Book Title: Mysteries of Mind
Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya
Publisher: Today and Tomorrows Book Agency

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Page 9
________________ viii of worries about the future. Only ten percent of them is spent in the present. The past is no more real and the future has not yet materialized. The past is mere memory and the future a thing of imagination. The present alone is real. We spend very little time in living in the present. Mostly we remain entangled in the memories of the past and in dreaming what is likely to happen in the future with the result that we lose our grip on the present. We cannot retain it. The fact, however, is that whatever happens in life happens in the present only. But we are not wakeful about this fact. Bhāvakrijā means living in the present. The second meaning of bhāvakriyā is to do deeds wakefully. We do things half-heartedly or with half of the mind engaged elsewhere. Work done with only half of the mind in it is never done completely. In this way we lose a lot of our energy. Things done half-heartedly do not produce tangible results. We should physically as well as mentally engage ourselves in our deeds earnestly and sincerely. While doing deeds the mind and the body should cooperate with each other. The third meaning of bhāvakriyā is to remain constantly wakeful. The practitioner should remain fully conscious of the ideal he wants to achieve. Purity of heart is the precondition of meditation which aims at arousing the dormant energy in us. The practitioner should be constantly wakeful about these. The second principle of prakṣā meditation is not to remain inactive but to remain active. Most of our life consists of reactions rather than of actions. Most of our actions are mere reactions. Take for example the wearing of clothes. We wear clothes as a reaction against cold or as a reaction against being indecent. Eating food is a reaction against hunger. Eating, drinking, clothing etc. are not voluntary actions but reactions. What we need is to live a life of actions rather than one of reactions only. Every man has his own free and independent life. This free life can be maintained only by actions done freely or of one's own free will. A life of reactions is not a free and meaningful life. It is a Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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