Meditation and Enlightenment

Author(s): Chandraprabh
Publisher: Jityasha Foundation

Page 25

20/Meditation and Enlightenment : Chandr Prabh
didn't have to tell himself again and again : “I am not the body, I am not the mind.” One who considers aim to be everything of his life becomes liberated automatically-from aims other than his own. Even after chanting a thousand times : "I am not the body, I am not the mind”, the person seated in meditation, cannot bear with the sting of a single mosquito. Can the seeker who becomes irritated by the sting of a single mosquito, possess any enduring existence ? A Sadhaka, who is disturbed by a mosquito, does not possess the faculty of freedom from bodily-senses.
Just look at the child playing in the house. His band is bandaged. There is some wound on his hand which causes pain. But can't we attain this realisation, on viewing the smile emerging on his face, that he has mastered the art of living aloof from the body? To forget the wound and the pain, despite their presence on the body, is the primary stage of 'bhed-vijnan' (the science of differentiation). If it is possible to live in daily life, keeping yourself indifferent to the body-pain, then can't you consider yourself above body/thought/mind while seated in meditation ? You are an emperor, and live like an emperor. If trouble and turmoil of the mind are riding on your head, then you are a beggar wandering from door to door.
A man's living as per dictates of mind may be acceptable; but a person who has become a hermit/sage after having left his home and hearth, fails to remain with 'Chitta' (conscience) at peace and a mute mind; in that case his renouncing the world is tantamount to cheating himself. The monks and the nuns say, "We are not 'sthitprajna' (the state of remaining unperturbed in adverse circumstances due to the knowledge of reality). We do take our seats in temples etc. to perform meditation, but the mind keeps on wandering even outside the temple. In my opinion a weak determination is the reason behind this fickleness of mind. Those who have taken to monkhood, on getting excited or being influenced just by the preachings of someone, begins to cast his eyes towards his past after ascending a few ladders of time. And then, monkhood instead of remaining vigilant about his detachment from worldly