Essential Training

Among other things, the brahmacari is required to restrict his sleep. He is expected to rise one and a half hours before sunrise in order to take advantage of the early hours which are said to be the most auspicious for spiritual development. In Srimad-Bhagavatam, the habits of a brahmacari are described: "The brahmacari must rise early in the morning, and after placing himself, he should chant the holy name" (Bhaktivedanta Purports, Bhag. 3.21.45). It is further described that the brahmacari's body and face should give off a luster:

His body shone most brilliantly; though engaged in austere penance, he was not emaciated because the Lord had cast His affectionate glance at him and he had quaffed with his ears the nectar flowing from the moonlike words of the Lord.

It is the sign of one observing celibacy or brahmacarya that his face has this luster. If he lives otherwise, the lust will come out from the face and the body; if one is a drunkard or sex monger, it will come out. Brahmacari training is the basis for all other orders as basic training in spiritual life. Whether he goes on to become married and eventually retire from married life, or whether he goes directly to the renounced order or sannyasa, the practice of brahmacarya will save him from the pit of entanglement. It fixes him positively in the Absolute Truth.

When the spiritual master understands the qualities of a student, then he decides how he should work, whether as brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya or sūdra. Thus the student goes into any occupation or spiritual order implanted with the seed of devotional service and the ability to control his senses over the four animal propensities.