BK Food issues

We were often told not to eat breakfast before coming in to class. This was based on something Dadi Janki said to the effect that the Murli is more important than breakfast.

Probably so that you can give the money to the Kripalani Klan rather than spend it on Cornflakes and soya milk ...

I have never heard of this one in any Murli either.

We were often told not to eat breakfast before coming in to class. This was based on something Dadi Janki said to the effect that the Murli is more important than breakfast. So you see how far the BKWSU in its centres in the West has strayed from the original teachings.

Is this true for all the centres in the West? The centres I have been too (east and West), the breakfast was always after the Murli class, as the Murli provided the "food" for the day. During breakfast, you were to also churn the Murli, and discuss it a little with the other BKs, though that depended on the company at times. It was okay to drink warm water, milk, tea or chai before the class though.

Can current BKs confirm this.

Wow, there are a lot of different points in this thread! But to respond to the first and the last; I would agree that there is no need to make anyone uncomfortable over food issues. I, luckily, had decided to go veggie about a year before I became a BK. I was living with my parents at the time and I just did my own food (frankly, it was mainly because I had been at Univeristy, used to cook for myself and was bored with my mums food but didnt want to upset her!). So then when I became a BK, it wasn't a big deal. I've always been open about what I do. Recently I stayed for a while with my parents, and while I was there I cooked for myself and then would just offer it in my room. I think we can tend to get more hung up on these things then others do. People are used to others having allergies and wierd food preferences these days.

vis Bansy's question about breakfast, my experience is that if you are at a centre at the weekend, or in a "full time" centre where the teacher doesnt have to go to work, then yes; breakfast is shared after the Murli. But I was never told this was for anything other than practical reasons and I've never heard this Dadi Janki quote about not eating before the Murli for some spriritual reason. When I used to go to work straight after Murli, I would always have something to eat before leaving my house. These days I do not feel like eating so early, so I'll have some fruit at my work. But I never heard any Shrimat laid down about when "thou shalt have breakfast!" ( and believe me, I am sure my first teacher would have laid it down with a trowel if there was!!)

I always liked the story about a Sister going to Brahma Baba all repentent about not remembering Shiv Baba when eating, and him telling her not to worry but to go and eat some more in remembrance! There's a danger in forgetting the point by getting too hung up on the process (if you'll excuse my inadvertant pun ...!)

Wow there are a lot of different points in this thread!

Yes, open threads gives open talk. Almost as many points per thread as there are points per Murli

Welcome to the forum Yudhishtira, your first post in another thread was entertaining.

Thank you kindly (in the words of the Mountie ...) Bansy!

Extracts of ShivBaba’s Murli [via Baba Veerendra Dev Dixit ] – as narrated to the PBKs

VCD* No.255, Cassette No.736, dated 8.6.05 at Bharveli

Clarification of Murli dated 25.9.66

Ref. No.VCD*. & VCD*.

... So, when you can purify the world through the journey of remembrance, then food is not a big issue. What? Food; by chance we go to relatives' place for service and if those relatives become angry that - why do you not eat at our house? Are we bhangis (scavengers)? So, if you eat food by remaining in such a sharp journey of remembrance, then that food would not have an opposite influence. Making the food pure is not a big issue. When you prepare food, you cook the food in the remembrance of the Father; then that becomes pure. If you prepare the food while being in adulterated remembrance, then what would the food become? It would become impure, although you prepare with your own hands. So transforming the food, making it pure - is not a big issue. Remember the Father and give drishti; that is all! Eat the food in remembrance. Military people have to eat at the canteens. There is a compulsion for them that they cannot cook their own food and eat. When they go to the warfield, then they would certainly have to eat readymade food. So will they keep becoming impure? Will they not be able to follow The Knowledge or be in remembrance? cannot they learn Godly Rajyog? They can learn. The method is that they should eat food in remembrance ...

"Baba kahtey hain koshish karo - shuddh cheez khaaney kee. Laachaari haalat may drishti dekar khao aur kya karengey. Double roti toh mil saktee hai. Shahad, makkhan, aalu ley saktey ho. Jis cheez kee aadat pad gayee toh fir chaltaa rahega. Har baat may poochnaa padey." (Brahmakumariyon dwara prakaashit revised Sakar Murli, dinaank 27.1.07, pg 2)

“Baba says - try to eat pure food. Under helpless condition, give drishti and eat; what else can you do? One can get bread (double roti). You can procure honey, butter, and potato. Once one becomes habituated of something, then that (habit) would continue. One must ask in every matter.” (Revised Sakar Murli dated 27.01.07, pg 2 published by BKs)

Hi, I am totally convinced about the importance of vibrations in food and follow the food disciplines with enthusiasm, not out of compulsion. Sometimes it happens that BKs do not feel comfortable at eating brahmabojan or tolis that another BK has prepared because one knows that that person has a lot of anger and negative thoughts, for instance, including centre niwassis/in charge. Ask Seniors and typical answer might be "eat it anyway because it's been purified by offering it to Baba first".

However, being quite wary about vibes, I prefer not taking the chance. Why should I ignore my discrimination power and eat food that I perceive as "poisonous" just to be a pleaser?

Sometimes it happens that BKs do not feel comfortable at eating brahmabojan or tolis that another BK has prepared because one knows that that person has a lot of anger and negative thoughts, for instance, including centre niwassis/in charge. Ask Seniors and typical answer might be "eat it anyway because it's been purified by offering it to Baba first". However, being quite wary about vibes, I prefer not taking the chance. Why should I ignore my discrimination power and eat food that I perceive as "poisonous" just to be a pleaser?

Thanks alladin. This post comes right out of the pages of my actual experience. When i look back at my journey I see a great significance in the events that led me to say NO to accepting Brahma Bhojan from a center-in-charge after it became apparent that their vision was not conducive to my spiritual progress.

What was more appalling to my mind was that it was another BK with whom I had very little previous contact who said something about me. So nowadays I am wary about who those center-in-charges introduce/select as thier 'right arms' because for all i know it could be a spy on a mission to 'carry tales out of school' as my mum used to say. Seeking only to curry favour with the one that gave them opportunity to serve.

BTW I never said NO to Brahma Bhojan; what i actually said is that I did not want that instrument to serve me Brahma Bhojan. The interpretation (evident by their actions till this day) was that I no longer wanted Brahma Bhojan - another example of selective interpretation by which a student can become marginalised in a centre.

Instinctively i now know that i have to avoid the bad vibes that could accompany the dish I am offered. So a motto can be: Eat, drink and be merry but beware the vibes in the bhojan.

For any student finding themselves in this situation please remember that it is the center-in-charge's responsibility to ensure that if you have reason to refuse Brahma Bhojan 'specifically' from their hands then they ought to ensure that another 'qualified' student can offer that to you. That is the system as I know it and am open to correction/clarification.

In the event that there is no-one else to do that then we will have to accept that. But at least we ought to be at peace knowing that the Brahma Bhojan-less situ we find ourself in is as a consequence of own actions (whether wrong or right) and so reflective of our personal development and growth into spiritual maturity and not some arbitrarily applied BK system.

Thanks for sharing alladin.

Stir it up. With your own positive vibes, or the ones of trustworthy yogi souls.

CELIBACY: Extracts from "Nutritional Sex Control & Rejuvenation" by Dr Raymond W. Bernard, Mokelumne Hill, CA: Health Research.

A link from the BK AUstralia forum here.

Since time immemorial, religious devotees abstained from meat or fasted for the purpose of controlling sexual impulses, and this explains the customs of abstention from meat and fasting during certain religious holidays. The ancient Orphics, Pythagoreans, Essenes, Gnostics, neo-Platonists, and Manichaeans all practiced vegetarianism in order to succeed in the practice of continence, which they regarded as essential for achieving the highest degree of physical and spiritual regeneration.

Pythagoras, who was born a physiologist and a moral reformer, was the first to claim that protein foods augment sexual inclinations and that a low-protein, strictly vegetarian diet was essential for all who wish to live in continence and experience the beneficial effects of this practice in leading to better brain nutrition and in heightening intellectual and spiritual powers.

Pythagoras taught that there was a direct connection between the semen and the brain and that loss of semen weakens the brain, while its conservation improves the brain's nutrition, since the substances thus conserved act as brain nutrients.

We now know that this is a physiological fact which the intuition of Pythagoras foresaw centuries ago since lecithin, an organic phosphorized fat which is a chief constituent of brain and nerve tissue, is an essential component of the semen and is lost with it. This means that the greater the seminal excretion, the more lecithin is lost from the blood and consequently from the brain; whereas conservation of semen through continence leads to better lecithin (organic phosphorus) brain nutrition and increased intellectual energy. Since a low-protein diet diminishes the tendency of seminal excretion, it helps conserve lecithin for brain nutrition.

Since it is reasonable to identify spirituality with the regeneration of higher brain centers -- the pituitary and pineal glands, the latter organ being richer in lecithin than any other part of the body -- we can understand the reason why religious orders have always insisted on continence as a prime requisite for those who wish to live a spiritual life.

Among the Pythagoreans, who included some of the greatest mathematicians, astronomers, philosophers, and physicians of antiquity, not only meat but all foods rich in protein, including concentrated vegetable proteins, were prohibited as inimical to reaching the desired state of continence. While Pythagoreans married and bore children, they practiced continence as a physiological discipline of value to body and brain. St. Jerome wrote: 'The forge of Vulcan and the volcanoes of Vesuvius and Mt. Olympus do not burn more than those young men who live on succulent meats and indulge in wine.' . . . 'Wine and meat blunt the soul,' wrote Plutarch in defense of Pythagorean vegetarianism.

Gandhi, like Tolstoy, offers a modern example of a philosopher who practiced the dual Pythagorean doctrines of vegetarianism and continence and made the latter dependent on the former. In a debate with Margaret Sanger on the subject of contraception, which practice he denounced because it led to excessive sexual indulgence, Gandhi wrote: 'The horror with which ancient literature regarded the fruitless loss of the vital fluid was not a superstition born of ignorance. . . Surely it is criminal for a man to allow his most precious possession to run to waste.'

Havelock Ellis notes the mild sexual feeling among the Irish who live chiefly on potatoes and buttermilk, as against the extreme sexuality of the French who live on a highly stimulating diet of meat, sea foods, and wine. In view of Tissot's and Deslandes' observations on the effects of an alkaline diet in reducing mucous membrane irritation in the prostatic urethra, which is the seat of sexual feeling, it is interesting to refer to Dr. Hindhede's observations which have shown that a potato diet has a marked alkalizing effect on the blood and helps it to counteract and neutralize uric acid. In view of . . . the action of uric acid as an aphrodisiac, we can understand the reasons for the diminished sexuality of the potato-eating Irish as compared with the meat-and-wine-using French. . . .
Speaking of the type of diet best suited to reduce sexual irritability, Dr. Napheys writes:
'From ancient times, it has been well known that a wholly or chiefly vegetable diet favors the subjugation of the passions and hence was recommended to persons of violent desires and enjoined on celibate orders of priesthood. Particularly those vegetables which contain a large percentage of vegetable fiber and water, as cabbage, turnips, beets, melons, and carrots, and those which contain acids and some soporific principle as sorrel, sour fruits, lettuce chicory, endive, and other salads are reported to have especial virtues in this direction.'

There is a definite relation between constipation, with its associated autointoxication, and sexual craving. This results from two causes: direct physical pressure of the overdistended colon on the one side and the full bladder on the other side on the seminal vesicles (or uterus in the female) which lies sandwiched in between, and the irritating action of the intestinal toxins formed through the decay of protein remnants, which act as stimulants to the sexual centers, in addition to uric acid and other foods formed through their metabolism. Since the diet recommended by Dr. Napheys will help overcome constipation and autointoxication, by introducing plenty of vegetable cellulose into the intestinal tract, it is clear that it will, for this reason, aid to counteract sexual tendencies. Intestinal cleanliness and freedom from autointoxication through protein putrefaction is the first step in sexual control.

On this subject, the following quotation by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, who for over sixty years was a strong advocate of a low protein diet and also a believer in the physiological value of continence, writes:
'Flesh, condiments, eggs, tea, coffee, chocolate, and all other stimulants have a powerful influence directly upon the blood; and through nervous sympathy with the brain, the passions are aroused. Poor blood, filled with crude, poorly digested food, is irritating to the nervous system and especially to those extremely delicate nerves which govern the reproductive function. Irritation provokes congestion; congestion excites sexual desires; excited passions increase the local disturbances; and thus each reacts upon the other, ever increasing the injury and liability of future damage.

'While children are raised upon such articles, or upon food with which they are thoroughly mingled, what wonder that they occasionally turn out bad. How many mothers, while teaching their children the principles of virtue in the nursery, unwittingly stimulate passions at the dinner table until vice becomes almost a physical necessity? Thus these exciting causes continue their insidious work through youth and more mature years. Right under the eyes of fathers and mothers they work the ruin of children, exciting such storms of passion as may become uncontrollable. Nothing tends so powerfully to keep the passions in abeyance as a simple diet, free from condiments, especially when coupled with a generous amount of exercise.' (Kellogg, H.J.; 'Plain Facts.')

Writing on the influence of diet on the development of sexual precocity and the habit of masturbation in the young, Dr. Miller, in his Treatise on the Cause of Exhausted Vitality, writes:'Feeding children upon pork, gravies, eggs, and pastry made of lard, salt, meat, with mustard and pepper, rich pies and cake and sweetmeats, vinegar, pickles, tea and coffee, and everything of this description, tends to fire the blood, derange the nerves, and bring on a precocious development of the sexual passion.' .

Havelock Ellis considers fish, oysters, shellfish, and beefsteak as strong aphrodisiacs. He writes: 'Food and drink are powerful sexual stimulants. This is true even of the simplest and most wholesome nourishment and is more especially true of flesh meat and above all alcohol. Fish, shellfish (especially oysters) and eggs have a popular reputation as aphrodisiacs. The same applies to caviar (fish eggs). Islanders and seacoast tribes, subsisting on sea foods, are noted to be extremely lascivious. Whiteween, while working at an educational institution for abandoned young people in Eeremeloo, observed the effect of fish and cod liver oil in increasing sexual desire. Crabs and lobsters, like oysters and other shellfish, are noted for their aphrodisiacal properties, which are related to their high content of uric acid. Certain sea foods contain even more uric acid than meat, and this accounts for their being even stronger sexual stimulants.

'. . . With some persons, excessive sexual desire is directly dependent upon high living. Gouty conditions of the blood incidental to the latter are especially likely to be associated with irritation of the genito-urinary tract and particularly of the nerves of sexual sensibility. If one would remain continent, he must not only abjure all mental sources of sexual excitement, but he must abstain from stimulants, tobacco, highly seasoned foods -- in short, from all articles of diet that tend to induce nervous irritability. It is probable that a strictly vegetarian diet is the best one that can be advised for an individual who desires to remain continent in mind and body.' (Lydston, F.G.: 'Impotence and Sterility').

On the same subject, Newton, in his book, The Better Way, writes: 'They who have ever carefully noted the effects on themselves of most kinds of alcoholic stimulants, of coffee, oysters, eggs, spices, and an excess of animal food of almost any kind -- and especially those who prefer these things because of their stimulating effects in this direction -- as well as they who find pleasure in filthy conversation and practices referred to, cannot surely with justice charge upon "nature" the exuberance of their amatory desires. In so far, then, as this appetite is excessive in us beyond the requirements of nature and enlightened reason, it is unnatural and diseased. . . . A careful abstinence from exciting foods, drinks, acts, and thoughts, and the use of appropriate means to allay excitement -- these, persisted in, will bring victory in due time.'

Coffee, tea, and cocoa, as well as chocolate, contain uric acid, caffeine and other toxic alkaloids, which are sexually stimulating. Dr. McDougall of London says that several of his patients afflicted with spermatorrhea and generative debility discovered that tea and coffee always proved harmful to them by provoking such discharges. The caffeine they contain increases the heart beat, raises the blood pressure and so exerts an aphrodisiacal effect, while their uric acid irritates and causes inflammation of the genital mucous membrane, which is the seat of sexual sensibility. Lellamand mentions the case of a man who suffered from frequent nocturnal emissions which proved quite debilitating, as a result of excessive coffee drinking; but when the coffee was discontinued, the emissions stopped, and the patient was restored to health. Cocoa, which contains the alkaloid theobromine, has long been regarded as an aphrodisiac.

Among irritants of the genital mucous membranes, Dr. Tissot lists pork, game, spices, alcohol, fish, eggs, pepper, and coffee as being most potent, and all are strong sexual stimulants. On this point, Dr. Elliot, in his 'Aetiology,' writes: 'The abnormal intensity of the sexual impulse is largely due to improper and too stimulating food, to liquors of all kinds, spiced meats, etc. -- because such improper diet causes irritation in the mucous membrane lining the digestive tract; and as this is similar to that lining the genital organs, they also become irritated and congested. To control and subdue the sexual impulse it is necessary to avoid eating or drinking anything that may tend to increase it -- as, for instance, spices, condiments, rich and highly seasoned foods, eggs and meat, tea, alcoholic liquors or tobacco, or any irritating or stimulating food or drink.'

Just as a uric-acid forming diet, by its irritating influence on the genital mucous membranes, promotes sexual desires, so an alkaline-forming diet, which counteracts the formation of uric aid, consisting of vegetables, potatoes, and fruits -- has the opposite effect and tends to reduce sexual inclinations. Such a diet will be of value in the prevention and overcoming of masturbation in children, in cases of sexual perversion and excess, and in various female maladies which result from inflammation of the genital mucosa, as in the catarrhal discharges of leucorrhea, in gonorrhea, etc.

Salt, pepper, mustard, and strong spices, all of which are irritants to the mucous membranes in general and the genital mucosa in particular, are aphrodisiacs and promote seminal emissions.

[O]nions were regarded as aphrodisiacs by the Greeks as they still are among the yogis of India, as they also regard garlic. In some countries, celery is regarded as an aphrodisiac. Among the Chinese, ginseng is the most widely used sexual invigorator due to the well-known effect of this herb to vitalize the sex glands.

[Experiments show] that sex in its ordinary manifestations among civilized human beings is not the product of natural instinct that is generally supposed to be but is a chemotropism evoked or conditioned reflex (in Pavlov's sense) evoked in response to aphrodisiacal stimulation by foods and beverages, especially animal proteins, alcohol, coffee, and also tobacco. This tropistic reaction, in both its physical and psychical aspects, is subject to voluntary control through diet, an alkaline-forming, low-protein vegetable diet reducing it, while an acid-forming high-protein meat diet increases it.

The above evidence indicates that nocturnal emissions, in spite of their universality among the male sex, and contrary to popular and medical beliefs, are not natural physiological phenomena normal after puberty, nor do they provide a necessary release of semen when not discharged through voluntary sexual acts. For we shall see later that a definite physiological mechanism exists for the lymphatic resorption of semen from the seminal vesicles where it is stored.

We may therefore conclude that nocturnal emissions, like other sexual orgasms, are to be regarded as a vicarious elimination of the end-products of protein metabolism and indicate that the protein intake is excessive and that the kidneys are overworked. When protein intake is reduced to bodily requirements, there will be no need for the gonads to come to the aid of the kidneys and eliminate surplus nitrogenous matter in this way. As a result, nocturnal emissions disappear, as well as the tendency to erections and sexual orgasms in general.

[S]peaking of nocturnal emissions, Dr. Mowry writes: 'I am a dyed-in-the-wool believer that these are unnatural and when frequent are pathological, doing damage to the economy and causing a sensation of weakness and lassitude that is not imaginary. . . . The main cause is a congestive condition of the deep urethra. . . . It has been suggested that these hyperemias may be caused by some irritant in the urine due to faulty metabolism. . . A well defined diet must be ordered and a light supper must be eaten leisurely. The bowels must be regular. Prevent distension of the bladder. These emissions occur practically always in the early morning and are due to the distended bladder pressing the already irritated deep urethra, causing an explosion.'

The irritant in the urine to which Dr. Mowry refers is uric acid and other acid end-products of protein metabolism, which are produced in greatest quantity by animal proteins (i.e., meats of all kinds, fish, eggs, etc.). Coffee and tea also introduce uric acid into the system and irritate the deep urethra where lies the seat of sexual sensibility. The secret of sexual control is to maintain the blood and urine in as alkaline a state as possible, so as not to irritate the sexual centers in the mucous lining of the prostatic urethra. This is best achieved by a low-protein fruit and vegetable diet.

A high-protein meat diet, on the other hand, tends to produce sexual desire and nocturnal emissions by forming uric acid, which irritates the mucous lining of the prostatic urethra and also by producing intestinal putrefaction, generating poisons in the intestines which paralyze their peristaltic movements and cause constipation. Since the seminal vesicles, like the uterus, lie sandwiched in between the colon and bladder, constipation, involving a distended colon filled with hardened fecal matter, causes pressure on this organ and predisposes to emissions, just as it predisposes to uterine discharges and painful and excessive menstruation. Therefore the first step in the elimination of these conditions is to suppress intestinal putrefaction and overcome constipation and autointoxication through a low-protein vegetarian diet.

Dr. Arnold Ehret observed that on a low-protein fruit and vegetable diet, using no meat, eggs, or dairy products, there is a complete disappearance of nocturnal emissions in males and leucorrhea (genital mucous discharge) in women, who also experience a progressive decrease of the menstrual flow, which occurs at increasingly longer periods until it completely disappears, coincident with heightened vitality and better health due to the resulting conservation of vital fluids.

The chief acid-forming foods are meat, fowl, fish, eggs, cheese, nuts, animal fats, butter, wheat, and oats. The chief alkaline-forming foods are vegetables, fruits, and potatoes. The former foods increase the inflammation of the prostatic urethra which is the physiological cause of nocturnal emission, most sex desire and excessive and pathological sexual manifestations and diseases.

In the female, an acid-forming diet causes inflammation of the uterine mucous membrane and tends to cause the occurrence of leucorrhea and menstruation. By reducing such inflammation through an alkaline diet, Dr. Shroyer, a New England gynecologist, caused such female conditions to disappear and also caused uterine tumors to reduce and vanish, since these represent only a more advanced stage of the process of mucous membrane inflammation.

Fasting, which has been practiced since time immemorial by religious ascetics to overcome sexual inclinations, is a dependable method of sex control and sexual therapy because it helps free the blood of uric acid. But for the average high-protein feeder who suffers from chronic constipation and autointoxication (even if he has a daily bowel movement), it is best to first regenerate intestinal functioning by means of a low-protein strictly vegetarian diet composed chiefly of rice, potatoes, vegetables, and fruits.

Freudianism is in a large sense a rationalization of modern sexual behavior, which seeks to provide scientific justification for sexual actions that are really unnatural and are products of aphrodisiacal food stimulation. Chief among the errors of this new pseudo-scientific phallic cult is the superstition that Freud picked up from the gutter and dressed in scientific garb that sexual abstinence is harmful and a cause of nervous and mental disorders as the result of 'sexual repression' that it involves and that sexual intercourse is a normal expression of the libido which is necessary for health, which belief has led many misinformed physicians to advise young men to visit prostitutes and risk venereal disease as a lesser evil than the assumed evil effects of sexual continence. [T]his belief is without scientific foundation . . . Freud makes this myth, in the form of his doctrine of repression, the cornerstone of his pseudo-scientific edifice. He himself was a sick, neurasthenic man. His picture shows him smoking a cigar, a powerful aphrodisiac. His entire philosophy of sex, to a large extent, has been colored by the chemotropistic influence of his tobacco addiction, without him being aware of it, plus his diet, which failed to keep him in health.

As a matter of fact, the present post-Freudian neurotic age suffers not from sexual abstinence and repression but from the reverse, from sexual overexpression and overindulgence. Nowhere in Freud's works do we find a warning against sexual excess as a cause of nervous diseases and insanity, which it is admitted to be by eminent authorities. Instead of attributing neurasthenia to its true cause, i.e., lecithin deficiency and resulting nerve cell undernutrition, resulting from loss of lecithin through the semen, Freud wrongly traces it to sexual repression or underindulgence in sexual activity and his cure is uninhibited sexual intercourse. In forwarding this view and popularizing it, Freud has elevated the most groundless of popular superstitions and unscientific misconceptions into a scientific theory which, in the light of modern knowledge of sexual biochemistry and endocrinology, must be thrown onto the scrap heap of discarded pseudo-scientific theories and regarded as a rationalization to appease the conscience of modern neurotic sexual overindulgers and to create a large financial income by sale of his books which appealed greatly to public demand.

The idea that the sex glands, in addition to their external secretion, produce an internal secretion which is absorbed into the bloodstream and has an important physiological function to perform, is no new idea, since it has been suspected by physiologists, physicians, and philosophers since ancient times. The Greek philosophers of antiquity, back to Pythagoras, who originated this idea, which he acquired during his studies under Egyptian initiate-priests, speculated much concerning a possible internal physiological function of the semen when retained in the body.

Pythagoras was convinced of such a function and of the vital value of seminal conservation, or continence, which became a part of the hygienic and ethical discipline of his school at Crotona and of the Pythagorean Order he founded, basing this practice on a strictly vegetarian diet low in protein. Pythagoras advocated continence as a practice of utmost physiological value both to body and brain, for he considered the semen as 'the flower of the purest blood,' which it was important to carefully preserve. For this reason, the followers of Pythagoras, as well as of the Greek philosophers who were later influenced by his teachings, as Plato and Aristotle, lived strictly continent lives. Alemeon, a Pythagorean physician, on the basis of Pythagoras's physiological doctrines, claimed that the semen, when conserved, is transformed into brain nourishment and represents potential brain matter, an intuition which is now confirmed by modern biochemistry, which finds that the semen and the brain are remarkably similar in chemical composition, both being very rich in lecithin (a phosphoric brain fat), more so than most other parts of the body.

Concerning the fact that the ancients anticipated by thousands of years some of our most recent discoveries in endocrinology concerning the important physiological role of the internal secretions of the sex glands, the eminent endocrinologist, Dr. Arnold Lorand, writes: 'The ancient Hindus recommended to men sexual abstinence of long duration, thinking that by this means the internal secretion of the sexual glands would be absorbed into the system and that they would thereby reap all the benefits inherent in such a secretion. By this it seems that thousands of years before Claude Bernard and Brown-Sequard, the Hindus already appreciated the great importance of the internal secretions.'

Preparing an extract made from a dog's testicle, [Brown-Sequard] injected this into his leg. Within 24 hours after the injection, a marked change took place, due to what he called the 'dynamogenic' or energizing effect of the testicular extract. Body and brain became charged with new power.

Concerning the latter experiment, Dr. K.S. Guthrie, in his work 'Regeneration,' remarked: 'But if the human sperma is as good, if not better, why should not each man preserve his own, instead of wasting this and then procuring other by repulsive and brutal means? . . . Should man inject into himself the testicular secretions of animals when he could preserve his own and keep his body continually at the highest point of vitality? In view of this it would not be too much to say that if a man were absolutely continent, he would be free from all disease and more or less so in proportion as he was not quite continent.'
This statement by Dr. Guthrie is interesting, since it is supported by the experiments of Goizet in curing a hundred different diseases by testicular extracts.

Since the semen is very rich in lecithin, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and is reported to contain vitamin E, sex hormones, and other substances of physiological value, it is clear that a withdrawal of these vital essentials from the blood by seminal emissions could bring on weakness and disease resulting from chronic cellular malnutrition so produced. Since the sex glands are the master glands of the endocrine chain, we can understand why such long-continued withdrawals of lecithin and other hormone-building ingredients could cause the endocrines to degenerate and bring on premature senility as a result. It is known that endocrine degeneration is the physiological cause of old age. While Sokoloff claims this is caused by autointoxication, it may also be caused by lecithin deficiency resulting from seminal excretion.

Dr. Arnold Lorand repeated Brown-Sequard's experiment and noted a decided increase in muscular and mental powers after injection into himself of testicular extract from a pig. Subsequent studies along this line, however, showed that the effects of the 'Brown-Sequard Elixir,' as his testicular extract (made from the semen and other parts of the testicles) was called, were only temporary and disappeared as soon as the injected substances were utilized by the body, their effects being mainly nutritional. Loisel has moreover shown that such extracts are liable to have toxic effects and may even cause death, due to decomposition of their albumen, which causes poisoning as do other foreign proteins when injected into the blood. The use of testicular extracts has therefore been abandoned as a scientific method of rejuvenation.

In his two reports on the results of his experiment, which he delivered to the Society of Biology in Paris, Brown-Sequard dared not express the revolutionary idea, which he did in later writings, and which was an inescapable conclusion from the results of his experiment, namely, that if enrichment of the individual's blood with foreign testicular secretions and substances is beneficial and rejuvenating, so should be the conservation of the person's own. Also, indulgence, masturbation, nocturnal emissions, etc., should be harmful to health and vitality. An identical conclusion was later reached by Professor Sajous, dean of American endocrinologists and Professor Lydston of the University of Illinois in his work 'Impotency and Sterility.'

Unfortunately, the human intellect is not sufficiently free from domination of emotions and passions to be willing to accept the doctrine that continence is beneficial to health, which works against the pleasure-pain principle that seems to dominate human thought and behavior. Brown-Sequard knew that if the scientists assembled at the Society of Biology before whom he read the report of his experiment ridiculed and rejected it, certainly they would do so to an even greater extent if he presented such a conclusion based on the experiment, namely that it is beneficial to conserve one's own testicular secretions and harmful to waste them and that such conservation constitutes a natural method of sexual regeneration and rejuvenation.

Since the internal secretion of the testis has been shown to be formed by the same tissues which elaborate the external secretion, i.e., the seminiferous tubules, the question arises as to the nature of the physiological mechanism by which the semen is resorbed into the circulation when it is not expended. Steinach's experiments have shown that such a resorption occurs through the walls of the vas deferens, epididymis, etc., which are lined by absorptive lymphatics, which take up the blocked up testicular secretions and their contained sex hormones produced by the seminiferous tubules and which carry them into the bloodstream.

There is also evidence that a similar absorption of seminal secretions and hormones can take place through the walls of the seminal vesicles which are richly lined by absorptive lymphatics; and this explains how testicular secretions and other secretions of the male genital tract, when stored in the seminal vesicles and not externally discharged, either through voluntary or involuntary emissions, are disposed of. The existence of such resorption through the absorptive lymphatics which thickly surround the seminal vesicles is undisputed, just as it is known that semen can be resorbed through the mucous lining of the female tract.

'It (the semen) is secreted by the testicles, thence passing through a rather long canal (the epididymis and vas deferens which connects with it) into the seminal vesicles and is constantly taken up again by absorbent vessels and returned into the mass of circulating fluid. In a healthy man, the semen is constantly secreted in the testicles; it proceeds from them into the receptacles which are very limited and which cannot contain what is secreted in one day. There are however some very continent men who have no emission of semen for whole years. What then becomes of it if it be not returned to the circulation?

'It is probable that this absorption does not take place solely in the seminal vesicles, but also in the testicles, the epididymis, which is a kind of first receptacle adhering to them and in the vas deferens, through which the semen passes from these organs to the seminal vesicles. The semen is retained in the seminal vesicles until it is used, or expelled, by nocturnal emissions. During this time, the greater part is reabsorbed by the blood, and produces in entering it remarkable changes.' (Tissot: Treatise on the Diseases Produced by Onanism). . . .

'Those persons who are seeking the highest state of vitality possible to them, and who realize that all losses whatever, through whatever causes, must be avoided, there is for them a possibility of an ever-increasing vitality. . . . They will insist on preserving every drop of their precious semen, permitting it naturally to be resorbed, assuring them first of all of a perfect body, next of increased mental faculties, and finally, if they progress, and the higher nervous centers be nourished and developed, of the fullest spiritual development.' (Guthrie, K.S.: Regeneration). . . .

Steinach has shown that the resorbed internal secretions of the sex glands, after passing into the general bloodstream, accumulate chiefly in the tissues of the central nervous system, which seems to have a selective affinity for them which can be explained on the basis of their similarity in chemical composition, both being especially rich in lecithin and phosphates. Indeed no two different constituents of the human body are so remarkably similar in composition than the semen and the brain or the spermatozoa and cortical cells of the cerebrum, both having a central head and an elongated body -- the tail in the case of the spermatozoa and the dendrites of the brain cells. They are also extremely rich in lecithin, cholesterol, and nucleoproteins.
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Other books by Raymond Bernard, published by Health Research:

Science Discovers the Physiological Value of Continence

The Secret of Rejuvenation or Professor Brown Sequard's Great Discovery of the Fountain of Youth

The Physiological Enigma of Woman: The mystery of menstruation

Mysteries of Human Reproduction

An excellent example of what BKs whip themselves up into a frenzy with. I am not even sure that Dr Bernard is a doctor-doctor.

But in 1964, he published, "The Hollow Earth (see link) - The Greatest Geographical Discovery in History Made by Admiral Richard E. Byrd in the Mysterious Land Beyond the Poles - The True Origin of the Flying Saucers" believing that there was an inner sun and another world within the earth's crust. Apparently the Eskimos came from the interior of the earth (presumably instantly crashing their flying saucers and depending on reindeer ever since!).

You missed the best of Jagdish Chanders writing on the subject. It was remarkable ... quotes from 19th Century medical literature, all sort of ridiculous obscenities to frighten people off. Wonderful stuff.

CELIBACY: Extracts from "Nutritional Sex Control & Rejuvenation" by Dr Raymond W. Bernard, Mokelumne Hill, CA: Health Research ... Since time immemorial, religious devotees abstained from meat or fasted for the purpose of controlling sexual impulses, and this explains the customs of abstention from meat and fasting during certain religious holidays. The ancient Orphics, Pythagoreans, Essenes, Gnostics, neo-Platonists, and Manichaeans all practiced vegetarianism in order to succeed in the practice of continence, which they regarded as essential for achieving the highest degree of physical and spiritual regeneration.et etc etc etc

Whilst understanding that diet plays a huge role in all our health issues, physically and spiritually, I am amazed that Jannisder has managed to pull this from the BKWSU Australia forum! In my day as a BK we would never dare discuss this at all and had to accept what we were told and then constantly battled with the resultant problems ... all well documented in this forum.

Nowadays (Perhaps?) the newer BKs are asking questions facilitating a reasonable need for specific explanatation by the center-in-charges ~ it always helps to know WHY and WHEN instead of following blindly in others well-worn footsteps. Its good to see that it's not got the 'official' BK stamp on it - I doubt if any of the SS or center-in-charges of my time ever remotely asked, questioned or wondered how diet/celibacy/sexuality affects one to the level shown in this particular posting.

A big difference between an open intellect and and enquiring one indeed.

"So, the Father explains: Children, you also have to imbibe divine virtues. Your food and drink also have to be good. You should never want to eat something in particular. These desires arise here. Baba has seen many ashrams of those who are in the stage of retirement. They live there very peacefully." Revised Sakar Murli spoken by suprme Father Shiva through the mouth of Brahma Baba dcated 31.1.04

"Continue to do service and you won't even need food etc. It is said: There is no nourishment like happiness. When you don't have money, you feel hungry all the time. It is as though the stomachs of wealthy kings are always full. Their activity is very royal. Their way of speaking is also first-class. You understand what you are becoming. There, people eat and drink with great royalty. They would never eat between meals. They eat very peacefully, with great royalty. You should learn all virtues." Revised Sakar Murli spoken by suprme Father Shiva through the mouth of Brahma Baba dictated 31.1.04

Protein is said to be the weakness in a vege diet, and the poor Sisters even miss out on their protein surprise !!!!!!!