Practice of celibacy is integral part of spiritual life… something no spiritual traveler could do without. As per Bhagavad Gita unless one practiced celibacy in totality… one could never reach stage of enlightenment ever. However, meaning of celibacy… definition of celibacy was wrongly understood by most human beings world over.
Act of celibacy does not mean abstention from a sexual relationship. Celibacy as per Hinduism Bhagavad Gita had a very broad underlying aspect. Stopping flow of negative thoughts to our brain in totality is what absolute celibacy all about. One could never reach stage of Nirvikalpa Samadhi (stage of absolute nothingness) in absence of practice of celibacy.
Pure celibacy can only be practiced by one who indulged in karma… nishkama karma way! How many religious preachers… so-called spiritual masters do we find in everyday life who were perfect nishkama karma yogi and also practiced celibacy as intended by sacred Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism? The numbers could be counted on fingers.
Practice of celibacy was so difficult that in the last about 150 years amongst 7 billion people existing world over… only two spiritual masters Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Maharishi Ramana finally succeeded in gaining enlightenment. Travellers of both religious and spiritual path… Sri Aurobindo, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Acharya Rajneesh (née Osho)… even Paramhansa Yogananda… all failed to gain enlightenment in their lifetime.
Most human beings in life tried to read Bhagavad Gita literally. The teachings of Bhagavad Gita could never be assimilated literally… it demands reading in between the lines. By following path of spirituality as explicitly detailed in Bhagavad Gita… one could easily understand wisdom contained in Bhagavad Gita. Initially one may not be able to follow inner meaning of every shloka verse but with passage of time… the hidden inner meaning of all shlokas verses unveiled before us.
It was practice of celibacy that finally led human beings towards gaining enlightenment in present life. In normal course of life human beings required many manifestations by our soul atman to reach stage of liberation (Mukti in Hinduism) but by strict practice of celibacy… something that was destined to be understood in many manifestations… becomes crystal clear to us in present life. Celibacy was like taking the elevator instead of normal long winding steps.
Broadly speaking… every moment thousands of thoughts flowed into our brain incessantly. Some thoughts were positive… others negative! By establishing absolute control over five senses human beings finally stopped incessant flow of negative thoughts to the brain. This finally resulted in human beings reaching stage of absolute nothingness (termed stage of Nirvikalpa Samadhi). When flow of negative thoughts to our brain stopped in totality… we were able to monitor flow of positive thoughts also. Reaching Nirvikalpa Samadhi stage is the goal of most spiritual seekers.
After reaching stage of Nirvikalpa Samadhi… moment human beings left mortal frame, one finally gained moksha salvation forever.