LAKSHMAN-EXEMPLARYCHARACTER-OTHER MEN OF CHARACTER

LORD LAKSHMANA WAS ONE OF THE EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTERS OF THE LEGEND!

Also do you believe people symbolic to such ideal characters of RAM,LAKSHMAN,HANUMAN(who had their respective brahmacharya vratha) existed in our country!!!

READ the following summary of an interesting essay The glory of brahmacharya in Indian culture written by Sadhu Mukundcharandas.

• The virtue of brahmacharya is the stem from which many noble virtues branch. Brahmacharya involves not only physical continence but also control of the mind. India's history is full of examples of men who have achieved this ideal. In this article we review the determination with which some of the virtuous men upheld their vow of brahmacharya.

• Prior to India's Independence, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad Of Vadodara often invited scholars from home and abroad to deliver scholarly lectures at his Lakshmi Vilas Darbar. Once he invited a German professor to talk on character. As the speaker approached the dais, the darbar spokesman gave a brief introduction of the listeners. He narrated a story from the Ramayan about Lakshman's character. He then added that the gathering belonged to such a lofty cultural tradition. When the spokesman finished, the professor thanked the Maharaja for inviting him and added that to such an audience he had nothing to say! He then returned to his seat!

• The story that awestruck the professor concerned Lakshman's superhuman control over his senses. Such a person is known as jati. This facet of Lakshman's personality was revealed after Ravan abducted Sita. While Ravan was flying to Lanka, Sita dropped her gold ornaments to leave a trail. When Bhagwan Shri Ram and Lakshman came across an earring, a bangle and an anklet, Ram questioned Lakshman whether he could recognize any of them as belonging to Sitaji. Lakshman replied:

  "Naham janami kundale naham janami kankane,
  Noopure chaiva janami nitayam padabhivandanat."

  "I do not know the earring nor the bangle. But I recognize the anklet for I bowed at Sitaji's feet everyday." (Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kand 6-22)
  Such incredible control of the senses (indriya saiyam) stunned Shri Ram. Incredible because the three of them, Ram, Sita and Lakshman had roamed the forests in exile for fourteen years and yet the latter only had the darshan of Sitaji's feet. Hence Lakshman is one of the foremost jatis in the Hindu Sanatan Dharma.

  Jati, with two synonyms, Yati and Brahmachari, comprise two types: the married, like Lakshman and Shri Krishna, and the Bal Brahmacharis.

  Married Jatis
  To those unfamiliar with the Hindu Dharma, the concept of brahmacharya for the married may sound paradoxical. However, the Hindu scriptures assert that a married man who controls his senses and remains loyal to his wife is deemed a brahmachari -

  ek nari sada brahmachari.

  The devout poet Tulsidas, author of the Ramacharitmanas, has extolled this moral principle in verse:

  "Pardhan patthar janiye parstri mat saman,
  Itnese Hari na mile to Tulsidas jaman."

  "Regard wealth other than your own as stone and a woman other than your wife as a mother. If then you do not attain God, Tulsidas will become your surety (to attain God)."
  This lofty tradition has been upheld sincerely over the ages in India both by Maharajas and the citizens.

  A FEW LEADING EXAMPLES THAT EXISTED IN OUR COUNTRY...

  
  1)Many Rajput Maharajas have been renowned for their high morality and fidelity. Around 1670, an extremely handsome Rajput Maharaja, named Chhatrasal, ruled Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh. Once a prostitute named Pyaribai invited him to her house. As a ruler he could not refuse social invitations from his subjects. At her house, when she started behaving in an immoral manner Chhatrasal remarked, "Rather than crave for another son accept me as your son." Pyaribai fell at his feet.

  2)A similar morality existed among the Kathis of Saurashtra. Sura Khachar, the tall, well-built, married Kathi chief of Loya accepted the Swaminarayan Sampraday at the young age of twenty-six. Once the chief of Jasdan village invited him on a social occasion. The chief being a fierce dissenter of the Sampraday, decided to blot Sura's character. At night he sent a prostitute to his lodgings. When Sura opened the door he gleaned the women's intentions. Drawing his sword he growled, "Take one more step and I'll behead you." The woman fled.

  3)Jogidas Khuman was a notable outlaw and rebel, who harbored a grievance with Maharaja Wajesinh of Bhavnagar during the decade from 1820 to 1829. With his gang members he often raided, pillaged and looted Wajesinh's villages. Yet he never touched the womenfolk. Once, when he visited Gadhada to attend the mourning of Jiva Khachar, Dada Khachar's uncle, Shriji Maharaj questioned him about why he had once filled his eyes with chilli powder!
  Jogidas replied, "I had once glanced at a beautiful woman. Later this pained me intensely, for my name is Jogidas - the servant of jogis (stalwart yogis). As such this act tainted my name. To punish my eyes I flung chilli powder in them."
  Despite his warring nature and rebellious pursuits, his high morality pleased the Lord.
  

  4)Bhan Khachar, the chief of Bhadli, a village near Gadhada. He often harassed Dada Khachar, a stalwart amongst the Lord's devotees. Bhan Khachar often harvested and stole Dada's crops growing on a patch of disputed land at Rampara, bordering Gadhada and Bhadli. Despite his malevolent behavior Shriji Maharaj once visited him. When devotees requested to know the reason, He replied, "To have his darshan since he observes unflinching brahmacharya!"Bhan Khachar was observing brahmacharya, which by definition, along with the body, also includes mind and spirit.Perhaps it can even be asserted that no matter where a person resides, yet if he sincerely observes brahmacharya, the Lord will seek and bless him.

Bal Brahmacharis
The Bal Brahmacharis observe brahmacharya from childhood, hence Bal. In ancient Hindu tradition such jatis include Hanumanji and Shukdevji of the Shrimad Bhagvatm. Relatively recent examples include Bhagwan Swaminarayan, His three thousand paramhansas and Ramkrishna Paramhansa.