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THE JOURNEY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
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The practitioner avoids both joy and sorrow because both of them are harmful reactions. He remains fully selfwatchfui. He has faith in action rather than in reaction. This brings about a change in his natural behaviour also. Psychologists tell us that the inherited characteristics of man do not change. The philosophy of sadhanā, however, takes a different view. Sadhanā cannot afford to discard the notion of change. If breath, mind, and human nature were immutable, sādhanā will have no leg to stand on. Meditation is capable of changing them. Howevere, I should warn you that you should not be misled by false promises. Of course, you cannot change yourself in the course of a ten days' sādhanā. After having completed an exercise the practitioner should take stock of himself and try to know if his impulses, emotional set up and his tendency to confrontation, his sex desires etc. have been reduced. If they have not been reduced, he should not be dejected. Let us remember that a sādhanā camp is not the cell of a magician. It is meant for imparting a short course of instruction. It, of course, gives the participant an assurance that things can be changed. It enlightens him to find his own way. It is for the practitioner to exert himself and to walk on it. The more he exerts himself, the more enlightened and active will he become. If, inspite of his enlightenment, he remains inactive and lazy, he will remain where he is. The wages of a labourer are fixed on the basis of the amount of labour put in by him. This holds good in sādhanā also. The spiritual gains of a practitioner are determined by the amount of exertion he puts in. Progress comes to a stand still if there is a discrepancy between the two.
Practice of spiritual exertion is a valuable instrument of changing human nature if it is pursued continuously and constantly.
Sådhanā is capable of changing human relations also. In the context of human relations there is no difference between the practitioner and those who have not adopted sādhanā. But as soon as the practitioner has succeeded in changing his own nature, a lot of change in his relations with other will become apperant to him. The practitioner of perceptive meditation who watches the centre of consciousness and experiences
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