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THE SECRET OF THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT
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will be enough to lead him to his goal. Let us know the real nature of things through anuprèkşā (contemplation). False perception results in ignorance which goes on increasing by its own force and precludes our vision. It is through contemplation that we can destroy it.
There are five means of arriving at the transcendental state of calm :
1. Breath perception (śvāsa prēkṣā). 2. Body perception (śarīra prèkṣā). 3. Contemplation (anuprèkṣā). 4. Leśyā (colour) meditation. 5. Kāyotsarga (abandonment of the body).
These are the five bases of prèkşā meditation. They need a lot of self-exertion, a long and concentrated exertion.
Practice of breath perception will make you feel that your body is becoming lighter. Meditation on pure leśyās also has the same effect. It is the impure leśyās which make the body heavy and lethargic. Pure leśyās produce mild sensations. They make us feel a state of weightlessness. They change the odours of the body while impure lesyās produce bad smell. The body of a man who harbours evil thoughts emits bad smell. The body of a man who entertains good thoughts smells sweet. It is through the odours of the body that we can infer whether a man is good or bad. Our mouths also taste sweet or sour or bitter due to the effect vāị (wind), pitta (bile) and kapha (phlegm). They effect our thinking also. Bile produces anger, wind complicates thinking and phlegm combining with wind and bile affects thoughts which in their turn affect all the three humours.
Käyoţsarga winds up all the physical and mental processes including evil thoughts.
It is now for us to decide wheather we would like to be tossed to and fro in the ocean of emperical experience of rest in a state of transcendental calm.
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