Self Awareness Through Meditation

Author(s): Ranjitsingh Kumat
Publisher: Ranjitsingh Kumat

Page 78

DHYANA IN AACHAARAANGA SUTTA—II
should not suffer on that account. One has only to observe it. It is ephemeral. The body is impermanent; it is distinct from the self.
Observe the connection between the body and the self. The self is not the body; it is separate from the body in which the pain is arising. Once a person becomes aware of this, he becomes detached and transcends the body. Examining the body gives the insight that the 'examiner of the body is different from the body. He gets detached with the body which is impermanent. Such a person does not require preaching.
Bondage and Freedom
The bondage and freedom are all inside you; they are not outside. Examine the following:
“I have heard, I have experienced-bondage and freedom are inside you Detached from the desire to accumulate, monk should endure day and night Unawakened indulges outside Awakened moves inside (body) only Thus resides in silence and equanimity."79
We are in search of eternal freedom or Moksha or Nirvana to get rid of the bondage with this world of suffering. Lord Mahavira says, “He has experienced that the bondage and freedom are inside us only. We need not search it outside. Our desire to accumulate the worldly things (Parigraha') is the bondage and giving up this desire makes us free and we need not search anything else. Unawakened is one who is indulging in ‘Parigrah' or accumulation and seeking pleasure in it. He falsely believes that pleasure is in acquiring worldly things. Once out of delusion, he is an awakened person”. Silence has a deep meaning. Silence does not mean mere restraint on speech. Real silence means being introvert and residing inside the self. Once you learn to reside inside the self, you become automatically silent. To observe the sensations arising and disappearing on and inside the body, with detachment, is establishing oneself in equanimity and that is real silence.
Killing Others is Killing Oneself
When one kills another, he feels that some other person or being has been killed but in reality it is the self that is being killed. You cannot commit