[Advaita-l] brahmacharya in Raja yoga abhyAsa and advaita anushtAna

[Gopal]

Respected members,

Recently a locally renowned yoga teacher made  a statement during his
lecture that in the *abhyAsa *of Patanjali's yoga sutra aphorisms, *
brahmacharya* is only the  "hopeful attitude to see Brahman everywhere or
walk in the world with the knowledge/attitude that everything is Brahman"
and not the traditional interpretation of celibacy.

It was intriguing to hear that from him as he is known to advocate VyAsA's
bhAshya of Yoga Sutra for his yoga training and introspection. Assuming
this was the same VyAsA of *Brahma sutrAs*, my limited understanding of
this term from observing yathi-s of advaitic, v. advaitic and dvaitic mutts
is quite different.

Does the definition of Brahmacharya change with the sadhana mArga?   How do
the sutrakArA-s treat the necessity of *brahmacharya* in the* *sAdhana in
advaitic path? How do they define or expect the understanding of "*
brahmacharya*"?

 It is obvious if advaitic sAdhana is recommended to and practiced by
sanyaasis and those who choose not to enter grihastAshrama. But  for a long
time, advise and guidelines for advaitic practice have become common
commodity discussed by various 'missions' , authors and self-declared
advaitins who charmingly advocate the sAdhana in advaitic principles to
everyone including all types of non-brahmachAris.

In this situation, how should an aspirant or a wannabe-aspirant / student
of advaita understand this requirement?

My humble request is not to make this question an academic debate point in
the list.

with sincere thanks,

-gopal