Self Awareness Through Meditation

Author(s): Ranjitsingh Kumat
Publisher: Ranjitsingh Kumat

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RANJIT SINGH KUMAT
empire) usually spare none, nor abjure violence and undue means. All energies are directed in chasing what is desired and avoiding all that is unwanted. The process of craving and aversion is endless and leads to conflict, coercion, struggle, encounter, battle, war etc. and thus driving peace away from the life of the self as well as that of the people. Peace is negation of conflict and it can come only when the seeds sown through the process of craving and aversion (deep rooted in our minds since our birth and even from previous incarnations, if one were to believe in it) is checked and finished for good. This can be achieved by meditation, which brings self-awareness through detached observation of actions, thoughts and feelings. Meditation is the tool discovered by the ancient saints and prophets like Lord Mahavira, Lord Buddha, Maharshi Patanjali and many others who followed later. This has been further confirmed by modern thinkers and philosophers like J Krishnamurti, Nisaragadatta Maharaj, Eckhart Tolle, Osho Rajnish etc. This book is an attempt at elucidating what the philosophers of the yore and of the modern day say about self-awareness and meditation.
In the Indian system of Meditation, three main streams have evolved, namely, Jain, Buddha and Patanjali Yoga. The last one, the Yoga, has acquired popularity all over the world but the part that is emphasized most is the exercise of the body and respiration. These are only the initial and elementary parts of the whole system of Yoga designed to attain the ultimate objective, the freedom or Nirvaana or transcendental status of ‘Kaivalya’ (omniscience or enlightenment). Similarly, the Vipassana system of Meditation has acquired recognition in India and abroad after Guruji Shri Satyanarayanji Goenka came to India in 1974 and initiated the camps for teaching the technique, taught by Lord Buddha 2600 years ago and preserved by the sacred people of Myanmaar. Lord Mahavira also taught similar system of Meditation and that can be seen in Achaarang Sutta, the first of 32 Aagamas (the scriptures) of the Jains. An attempt has been made in this book to highlight the meaning of main suttas of the Aachaaraang in two chapters and the similarity between the Jain system and Buddhist system of meditation. In later Aagamas, the system of meditation described in the Thaananga, Uttaraadhyana, and Tatwaartha Sutta, is different from that of the Aachaaraanga and bears more similarity with the system of Patanjali Yoga Shastra. Even the later day Jain Aachaaryas like Haribhadrasuri, Shubhachandraachaarya, Hemchandraachaarya etc. wrote more under the influence of Patanjali Yoga Shastra than under the influence of Aachaaraanga Sutta.
An attempt has been made to introduce the main tenets of all the three systems as have been enunciated in the scriptures. A chapter has been