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162
VRATAS
Brahmacharya.
Which means the control of the sex passion; and as the control may be either entire or partial, we have two divisions:--
1. Entire giving up; 2. Partial giving up.
(1) Entire giving up of the sex passion would be to refrain all the time from either of the following eighteen ways of indulging-with a being having a deva body; with a being having a physical [audarika] body, either mentally, in speech, or actually by satisfying the passion yourself, causing or helping others to do so, consenting to others doing so. That makes 18 ways (3 X 3 X 2=18). This is the chastity of the monk.
(2) We are now dealing with the fourth of the 12 special rules of the layman who wishes to advance spiritually ; the point reached is that because the sex passion is injurious to spirituai progress, therefore it should be avoided. The layman, however, is not able to avoid it entirely, and so the thing is to know what means he can take to avoid and control the sex passion as much as possible.
The 4th Vrata is called sva-dara santosha-para dara-viramana vrata, and is the means which the layman may adopt for this purpose. That which he
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