Living Brahmacharya - How Does it Look in the World?
We’ve called the first three initiations
The Great Returning
They allow us
to return to our authentic Self.
They call us back home.
And this then forms
a powerful foundation
for the fourth initiation —
which, in some ways,
is the most powerful initiation
anyone can take in life.
So that's what we’re inviting ourselves into.
Let’s go through the Yamas from a different angle.
So —
when we start being kind to ourselves,
when we start being sensitive to ourselves,
when we start noticing ourselves,
when we start paying attention to ourselves,
when we start being patient
with our own unfolding,
kind in our process —
when we start getting very real
with where we're at,
how we feel,
what's going on inside of us —
then we have Ahimsa and Satya.
The first two are there.
And this basically means
we’re unlikely
to override ourselves.
We’re less likely to act
in discordance with ourselves.
When we’re not sensitive to ourselves,
we can override all the signals
inside of ourselves —
because we can’t hear them.
Because it requires us
to tune in.
So those first two
are so powerful —
because they tune you
right back into yourself.
They say:
you no longer deny yourSelf anymore.
Your whole experience
is emanating out of you.
It’s massively important
to be rooted
into the source of your experience —
which is you.
And then the third initiation means
that we’re no longer externally verifying our life.
We’re internally verifying our experience.
We’re running things through our own soul
to find out how we’re feeling it —
rather than running them out
through things outside of ourselves
and basically asking,
How should I feel?
What should I do?
Where should I go?
It’s not wrong
to take counsel.
That’s fine.
But it’s like —
Hold on…
Let me run it through
my inner thing.
This is my life,
not someone else’s.
It has to be lived from me.
It can’t be lived through someone else.
So I stand
in my own integrity.
And again,
this tunes us back into ourselves.
It asks us
to take responsibility
for what we’re doing with our life —
because we’re doing it.
And it doesn’t have to match up
with anyone else’s.
And it doesn’t have to look good
on Instagram.
And it doesn’t have to be special.
Life isn’t about,
“Oh, I should.”
“Or I’m expected to do this, that, or the other…”
Hold on…
Let me tune back in
to the Life inside of me
and see what it wants to do —
rather than what Betty wants me to do.
Let me check in
to see what’s authentic in me.
So this is what the first three Yamas do —
and they will continue to do this in us moving forward.
They’re a powerful initiation
and will give you your life back.
But from the way we’re going to look at it
in relation to the fourth initiation —
what they give you
is a connection back
to your own feedback,
to your own energy,
to your own inner guidance and direction.
They allow us to listen deeply,
inwardly,
and start to read our own energy —
which is how God talks to us.
Sometimes it whispers in your ear —
but mostly,
the great Spirit,
the great Intelligence,
is talking to us
through our own systems,
energetically.
So these first three
allow us to pick up
on this dialogue.
Brahmacharya,
the fourth initiation — says:
I now begin a life,
(or deepen into a life),
of walking with God.
Brahmacharya — to walk with God —
which we’ve just described
as this inner experience.
I walk,
inwardly referencing my own energy.
I run this through my own soul,
and I see
how whatever it is
matches up with this.
And I start to get very clear.
Sometimes —
it’s not so clear.
So I need to be
a little bit patient — Ahimsa.
Sometimes there’s a lot of static on the line.
So I need to wait for Satya —
for the truth of it to dawn.
But essentially —
I am now in direct dialogue,
and direct feedback,
with the Divine within myself.
And that’s what I’m going to base my life on going forward.
That’s where my decisions
are going to come from —
going forward.
This going to be
how my life shapes.
This is my inner navigation.
I’ve found my compass.
Sometimes I get it wrong…
I read the energy
not quite correctly,
because there’s some of me
doing a bit of a dance —
and I’ve misread the energy
a little bit.
So what?
At least you acted on it.
At least you got it moving.
At least you found out.
And now you get back on track.
This guidance in us —
once we take it on —
there is no domain of our life
that it’s not feeding back on.
It’s feeding back on everything.
Our bodies,
our emotions,
our mind,
our energy.
everything .
It’s telling you what to eat,
and what not to eat.
It’s telling you where to be,
and where not to be.
It’s telling you where to go,
and where not to go.
It’s telling you
how long to stay,
and when to leave.
It’s telling you
how your thoughts
are influencing your growth.
It’s giving you direct feedback.
For example,
when I go to fear thinking,
what does that do in my energy?
Does that inspire my energy up,
and allow it to expand —
or does it contract it
and take it down?
When I start to worry —
what’s that doing to my energy?
When I start to doubt —
what’s that doing?
When I start to judge —
hmm?
We could go on…
So in the life of Brahmacharya,
taking this vow,
taking this initiation,
means —
“My entire life now
is something that I’m going to learn to read
from within myself.
And I alone
am responsible
for where this goes.”
Powerful?
No more blaming outside —
A Brahmachari is never a victim.
A Brahmachari catches themselves playing the victim
And says —
What’s that doing to my energy?
The idea is to feel into,
What’s blocking the flow?
What am I doing, inside of myself,
that’s blocking the God-flow?
We’re in no doubt anymore
that we contain a great power.
The same power
that shines in the sun
is running your system.
It’s turning the tides.
The same one.
The whole ocean
is behind your wave.
There’s no lack.
There is an immense God-power
inside of you.
What do I do
to seemingly diminish that?
What do I do to block it?
And do I need to keep doing that?
Because of course —
you can.
This inner guidance
is going to get so personalised.
It’s going to be so specific
and accurate to you —
you won’t believe it.
That’s why I’m not any longer
telling anybody what to do.
And in the past,
I’ve gone to town.
And it’s good.
Because it instills still some discipline:
Don’t do this.
Don’t do that.
Because they’re obstacles.
I’ll give you one thing:
Don’t overdo anything.
But I’m not telling you
what not to overdo.
Brahmacharya is the greatest self-discovery there is.
So I’m not inclined
to get in the way of anyone’s anymore.
It’s so accurate to you —
what you need to do.
And you can ignore it
all you like.
Isn’t that wonderful?
It’s so loving.
If you put in Brahmacharya,
into the google guru.
it would almost definitely come back
with celibacy.
Because that was right
for some people.
For some,
that’s an amazingly powerful way
to store up a lot of energy in the system —
to break through all kinds of limitations
in the mind.
The more energy we build in our system,
the more able we are
to go beyond our limitations.
So celibacy was one way to do it.
But it’s not for everyone.
Neither is it required.
You’ve just got to read
what’s required for you.
But there are definite activities that block our energy.
One is:
Resentment.
Can you feel it?
It’s literally eating you.
Eating your God-flow.
That is —
the emanation that would come through
but instead feeds resentment.
We will all have to have a look for ourselves.
Where are you still holding resentment?
Because it is blocking your light and your god-flow.
It’s having no influence
on the person —
but you,
holding that resentment
it is draining your Life-force.
There’s a bit of Brahmacharya.
That’s a Brahmacharic action.
I look at my resentment,
and I see —
Oh, that’s blocking my God-flow.
And I am now
so committed
to this incredible power inside me —
that I don’t want to block it.
So I give up that resentment.
I give it up —
because I have something better.
Lahiri Mahashaya —
A great saint once said:
“You cannot give something up,
unless you've got something better to offer.”
You’ve just given yourself
something better.
This depth
that you now have inside of you —
your God-contact
inside yourself —
this place you can rest inside —
in harmony with the whole universe,
and full of love and joy,
and is at peace with itself —
That’s the something better.
Better than the resentment.
So I give up the resentment.
It’s easy to do —
if you’ve got something better.
If you have nothing to go to instead —
not easy.
So I’ll just stick with my resentment.
But you’ve got somewhere
so much better to go.
You’ve got love to go to.
What are you doing resenting that individual?
Set them free.
You can do this with just about everything.
It’s called Brahmacharya.
It should keep us nice and busy.
Who are you still blaming for your life?
Where have you not taken responsibility yet?
There you go.
Brahmacharya.
And the floodgates
start opening.
The more —
we let go,
or relinquish
certain ways of thinking.
That’s the biggest thing.
Bigger than your diet.
Bigger than all these external things
that you can do for your body —
way bigger —
How am I thinking,
and is that draining my energy?
Because you’ve now got
somewhere better to go —
you can replace it.
You aren’t being asked
to give that up
and just float in space.
You’re being invited
back to peace, joy, ease,
and God.
Some of those little beasties
don’t disappear overnight though.
Sometimes you have to give them up
again,
and again,
and again —
but each time you give it up,
you release some of the energy surrounding it.
You are winning every time that you give it up.
The more one-pointed we become —
the more committed we become
to the God within ourselves,
to this great power,
the clearer it all becomes.
Once you’ve found your purpose
and your meaning,
everywhere you go,
you rest in that one and let the love come through.
Once you’ve found that —
everything else becomes crystal clear.
When we don’t know the meaning of our life
is to be the love that we are —
then we do all kinds of dissipated activities.
Our energy is so widespread
that we get no feedback from ourselves at all.
You ask somebody about in this state—
How do you feel?
They haven't got a clue.
They outsourced that long ago.
As you get really clear
about what your life is about,
everything else just bounces off of that one thing
You may still choose
not to do what’s good for you —
but at least it’s clear.
Every time.
Because it is shown up in relation to
The One.
And this is the brilliance of it.
I walk with the One
and I measure my whole life off of that.
I do not need your agreement.
I appreciate your advice
but I do not need your opinion.
What if you said that to everyone in your life?
Where do you go for your validation?
A brahmachari goes to one place,
and one place alone.
For this reason a brahmachari in the world
Stands differently.
Talks differently.
Moves differently.
Acts differently.
You spot them a mile off.
They are stood in their own power.
Welcome to Brahmacharya.
I hope you see that through this principle
you can rebuild your life.
Just rebuild it
from the ground up —
simply by referencing it
to the One.
You’ll probably be able to make sweeping change
early on —
and then it gets subtler after that.
But some big changes
are probably already due —
because we sit on those ones for ages,
until we come to a discussion like this,
and it’s like —
it’s clear.
I’ve known this for some time.
You won’t be ready
to do everything
that you become aware of.
But some very important things
will stand out.
God’s force
will get stronger in you
when you relinquish
things that block it.
But sometimes —
you won’t feel strong enough yet
to make the change.
And that’s alright.
Don’t worry.
That strength is coming.
Go do some smaller things.
Sometimes
it’ll be like:
No — I really, really want to make this change…
But I don’t have the energy or power within myself to do it.
I don’t have the courage to do it.
So what do we do then?
My suggestion is —
pray
to the great power.
Pray to the God force
inside of yourself.
Ask for help.
I cannot do this alone.
I need help.
I really want to do it…
But I can’t do it.
I need something bigger.
If we were to distil it down —
to the underlying attitude
that makes this new kind of life possible?
It really is
the willingness to change.
The willingness
to be transformed.
By that part of us —
That isn’t scared of change —
The part that recognises
not changing is more scary than changing.
Because without a doubt,
what we’re doing here
is opening a door
and inviting
an immense power
to awaken within us.
It’s already here.
It’s always been here.
But the reason why the Yamas
are so powerful —
is because we are opening the door
and asking it to wake up
this is the great power
it is no small matter.
Through this power,
the yogis said —
Anything is possible.
Everything is possible.
Because everything
is made possible
by it.
Everything that exists,
is here because of it.
tapping into this
within ourselves
changes everything.
It means our limitations
are on shaky ground.
So it is all in the willingness to change.
But for this —
what I feel is really important —
is to accept
is that Life
will not wish anything for you
that is bad for it.
Or bad for any part of it.
It’s only going to make of you
what serves the whole.
It’s not out to hurt you.
It’s not gung-ho either.
It will only ever
transform you
to the degree you are willing to be transformed.
It’s like a cork.
A pressure release valve
and you’re controlling the valve.
You say yes.
Life has always been yes.
It’s just waiting
for your yes.
And then
it shows more of itself.
That’s my vision of benevolence.
It means it’s compassionate.
It’s not trying to destroy your world
or make an overnight sweeping change.
Because the psychology will say —
Oh, I’m not sure...
I’ve already felt it… it’s got a lot of potential…
I’m not sure whether I want to get in with that kind of force.
But how beautifully
it will take care of you.
Perfectly.
And so accurately.
It won’t hurt anything.
It just brings things into bloom.
So here’s to this benevolent power —
may it kindly transform you.
But you are the yes and you are the no.
So each morning
we restate:
I am on.
I am open to being transformed.
I wish you be guided by you.
I wish to be lit up by you.
I am ready for this.
Thank you.
I love you.
So powerful.
What we often negate —
and don’t realise the power of —
is our permission.
Every time.
Even for a moment —
when you’ve given permission to Life —
when something has just released and opened —
and said even a vague yes —
the amount of energy
that’s rushed into your system
at that moment…
That’s what’s created your life up to now.
It’s your little yeses —
conscious or unconscious.
Brahmacharya is the big yes.
Namaste.
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