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REACTIONS OF FEAR
207
TI
Generally a man hears something and is overwhelmed by it. He makes no attempt to find out the truth of the matter. In order to know the truth one has to probe deeper. A superficial observer will never know the truth. Those who have found the truth have always delved deep.
Preksha dhyana is a method of going deep into oneself. You begin with the skin, with the surface. What is going on there? Let no one disdain this kind of observation, for a deeper analysis of the physical organism would reveal a veritable treasure-house of energies inside the skin. Deep inside the skin are to be found the ten essences—the five senses with their vital powers, and the power of the mind, the power of speech, the power of the body, the power of respiration and the life-force. One must directly experience these ten powers and the vibrations thereof.
The throbbings of life are not easily apprehensible. We cannot perceive them until our sensibilities are refined. Only a very sensitive mind can do so. There are different kinds of vibrations. All is movement, fluidity. There is nothing that is solid, that is not pulsating. With all this goes the vital breath of life. There is inhalation and exhalation. Not only do we perceive the respiration, but also the power behind it; we perceive the essence of breath itself. This requires a very subtle mind. The breath is something gross, hence easily perceptible. You place your finger on the nostrils. You feel the air going in or rushing out. This is breath, pure and simple. But what is the activating force behind it? What draws breath in and what pushes it out? From the physiological point of view it is the respiratory system which controls the breath. All inbreathing and outbreathing is through the respiratory duct. But that is only a physiological explanation. According to spiritual science, all movement is caused by the life force. If this force is extinguished, there would be no respiration whatsoever, despite the physical organism with its respiratory system.
We speak. Language comes out of us. But language in itself is mute. Whatever is being uttered constitutes language, but what makes the utterance possible is the life force behind it. Without this vital power, language stands blunted, extinguished.
All movements of the body are actuated by the life force. The entire physical organism is permeated with its vibrations. Through preksha dhyana, we perceive those subtle throbbings of life.
In the body there are to be found the flesh, the marrow, the fats and semen. There are seven constituent elements of the body, and beyond those elements lies virility. We must intimately know the activities of all the elements; we must perceive through preksha the vibrations thereof.
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