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DAS LAKSHAN DHARM
211 wealth commits thefts and robberies and causes loss of life. A man becoming slave of lust runs after other persons' women. and when deprived of his own possessions a man weeps bitterly, but he should consider that all worldly things are momentary, one day he will have to part with them, why to have so much attachment for them.
To obtain peace of soul one should observe akinchan dharm.
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The tenth quality of soul is Brahmacharya or celibacy. Literally Brahm means soul which in its real condition is a pure thing possessed of unlimited knowledge-unlimited sight (darsan), unlimited power and unlimited joy and charya means manifestation. So Brahmacharya means manifestation of soul's real pure nature. This is nischaya-brahmacharya Brahmhcharya from the real point of view. Vyavahar-brahmacharya (Brahmacharya from the worldly point of view) means abstention from sexual intercourse, because desire for women is the chief thing which prevents soul from attaining its real nature. This is the technical sense of Brahmacharya. Only sadhus or yogis that is persons who have renounced world can be complete Brahmcharis, but the householders can also follow the practice to a certain extent viz. to the extent that one should not look towards any woman except his own wife for carnal desire. A man who takes a vow to have no sexual intercourse except with his wife is a householder Brahmchari.
A hankerer after women is always looked down upon and is never respected, rather like Rawan he is always disgraced even by posterity.
An unchaste woman likewise becomes an object of disgrace in the eyes of the world. But the names of great women like Sita, who preserved their chastity, becomes an object of worship to the coming generations.
In the present age young boys in schools and colleges are apt to be led astray. Hence it is our bounden duty to spread this quality amongst our children, and make it clear to them that premature loss of Virya (semen) is a loss which can never he made up in after life.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
