Part 4 of a 5 Part Article Reproduced from the Monthly Magazine Vicharasethu January 1969
A Secret About Nature
What we call the Nature is a Self-expressing Force, universal and irresistibly assertive. It goes on revealing and manifesting itself in myriad ways throughout the universe. What we generally take to be inert matter or indistinguishable space is, in fact, a subtle expression of Nature, which enfolds within itself wonderful microscopic activity. Every unit of nature is noted for its unique features, or individuality, which distinguishes itself from the rest of the units.
There is a specific law about Nature and every living expression of it, no matter whether the expression is a minute atom, an energy, or a more manifest living organism or again a life unit in full. It will be right to call it more a secret than a law. It is that the expression (of Nature) generally takes a cyclic course. To explain the point, Physics tells us that there is no motion in a straight line at all. All motions are, on the other hand, circular in nature. Let us take for example a minute atom. Inside the atom, there goes on a continuous revolution of the electron around the nucleus, the centre. This revolution, by the very fact of being so, is a circular one, say a cyclic one.
Look at the various planets existing in space. All of them are found to go on moving at a certain orbit or in a specific path cyclically. It is because of this cyclicness that day, night, months, year, seasons etc remain recurring. But for this marked recurrence, life, growth, progress and the like will become impossible for us in the world. Similarly, it is only because of the consistent cyclicness that governs our life, that we are able to evolve common standards for our conduct, behaviour, needs and the like.
There is a constancy or cyclicness with regard to the birth and existence of a being, particularly the human. An embryo, that has entered the mother’s womb for instance, takes a definite period for its growth, at the end of which it oozes forth from the womb to the outside world, at the time of delivery. This womb-life is the beginning of the cyclic process of its worldly existence. Subsequent to birth, follow the various stages of growth, assumption of different powers-external and internal etc. After a definite period of ascent or ascending, what follows is that of descent or decline. Death is generally a condition or feature that follows this declining process. Thus, the growth first forward or upward, and thereupon that backward or downward, this is what I spoke about as a cyclic development. This course of development is common for all living beings. The elders were youngsters once, and on that basis they know that the present youngsters will grow as elders in time. And it is on this basis that the elders are able to set standards for the youngsters in regard to conduct, behaviour and the like.
Another point to be borne in mind is that maturity or the process of decline is a factor that gradually follows the previous stages. And it therefore presupposes that the previous stages have been there intact. For instance, there cannot be any death for an unborn somebody. So too, for one that remains ungrowing after getting born, there cannot be maturity, decline or the like. Hence, whenever we consider Nature and her expressions for any practical purposes of ours, we must take into account this particular law: It is that life first of all gets instituted in its source of origin, then it grows gradually, assumes powers in ascending stages, thereupon the powers express themselves in their respective figures, and only after thus expressing they start beating a retreat to undergo a process of decline or withdrawal, which finally leads to its (life’s) death or disappearance. My purpose in mentioning this fact is that we should know that there is no possibility of carrying out our intentions in life or activity without ourselves conforming fully to the law of cyclicness of nature. Our success in handling life and attaining fulfillment depends directly upon how far and how well we are able to tune ourselves in our efforts to Nature’s law of cyclicness. To refute or flout this law will mean the thorough failure of our efforts.
You may wonder why are we discussing this law of Nature in dealing with the subject “celibacy and its practice”. In other words, what bearing does this law have with the issue of “celibacy versus married life”
It is Nature’s hands that have shaped our birth, existence and growth. On the body assuming the requisite age, it is again Nature that instils the sex emotions and urges into the being. Hence it is that we find the sex instincts creeping in in the grown up persons, in some case quite unwantedly too. As every other manifest expression of Nature, the sex expressions too that creep into our being will require a forum for their display, and only after the due expression, there is the possibility of the urges disappearing. The disappearance after due display of indulgence, alone will contribute to the person’s fulfillment bodily and mental too.
It is an open truth that every being is born as a direct result of some married life. This being so the born being will also naturally inherit and exhibit duplicate features, features that hinge upon married life. This is the reason why we find all boys and girls who have grown up duly, spontaneously moved by sex urges. These urges in so far as they are natural and usual are not to be abhorred or cast aside. Instead, they are to be rightly heeded so that Nature’s intentions may be fulfilled and in the process our own fulfillment achieved. Right heeding is done normally by taking recourse to the approved conjugal life.
Sex and the sprouting of a seed:
In this connection, let us take the case of a seed, which contains within it the potential to sprout and grow into a tree. Suppose you drop a seed in the soil during summer. As long as the soil remains dry, the seed will not sprout at all, that is to say it will not come forth with its expression of sprouting. Does this mean that the seed has lost its potential, or that it does not want to sprout at all? The seed is noted for its potential to sprout and grow into a tree. If it lacks this potential, it cannot be called a seed at all. So the truth is simply that because of the absence of the favourable conditions for it to sprout and grow, the seed is keeping back from expressing its potential. If and when the wet season sets in and the favourable conditions appear, it is bound to sprout and shoot forth into a plant or a tree.
The seed is a unit of Nature, akin to the human being or human seed. Just as Nature holds within it (the seed ) the powers of sprouting and growing, She also holds within the born human the powers of sex. In the same way as the former is bound to come forth with its innate powers of sprouting, the latter (the human) too is bound to exhibit its sex powers, as and when favourable circumstances set in. Only when the sprouting is effected, the seed can be considered to have fulfilled its role. In the same way, only after due expression, the in-lying sex instincts of the human will also be maturated and fulfilled. This makes it amply clear that the married life is a natural arrangement, a vyavastha, a must which Nature has chalked out for humans.
Married life and the two musts:
Upto this most of you will agree with pleasure. But when I place before you that there is the next must also in connection with married life and the treatment of sex instincts, viz gradual, complete withdrawal from sex indulgence after sublimating and fulfilling the sex urges in a reasonable period, most of the householders will come up with an instinctive dislike. Then in reply I have to raise this question: Are we to submit ourselves totally to the instincts, or are we to submit the instincts to reason and whenever necessary rise above them (instincts) taking our stand in our intelligence? The rule for the humans is that the intelligence must prevail over the instinct, and hence if intelligence and reason are forsaken in any front, human life is not worth its name and status. A man or a woman has to be assessed as a human seeing how far he or she is guided by the intellect, and as a result how do his or her instincts remain controlled. Intelligent thinking has revealed to us that Nature’s expression follows a cyclic pattern. If we start journeying from a certain point and proceed straightforward then there will come a day when we reach back from where we originally started. In the same manner, Nature goes on with her course of expression, until the expression exhausts itself in the commencing point or state itself. The sex instinct was not there in childhood or boyhood. It suddenly creeps in during the adulthood to finally disappear in the old age. Thus what follows the sexy period is what preceded it in the beginning. This is what we mean by the cyclic expression of Nature. Hence the intention of Nature in unleashing the sex urges in the humans is to make him use them, make him give expression to them but in a manner that will gradually enable him to withdraw or outlive them in the end. Only when the outliving is accomplished following the period of their use, Nature’s intentions will be fulfilled, and in the process the personality of man stand the chance of fulfillment.
Married life a question:
In short, by giving the scope for sex life and for the purpose evolving the institution of marriage, Nature is asking each man and woman the vital question: Are you going to make use of married life and the conjugal dealings well and in the appropriate manner and thereby attain nivritti, freedom (the state of withdrawal), release? Or are you going to squander away your life in the incorrect pursuit of the sex urges? It is this point that Bhagavatam and such other texts clearly bring to the forefront when they say:
व्यवस्थितिस्तेषु विवाहयज्ञसुराग्रहैरासु निवृत्तिरिष्टा ।।
The purpose of marriage and married life is to bring about a bridling in the matter of sex instincts. The ultimate intention thereof is, however, to make man attain complete release, nivritti, from sex and its needs. For by such release alone will human life be complete and fulfilled.
Thus the scope which married life offers to the marrieds is for giving vent to their conjugal needs as well as for attaining celibacy, nivritti from sexiness; both these aspects should be equally stressed, understood and accepted. To accept one and deny the other will be wrong and harmful.
Swimming is an art or practice which we learn on getting into waters. In fact, the need for swimming arises only when we take into account the drowning power which water holds over us. It is the drowning water that also acts as the forum and help for us in the matter of learning to swim. If we keep away from water, there is no possibility of our learning swimming. How can anyone practise swimming remaining out of water?
A similar question has to be raised with regard to married life and the practice of celibacy too. In order to practise celibacy, the forum for its practice must be there. What I try to hold is that marriage is, in one sense, the required forum. Like the presence of water and like the act of our getting into it for learning to swim, married life and its pursuit is an indispensable factor in the matter of achieving celibacy. And, as in the case of plunging into water, unless the married succeeds in achieving celibacy duly, married life will remain ever a menace, as the drowning water.To put it in another manner, married life will not become fruitful and will not tend to fulfill the parties concerned, unless it has succeeded in bestowing on them celibacy.
This may raise the question as to what is the status of the celibacy, which unmarried people practise or cling to. Celibacy can be defined as being of two kinds: One is that relating to those that remain unmarried in all earnestness. This is, I feel, like keeping away from water, throughout one’s lifetime, and thereby never taking up the challenge of drowning at all. Unmarried celibate life, it appears to me is an achievement of this order. How is this achievement to be rated, whether it is superior to the other, how far is it desirable etc. are questions which you may yourselves find answers for, perhaps on the basis of what we reason out here.
My purpose is to expose the ideal of celibacy to emphasize its scope and need in the life of married persons. In dealing with this theme as we do here, the truth about the merits of the unmarried celibate life will automatically be unveiled.
A secret Vedantic dictum:
I think it is relevant as well as useful here to expose a great philosophical secret about our existence and active life. The following aphorism comes to my mind in this connection:
कर्ममोक्षाय कर्माणि ।।
Various protracted rituals are found in the karma kanda (ritual section) of the Vedas. These rituals have the covert aim of lifting their votary from above their influence and making his mind indifferent towards them (the rituals) forever. Indifference, nirveda to anything presupposes association with or indulgence in it for at least some time. This period of association or indulgence may be long or short, depending upon the kind and nature of the person concerned. Only when you accept a thing and deal with it, may be it is a ritual, an ideal or whatever else, and keep company with it for a certain length of time, you will be able to know its merits, demerits, limitations, desirability etc. On the basis of your own direct knowledge and experience, you can then successfully decide upon rejecting it if necessary. It is, therefore, to acquaint man with the basic impotent and false nature of the rituals that the Vedas first of all hold out the rituals and their fruits in high esteem. Man, dominated as his mind is with various kinds of desires, seeks various ways of appeasing those desires, and in the process comes across the promises of the Vedas, in the form of rituals and their fruits. This is called the attainment of nirveda. Nirveda makes him an enquirer of truth, a seeker of that which will remain everlasting and blissful. And thus he is led to his own immortal Soul.
The point to be noted here is that every karma is really intended to produce or generate in us an indifference towards it. Without performing an act, one cannot hope to be indifferent to it. Indifference is an attitude that surges up in the mind towards something, and naturally it can come up only following the mind’s experience with that thing, or indulgence in it. Indifference through indulgence is the law which Nature wants us, the humans, to adopt in every sphere of our life and activity. This law alone will tend to bring for us smooth progress and final fulfillment.
The Soul, the Consciousness, that inhabits the body, which is the factor that causes birth, growth, activity etc.of the body, is totally different from the body. This is a widely recognized truth. In order to reveal itself, to reveal its own body-different nature, the soul has contracted the body association or embodiment. So the Soul’s inhabitance in the body is with the specific idea of making us know that It is different from the body. The point to be grasped is that the lesson which the Soul wants to teach us by remaining in the body is that it is not the body but different from it. I wonder whether I will make myself clear if we call this a lesson of contrast or a principle of contrast. Whatever the name given be, the idea will, I hope, be clear to the readers.
In the same way, we are living in the world and experiencing innumerable sense objects repetitively, with the sole object of attaining nirveda to both ie to the world and the sense–objects alike. We must attain nirveda sufficiently in time before the fall of the body, and then alone shall we be in a position to shed the body with a smile of satisfaction and fulfillment. Only for one born and one that has lived in the world quite much, the nature of life and the nature of the world will become clear. It is this direct knowledge on the basis of which he decides to leave off life and the world for good. This law of acceptance for rejection (accepting a thing with a view to prepare ourselves to reject it after knowing what it is), this law of indulgence for gaining indifference (indulging in a practice so that after a time indifference towards it may be grown) is a secret, by means of adopting which, we can safely handle all the cravings of our life.
