Fundamentals Of Jainism

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Veer Nirvan Bharti

Page 80

FUNDAMENTALS OF JAINISM
(retention) and rechaka (exhalation). Puraka signifies taking a full breath, kumbhaka holding it in the region of the navel, and rechaka exhaling it slowly and evenly. Straining of every kind to be avoided in practising ascetic tapas (austerities), and this is so especially with regard to prànû yama which might cause any amount of injury to the system if practised rashly or without due care and caution.
It might be pointed out here that the practising of pranayama is enjoyed only in the initial stages of asceticism, when it serves as a useful ally for subduing the senses and mind; it is actually forbidden in the advanced stages of mediation on the ground that it then interferes with the fixity of mind on the object of contemplation.
When sufficient proficiency is acquired in the practising of pranayama, the next thing to do is to hold the inhaled breath and the mind in the region of the lotus of the heart (the cardiac plexus). The holding of the mind on a point, called pratrahura, becomes easy with this practice. There are ten places in the body for mentai concentration, viz, (1) the two eyes, (11) the two ears, (iii) the foremost point of the nose, (iv) forehcad, (v) mouth, (vi) navel, (vii) the upper part of the forchead, (viu) heart, (1x) palate, and (x) the place between the wo eye-brows.
Pratyahara accompanied by meditation is called dhârnâ, which really means the establishing of the object of meditation in the mind. This being accomplished, dhyâna becomes steady and may be kept up for any length of time undisturbed. Some kind of meditation, no doubt, is implied in every form of thinking, but the difference betwecn the perfect dhyânu of the niuni and the thoughtactivity of the ordinary man lies in the fact that while the former is master of his senses, body and mind, and may remain absorbed in mcditation for as long as a time as he pleases, the latter has never anything more than an unsteady, wavering and feeble current of thought at his command. The result is that while the yogi solves the riddle of the universe and ultimately also establishes his soul in its natural, effulgent purity, the laymen remains entangled in the meshes of his karmas, however much he might boast of taking a hand in the management of the world.
The instrument which enables the yogi to remove the jñana