Value of Brahmacharya
Brahmacharya should be like a burning fire within the veins! —Swami Vivekananda1
The etymological meaning of the ancient spirit and practice of Brahmacharya in India is “a course of conduct that keeps the mind on Brahma or God.” From this arises the specific means of a sincere search after Brahman, which is to follow certain spiritual principles and control all the organs of sense until a complete state of perfect chastity in thought, word and deed, at all times and in all conditions is attained. Only then can one be called a true Brahmachari.
Brahmacharya is not for everyone. When Jesus spoke to the hypocritical Pharisees and condemned their practices of divorce and adultery, Jesus’ disciples told Him that it is good to abstain from marriage altogether. Christ replied:
All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb; and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men; and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.2
PURPOSE AND GOAL OF BRAHMACHARYA
The chief purpose of Brahmacharya is to develop one’s inner spiritual capability. The goal of Brahmacharya is to dwell in All-pervading God by attaining spiritual realization. The call of the Divine itself comes through Brahmacharya. Although we can thrive in the world without observing continence, worldly living deprives us of this particular grace. The practice of Brahmacharya is vital for the nourishment and vigor of the brain. Only a strong, cool brain can withstand the rigors of deep meditation. Each person is potentially divine, though the manifestation of divinity differs. In every society, there are various classes of people; the discipline of Brahmacharya is absolutely necessary only for the serious and sincere aspirant struggling for a pure divine life.
BENEFITS OF BRAHMACHARYA
Whenever human or natural energy is restrained, be it emotional, intellectual, psychological or physical, a great amount of power is stored up which can be utilized in various ways. Scientists, inventors, artists, scholars, philosophers, and other creative personalities rely on this scientific natural principle. Similarly, Brahmacharya transforms the procreative energy into pure, spiritual energy or Ojas, which dwells in the pure mind. This incomparable benefit surpasses all other gains. Swami Vivekananda says, “The chaste brain has tremendous energy and gigantic will power.”3
SPIRITUAL ENERGY OF OJAS
Ojas is the holy distinction of a true spiritual teacher, the unambiguous signpost of those holy personalities whose sweetness inexplicably attracts us. Swamiji says:
The yogis claim that of all the energies that are in the human body the highest is what they call “Ojas.” Now this Ojas is stored up in the brain, and the more Ojas is in a man’s head, the more powerful he is, the more intellectual, the more spiritually strong. One man may speak beautiful language and beautiful thoughts, but they do not impress people; another man speaks neither beautiful language nor beautiful thoughts, yet his words charm. Every movement of his is powerful. That is the power of Ojas. 4
The power of continence is the greatest power for those who wish to realize God. One must be absolutely established in chastity in thought, word and deed; the heart and mind must be pure. Swamiji’s further emphasizes Brahmacharya:
Now in every man there is more or less of this Ojas stored up. All the forces that are working in the body in their highest become Ojas (spiritual energy) . . . The Yogis say that part of the human energy which is expressed as sex energy, in sexual thought, when checked and controlled, easily becomes changed into Ojas, and as the Muladhara guides these, the Yogi pays particular attention to that center. He tries to take up all his sexual energy and convert it into Ojas. It is only the chaste man or woman who can make the Ojas rise and store it in the brain; that is why chastity has always been considered the highest virtue. A man feels that if he is unchaste, spirituality goes away; he loses mental vigor and moral stamina. That is why in all the religious orders in the world which have produced spiritual giants you will always find absolute chastity insisted upon. That is why the monks came into existence, giving up marriage. There must be perfect chastity in thought, word, and deed; without it, the practice of Raja-Yoga is dangerous, and may lead to insanity. If people practice Raja-Yoga and at the same time lead an impure life, how can they expect to become Yogis? 5
Swamiji calls attention to the need for the ancient ideal of Brahmacharya in the modern education of students: “The old institution of living with the Guru and such systems of imparting education are needed. What we want are Western science coupled with Vedanta, Brahmacharya as the guiding motto, and Shraddha and also faith in oneself.”
6
Millions of householders earnestly cultivating some sort of deep abiding faith in God struggle daily to develop spiritually and to achieve a meaningful, peaceful life. Spiritual fulfillment comes when we have an intimate relationship with God. Therefore, at a particular stage of family life, couples should sublimate their worldly intimacy by withdrawing from worldly life and focusing their minds to develop spiritual intimacy with God. When this commitment is demonstrated, continence is recommended. Shri Ramakrishna exalts householder couples who restrain the productive urge and look upon each other as a brother or sister after bringing one or two children into the world. He tells some devotees to chant the name of the Lord to combat the forces of impure thoughts and keep the mind filled with pure thoughts. St. Paul admonishes Christians, “I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain let them marry for it is better to marry than to burn.”
7
In Modern Man in Search of a Soul, Jung suggests that after the age of thirty-five or forty, we should turn from worldly to cultural development, that is, the inner life of spirit. Continence is not for yogis alone. It is for all people who want to lead a healthy and happy life. For spiritual seekers, however, it is most important.
CURRENT CRISIS OF SENSATE DISORDER
A greatly diminished spiritual consciousness on a broad scale causes sexual anarchy, a conspicuous crisis today. This sensate disorder with the dominant desire of satisfying the cravings of the senses dissipates the vital moral and intellectual energy of entire societies. Harvard University’s late Chairman of Sociology, Pitirim A. Sorokin (1889-1968), called it the “Sex Revolution.” Though unarmed, this silent pervasive revolt has successfully enlisted billions of people worldwide, with devastating results. The breakdown of the core of civilization—the family, impaired physical and mental health, and loss of creativity make this insurgency no less significant than other revolutions.
In his book, Sane Sex Order, Dr. Sorokin addressed the insidious effects of television broadcasting, on which scant regulations and restrictions are imposed:
So far, almost the only important achievement of this new instrument of communication (television) has consisted in bringing into millions of our homes erotically charged, alcoholic atmosphere of night clubs, ugly commercials and endless murder and sex plays. 8
Further in his book, Dr. Sorokin points out the historical basis for the cultural benefits of restricting sexual freedom:
Civilized societies, which have most strictly limited sexual freedom, have developed the highest culture. In the whole of human history not a single case is found in which a society has been able to advance to the Rationalistic Culture without its women being born and reared in a rigidly enforced patter on faithfulness to one man. Further, there is no example of a community, which has retained its high position on the culture scale after less rigorous sexual customs have replaced more restricting ones.
9
Shocking statistics point to the disintegration of society in Britain and the United States. In Britain, 150,000 children under the age of sixteen are affected yearly by the divorce of their parents; the number of unwed mothers quadrupled to 360,000 between 1971 and 1989; the rate of infant births to couples out of wedlock in Britain jumped from 12% (1980) to 28% (1990) and to more than 30% (2000); nearly a fifth (19%) of all British families have only one parent. In the United States, the real epidemic of “children bearing children” is a public health crisis that should alarm people more than any avian or swine flu epidemic. The divorce rate has more than doubled and more than two fifths of America’s children live with one parent during part of their childhood or youth.
10
Dr. Alexis Carrel (1873-1944), a physician at Rockefeller Institute, won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1911. The original British edition of his book, Man, the Unknown, sold over 100,000 copies and was translated into twelve languages. In his book, Dr. Carrel observes the physical and mental benefits of continence:
It is well known that sexual excesses impede intellectual activity. In order to reach its full power, intelligence seems to require both the presence of well-developed sexual glands and the temporary repression of the sexual appetite. Freud has rightly emphasized the capital importance of sexual impulses in the activities of consciousness. However his observations refer chiefly to sick people. His conclusions should not be generalized to include normal individuals, especially those who are endowed with a strong nervous system and a mastery over themselves. While the weak, the nervous, and the unbalanced become more abnormal when their sexual appetites are repressed, the strong are rendered still stronger by practicing such a form of asceticism.
11
In Insanity: Its Classification, Diagnosis and Treatment, the eminent American neurologist, psychiatrist and health reformer Dr. Edward Charles Spitzka also confirmed that excessive sensuous gratification invariably brings mental and physical illness.
12
Illness signifies impurity in the mind and body. Therefore, along with knowledge of the practice of Brahmacharya, every spiritual aspirant should know something about the subject of purifying nourishment and its significance in the spiritual life.
PURIFYING NOURISHMENT
The vital medicine for the soul is purifying nourishment. The sage of the Chandogya Upanishad says:
When nourishment is pure, reflection and higher understanding become pure. When reflection and higher understanding are pure, memory becomes strong. When memory becomes strong, there is release from all the knots of the heart.
13
This should be the thought in the spiritual aspirant’s mind as food is consumed. Pure food obtains a pure nature, impure food an impure nature. There are two types of nourishing food. One type is food that is peacefully prepared with spiritual thoughts and offered to God before being thoroughly masticated to maintain the body as His instrument. Shri Ramanuja teaches the lawful acquisition, preparation and consumption of the correct food according to the scriptures. The other type is described by Shri Sankaracharya in terms of its psychological and ethical significance: nourishing food for the soul gathered by the perceptive and imaginative faculties of the discriminating pure mind, which receives only pure impressions. Only a pure mind is capable of comprehending and realizing Truth. Therefore, aspirants should strictly observe the correct diet and shut themselves off from outside influences. The Brahma Sutras allow one exception: “One can eat all kinds of food when life is in danger.”
14
During his pre-monastic days, Swami Vivekananda (Narendra) once said to Shri Ramakrishna, “As regards food, one should take whatever comes.” Shri Ramakrishna replied:
What you say applies only to a particular state of the aspirant’s mind. No food can harm a jnani. According to the Gita, the jnani himself does not eat; his eating is an offering to the Kundalini. But that does not apply to a bhakta. The present state of my mind is such that I cannot eat any food unless it is first offered to God by a Brahmin priest. Formerly my state of mind was such that I would enjoy inhaling the smell of burning corpses, carried by the wind from the other side of the Ganges. It tasted very sweet to me. But nowadays I cannot eat food touched by anybody and everybody. No, I cannot. But once in a while I do. . . . With you it is all right. You are in “this” as well as in “that” [that is, attentive both to the world and to the spiritual life]. You can eat everything now. (To the devotees) Blessed is he who feels longing for God, though he eats pork. But shame on him whose mind dwells on “woman and gold,” though he eats the purest food—boiled vegetables, rice, and ghee.
15
The gospel of St. Mark also says, “There is nothing from without a man that entering him can defile him but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile him.”
16
Readers will find Swamiji’s enlightening thoughts on the subject of food and its relationship to mental purity in The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.
17 Swamiji says:
As the organization becomes finer and finer, it will be found in the beginning that the least irregularity throws one out of balance. One bit of food more or less will disturb the whole system, until one gets perfect control, and then one will be able to eat whatever one likes . . . give up all argumentation and other distractions . . . read only those books which have been written by persons who have had realization. . . . First hear, then understand, and then, leaving all distractions, shut your minds to outside influences, and devote yourselves to developing the truth within you . . . Take one thing up and do it, and see the end of it, and before you have seen the end, do not give it up. He who can become mad with an idea, he alone sees light. Those that only take a nibble here and a nibble there will never attain anything. They may titillate their nerves for a moment, but there it will end. They will be slaves in the hands of nature, and will never get beyond the senses. . . . Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life—think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success . . . Have that sort of energy, that sort of will, work hard, and you will reach the goal.
18
PRACTICE OF BRAHMACHARYA
In his Yoga Sutras Patanjali says, Brahmacharya-pratisthayam virya-labhah, “On being firmly established in sexual continence vigor (is) gained.”19 Brahmacharya is more than just the control of the procreative energy. The vitality of Brahmacharya replaces weakness, laziness and lack of spirituality with exceptional resilience, strength and energy throughout one’s entire being. With the required control of all the senses, the body and mind are joined in the conscious endeavor to achieve chastity. The accumulated spiritual energy that this produces must be used for spiritual practices and loving service to humanity. These qualities lead the Brahmachari to the highest illumination.
MAHATMA GANDHI’S UNPARALLELED EXAMPLE
India’s recent history produced a glorious example of dedication to the spirit of Brahmacharya in Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948). Gandhi summoned all the strength of his mind and spiritual discipline in a lifelong, matchless struggle to achieve the ancient spirit of Brahmacharya:
The knowledge that a perfect observance of Brahmacharya means realization of Brahman, I did not owe to a study of the Shastras [Scriptures]. It slowly grew upon me with experience. The shastraic [scriptural] texts on the subject I read only later in life. Every day of the vow has taken me nearer the knowledge that in Brahmacharya lies the protection of the body, the mind and the soul. For Brahmacharya was now no process of hard penance, it was a matter of consolation and joy. Every day revealed a fresh beauty in it.
But if it was a matter of ever increasing joy, let no one believe that it was an easy thing for me. Even when I am past fifty-six years, I realize how hard a thing it is. Every day I realize more and more that it is like walking on the sword’s edge, and I see every moment the necessity for eternal vigilance.
20
From his own experiments with fasting and control of the palate through dietary restrictions, Gandhi ardently advocated controlling the senses “in thought, word and deed” for the welfare of the individual, the family and the society:
Mere control of animal passion has been thought to be tantamount to observing Brahmacharya. I feel that this conception is incomplete and wrong. Brahmacharya means control of all the organs of sense. He who attempts to control only one organ, and allows all the others free play, is bound to find his effort futile. To hear suggestive stories with the ears, to see suggestive sights with the eyes, to taste stimulating food with the tongue, to touch exciting things with the hands, and then at the same time to expect to control the only remaining organ is like putting one’s hands in the fire, and expecting to escape being burnt. He therefore who is resolved to control the one must be likewise determined to control the rest. I have always felt that much harm has been done by the narrow definition of Brahmacharya. If we practice simultaneous self-control in all directions, the attempt will be scientific and possible of success. 21
Gandhiji achieved the following deep insight:
Mind is at the root of all sensuality. . . . Many aspirants after Brahmacharya fail because in the use of their sense they want to carry on like those who are not Brahmacharis. Their effort is, therefore, identical with the effort to experience the bracing cold of winter in the scorching summer months.
Brahmacharya means control of the senses in thought, word and deed. . . . So long as thought is not under complete control of the will Brahmacharya in its fullness is absent. . . . Curbing the mind is even more difficult than curbing the wind. Nevertheless the existence of God within makes even control of the mind possible.
22
Gandhiji’s essential meaning of Brahmacharya is that conduct which puts us in touch with God through the discipline of Brahmacharya; Brahmacharya is the most vital aspect of the power of tapas, the creative impulse behind penance and austerity that helps humanity evolve spiritually. These two values: Brahmacharya as a spiritual direction and tapas as a spiritual motive, constitute the vital essence of India’s culture.
INTEGRATED APPROACH OF SELF-RESTRAINT
On one occasion Swami Brahmananda told one of his foremost disciples, “My boy, give your body and mind to worldly enjoyments, and the world will destroy them both. Devote them to God and His service, and you will enjoy bodily health, peace of mind and spiritual joy.”23 Swami Brahmananda gives the following advice:
“I will conquer lust; I will conquer anger and greed.” If that is your way of approach, you can never conquer them; but if you can fix your mind on God, the passions will leave you of themselves. Shri Ramakrishna used to say, “The more you move eastward, the farther you are from the west.” Call on God and pray to Him. Then the sense objects will no longer attract you.
24
Ordinary experience teaches us that a confrontational and careless attitude leads to bad results. Lower impulses are sublimated and re-directed through will force, not violence. Swami Brahmananda advises against extremes: “There are certain rules which a Brahmacharin must observe. He must avoid eating exciting food, oversleep, over-exercise, laziness, bad company and evil conversations.”25 An integrated practical approach is best, through the combination of simple regulated breathing exercises while concentrating on thoughts, prayer and worship of God, study of the scriptures, Japa, meditation and association with holy persons.
We overcome the idea of gender by associating it with the idea of purity and meditating on Shri Ramakrishna and Holy Mother. For example, Shri Ramakrishna taught his disciples to rely on practices other than Hatha Yoga for control of the senses. He advised Yogin (Swami Yogananda) to repeat God’s Name with a concentrated mind, which he did, much to his benefit and power of renunciation. Another was told to meditate on the form of Divine Mother Kali upon his chest when lying down to sleep. Latu (Swami Adbhutananda) was told to counteract all impure thoughts by simply thinking of the Master. Yet another, Hariprasanna (Swami Vijnanananda) was told, “Even if a woman is pure as gold and rolls on the ground for love of God, it is dangerous for a monk ever to look at her.”26 These instructions helped them to keep their minds on the Divine and to develop Atmabuddhi—seeing themselves and everything around them as pure, radiant, immortal Atman without any gender. Ramakrishna also advised some householders to live together as brother and sister after giving birth to one or two children.
Purity of the mind is primary, physical cleanliness secondary. As meditation increases, body consciousness decreases. Swamiji says:
When there is real purification of the body, external and internal, there arises neglect of the body, and the idea of keeping it nice vanishes. A face which others call most beautiful will appear to the Yogi as merely animal, if there is not intelligence behind it. What the world calls a very common face he regards as heavenly, if the spirit shines behind it. This thirst after body is the great bane of human life. So the first sign of the establishment of purity is that you do not care to think you are a body. It is only when purity comes that we get rid of the body idea.
27
A weak, wavering mind is equally the source of great affliction. The problem must be solved at the spiritual level. The media today lures the mind into a phantasmagoria that leaves deep impressions upon it. Patanjali says, “To obstruct thoughts which are inimical to Yoga, contrary thoughts should be brought.”28 Swamiji says, “Expansion is life, contraction is death.” Whatever unfolds the Soul within is expansion; whatever hides the Soul is contraction. To expand our consciousness we need the moral strength of sense-restraint and detachment. We should also do vigorous, intense Japa of the holy name or Mantra, directing our thoughts to God. The passions cannot be eradicated but they can be educated. Shri Ramakrishna says that
passions directed towards the world and its objects behave like enemies but when they are directed towards God, they become the best friends of man, for they lead him to God:
Direct the six passions to God. The impulse of lust should be turned into the desire to have intercourse with Atman. Feel angry at those who stand in your way to God. Feel greedy for Him. If you must have the feeling of I and mine, then associate it with God. Say, for instance, ‘My Rama, my Krishna.’ If you must have pride, then feel like Bibhishana, who said, ‘I have touched the feet of Rama with my head; I will not bow this head before anyone else.
29
A healthy, transformed life of humility and discrimination is the proof of purity. We should cultivate abiding love for the virtues and pray for a pure mind and heart. Purity and virtue brighten the intellect; vice weakens it. Therefore, spiritual teachers recommend detachment from the senses and steadfast practice of meditation on God. The sage of the Maitri Upanishad says, “By self-discipline purification of the mind is attained. Through purification of the mind clear understanding is reached. Through clear understanding Self-Knowledge is gained.”30 Christ says, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”31 “Pure in heart” means a moral life; Christ teaches this to his disciples and to all who “have ears to hear” due to its great significance.
FRUIT OF BRAHMACHARYA
Learning about the fruit of Brahmacharya helps us to live a pure life. Brahmacharya awakens the faculty of intuition whose spiritual power lies latent within us. In its broadest sense, Brahmacharya means the spiritual life. Shri Ramakrishna says that a Brahmacharin can realize God with the help of his penetrating mind:
If a man practices absolute Brahmacharya for twelve years, the Medha Nadi (nerve of intelligence) will open, i.e., his power of understanding will blossom. His understanding will become capable of penetrating and comprehending the subtlest ideas. With such an understanding man can realize God. God can be attained only through a purified understanding of this type.
32
Swamiji says, “By the observance of Brahmacharya all learning can be mastered in a very short time—one has an unfailing memory of what one hears or knows but once.”
33 God-realization is the fruit of Brahmacharya:
That power may come to all. That power comes to him who observes unbroken Brahmacharya for a period of twelve years, with the sole object of realizing God. I have practiced that kind of Brahmacharya myself, and so a screen has been removed, as it were, from my brain. For that reason I need not any more think over or prepare myself for any lectures on such a subtle subject as philosophy . . . it is not any power which is exclusively my own. Whoever will practice unbroken Brahmacharya for twelve years will surely have it. If you do so, you too will get it. Our Shastras do not say that only such and such a person will get it and not others!
34
Swamiji assures us that in its advanced stages, Brahmacharya transforms the entire being:
Complete continence gives great intellectual and spiritual power. The Brahmacharin must be sexually pure in thought, word and deed. Lose regard for the body; get rid of the consciousness of it so far as possible.
35
Controlled desire leads to the highest result. Transform the sexual energy into the spiritual energy, but do not emasculate, because that is throwing away the power. The stronger this force, the more can be done with it. Only a powerful current of water can do hydraulic mining.
36
The chaste brain has tremendous energy and gigantic will-power. Without chastity there can be no spiritual strength. Continence gives wonderful control over mankind. The spiritual leaders of men have been very continent, and this is what gave them power. Therefore the Yogi must be continent.
37
The purified mind flooded with spiritual ideas easily lifts the veil of ignorance. Swamiji makes an important distinction: “Whatever a man knows, should, in strict psychological language, be what he discovers or unveils. What a man “learns” is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his soul.”38 Through the combined practice of continence, mental discipline, scriptural study and meditation, the pure radiance of the immortal soul is uncovered.
Great mystics of the world have always assigned the greatest significance to chastity and occasionally admit its difficulties. St. Augustine used to pray, “Give me chastity and continence, only not yet.”39 Brother Giles, one of the foremost disciples of St. Francis, taught that chastity is a primary, pristine virtue:
Amongst all other virtues I would set the virtue of chastity first, because sweet chastity contains all perfection in itself; but there is no other virtue which can ever be perfect without chastity.
Chastity is, in strict truth, the careful and continual custody of our corporeal and spiritual senses, in order to preserve them pure and immaculate for God alone.
Every vice troubles and obscures the fair glory of chastity, for it is like a bright mirror which is clouded and darkened, not only by contact with impure and defiling things, but by the mere breath of man. It is impossible for man to attain to any spiritual grace, so long as he is inclined to carnal concupiscence and therefore, whithersoever thou turnest thyself, thou shalt never be able to attain to spiritual grace until thou canst master all the vices of the flesh. Therefore, fight valiantly against thy frail and sensual flesh, thine own worst enemy which wages war against thee day and night. And know that he who shall overcome this mortal enemy of ours has most certainly defeated and discomfited all his other enemies, and shall attain to spiritual grace, and every degree of virtue and perfection.
40
The perfect Brahmacharin demonstrates purity, equanimity, contentment, peacefulness, steadfastness, cheerfulness, sweetness, self-restraint, health, and above all, that purified understanding, which upholds society. Lifelong Brahmacharya, obedience to the spiritual instructions of the guru and faith in oneself impart spiritual excellence and fullness to others.
ENDNOTES
1 Sister Nivedita, The Master as I Saw Him (Calcutta: Udbodhan Office, 12th ed., 1977), p. 268.
2 St. Matthew, 19: 11-12.
3 C. W., I: 170.
4 Ibid, I: 169.
5Ibid, I: 169-170.
6 Ibid, V: 366 (7th ed).
7 I Corinthians, 7: 8-9.
8 Pitirim A. Sorokin, Sane Sex Order (Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1970), p. 27.
9 Ibid (1961 ed.), p. 38.
10 M. H. King and C. M. Elliott, “The Diseases of Gods: Some Newer Threats to Health,” Oxford Text Book of Medicine, 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, p. 36. Cit. from The Vedanta Kesari, June 2000, p. 10-11.
11 Alexis Carrel, Man the Unknown, eighth ed., p. 140.
12 Edward Charles Spitzka, Insanity: Its Classification, Diagnosis and Treatment (New York: Arno Press, 1973, [copyright 1887]). Cit. from Dr. R. W. Bernard, Science Discovers the Physiological Value of Continence, p. 23-4.
13 Ch. Up., VII. 26. 2.
14 Brahma Sutra, 3.4.28.
15 Gospel, p. 564.
16 St. Mark, 7: 15.
17 C. W., IV: 486-7, C. W., V: 403.
18 Ibid, I: 176-8 passim.
19 Sadhana-pada, II: 38.
20 My Experiments with Truth, p. 257.
21 M. K. Gandhi, Hindu Dharma (Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1950), p. 254.
22 My Experiments with Truth, pp. 258-9.
23 Eternal Companion, p. 84.
24 Ibid, p. 196 (1944 ed.).
25 Spiritual Teachings of Swami Brahmananda (Madras: Shri Ramakrishna Math, 1932), p. 70.
26 Gospel, p. 63.
27 C. W., I: 264.
28 Sadhana-pada, II: 33.
29 Gospel, p. 220.
30 Maitri Up., IV. 3.
31 St. Matthew, 5: 8.
32 Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna, (eighth ed.), p. 170.
33 C. W., VII: 224.
34 Ibid, V: 358.
35 Ibid, VII: 67.
36 Ibid, VII: 69.
37 Ibid, I: 263.
38 Ibid, I: 28 (tenth ed.).
39 Confessions, Book VIII, Ch. VII.
40 Teachings of Brother Giles (London: Burns, Oats, Washerbourne & Co., 1935). Cit. from Swami Yatiswarananda, Meditation and Spiritual Life (Bangalore, Shri Ramakrishna Ashrama, 1979), p. 204.