Mysteries of Mind

Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya
Publisher: Today and Tomorrows Book Agency

Page 64

DEVELOPMENT OF ENERGY-TAPA
Tendencies which have become deep-rooted in us become active as soon as they get favourable occasions. If the circumstances in which they become active are changed, they can be easily controlled. Food not only nourishes the body, but also influences the sense-organs and the mind. The process through which it is digested is an important process. There will be no intestinal trouble if the digestive process goes on smoothly. If it is disturbed, it not only harms the body, but also affects the mind adversely because it poisons the apāna air in the stomach which produces restlessness and harmful tendencies in the mind. Poisoning of the apana air also produces aggressive tendencies. A properly chewed food is easily digestible and keeps the mind free from the tendency to do harm to others. The scientist's thesis referred to above, therefore, seems to be quite rational.
Discipline in matters of food is a kind of tapa or austerity. Keeping the stomach light and abstaining from spicy food are also austerities. The practitioner who does not season himself with these austerities will fail.
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To take precaution in matters of food by means of fasting etc. as mentioned above is an integral part of sadhană. It does not mean giving up food entirely, nor is it desirable to be careless in this respect. We should neither eat too much nor too little, for both are injurious to physical and mental health. We should adopt the middle path. Neither should we weaken physical energy nor encourage laziness. A balanced diet is absolutely necessary, for after all we have to use the body also as an instrument of sadhanā, and, therefore, physical health has to be maintained carefully.
A practitioner who had been engaged in sadhanā for a long time once came to meet me. He told me that he had a glimpse of his existence for the first time that day, that his vision had given him a great joy and that there was no greater meditation than the one which results in the perception of the self. I tried to remind him that the path of sādhanā was not a straight but a circuitous path. It is not possible for a practitioner to achieve success in a short time. He will have to pass through several stages before he achieved his aim. If we asked a practitioner who happens to be passing through the initial stage of sadhana to see the spectator-knower or