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It is known that a married person (grihastha) can practice brahmacharya (by avoiding sex on prohibited days).

It is obviously allowed for him to perform sexual activity for begetting offspring.

But my doubt is:

Will his brahmacharya be preserved even if he engages in sexual activity for sensual pleasure?

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  • @commonman Because I red in some puranas that sex is allowed for Brahmachari after marriage. So i get confuse.
    – hanugm
    May 5, 2019 at 16:23
  • Here we shoud hear from the Smritis as they are the authority in the dos and donts.Tantra is a parallel authority also, but not the puranas.
    – user17294
    May 5, 2019 at 16:25
  • @commonman Told in smritis that a person has to do sex only for child after marriage and has to stop then?
    – hanugm
    May 5, 2019 at 16:27
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    Yes, I think I have read this.Having sex twice a month is allowed only for procreation!
    – user17294
    May 5, 2019 at 16:28
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    @hanugm, i edited it further for clarification. btw, this also implies another modern-day question regarding contraceptives - hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/14179/…
    – ram
    May 6, 2019 at 2:01

1 Answer 1

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The definition of a married Brahmachari is given in the following Yajnavalkya Smriti verse:

LXXIX.—Sixteen nights are the "" Season " of women. Among these he should approach them during the even nights. Let him avoid the Parvana nights, &c. and the first four nights. By so doing he would be even a Brahmachari.—79

On this verse we have the following Mitakasra commentary:

That period of women, indicative of the state in which they are capable of getting conception, is called *' Season." And that period is " sixteen days and nights," counting from the first day of menstruation. In *' such " a season, and during ** even" i.e., equal (and not odd) nights, *' he should approach " or go to his wife for the sake of begetting a son. By specifying "night" day-time has been excluded. " Even nights," being in the plural number, indicates totality taken separately as well as collectively. So that in one season he may go in all even nights which have not been (otherwise) prohibited. By so doing he is even " like a Brahmachari." Therefore, when Brahmacharya (abstention from women) is ordained in Sraddha, &c. then by going as above, he is not guilty of transgressing the rule of Brahmacharya.

From the above discussion it does not seem to me that having sex without the intention of begetting progeny will be counted as "Brahmacharya".

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