The Fourth Yama - Brahmacarya

Connecting Spiritual Texts, My Personal Practice Story, and Our Exercise of the Week

Hello again and thank you for being a part of this community! :) Welcome to your moment of peace and article of the week. Today we explore the fourth yama - Brahmacarya - sometimes written how it is pronounced which is Bramacharya. Before we get further into it, the first question is how did you get on with practicing asteya?

Did you try and catch yourself if you thought of doing something that wasn’t in alignment? It’s not always easy, but that’s really the fun part if we approach it that way. Every moment is a chance for us to try and learn. Though it may sometimes be hard, we should consider challenging situations as opportunities to learn and grow. (such as difficult people, etc).

Following an aligned path whilst still participating in society presents us with a variety of difficulties - and there will be more on this in an upcoming post. So it is ok if you are faced with a challenge or issue that makes you question how you should react and what reaction would be for the highest good. We aren’t here to be perfect, we’re here to learn and try our best.

And now, on to this week’s yama and practice :) Bramacarya has been translated in a few different ways: celibacy, abstinence, self-control, and moderation. So how do we know its true meaning? When we ponder on the translation of the words and encompass this yama within its contextual intention.

Translating Brahmacarya Into Context and Practice

The yamas are meant to be our approach to how we deal with the external world. The typical translation, therefore, of Brahmacarya as “celibacy” is heavily flawed because it does not encompass the path in full. It is a narrow translation that does not gift us the chance to work on all areas of our life.

As with the other yamas - say, honesty, satya - we saw how widespread and all-encompassing its application and practice is. Therefore, having a yama which has such a narrow and singular application simply isn’t accurate.

Celibacy applies to only one area of our life. However, we aim to be mindful of the divine and walk the path in all ways and areas of our life.

Brahma is sanskrit for God / creation. The entire word therefore translates best into “one who is established in God” and has also been interpreted as “one who is pondering God.”

The idea of this yama, therefore, is that you live with the Divine always in mind. You see everything as an expression of the Divine. You are conscious of your energy, choices and actions so they are used in alignment with the Divine: from a place of moderation, discipline, and control.

The Divine/God/Source/Nature/The Universe does not act from a place of excessive indulgence, greed, or wastefulness. With Brahmacarya, we remind ourselves to do the same.

Self-control, Moderation, and Discipline - How We Find Freedom

So now that we have the translation of the word, we can see its application within the context of the yamas. Brahmacarya is about moderation, self-control and discipline. It gives us the opportunity to practice being mindful of how and where we spend our energy in the external world.

When you choose to look at yourself and your energy as sacred, the practice of moderation becomes easeful and an act of honoring the divine with yourself and others.

There are so many ways to do this, and this is actually one of my favorite yamas because I have been applying it in so many fun ways in my daily life. More on this below!

At first, thinking about moderation, self-control and discipline might make you think that this equates to restriction. Restriction makes you think of less freedom. But if you give it a chance and take on this week’s practice you’ll soon realize how much more interesting life can be when we act mindfully.

Connecting This Principle Across Texts For Deeper Understanding: Taoist Wisdom and the Bible

Below is a cross reference of quotes and stories which help demonstrate the principle of trying to “live with the Divine” always in mind. These will hopefully help as inspiration and understanding.

Sages eat enough to fill emptiness and maintain energy, and dress sufficiently to cover their bodies and keep out the cold. They adjust to their real conditions and refuse the rest, not craving gain and not accumulating much.

-Lao Tzu

In this quote we can see the Taoist approach to moderation and right use of energy. This concept is completely mirrored across in many faiths, including in the bible:

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? (Mark 8:36)

All day long he craves for more, but the righteous give without sparing. (Proverbs 21:26)

We can see the intention is not to “horde” or live in excess. We are told the sage eats enough to fill emptiness; this is moderation, mindful action, and careful thought.

In the second quote above, from the bible (proverbs 21:26) we see the principle repeated: someone who is always craving more and more, is not being careful with their energy. They are making choices that will eventually lead to dissatisfaction.

As we know, our happiness does not come from accumulation of things - be it jobs, wealth, gifts, etc. Instead, if we are conscious with our actions and choices, and check-in with ourselves and ask why we want something - or even if we need it - we are helping ourselves realize more gratitude, calmness, self-control, and moderation.

This in turn leads to discipline, and our ability to live a more centred, and ultimately freer life.

Our Practice of the Week

This week the idea is to try as often as possible, even if it may sometimes be hard, to act in line with this yama. What does this mean? Start by taking a moment to think about these questions:

• Where do I spend my energy?

• When does my energy get drained?

• What areas of my life have excess? Where do I over-indulge? (Food? Social media? Work? Socializing? Sweets? Alcohol? Etc.)

• Why do I move past the feeling of having enough into excess?

• How can I make the best use of my vital energy?

• Where in my life am I skilled at practicing moderation?

• Does your mind move a lot? Identify 3-5 ways you’re able to slow your thoughts down or calm your mind.

Maybe take some time and write all your answers down in a journal, if you’ve been keeping one since we started, or just answer them yourself as you read. You can even do this for fun with someone you would like to share this practice with.

Here is an easy example of energy use and redirection: any time you maybe realize that you are checking your phone too much, remind yourself of the importance of moderation.

Think about this: the less you are your phone, the more time you are free to do something else. Over time, the less necessary the impulse will be to keep checking your phone. Ergo, the freer your mind, body, and life.

However, here is a really fun way that I myself have begun bringing this practice further into my day to day life - and I challenge you to use this week to try this for yourself - and see if you can stick to it going forward!

My personal Brahmacarya practice

See if you want to incorporate this into your life! Until around December last year, I wasn’t being very mindful of how I spent my money. I was feeling very unhappy in my job and taking it out by spending a large amount of my wage, instead of saving it. It would be on anything: coffees, meals out, anything at all, including excessive shopping at the supermarket.

Whenever I wanted something, I would just buy it. If I ran out of something, I would just replace it, rather than asking myself if I could do something different or wait to purchase it again.

I knew that what I was doing was wrong, but I said “when the time is right, I’ll come back to myself.” I actually realized a lot when I forced myself to stop, think, and just finally address my issue. I kept refusing to address it and speak to myself because I knew my reactions were coming from a place of pain and I just didn’t want to deal with that.

Thankfully, I did have the courage to go within and address my feelings and it has been a really great, huge turnaround. So, everything I always encourage through this page, every practice, trust me - these have all gone through me for a considerable time first and I recommend them from a place of wholehearted inspiration.

Once I accepted what I was doing and made the choice to be responsible instead of excessive, so many things changed. But the one I really want to discuss is…food shopping! Read about it below :)

My New Food Shopping Practice

Yes indeed! Before, I was buying whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted to. If I was craving something, I would just go and buy it. Now, it’s completely different.

• I consider what meals I want to make or try for the week. This will be my menu.

• I then make my weekly list every Monday.

• I do a scan of my pantry, and replace what is about to run out, and buy one or two extras for things I use a lot, like peanut butter.

• I do a scan of my fridge, and think about what I would need to buy to make the recipes I’ve chosen for the week.

• I stick completely to the exact items I need to buy in order to make the recipes, and add some extra treats - like cookies - and stick completely to that too.

• I don’t go back to the supermarket, at all, until the next week when it’s Monday again!

Discipline, self-control, and moderation! And it has been so, so fun, inspiring and exciting.

I don’t limit myself with my “Menu” for the week: I choose whatever I may want to try that’s new or anything fun. However, I do try to be mindful on very excessive dishes, such as ones that require many specialist ingredients. I may only have 1 or 2 of those for the week, and opt for other new dish styles which have more accessible ingredients.

Last week I made oyster mushroom Jamaican jerk chick’n, orange tofu, and lots more super new and very cool dishes. And all completely within my set budget, without ever needing to go back out and buy more.

My meals aren’t set on certain days, I couldn’t live with that amount of rigidity! It’s simply a menu of set items - like a restaurant, and I just choose from the list of the week :)

One of my favorite practices of this has been with my milk. I love coconut and hazelnut milk, and really prefer to only drink these. Some weeks, I run out of coconut milk before it’s time to do the weekly shop again. Before, I would go back out and pick up more whenever I needed it.

Now, I am loving the practice of self-control and moderation in this aspect of my life. I just say - hey, there’s still almond milk. Just drink that. You can roll with almond milk for a few days and not need to be spoiled! (There’s usually almond, coconut and hazelnut in the fridge to get through the week: shakes, smoothies, hot chocolates etc…)

I hope you have enjoyed reading this week’s newsletter and as always please let me know in the comments if there is anything you wish to discuss or chat about! :)

All the love and light,

Thank you.

“If I am always with the Divine, then I will behave towards the external world kindly, with honesty and without greed.”