization. Brahma or Brahman is an abstract conception of God and charya is to constantly strive for, think about, or be with. See: Bhaktivedanta, A. C., Bhagavad-Gita As It Is. Los Angeles: International Society for Krishna Consciousness, 1986. Also see: Gandhi, An Autobiography: My Experiments With Truth. Ahmedabad: Navajivan
Publishing House, 1927, pp. 174, 176. 7. Gandhi, An Autobiography... op. cit., 1927, p. 171-172. 8. Ibid. 9. Ibid., p. 174. 10. Regarding his past failures in keeping the vow of
brahmacharya, Gandhi shares some feelings as follows (See: Gandhi, An Autobiography... op. cit., 1927, p. 173): "I realized that a vow, far from closing the door to real freedom, opened it. Up to this time, I had not met with success because the will had been lacking, because I had no faith in myself, no faith in the grace of God, and therefore my mind had been tossed on the boisterous sea of doubt. I realized that in refusing to take a vow, man is drawn into temptation, and to be bound hy a vow was like a passage from libertinism to it real monogamous
marriage." 1. Gandhi, An Autobiography... op. cit., 1927, p. 171-177.
Here, Gandhi is influenced by the Hindu thought meant for moksha seekers. Ideally four stuums or stages of life have been prescribed: brahmacharya, grilastha, vanaprastha, and sanyas. In the last two stages, sexual relations even with one's own wife or husband have been prohibited. See: Gandhi, M. K., Varnashrumudharma. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1962; Doniger, W., The Laws of Manu. New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 1991; Bhaktivedanta, Bhagavad-Gita As It Is... op. cit., 1986: Radhakrishnan, S. and C. A. Moore, A Source Book
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