Preksha Dhyana Self Awareness by Relaxation

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

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Awareness of the Self
From the above it is clear that total relaxation is that condition in which the separateness of the body and the soul is no longer a belief but a real experience. The awareness of the real self apart from the body, apart from the tribulations, apart from the emotions and excitement is the real purpose of Kayotsarg.
The consciousness', the SELF, is neither the body, nor the desires nor the sleep nor the primal urge. This realisation by actual experience is the first step towards emancipation. And the process of self-awareness begins with cessation of body-movement, discipline of the limbs, speech and sense-organs.
In fact, the process of self-awareness does not commence until all voluntary movements are totally stopped and the gravity is freely allowed to do its pull on the body. Thus motionlessness of the body is the main gate to selfrealisation. After stopping the action of the skeletal muscles,
1. Conscious element, common as it is to all living beings, is still a perfect
mystery to science. The physical world in which the experiences of sense-organs occur does not constitute the sole area for the operation of living organism at all levels of its existence. Man, in all countries, in all ages and at all stages of culture, has sought to penetrate into other regions of consciousness that lie outside the scope of the normal faculties. There are other levels, not so far amenable to explanation in scientific terms, of which it is possible to have first-hand experience. Man functions at several levels, and at each level a different fact of his multifrom existence is brought into operation. There is his body, the tangible part of him, that everyone accepts. The Greeks called the body 'soma', and equated it with a shell within which a non-material element lay encased. This element animates and vitalizes the inert mass of bone and flesh, enabling man to function on the physiological level, an abilty he shares with other living organisms. When he reasons, another aspect of his personatity is revealed. But he also responds to higher levels of consciousness and aspires to achieve a state that he recognizes, however dimly, as greater and purer than himself. This is what we mean by saying that he has a soul. It is difficult to define and distinguish precisely between such terms as the 'soul', the 'spirit', the 'psyche' (Greek), fruha' (Jewish), ruh' (muslim) åtman (Hindu), jiva (Jain).
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