Knowledge Sheet of H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
The Big Debate: Godman or Badman
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Spiritual gurus can marry if they want to.
In Hindu thought, the four ashramas are brahmacharya, grihasta, vanaprastha and sanyas. Though sanyas ashram comes last, there is a provision to allow mature people to go directly from brahmacharya ashram to sanyas ashram. The maturity comes from memory of past life and sadhana (mediation) in the present life.
Celibacy is more or less a happening than a vow. When ones prana rises up from the base chakra to higher chakras, the body becomes insignificant, hence the interest in sex is reduced to nothing.
Proponents of only three religions in the entire world — Hinduism, Buddhism and Catholics — practise celibacy as a religious vow. Among the three, Hinduism is much more liberal. There are swamis who are also grihastas (householders) like Ramakrishna Paramhans, Sriram Sharma of Gayatri Parivar and many others. So, spiritual leadership does not entirely lie only on sanyasis but also householders.
Though there have been cases where sanyasis got married and became householders, such decisions have not been appreciated by the society.
Sant Dnyandev’s father was a sanyasi who got married late in life. Society branded him an outcast. Dnyandev and his brothers and sister underwent a lot of hardships. Times have changed now and there is not as much stigma involved in such cases. Honesty, sincerity and simplicity are the fundamentals of a religion.
According to me, it will be difficult if you are not a yogi, to live in the world and still be a celibate. The pleasure one gets in deep meditation and samadhi is quantified as 1,000 times that of carnal pleasure. So naturally, the buddhas, the siddhas, sadgurus or sanyasis don’t feel the need for carnal pleasures.
In Hindu thought, the four ashramas are brahmacharya, grihasta, vanaprastha and sanyas. Though sanyas ashram comes last, there is a provision to allow mature people to go directly from brahmacharya ashram to sanyas ashram. The maturity comes from memory of past life and sadhana (mediation) in the present life.
Celibacy is more or less a happening than a vow. When ones prana rises up from the base chakra to higher chakras, the body becomes insignificant, hence the interest in sex is reduced to nothing.
Proponents of only three religions in the entire world — Hinduism, Buddhism and Catholics — practise celibacy as a religious vow. Among the three, Hinduism is much more liberal. There are swamis who are also grihastas (householders) like Ramakrishna Paramhans, Sriram Sharma of Gayatri Parivar and many others. So, spiritual leadership does not entirely lie only on sanyasis but also householders.
Though there have been cases where sanyasis got married and became householders, such decisions have not been appreciated by the society.
Sant Dnyandev’s father was a sanyasi who got married late in life. Society branded him an outcast. Dnyandev and his brothers and sister underwent a lot of hardships. Times have changed now and there is not as much stigma involved in such cases. Honesty, sincerity and simplicity are the fundamentals of a religion.
According to me, it will be difficult if you are not a yogi, to live in the world and still be a celibate. The pleasure one gets in deep meditation and samadhi is quantified as 1,000 times that of carnal pleasure. So naturally, the buddhas, the siddhas, sadgurus or sanyasis don’t feel the need for carnal pleasures.
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