________________
368
steps to meditation. A well-regulated life, with pure wholesome food, is, therefore, absolutely necessary, if real progress is to be made on the path. The use of meat and wine is forbidden, as they tend to disturb mental equanimity, excite the passions and coarsen those finer "threads" and nervous filaments which con. nect the soul with the mind, preventing thereby the turning of attention inwards in the direction of the Self. Well does Isaiah say:
RITUAL
But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are cut of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean" (Chap. xxviii. 7-8).
These are the external accessories to meditation. The interual helpful causes are certain thought-forms which have been found to be highly useful as aids to self-realisation. Of these a very simple form is to imagine a pure Effulgent Divinity, a partless embodiment of pure Intelligence, pure Happiness and Peace seated within the physical body. This is to be visualised by partly closing the eyes and by fixing the attention on the "inside." If it be found necessary to employ words with reference to this Divine Embodiment of pure Knowledge and Joy, it should only be meditated upon with the aid of such words as are descriptive of the true nature of the soul-Om, Soham, Arhan, Sid
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
