Swami Shivapadananda on regulating sexual activity
SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.
Day 498
Swamiji continues to talks on Yama and Niyama:
Four: Refrain from incontinence. Observe brahmacharya. The householders [lay devotees] may want to know how to observe brahmacharya: They must abstain on holy days, on full moon days, new moon days, birthdays of saints and sages, and when the wife is menstruating. If you do not abstain at these times you break your brahmacharya, you are not a brahmachari. But at other times, when you do it as a [sacred] duty, it can be converted into worship because it is a God-given thing. Then, if you restrain yourself, you are observing continence, you are still a brahmachari.
On the other hand the [non householder] brahmachari, the vanaprastha [senior 'post-marriage' phase] or the sannyasi [monastics] are not even allowed to do that.
Swami Yogananda's [a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna's] father and mother used to get together only if they wanted children. Why? Because the scriptures say that you must not cut the lineage if you are a householder. Sri Ramakrishna said, "After one or two children you must live like brother and sister."
In our scriptures how many children did Gandhari have? One hundred. [laughter] How many children did Sri Rama have? Two. Lord Shiva? Two. Can I go on multiplying? The higher you go the lower you become. The lower you become the higher becomes the number of children. How many children did Lord Vishnu have? He had no children. Do you see? Lord Brahma has shown you householders how to live but you do not want to do it. You are Brahma yourself, you have become a creator and you create in the house. [laughter]
You must create knowing that you are bringing a Rama or a Sita into this world – and then after that put a full stop. Lord Brahma is the best example for the householders because his creation is a controlled way of creation. Of course you can adopt a lot of children if you want. There is nothing wrong in that, you are doing good.
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