Brahmacharya (brahmacarya)

Brahmacharya is the first stage of life, spent as a celibate student in a teacher's house, and by extension the discipline of celibacy itself. The Mahabharata's student stories, from Aruni lying in a breached dyke all night to Upamanyu blinded by eating poisonous leaves, are extreme portraits of obedience. Bhishma's vow makes brahmacharya permanent rather than temporary, and the epic treats the accumulated power of that lifelong continence as the reason no one can defeat him.