Many people today equate Brahmacharya with celibacy and abstinence.

This is an erroneous interpretation of the concept. The Sanskrit meaning of the word ‘brahma’ means creator of the universe and ‘charya’ means in search of. So together it means in search of the creator.

Another meaning of Brahma is truth, which in turn is represented by the knowledge of Vedas and charya means ‘the study of’.

But we continue to interpret brahmacharya as the avoidance of sexual words, thoughts and deeds. So the entire meaning has been distorted.

I once had the occasion to interact with a number of religious heads and sages.

Many of them told me they chose not to get married because for them brahmacharya meant sexual abstinence.

Some of them even told me that they are not “good enough” to get married as they had masturbated a lot and hence did not want to ruin someone else’s life too. Turning spiritual was their way of doing something for the soul.

Only medically-accurate sexuality education at the right time can clear such misconceptions.

                                                                                          (Continues)

(In conversation with Sangeeth Sebastian, writer and founder of Vvox, a sextech platform. The biography is a part of an AKADialog initiative to capture the lives of newsmakers.)