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The Protective Shield of Meditation
The spiritual empire of the Lord is coming into its own His campaign for emancipation gradually gathers momentum An emperor conquers others to be triumphant His liberty is earned by putting another in fetters A spiritual emperor does not believe in the like conduct His'triumph is not built on another's defeat nor his liberty on another's slavery
Mahavira's conquests grow not on an individual but on sleep, hunger and bodily restiveness
Mahavira triumphs not an individual but his own ego, his own possessive instincts and mental agitativeness
THE CONQUEST ON SLEEP
Sleep is essential for life Biology would prescribe a sleep of six hours for Mahavira But he defies this principle For months on an end he keeps waking There is one mission in life-to meditate, meditate, meditate with no respite During waking the man is alert externally and inert inwardly In slumber the man is neither fully awake nor asleep In sound sleep the man is asleep inwardly as well as outwardly
in profound self-awareness the man is asleep in appearance and awake inwardly in this phase one sees vividly the dreams of the accumulated impressions or latencies
In profound self-absorption the man appears asleep but stays awake at heart The mind is tranquil, then, and free from thoughts Mahavira would either remain in the transcendental
