Transmutation of Personality through Preksha Meditation

Author(s): Tulsi Acharya
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 19

tive of morality. But our perception is quite different. We have accepted spirituality to be the fundamental basis of morality. Because it is only in the spiritual man that moral action can flower. Similarly, spiritual development, too, is more likely to flourish on the ground of moral behaviour.
In the initial stages of the anuvrat movement, we had not laid any special emphasis upon dhyana-sadhana. But once the principle of morality was well established in the public consciousness and faith in moral conduct was strengthened, need was felt for special experiments of sadhana with a view to making that conduct stable. For this, anuvrat training shivirs were organised.
The form of preksha dhyana first emerged at the 21-day shivir organised at the Spiritual Meditation Centre, Mehrauli, in Delhi. This shivir was held in 1966 and in respect of both time and technique stood distinct from all the shivirs held till then. In that shivir, beside morality, a good deal of discussion was held on spirituality, and some exercises were also performed. During this programme of spiritual churning, there were present many people who were vitally interested in spirituality. Notable among these were Morarji Bhai Desai, Srimannarain, Dada Dharmadhikari, Gopinath Aman, Jainendra Kumar, etc. Since at that time I was not in Delhi, I was not present at this shivir. However, in close proximity with and under the direction of Muni Nathmalji (now Yuvacharya Mahaprajna) good work was accomplished there. In a way this camp became a meeting point of spiritual and moral ideologies. Referring to this fact, Srimannarainji said at that time, “It appears to me that this sadhana-site will become a centre from which rays of spirituality will transmit light to all the people of the world."
During that long shivir, some spiritual books were also studied. Comprehensive discussions took place on