Chapter 7 Energy Transformation

The broad meaning of Brahmacharya

The word Brahmacharya is really difficult to translate. It has been translated as: asceticism, celibacy. That's not accurate because "brahmacharya" is a very broad word, extremely broad. Asceticism is very narrow; it's only one part, not the whole. The meaning of "Brahmacharya" is: a divine life, a life of divinity. Of course, living in divinity, sex disappears.

But here's the key: aversion to desire is not opposition to sex. If it were, sex would never disappear. Aversion to desire is a transformation of sexual energy, not opposition, but rather a shift of all energy from the sexual energy center to higher energy centers. When the energy reaches sahasrar—the seventh energy center—aversion to desire naturally occurs. When the energy remains in the first center—the root chakra—that is sex; when the energy reaches the seventh energy center, that is samadhi—meditation. It's the same movement of energy. Therefore, it's not opposition, but an art of using energy.

You must understand that sex must be transformed, not resisted. If you resist it, you cannot transform it, because when you are hostile to something, you cannot understand it. Understanding requires empathy. How can you express compassion if you are hostile? When you are unfriendly to something, you don't even want to look at it: you withdraw, you run away. So, treat your sex with kindness, because it is your energy, with infinite potential hidden within. It is unrefined divinity. Sex is unprocessed samadhi. It can be transformed, transformed. The whole of yoga is the path of transformation, transformation, from lower metals to higher metals. The whole art of yoga is how to refine iron into gold. Yoga is alchemy, the alchemy of your inner nature.

Brahmacharya means: Try to understand sexual energy, understand how it moves within you, understand why this energy gives you pleasure, understand the true source of this joy—is it from the convergence of the sexes, the release of sexual energy, or from somewhere else? If you are an observer, you will soon discover that this joy comes from somewhere else.

How can one overcome the pull of sexuality to allow the Kundalini to ascend? For the birth of many lives, energy is constantly flowing downwards through the sexual center. So, when any energy is created, it will first try to move downwards. That's why meditation sometimes creates more sexuality within you than you've felt before. You'll feel more sexually aroused because you've generated more energy than you previously had. When you store something, that old, habitual channel is ready to release it. The mechanism is ready, the channel is ready. Your mind only knows one channel—a lower, sexual channel. So when you are meditating, the first movement of your life energy will be downwards. Just be aware of it.

Don't fight it, just be aware of it. Be aware of that habitual channel, be aware of sexual fantasies, let them come. Be aware of them, but don't do anything about the whole situation, just be aware of it. Without your cooperation, the sexual channel cannot open, but even if you cooperate with it for a moment, it can begin to work, so don't cooperate with it, just be aware of it. The process of sex is such a fleeting phenomenon that it only works temporarily. If you don't cooperate at that moment, it will stop. At that moment, your cooperation is necessary, otherwise it cannot function. It is only a temporary process, and if you don't cooperate with it, it will stop on its own.

Time and again, energy is created through meditation; it continuously moves downwards, but now you are aware of it. The old channel is cut off—not suppressed. The energy is there, and it needs to be released, but the lower door is closed, not suppressed, it is closed. You are not cooperating with it, that's it. You are not actively suppressing it; you are simply passively not cooperating with it. You are simply aware of what is happening in your mind, your body. You are simply aware, and then the energy is preserved. Then the amount of energy will become so strong that an upward surge becomes necessary. Now, the energy will rise, and with its power, a new channel will open.

The key to this transformation lies in "understanding" and "accumulation," not "suppression" and "resistance." Brahmacharya is: understanding what the whole phenomenon truly is. Through understanding, you no longer blindly vent your energy outwards, but learn to retain it, accumulate it, and guide it. When the same energy moves upwards, you become a dam of energy. It's like building a dam. When the same energy moves upwards, you become a dam of energy. That is brahmacharya—desirelessness. You continuously accumulate energy; the more energy you accumulate, the higher it rises. It's like a dam: when it rains, the water level rises higher and higher. But if there are leaks, the water level cannot rise. Your sexual activity is your leak. If there are no leaks, the water level will rise higher and higher, and then there will be moments—energy flowing through many energy centers.

Kundalini is the cycle of your subtle body (second body), and it is absolutely non-autonomous. One must enter into meditation. Only then does the energy begin to move; all you need to do is meditate. If you deeply engage in meditation, the inner energy begins to rise. Meditation means building a bridge between the gross body and the subtle body. By meditation, I only mean whether you can transcend the gross body; that is what meditation means.

From any critical point, you can jump. Fasting has been used to push people to an extreme. After a long period of continuous fasting, you reach the edge. The human body can generally fast for 90 days, but by then your body is completely exhausted, and the reserves accumulated for urgent needs are depleted. At this moment, one of two possibilities arises: if you do nothing, death will occur; if you use this moment for meditation, a leap will occur. If you do nothing and continue fasting, death will occur. That is suicide. Mahavira was the person in the history of human evolution who experimented most deeply with fasting, and the only one who allowed his followers to commit spiritual suicide. He called it the Tritala, the critical point where both are possible. In an instant, you can die or you can leap. If you use a certain technique, you can leap. Thus, Mahavira said that it is not suicide, but a very great spiritual outburst. Only Mahavira said this, only he said it. If you have courage, even suicide can be used for spiritual progress.

Sufis employ dance. During dance, there is a moment of feeling detached from the world. When a true Sufi dances, even the audience experiences a sense of transcendence. Through bodily movements, rhythmic movements, the dancer soon feels that they are not one with their body, but separate from it. Once you begin to move, the body's involuntary mechanisms soon take over. You begin, but if it ultimately remains yours, then the dance is just ordinary dancing. If you begin, but eventually feel, somewhere in between, that the dance is taken over by involuntary mechanisms, then it becomes the dance of a Sufi ascetic. You move so fast that your body trembles, becoming involuntary. This is the point where you can go mad or leap. You might go mad because an involuntary mechanism has taken over your body's movement; it is beyond your control, and you are powerless against it. You might go mad and never be able to retreat from this involuntary movement. This is the tipping point between madness and tranquility (if you have mastered the technique of leaping). That's why people have always called Sufis madmen. They are known for their madness! By all accounts, they're crazy. Madness has happened many times, but if you know the technique, meditation can happen. It always happens at the critical point, which is why mystics always love to use the word "razor's edge." It's either madness or meditation; every method makes your body like a razor's edge, where either one happens or the other.