Ten Days Journey Into The Self

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: Jain Meditation International Centre

Page 39

which would radiate the reality. With the practice of penance, he could purify his body and senses which produce the vibrations of health.
By penance I mean largely the sacrifice that is entailed in any creative endeavor. To pass an examination, a student will sacrifice his leisure and pastimes. To bear a child, a mother will endure the pain of childbirth. To experience peace and self-reliance, one must give up luxury and hoarding. This penance or sacrifice does not come from any outside compulsion; it comes from our inner understanding and well-being. Penance of course can include also fasting and other voluntary suffering which many of the great religious traditions have regarded as a step toward experiencing the inspiration of union with the Divine.
For enlightenment, unity and harmony of body, speech and mind are inevitable. If the body is a house of disease, how can one enjoy peace? If speech is distorted with lies and pretension, how can one express the truth? If the mind is confused with emotions, limitations and projections, how can one experience clarity and purity. To create unity of this trinity, meditation, silence and penance become the means.
Mahavir in his meditations realised that all human beings, all living beings in the whole world, desire three things--- happiness, friendship, and freedom.
By giving an added inflection to the word happiness, Mahavir filled it with a new significance. The happiness that all beings crave he defined as "bliss". Bliss is not sensuous happiness, not mere pleasure and indulgence. Senses get fatigued, satiated, therefore sensuous happiness does not endure. However, there is no fatigue in bliss because it stems from contentment, peace. "Aparigraha", non-acquisition, is the key to this spiritual treasure. The man who strives unceasingly to amass material treasure finds that his
peace of mind is gone, often he cannot even enjoy the quiet sleep his body needs, so he has to drug himself to snatch a few hours of troubled sleep. Is he then, happy? Mahavir pointed out that only inner peace and contentment lead to true happiness.
Now for the second desire of man- friendship. It is in human nature to desire a friend. Life is lived in relationship to others, and without such relationship life is a barren, lonely desert. However, our first friend is within. Mahavir was in tune with his inner voice and advised, "Seek friendship with your own soul. Learn to understand your soul through introspection: talk with your soul in solitude, confide all your joys and sorrows to your soul and this friend will never let you down, never let you feel lonely. This bond between you and your soul is unbreakable and in it you will find solace...." But this companionship needs to be cultivated. Spare some time every day to converse with your soul, in solitude and in silence, and you will experience a sense of security, a sense of serenity which will build a bridge of companionship between the self and the world at large.
Now we come to the third desire that fills the human heart--- the desire for freedom. But freedom from what and for what? We need freedom from hunger and outward insecurity. We need freedom from outer tyranny and coercion, from violence or the threat of