________________
ACQUSITION OF A NEW PERSONALITY
199
an uncomitted mind will subside by themselves in the course of time. Until the mind has been emptied of them, they will go on creating trouble.
Prāņāyāma (breath control) has three stages : rècaka (emptying), puraka (collecting) and kumbhaka (retaining). Normally we simply inhale and exhale air. The soul is a perfect entity and does not take in anything. What is really needs is emptying. Unfortunately we do not know how to empty ourselves and that is why we remain uneasy,
Emptying the mind and soul is an essential condition of sāmāyika. The practitioner should neither love good thoughts nor hate bad ones. Let thoughts come and go. Novices begin to lose patience when evil thoughts begin to enter into their minds. They are mistaken. They should rather think themselves to be fortunate. Evil thoughts which have manifested themselves in their minds have left their sanctaury and as there it nothing to support them in the conscious mind, they will die a natural death. Meditation means entering into the depths of one's being. When the meditator enters into his depths, he throws up all the evil which had accumulated there earlier. Such experiences happen in the earlier stages of meditation. The practitioner should not be brightened by them.
There are two kinds of fever : ordinary fever and bone fever. The temperature of the body does not rise when one is suffering from bone fever. This fever is very dangerous because its symptoms are not visible. Thoughts and predilections are equally dangerous because they remain hidden. It is only when the practitioner tries to dig at their roots that they become active and manifest themselves.
The stage at which the practitioner is invaded by evil thoughts is a critical stage. There are two possibilities at this stage. Either he will fail or raise himself to a higher level. He has to be fully and wakeful and try to control himself.
One who engages himself in sāmāyika knows it very well that it is difficult to do away with the past. It will manifest
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
