________________
216
practice? In that pranayama should be so effective that all that is eaten is digested? In that when seated in yogamudra all the extra food eaten should be digested? Man does yogamudra and pranayama motivated by such desires. Should these benefits be the basis of yogic exercises? Where is the rule of spiritual practice? This has become the rule for consumption, for pleasure.
The emperor of Greece, Nero was fond of food. When he would sit down for a meal he would keep a handful of doctors next to him. He would also keep a peacock feather with him. He would eat well and then use a peacock feather to bring it all out, to throw up. He would alternate between eating and throwing up. He would do this more than ten to twenty times a day and doctors would keep examining him.
Can medicine be a pleasurable thing? Can yogic postures and pranayama be the rules for spiritual practice? Is restraining the senses and the mind a rule for spiritual practice? Man observes restraint to understand that which is difficult to understand even in complete concentration. He observes restraint so that a part of the whole may be known.
There are so many types of spiritual practice in
Acharya Mahaprajna
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
