Science Of Life

Author(s): U S Dugar
Publisher: U S Dugar

Page 82

physical and mental tension In fact it means inflicting some pain on the body by adopting certain postures or by exposing it to the vagaries of weather just like remaining in hot sun in summer season and or in cold with naked body or minimum clothes in winter. Difficulties impose enormous emotional strains, which are an inescapable consequence of determination and will.
Mahavira said, “The person who restrains himself from food, water and sex help him in bringing these instincts under control, leading towards inculcating as the guiding spirit of life. Tolerance of hunger and thirst, remaining celibate, tolerating cold and heat - all these are conductive to the purging of karma.“
There is, however, an essential condition of purging, which is freedom from any kind of affliction while tolerating these hardships. Bodily freedom is the principle of perfecting the body and to get freedom from all kinds of pain. That a practitioner should follow this path as well as invite pain seems to be contradictory. When one acquires the ability to withstand these pressures, the pressures themselves disappear and the body becomes more seasoned.
Physical hardship emboldens a man and brings freedom from all pains so that he does not develop his desires for luxuries or negligence towards duty. No pair of opposites torment him. This practice is to free the body from tensions. Combined, freedom from pain and freedom from fear are happiness in its highest form. The knowledge acquired at a time when one experiences convenience vanishes away when one begins to experience inconvenience. Hence (at the time
85