Atma Dharma

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain

Page 34

( 27 ) disquieting disease a lesser hindrance to the fixing of attention on the being of the soul. The object of meditation is not merely to become engaged in metaphysical speculation on the subject of the soul, but to realise the inner meaning of Life by directly feeling its pulsation in one's own self. Every movement, every tremour, every breath of this mysterious substance, must, therefore, be brought under direct personal observation and minutely analysed. But this can only be accomplished by keeping the attention fixed steadily upon the soul, exclusive of every thing else. The mind is, however, so constituted that it will attend to anything but the soul if left to itself; and even when deliberate effort is made to bring it under some sort of control, it is inclined to break loose on the very first shadow of an excuse--bodily discomfort, sensual excitement and the like--that might present itself. For this reason, the curbing of passions and desires and the mortifying and subjugation of the physical body are absolutely essential and have been prescribed as the necessary preliminary steps to meditation. It is not that intellectual ratiocination is not possible without their acquisition, though their observance is necessary if the quality of work even in that department of knowledge is not to be third rate and low, but that it is impossible to bring the elusive substance of Life under direct