Namaskar - Apr09

elationship until – and only if – the man
honorably told his wife the truth and
divorced her.
Speaking for myself, I find myself
depending upon the Sangha to support me
in my practice of sexual responsibility, as
nowhere else do I truly feel supported in my
own commitment to my wife. Everywhere I
turn, I find myself bombarded by sexual
images in advertising; in countless movies,
novels and songs I hear the message that
adultery is exciting, full of passion and
energy. Think about it. We are manipulated
to root for couples to find fulfillment
I will be fully aware of the responsibility for
bringing new lives into the world and will
meditate on the world into which we are bringing
new beings.
outside committed relationships in so many
movies and novels. In comparison, there are
very few that show loving, passionate
marriages or committed relationships. I
cannot help but think about the message we
are sending our youth about the nonseriousness
of our commitments.
The wording of the above vow also points
to an engagement with the social reality of
sexual abuse and asks us to not only refrain
from contributing to it, but to act positively
in whatever way we can to lessen and
prevent it. This is also a teaching in line with
Patanjali who tells us the yamas are the “great
vow” of the yogi. (2.31) He says a yama is
transgressed through any one of three ways:
(1) we act harmfully ourselves; (2) we
encourage another to act harmfully for us;
(3) we silently sit back and thus passively
condone any act of harm we witness. (2.34)
“energy management.” We are asked to
conserve energy – by using it skillfully,
sparingly, and consciously in order to align
our balanced use of energy for our deeper
and ultimate purpose of awakening for the
sake of the world.
Which brings us to the final sentence: “I will
be fully aware of the responsibility for
bringing new lives into the world and will
meditate on the world into which we are
bringing new beings.” This is a powerful
statement about consciousness. Too many
children are brought into this world
irresponsibly, without so much as a
thought. Think of all the suffering these
poor innocents are made to live with out
of their parents’ thoughtlessness. To
practice sexual responsibility is to think
about the responsibility that comes with
giving birth to a new being. It includes an
awareness of the world into which we
bring new beings, and thus our
responsibility to provide a better world for
them, and for all beings.
One way of engaging with this practice is to
really look deeply at the motivation of your
sexual behavior. Are you looking for sexual
relations to assuage loneliness? Or anger?
You might like to engage this precept by
resolving for the next week or so to
meticulously observe how often sexual
feelings arise in your consciousness. Note
which mind states are associated with them,
such as love, tension, compulsion, concern,
craving, loneliness, the desire for
communication or connection, pleasure,
aggression and so forth. This is the practice
of conscious sexuality. And it can be
amazingly transformative.
Frank is an interfaith
minister, Yoga-Dharma
teacher and author of
Mindfulness Yoga: The
Awakened Breath, Body
and Mind.
frankjude@mindfulnessyoga.net
Also of interest is the phrase “I will treat
my body with respect and preserve my vital
energies (sexual, breath, spirit) for the
realization of my bodhisattva ideal.” This
points out that the ideal of brahmacarya can
be greatly expanded to mean a kind of
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