Preksha Dhyana Human Body

Author(s): Jethalal S Zaveri
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 9

(viii)
as exhaust fumes from cars and trucks, smoke, soot and industrial dirt from the factories, vapours from oil and other noxious chemicals relentlessly threaten our health almost everyday. Stress-producing situations, such as daily commute in an overcrowded city, are built up in our daily life. Congested and badly ventilated living conditions make matters still worse, and sometime or other we are sure to become victims of the deadly effects of a pollutant or a. pathogen.
Scientific and technological development has brought supersonic speeds for travelling. It has, consequently, created conditions which make unprecedented demands on our physiological organs as well as mental equipment. These conditions, however, are most unlikely to change for the better during our lifetime. We can neither fight nor run away from the problems of the modern life.
Throughout life, we are constantly at war with enemies which lurk both within and without. It is our immune system which keeps the enemy at bay and maintains homcostasis i.e. optimum conditions of healh. Homeostatic mechanisms involve not only the circulatory, excretory and other body systems but also the limbic system which deals with our emotions. Disorders such as peptic ulcers, insomnia, asthma result from emotional rather than physical causes. "Psychosomatic illnesses" is the medical term for the diseases of the body resulting from mental or emotional disorder. Our thoughts and actions are influenced to some degree by emotions. Love and hate, envy, revenge -all these play an important role in our behavioural patterns. It is, therefore, necessary to maintain emotional as well as physical health. Hence for a practitioner of Preksha meditation, it is essential to know the intimate relationship between the Brain and the endocrines. The functional interlocking of the nervous and endocrine systems is so remarkable that they are regarded as constituting a single integrated system called neuro-endocrine system. The practitioner of Preksha system must also become aware that meditation can influence the control mechanisms of the body which are ultimately responsible for the homeostasis. These effects are produced by