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Jain Meditation
S.C.: You go on working; it is not a one day's work. Someone asked me: How long do I have to meditate? I said: How long are you going to live? And he said, I am going to live a long time. So I say: meditate for a long time. If you want to live, it is like a breath.
L.M.: Meditation should be like our breathing.
S.C.: Once a day, you have time for yourself. Take out all the negative things—exhale. And inhale all the positive thoughts.
L.M.: Do you have a recommended amount of time for meditation practice?
S.C.: Yes.
L.M.: Is it one hour, or two hours, or what?
S.C.: No, I generally recommend twenty-four minutes and forty-eight, at the most.
L.M.: Why forty-eight minutes?
S.C.: Because twenty-four minutes would be for the twenty-four hours in a day. And so, you double that: forty-eight minutes. After that amount, the mind is not able to grasp more. It gets tired, exhausted. Whatever you do after that, you get fatigued. In school also, the period is usually forty-five minutes.
L.M.: Is posture important too, and should you sit in a comfortable—but erect—posture so that you don't fall asleep in meditation?
S.C.: You can select the posture which does not cause you to fall asleep. You keep aware; you can sit on a chair, or you can sit on the ground, or the floor. Make yourself comfortable. Because, right asana, or posture, is-must be—sukhasana, a posture which gives you comfort. It is not strenuous, or putting torture.
L.M.: On the body, that makes good sense.
S.C.: So in this way, you master your impulses and lower desires.
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