Semen in Spirituality : Two ViewPoints

Taken from Srijagannath Group

1. Ayurveda says that there are seven dhatus, the 7th and finest is shukradhatu which is relative to the semen. Each dhatu digests and then createsthe one after it; for example first food is digested and it goes into therasa dhatu, from that some is digested and becomes rakta dhatu while somebecomes waste. Some Rakta dhatu develops into the next dhatu while some goesto waste. In this way each dhatu is more refined and utilizes more energy tobe created. Each one takes more time to develop as well, rasa takes a fewhours, rakta takes 3 days...majja takes 3-4 weeks and shukra takes 4 weeksto be created from the food you intake. In Ayurveda, if you take an herb towork on Majja or shukra dhatu it will take a month to start showing its realresults. So "excess" loss of Shukra dhatu utilizes a lot of energy from thebody as it will need a lot of energy and time to replace, this is not goodfor health or spirituality.From Shukra dhatu, the more refined element becomes ojas, and the lessrefined waste product becomes waste/smegma. Once the semen has had theessence taken into Ojas, it can either be reabsorbed into the body throughcertain yogic practices or it can be discarded from the body. Healthy amountof discharge will depend on the age of the individual, when one is youngerthere is more creative energy in the body and as it becomes older thisvitality leaves and therefore it becomes more detrimental to the body toloose shukra dhatu. On asking about nocturnal emission (often called 'wetdreams'), I was told by a Sadhu Vaidya that once a month was a healthyrelease, as it insured the proper clearing of old shukra dhatu. There areclassical ayurvedic remedies prescribed when this happens more frequently. Ihave also seen yogis who develop certain problems by forced 100 percentcelibacy, like one who started having semen be released while he urinated.Western studies are not to be taken too seriously, they rarely take intoaccount individual characteristics outside of specific perimeters of thestudy. For example, Ayurveda takes into account:1. The age of the men (older the man the more detrimental the loss of semen)2. The location/climate (harsher more vata climates should conserve semenmore, while jungle and blush climates are more supportive of theregeneration of Shukra dhatu)3. The diet of the individual (the healthier and more ojas increasing thediet the less detrimental semen loss will be)4. The guna of their mind (Sattva person needs less ejaculation for healthyliving while tamas and rajas will need more as the mind is dwelling more inthat region)5. The constitution of the individual (vata should loose the least amount ofShukra relative to health while Kapha has the greatest amount of sexualvitality)6. The state of the 13 Agnis in the body (if the digestive fire in thestomach, the 7 digestive fires in each dhatu or the five in the liverbreaking down the elements is weak then regeneration will be less and semenloss should be less)7. The individual stress level (the higher the stress level the harder timethe body has regenerating itself and creating healthy dhatus)8. The dasa and planetary positions of each person (look at the strength oflagna, position of Venus, the 7th house of navamsa, and indications in theSomanath drekkana).

Because such factors are not taken into account by western studies they holdonly small significance compared to the ocean of knowledge left by theRishis. It is important to understand such things through Vedic science.Now, looking deeper into the importance of conservation of shukra, thedeeper reasons are for the strengthening of the Ojas. Ojas is not a physicaldhatu, it is etheric. Ojas is the primary support for life, it is the immunesystem and the glow of the aura. It is supported from the essence of theshukra dhatu but it is also supported by spiritual practice, meditation,time in nature, calmness, sattvic living, etc. So Ojas is strengthened bothby proper diet and physical health practices as well as right action andspirituality. Ojas needs to be strong to do intense sadhana and to supportour minds in the study of sattvic sciences like Jyotish.Rajasic living will over use sexual stimulation and burn the body out of itsresources and deplete Ojas. Tamasic living will continually have sexualthoughts and impulses and will overuse the sexual energy in negative ways.Sattvic living (and good dasas) will insure you know how much shukra dhatuyou can lose and remain healthy (keeping your Ojas strong). Yoga and relatedpractices will burn up sexual desires so as to only give thesexual/ejaculatory urge when it is a healthy time.

Excess loss of shukra dhatu will damage the Ojas, which makes one more susceptible to disease, and reduces the amount of energy one has for spiritual practice.

2. Hello Prabhu:Perserving semen has no medical importance. In fact,doctors/Urologists recommend that Semen should NOT BE preserve andshould be ejaculated at least once a day so that the protatic fluidand the testicular fluids are replenished everyday.A British study found that Men who masturbated two times a day hadmuch lower incidence of Prostate Cancer as compared to Men whomasturbated/had sex just once a week.The reason given for these results was that if fluids in the Prostateare not removed/expelled frequently, then toxin deposits increasewhich results in Cancer.Now, in case of spirituality, NOT lusting after someone else's wifewould definitely increase your spirituality level. However, takingthe help of Playboy magazine to masturbate shouldn't affect yourspirituality.I don't seen the connection between Semen preservation andspirituality. Semen production is an automaticl biological functionand spirituality is an intangible choice that one makes.Mukund