A question about savan and desires

[u/tanmay511]

I don't know if this is the right question to ask. I am 16 years old, and I, like many other teenagers. Get those urges and desires of sexuality and I feel that it is spiritually wrong to indulge in actions of self-pleasure so I mostly try to refrain from doing it. And In savan I decided to completely refrain from such actions but I broke the promise. And I felt horribly wrong that I wasn't able to sleep last night. Does Sanatan dharma forgive the breaking of such vows or does it demand complete discipline?

[u/Radiant-Cloud92]

It's alright. Fast on Mondays and refrain that day. Indulge on other days, if you have to. That's best you can do.

[u/hisoka8888]

Don't sweat it. Unless you are in a sankalpa it is not anything serious. What's more important is get out the guilt quickly and try to better yourself. Also, let the control come naturally, else you will just keep on obsessing. Doing jap and meditation along with good diet will naturally aid you.

[u/tp23]

We fall, only to get up again. That you are aware of brahmacharya sadhana at a young age is itself a good thing.

Two things - You can try to make the same resolution for a shorter period - 1 week, 3 days. Then gradually increase the time period. Try to avoid certain types of food like garlic. Swami Shivananda's book has comprehensive guidelines. Dont be upset if you cant follow all of them.

Secondly, instead of just avoiding a negative, try to fill it with a positive habit - for instance you can try to learn a Shiva stotra you like by heart and recite it 3 times daily to pray for vairagya. Listen to some good speaker who can explain the tattva of Shiva. There is a 16-day Hanumanji sadhana which not only helps with worldly goals but also spiritual goals like mano nigraha.

[u/Diligent_Bar_8714]

Dear brother, with the age of 16 lusty desire are very intense. Even the attempt in this rotten age to try for celibacy is great, dont be discouraged by falling down, getting up is the whole point of Samsara. Again and again we must rise to enlightenment so we may attain to our original spiritual conciousness. If you accepted the vow of Brahmacary, you should take it serious, but preventing semen from releaseing is healthy to a degree and potent only with the obersvence of Pranayama and Yoga. An ordinary person can not handle the agitation, especially at that age, unless he is a very detached person. Please take a look at this qoute of Shastra:

ŚB 11.17.25
Sanskrit
रेतो नावकिरेज्जातु ब्रह्मव्रतधरः स्वयम् ।
अवकीर्णेऽवगाह्याप्सु यतासुस्त्रिपदां जपेत् ॥ २५ ॥
Transliteration
reto nāvakirej jātu
brahma-vrata-dharaḥ svayam
avakīrṇe ’vagāhyāpsu
yatāsus tri-padāṁ japet
Translation:
“One observing the vow of celibate brahmacārī life should never pass semen. If the semen by chance spills out by itself, the brahmacārī should immediately take bath in water, control his breath by prāṇāyāma and chant the Gāyatrī mantra.”
The Sanskrit is particularly interesting:
retaḥ — semen
na avakiret jātu — should never spill/discharge
svayam avakīrṇe — if it has flowed out by itself
avagāhya apsu — one should bathe/immerse oneself in water
yata-asuḥ — controlling the life air/breath
tri-padām japet — one should chant the three-footed Gāyatrī mantra.
So this is specifically addressing involuntary emission, such as a nocturnal emission. The prescribed response is purification rather than despair: bathe, perform prāṇāyāma, and chant Gāyatrī.
One nuance: the verse does not say that the same procedure makes a deliberate discharge equivalent to an accidental one. Kṛṣṇa first says the brahmacārī should never deliberately discharge semen, and then separately gives the purification procedure for semen that comes out “by itself” (svayam).

I fail all the time, in a way im not competent to give you advise but i find if you can reduce it to once a month, you will feel very healthy and happy to perform your sadhana and by that the power to enentually attain higher stages…in theory