Preksha Dhyana Basic Principles

Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 16

Spiritual Vigilance
Spiritual vigilance, i.e. awakening of the consciousness and its constant alertness is an essential constituent of meditation. Only he who is alert can be vigilant : only he who is vigilant can concentrate and only he who is able to concentrate can practise meditation. One who is not vigilant is prone to be assailed by fear from all directions. On the other hand, one who is alert, and hence fully vigilant, is never perturbed by fear..
An alert mind never burdens itself with unnecessary memories of what is done. Man is habitually bothered more by the memories of the past actions rather than the work in hand. For instance, when he takes his meals, instead of concentrating on eating, his mind is agitated with umpteen other, mostly irrelevant, memories and/or plans. He who keeps his mind fully enagaged by whatever is being done at the moment, is the true sādhaka. Complete harmony of body, mind and speech is indeed very rarely achieved. And where there is no harmony between the body and the mind, the result is agitation, tension and restlessness. In fact, real sadhana comprises total harmony of thought and deed-call it concentration, meditation or whatever you like.
Meditation does not mean suppression of mental function. Any attempt towards its suppression makes the mind more restless. The question then arises, what to do to achieve concentration? The answer is simply—'See yourself; perceive yourself and realise the Self'.
As already stated, breath is an essential constituent of the self. Realizing breath is a step towards realizing the self. And so he who realizes his breath is a wise man. He may not be a scholar but he knows his self, and is, therefore, wise.
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