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Transcendentally, body and soul are two different elements but empirically, the physical body and psychical self unite together to produce an individual organism. Since all physical activities such as respiration, speech, thought, and muscular action derive the necessary power from spiritual energy, perception of these and other physiological and biological processes is the perception of the psychic self in the ultimate.
Functions of Mind
Mind is ever restless. Meditation aims at restraining the mind's wandering and ultimately bringing it to rest. Conventionally this is sought to be achieved by total stoppage of thought. But to stop the flow of thought for any length of time, is extremely difficult, if not impossible. In fact, the suppression of mental activity makes the mind more restless than ever. In Preksha Meditation, however, the mind is engaged in concentrated perception and the mental functioning is not stopped or suppressed but regulated and canalised. This is because the two functions of mind viz. conception and perception, cannot work simultaneously. The mind can, with practice, be regulated and disciplined to concentrate in the perception of a single event or phenomenon for a good length of time. The mind, thus engaged in the process of perception is not available to that of thinking. The Preksha technique is, therefore, a practical way and powerful instrument for establishing the constant restlessness of mind.
Shvasa Preksha-Awareness of Breathing
Next, we come to the choice of the object of perception. In the technique of 'Preksha' the objects of perception are internal phenomena of consciousness-physiological as well as psychological and not external objects. Certain physiological processes lend themselves as suitable tools for this purpose. The process of breathing can be considered an ideal object of perception to train the mind. This is called Shvasa Preksha. As is well-known, breathing is normally automatic, that is, it
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| SR No. | 006553 |
| Book Title | Preksha Meditation |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Jethalal S Zaveri |
| Publisher | Jain Vishva Bharati |
| Publication Year | 1993 |
| Total Pages | 34 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English & Yoga |
| File Size | 2 MB |