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XXV
VERTICAL MOVEMENT OF LIFE : CELIBACY
In serial order celibacy has been given the fourth rank but it has also been regarded as the crown of vows, the observance of which ensures the observance of all others. It has even been deified. It is not merely the control of the sex-organ. Mahātmā Gāndhi rightly observed that it is the control also of all sense-organs and victory over all defilements and perversities.
"Brahma' means semen, self and knowledge. 'Caryā' means protection dalliance and study. Patanjali says that celibacy energises the body and gives peace of mind. Physiologists say that the centre of power is semen. To raise it upward is the objective of celibacy. Its downward flow is ruinous. Our food is first turned into the constituent fluid of the body. It turns into blood. Blood takes the shape of flesh which is transformed into marrow. The last to be formed is semen. In women the parallel of semen is menstruation.
Four ounces of blood means one ounce of semen. Others. say that it requires forty ounces of blood.
Vägbhat, the reputed scholar of Ayurveda says "The flow of seven secretions is splendour which is primarily located in the heart, but it gives shine to the entire body. Brilliance, mental sharpness, charm, beauty and zeal are all its products". Susruta and Sārangadhara hold the same viev. It takes five days for one secretion to pass on to the other. The essence of food is retained in the body. The waste is discharged through perspiration, faeces and urine. The formation of semen thus takes no less than thirty-one days Some have said that forty seers of food means a seer of blood. One eightieth part of it is turned into semen. You can very well imagine that a single sexual intercourse means such a stupendous loss.
Sivasamhita says that one drop of semen means life and its loss is death. The god Siva defeated the god of love because of the preservation of semen. Even after drinking poison he was his usual Self due to his celibacy. Western scientists, however, say that it is blood that directly forms semen which stays in testicles only. As condiments act as a stimulus in the formation of saliva, so on seeing aphrodisiac scenes semen flows out from the knots of testicles. Their inward flow imparts a glow to the body. It also develops a child's body. Many fluids mix with the germs of semen. They,
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