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THE SCIENCE OF LIVING: ITS BASIS AND PROCESS Acharya Mahapragya Edited by Carla Geerdes |
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Human life is organised by a controlling mechanism responsible for successful completion of any activity. This mechanism comprises four basic elements:
Besides the nervous system, the most important part of the human body consists of the brain and the spinal cord. Nervous System The nervous system helps us to govern all our mental and physical activities. The motor, vegetative and the sensory nerves are operational on its basis alone.Lower And Upper Pole Our body has one upper and one lower pole. The upper pole is the brain and the lower pole is the deeper end of the spinal cord. The brain is the centre of intelligence and the deeper end of the spinal cord is the centre of energy. The upper pole is radiating and storing consciousness, whereas the lower pole is emanating and accumulating energy. Consciousness and energy are two important elements in our life. Their balance manages our capacity to act and our freewheeling motion sequence.Breath Breath is another important domain controlling the body apparatus infusing life into speech, mind and the nervous system. Its process is of primal significance for all activities in man and should not be underrated. Bridge Between Inside And Outside Breath builds a bridge between our inside and outside. We obtain oxygen in the act of inhaling and get rid of carbon dioxide through exhalation; it is only through breath that we are able to sustain the life of our body cells. Not only this, it significantly contributes to our sensitivity and general awareness.Mind Mind makes possible memory, imagination and thinking. Absence of memory would make life unbearable, development would not take place without imagination and failure of thinking would completely incapacitate us. Speech Mental abilities like memory, imagination and thinking are connected with language. Base Of Society Society, as we understand it, has been made possible only through speech. Speech defines us and largely decides our social being. In Sanskrit, a body of animals as well as a body of human beings is called samaj. Relating to animals it means drove whereas it signifies society concerning human beings. Animals cannot constitute a society because of their lack of speech that alone can bring about a base of society.Pillars of our being Body, breath, mind and speech are four pillars to manage our activities properly. Well-trained, they are of great help in life, but untrained, they can also act as hindrances. Positive And Negative Role All four of them can play a positive as well as a negative role.Speech Vocalization respectively verbalization operates in a twofold mode, internal and external. Crude and harsh language causes internal stress to the speaker.Who does not know the abuses of speech? One wrong or unpleasant word can turn even a friend into a foe. Memory, Imagination And Thinking It is not uncommon to get plunged in unwanted memories when one wants to do something. The work is delayed and in some cases even thwarted.Likewise our imagination plays a dual role. It can get out of hand into useless fantasies and can carry a person away from the world of reality. Thinking also can have counterproductive effects when overdone and then does hardly leave room for action. Breath Breath can be either long or short, in its natural form it is long at all times. There is a close interaction between breathing and emotions.In accordance with our natural constitution, we only need seven to eight breaths per minute, but fifteen to sixteen per minute seem to be the rule. This larger number activates simultaneously our emotions that are in close interaction with breath. Anger makes breath short and short breathing acts as a catalytic converter for anger. Body The flow of life becomes choked when the nervous system is not properly organized in our body.If the upper and the lower pole in our body are not working harmoniously together and consciousness and energy are not in balance, our capacity to act and our freewheeling motion sequence are cut down. Permanent deformations result in our body because of such failures. Process of Training It has become clear in which way the characterised elements of the controlling mechanism can play a positive as well as a negative role in human life. The crucial thing is to train them well. Body, breath, mind and speech can be brought to accomplishment by a process of training:
Total Relaxation Total relaxation is kayotsarg. Science has revealed the truth that most of our health problems are caused by mental stress. It lies behind most diseases, bad habits and deficient thinking. Through total relaxation this stress can be effectively relieved. As the stress decreases, the psychophysical situation in the body increasingly improves. Contemplation Contemplation anupreksha involves thoughts and sounds as well as feelings. Everyone knows how brave resolutions to give up bad habits and addictions either prove temporary or fail completely. The reason is not far to seek. Our habits and addictions operate through the subconscious mind and will change only when the message of what we want to achieve reaches it. Autosuggestion An even experienced and science-oriented modern man is capable of resorting to autosuggestion. Constantly repeated thoughts, sounds or feelings can reach the subconscious mind and enter deep into it when the body is quiesced and relaxed. Autosuggestion in the state of total relaxation can bring about the desired change.Seeing Or Perceiving Indian philosophy [darshan] primarily was based on observation, darshan originally meant seeing or observing. In ancient times it stood for direct apprehension without inference, abstract reasoning, causation or universality. Who Was Tied To Whom? An illustration will make it clear. Once a philosopher and his friend were walking together. They saw a cow and its owner coming from the opposite direction. The cow was tied with a rope, one end of which the owner held in his hand. The philosopher saw the whole case and apprehended.He asked his friend to tell him whether the cow was tied to the man or the man to the cow. The latter thought that it was too simple matter to need any serious thought since it was the man who held the rope in his hand; it was the cow that was bound. Then the philosopher asked him what the man would do if the cow broke loose and fled. Pat came the reply; he would run after the cow and catch it. If that was true, the philosopher said, it was clear who was tied to whom. If the man ran away the cow would not run after him, but if the cow ran away the man would have to run after it. Thinking And Seeing Superficial thinking would suggest the cow was tied to the man, but philosophy would suggest the owner was tied to the cow for it implies direct apprehension and seeing in the sense of perceiving.Perceiving Breath Perceiving breath is very important. One may ask: What is there in breath to see? We breathe in and out and this goes on the whole life long.Perceiving breath acts as mastering the mind aroused by propensities and preferences for it contributes to successfully calm and steady it. Perception Of The Body Perception of the body stands for knowing about the processes accomplished in the body. The human body has many chemical and electrical processes as well as a large number of movements and vibrations at its command.After acquiring a steady posture of kayotsarg and turning our consciousness inwards we perceive at first the body vibrations and their locations. Soon after we become aware of the chemical processes in the body; thus knowledge is extending by progressive stages. With constant practice, experiences in the art of perceiving and the knowledge on human body will increase. Perception Of Psychic Centres There are many psychic centres in our body. Though the number of these centres is very large, under Preksha Meditation only thirteen of them are regarded as important.As soon as one starts seeing these centres, they become perceivably active. Awakening Of The Consciousness Awakening of the consciousness and its constant alertness is jagrukta. We often act in a state of torpor causing many new problems. They can be avoided by spiritual vigilance. Spiritual Vigilance Even Asleep If we learn to be vigilant during the waking time, the vigilance continues even when we are asleep. In the science of yoga two kinds of sleep are recognized - one in which we are aware of the fact that we are sleeping and the other in which we are not. The awareness of sleep is the result of spiritual vigilance that is the best key to mental care.Conclusion Kayotsarg total relaxation, anupreksha contemplation, preksha seeing and perceiving carefully and profoundly and jagrukta spiritual vigilance, awakening of the consciousness and its constant alertness are basic elements in the process of preksha meditation. In the length of time, perpetual practice of preksha meditation will bring about reversal for the practitioner in enjoying life by means of consciousness and energy. top |
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