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meditation but at the same time it is the easiest one for altering one's way of life.
The popular belief is that it is impossible for a person to change his nature and habits. But this is not true. If a person practises leśyā-dhyāna with full faith and determination, he will find that his nature has positively changed. If we do not accept the possibility of change in one's nature, it would be meaningless to talk about spiritual development by means of sādhanā (spiritual endeavour). One would never attain the higher levels of consciousness by one's efforts.
The creed which does not advocate the theory of change in nature betrays its adherents. The religious head who does not strive to transform the nature of his followers cannot be said to be an alert leader. If an adherent is willing and wants to change his attitudes, it is the duty and responsibility of the leader to show him the process and course of transformation. Then, and only then, can the creed claini lo be a genuine and progressive one. Today, in this age of sheer pragmatism, stark rationalism and scientific dominance, it is all the more necessary to give serious attention to this problem. Today there is a flood of violence, rape and ravishment, and such other immoral and criminal acts. What do we learn from the fact that the number of crimes in so-called affluent and developed countries is many times more than in India : It is clear that the increase in the incidence of crime in those counurics is not due to poverty or shortages. The inevitable conclusion is that criminal tendencies cannot be curbed by material progress or allluence. What is needed is to craclicane the innate malevolence, which is possible only by achieving attitudinal change through proper spiritalguidance. We can succeed in curbing the criminal iendencies only bv eradicittion of psychological distortions-hate, lear, cruelty cic., and
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