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DEVELOPMENT OF MENTAL POWERS AND 1HEIR USE
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Rupakoşā was a dancing girl in the court of Magadha. She had been trained in the art of dancing and music by Ācarya Kapiladeva. She became so much accomplished in dancing that she could dance on the points of needles thrust into a heap of grains. Not a single grain in the heap would be disturbed when she danced on the needle points. There are dancers who would dance on a heap of grains with such an ease as if they were dancing on a platform. This is not a miracle. When a dancer becomes accomplished in reducing the gravitational force pulling the body, the body loses all its weight. A space traveller also enters into a state of weightlessness when he crosses the gravitational field surrounding the earth and begins to float in space. In such a state the body can be carried anywhere. A disciple of Bhagavāna Mahävira had the following dialogue with him :
“On what support do things stand ?'' “Objects do not stand on any support. They exist as they are by themselves.”
How can this be? We stand on the earth. Plants and trees are also supported by the earth. There are two ways of thinking, the practical and the transcendental (Niscaya). From the transcendental point of view physical objects stand on their own legs. According to this view the gravitational force is a relative force. As soon as it ceases to operate, physical objects do not need the support of other objects. The pot is supposed to hold water. This is correct from the practical point of view. But as soon as the gravitational force ceases to operate, the water in the pot will not need any support. The pot and the water will remain where they are without any support. In other words they will remain in their own independent existence. To say that the pot holds the water is an emperical statement. In the absence of gravitationi force everything exists in itself.
Mental powers are aroused by training and practice, of course, the practice has to be correct and prolonged. There are thousands of methods of arousing the dormant Powers of the mind. One may choose any method he likes.
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