Preksha Dhyana Self Awareness by Relaxation

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

Page 11

So long as there is mental tension and the nerves are taut and highly strung up, how can one expect to perform meditation?
Tension is a fit condition for agitation, restlessness and evil thoughts. Seeds of mental restlessness are sown in the fertile land of tension and here they germinate, flower and bear fruits. It is, therefore, essential to remove tension. Kāyotsarg does just this--removes mental tension, nervous tension and emotional tension.
Apart from meditation, Kāyotsarg may be practised daily. Stressful situations ar a part of modern life-style and occur regularly. The response of the body to a stressful situation is the triggering of the 'flight or fight' mechanism resulting in high- blood-pressure etc. But one can neither fight nor run away from the common problems of the modern life. Modern life-styles are most unlikely to change for the better. To avoid more injurios effects of daily stress daily practice of relaxation is essential. If one learns and practises systematic relaxation every day, he would remain relaxed, calm and unperturbed in any situation. Physically, it is more restuful than sleep, and is the most harmless and direct antidote to psychosomatic maladies resulting from tension. Spiritually, in this process, the lifeless body is cast off, while the consciousness soars upwards freed from and outside its material shell.
Kayotsarg means perfectly motionless state of the body. Meditation is not merely steadiness of mind. Most yogãcharyas and learned philosophers consider only mental steadi. ness and concentration as meditation. But the Jains prescribe threefold steadiness-physical, vocal and mental. Just as steadiness of mind is meditation, so is the steadiness of the body. Maintaining a motionless state of the body is physical meditation and is an essential base and prerequisite of all other meditational exercises. As long as there is any physical movement, meditation is out of question. Steadiness of-mind requires steadiness of breath and the latter
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