Transmutation of Personality through Preksha Meditation

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

Page 97

considerations of great and small. However, on the basis of the capacity of the individual undertaking a vow, it may be differentiated. There are five main vows-nonviolence, truth, non-stealing, brahamcharya and non-acquisitiveness. The practice of non-violence means freedom from attachment and aversion; its fruition is the feeling of goodwill towards the whole world. Freedom from attachment and aversion leads to veetaragta (freedom from affections and passions), and the feeling of goodwill leads to identification with the soul of the world. In so far as the realisation of veetaragta and the feeling of goodwill increase the purity of the mind, the state of meditation is equally strengthened.
Truth is the symbol of straightforwardness. A sadhak who is simple and straightforward, does not accumulate filth. Telling an untruth stains the mind. A liar is always assailed by fear. To avoid a possible evil, he indulges in falsehood and when his falsehood is exposed, he becomes restless. Restlessness is productive of malice and the man loses his reputation. Fear, anger and duplicity cannot be separated from untruth. And wherever these tendencies grow, it is impossible for the mind to be pure. And in the absence of purity, the seed of dhyana does not sprout.
The third vow is non-stealing. Stealing is the culmination of the lack of discipline. A man who steals, violates other people's rights. It is a ruthless act and the man indulging in it can never achieve self-realisation. All his attention is turned to material things. A materialistic mind has no conception of purity, whatever. A man who takes the vow of non-stealing, rises above the world of matter, and progresses in the direction of mental purity.
The fourth VOW is celibacy (brahmcharya). Brahmcharya is the worship of self-knowledge. It is an inexhaustible source of power. It is a kind of special discipline. One who practises brahmcharya, is able to
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