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102
THE MYSTERIES OF MIND
that God himself remains hidden behind a curtain. You may substitute the word jīva for God. Both the views can be synthesised by saying that the jīva created the world and as a creator he is God.
The fundamental nature of the jīva is to see and know. The practitioner has to arrive at this state of the jiva which is for the time being hidden from him. He needs tremendous energy to achieve it. Both muscle and machine need energy, otherwise we cannot make any kind of progress. Sitting in a single posture for a long time needs energy. Sādhanā and long meditation also need energy.
The question to be considered next is how to arouse energy. What are the guidelines for arousing energy.
Breath-perception is the first step towards the arousing of energy. Dirgha-śvāsa-prèksā or long-breath-perception is an important exercise. Let us first understand the nature of breath. Breathing is a very deep-rooted process. Let us understand its roots. Breath is connected with prāna ( Life principle ), prāna is connected with paryāpti or subtle prāņa, subtle prāna is connected with the karma body which is the root of breath. When the soul after it has relinquished one body enters into another body, it has two bodies attached to it, the taijasa body and the karma body. The soul travels with both of them from one body to another. In the first moment of its birth in a new body, it draws its sustenance from the karma body. This sustenance is called oja āhāra ( drawing in energy ). We cannot live without energy. Once the energy collected in the body is spent up, the body dies. There can be no prāna without energy. It is the life-energy which keeps the body alive.
The new-born soul accumulates in the very first moment of its birth the energy required for its life. Then begins the building up of the gross body. The whole development of the gross body, its nervous system, its glands and plexuses etc. are not original substances but derived or secondary substances. Their essence lies in the karma body. The gross body is the carrier of all the potential of the karma body, its energy centres as well as consciousness. If the potential of the karma body is limited to a single sense-organ, the gross body
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