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Q: Sex (thought and act) was part of my life while I was in college but I repent for having done that. Recently someone told me that if you commit a mistake it can never be erased, and that is the end to me becoming a brahmachari (celibate) because the guilt will always be there in my mind. Does this mean that even if I try now to improve myself and follow a strict life, I will never be blessed?

A: A person who has lied can reform and practice truthfulness (satya). A person who has stolen can reform and practice non-stealing (asteya). A person who has done harm (himsa) can reform and practice ahimsa. It only follows to reason, then, that someone who has engaged in sexual acts can reform and practice brahmacharya.

Some of the greatest sannyasis (and therefore brahmacharis) in modern times had been married and begotten children. Yet, when they took up a new order of life they attained liberation and uplifted many others and inspired them to purity of life. Among the great monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Brahmananda–the first president of Ramakrishna Mission–had been married and had one child. The great Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, founder of the Divine Life Society, was married and had two children. When his wife and children were killed in a fire he took sannyas and became one of the greatest yogis of our times, even writing books on brahmacharya. The beloved Swami (Papa) Ramdas of Anandashram, the embodiment of purity, had been married and also had children.

In the Gita Sri Krishna tells us:

“And though you were the foulest of sinners, this knowledge alone would carry you like a raft, over all your sin. The blazing fire turns wood to ashes: the fire of knowledge turns all karmas to ashes.” (Bhagavad Gita 4:36, 37)

“Everything in future will
improve if you are making
a spiritual effort now.”

—Sri Yukteswar

“ Though a man be soiled with the sins of a lifetime, let him but love me, rightly resolved, in utter devotion: I see no sinner, that man is holy. Holiness soon shall refashion his nature to peace eternal; O son of Kunti, of this be certain: the man that loves me, he shall not perish. (Bhagavad Gita 9:30, 31)

In Autobiography of a Yogi, we find this: “A new student occasionally expressed doubts regarding his own worthiness to engage in yoga practice.

“Forget the past,” Sri Yukteswar would console him. “The vanished lives of all men are dark with many shames. Human conduct is ever unreliable until anchored in the Divine. Everything in future will improve if you are making a spiritual effort now.”

This is the truth of the matter.

Trust in God and in your divine Self.

Related articles:

Twelve Pointers for Maintaining Brahmacharya (Celibacy)
Science Discovers the Physiological Value of Continence

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