[Advaita-l] svapna karma - real phala ??

[Praveen R. Bhat]

Hari Om, praNAm,

I've also heard that if one is destined for a bad phala due to purva karma,
the phala may pass away as bhoga in the svapnAvasthA due to the blessings
of Ishvara/ Guru. Personally, I don't think that taijasa/svapna karma
brings binding phala to the vishva/jagRta jIva, but it may further subtle
vAsanas or deeper attachment based on how much the mind is awake.

As for retasskhalana, Swami Sivananda (who was a doctor in pUrvAshrama)
says that it is not really harmful for a sAdhaka, since the energy is not
lost in it and most of it is the prostrate discharge. This can be gathered
from the following extract from his book Practice of Brahmacharya:

"A sexual act shatters the nervous system. The whole nervous system is
shaken or agitated during the act. There is excessive loss of energy. More
energy is wasted during coition. But it is not so when emission occurs
during the dreaming state. In a wet dream, it may be the outflow of the
prostatic juice only. Even if there is loss of the vital fluid, there is
not much draining. The actual essence does not come out during wet dreams.
It is only the watery prostatic juice with a little semen that is
discharged during nocturnal pollutions. When nocturnal emission takes
place, the mind which was working in the inner astral body suddenly enters
the physical body vehemently in an agitated condition. That is the reason
why emission takes place suddenly."

SivAnandArpaNamastu,
--Praveen R. Bhat
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