The Secret of Eternal Youth

The Secret of Eternal Youth शरीरमाद्यं खलु धर्मसाधनम् |

"The body is the soul's instrument to perform righteous actions."

All spiritual disciplines are performed through the body. If the body is weak and sickly, the mind becomes similarly afflicted. To attain success in any enterprise, it is essential that both the body and the mind are healthy and function in harmony and synchronicity. That is why an aged person is unfit to undertake Sadhana (spiritual discipline). The unbridled gratification of desires over the years drains away mental, vital and physical energies. Even if such a person possesses a strong will power, his body would not assist him. On the other hand, sadly, today's Youth, in spite of having the physical ability to proceed on the path of Sadhana, are distracted by the objects of sense indulgence and fall a prey to carnal pleasures. Not appreciating the prime importance of sexual energy, they recklessly fritter it away through sensual indulgence, a folly that would later become a matter of life-long repentance for them.

Many young people, who are badly perturbed, come to me for guidance and help. They open up their hearts before me. They confess that through uncontrolled sexual indulgence they have lost mental, vital and physical energies with the result that their mind becomes sluggish, will power is lost and the body becomes languid and sickly. They live a miserable life seeing no way to redemption. They lament that, for them, Self-realisation will remain a distant dream and that they have somehow to drag along the remaining part of the life, aimlessly.

Throughout history, great sages, saints, and seers have stressed the paramount importance of celibacy for leading a noble and sublime life. A person lacking in self-restraint and self-discipline can never make progress in any worthwhile endeavor nor can he be of any service to the society. A society made up of such people is unable to make any material or spiritual progress. Such degenerated societies disintegrate in the long run.