Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
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Then what about people who are already married? Will they never be able to
realise T rut h? Can they never offer up their all at the altar of humanity? There is a
way out for them. They can behave as if they were not married. Those who have
enjoyed t his happy c ondit ion will be able t o bear me out. Many have to my
knowledge successfully tried the experiment. If the married c ouple c an think of
each other as brother and sister, they are freed for universal service. The very
thought that all the women in the world are his sisters, mothers or daughters will at
onc e ennoble a man and snap his c hains. The husband and wife do not lose
anything here, but only add to their resourc es and even to their family. T heir love
becomes free from the impurity of lust and so grows stronger. With the
disappearanc e of t his impurit y, they can serve each other better, and the occasions
for quarrel become fewer. There are more occasions for quarrelling where the love
is selfish and bounded.
If the foregoing argument is apprec iated, a c onsideration of the physic al
benefits of chastity becomes a matter of secondary importance. How foolish it is
int ent ionally t o dissipat e vit al energy in sensual enjoyment? It is a grave misuse to
fritter away for physic al gratific ation that whic h is given to man and woman for the
full development of t heir bodily and ment al powers. Suc h misuse is the root c ause
of many a disease.
Brahmacharya, like all ot her observanc es, must be observed in thought, word
and deed. We are told in the Gītā, and experience will corroborate the statement,
that the foolish man, who appears to c ontrol his body, but is nursing evil thoughts
in his mind, makes a vain effort. It may be harmful to suppress the body, if the
mind is at the same time allowed to go astray. Where the mind wanders, the body
must follow sooner or later.
It is necessary here to appreciate a distinction. It is one thing t o allow t he
mind to harbour impure thoughts; it is a different thing altogether if it strays
among them in spite of ourselves. Vic t ory will be ours in t he end, if we non-
c ooperat e wit h t he mind in it s evil wanderings.
Non-possession or Poverty
Possession implies provision for t he fut ure. A seeker after Truth, a follower of the
law of Love, c annot hold anything against tomorrow. God never stores for the
morrow; He never c reat es more than what is stric tly needed for the moment. If
therefore we repose fait h in His providenc e, we should rest assured, t hat He will
give us every day our daily bread, meaning everything that we require. Saints and
devot ees, who have lived in suc h fait h, have always derived a just ific at ion for it
from their experience. Our ignoranc e or negligenc e of the Divine Law, whic h gives
to man from day to day his daily bread and no more, has given rise t o inequalit ies
wit h all t he miseries attendant upon them. The ric h have a superfluous store of
things whic h they do not need, and whic h are therefore neglected and wasted;
while millions are starved to death for want of sustenanc e. If each retained
possession only of what he needed, not one would be in want, and all would live in
c ontentment. As it is, the ric h are disc ontented no less than the poor. The poor
man would fain bec ome a millio naire and t he milliona ire, a mult i-millionaire. The
ric h should t ake t he init iat ive in dispossession wit h a view t o a universal diffusion of