Yuvacharya Mahapragya
THE DEVELOPMENT INDEPENDENT PERSONALITY
For someone to be independent it is necessary that he be able to discriminate between a right demand and a wrong demand and thus accept the former and reject the latter. The power of discrimination and of rejection lies at the root of the development of an independent personality.
One can thus preach: reject the demands made by the senses and by attitudes and desires.
But the question is whether mere preaching and sermonizing of this kind can achieve the desired results. Can the students really develop the power to reject by merely being preached to do so? Here it is important to note that theoretical knowledge and understanding by itself are not capable of giving a man the necessary power to translate them into action. The teachers of spirituality have laid the greatest emphasis on the development of the vital energy or the life-force. When this energy, this force is developed, all other powers become automatically activated.
Ecological pollution has literally poisoned the atmosphere and men do not often get adequate life-sustaining oxygen to breathe. Furthermore, for awakening the life-force we need full and long breath. We breathe inadequately and this further reduces the quantity of oxygen inhaled by the lungs. The result is we are unable to get rid of all the toxicity accumulated in the system.
In the initial stages one may experiment with mere breathing, but later on one has to learn how to draw the life-force from every part of the body. One has to lie down in the relaxed posture of kayotsarg and start breathing intently. One has then to start drawing the life-force from the entire body by actually experiencing that every cell of the body is taking part in the process of breathing. By so doing, sensitivity will be awakened in every pore of the body and the entire organism will become inundated with the life-force.
There are three important centres from the point of view of such spiritual practice and experimentation:
1.Prana Kendra (the centreof the life-force), which is the nasagra, or the tip of the nose.
2.Darshan Kendra (the centre of intuition), which is at the middle point between the eyebrows.
3.Jyoti Kendra (the centre of controlling and disciplining one's temperament and nature), which is in the middle of the forehead.
The first thing is the development of vital energy or the life-force. For this it is necessary to concentrate for prolonged periods on the Prana Kendra, i.e. the tip of the nose.
Finally, we come to discuss the development of discipline. As mentioned earlier, the seat of control is situated in the middle of the forehead - what we called the Jyoti Kendra. Of all things, this needs concentrating upon most. Even physiological science recognizes the crucial importance of the pituitary, the pineal, and the hypothalamus in controlling and governing our entire personality. The Darshan Kendra develops intuition, the Jyoti Kendra develops all behavioural traits, and the front brain controls body temperature. The master controller or governor is the hypothalamus which controls even the pineal, which, in turn, controls the pituitary.
It is only after these three developments take place - of the vital energy or life-force, of intuition, and of discipline - that an independent personality is developed. A man who is tied down to animal or biological urges and drives can never be independent. Only practice of spirituality and meditation in the sense explained above leads to the awakening of intuition and once that happens, all ties, all bonds to animal passions loosen automatically.
EDUCATION AND THE PROBLEM OF THE MIND
Meditation is one of the means of unraveling the mysteries of the mind and of cleansing the mind. This cleansing, purging, and refining are very important. For proper and adequate management of all our activities both refinement and nourishment are necessary. Meditation is the process of both refinement and nourishment. Hence, it should be a compulsory component of our education. In fact, education can be comprehensive and inclusive only when it also incorporates the spiritual science and training in meditation.
Problems can be solved only when consciousness is kept at the centre and all other things at the periphery. All our thinking should be directed to the determining of the effect an activity or action will have on the consciousness. What may appear momentarily beneficial may have a baneful long-term effect on the consciousness. It is worth reflecting what cumulative impact a particular activity will have on the consciousness and what its ultimate consequences will be. Such an attitude of reflection is conducive to the solution of problems, whereas a body-centred attitude inevitably complicates problems. Mere catering to physical needs and even ensuring intellectual and mental development, however important though they may be, is not enough. Here it is worth remembering, that mental development is not the same as competence in solving mental problems. This is not surprising because mental development largely involves sharpness of memory and an ability to think and imagine. This by itself cannot ensure the ability to resolve mental problems. Moreover, it is also true that these problems gain in complexity as the mind develops.
There is nothing in our present-day education that can help people solve this dilemma-imagination being at once the cause of mental development and mental problems. Inadequacy of the education system in this respect calls for paying greater heed to meditation and spirituality being made compulsory components of the system.
Meditation does not mean merely sitting down with eyes closed, or resting and relaxing for a while.
We will be mistaken to believe that mere preaching can bring about a lasting change in someone's dispositions. But by changing the flow of the secretions or by restoring the balance of the endocrinal secretions, the desired results can be achieved. Bad thoughts, however, change the nature of the inner secretions. Thus, inordinate fear completely upsets the central nervous system and excessive anger puts the glandular mechanism entirely out of order. Brain nerves are also affected as they are vitally connected with thoughts. There is no dearth of advice as to the desirability of giving up evil thoughts and replacing them by sublime ones. But very little has been said about how to bring it about. And not unnaturally so, since the 'how' is more a matter of experience and practice than of words. There is a simple way of changing the flow of the secretions - resorting to long breaths. As breathing slows down, the consciousness gets pitched into the present. Breathing exercise is therefore the best way to achieve the goal.
Having known the secret of living in the present, of keeping consciousness confined to the present, he will automatically master the art of controlling the endocrinal secretions. He will be able to alter them at will. Should he find lust overcoming him, he should at once start taking long breaths. Both the pituitary and the pineal will get oriented to the present and lust will first weaken and then altogether disappear.
Whatever and howsoever strong be the passion or base disposition, it can be successfully and effectively countered through resort to long breaths, body-perception and perception of and concentration on the centre of consciousness, especially the tip of the nose, the centre of the eyebrows and the forehead. The endocrinal secretions will be automatically transformed.
A right turn of the consciousness will change the secretions and that in turn will transform the dispositions. For such a complete transformation we will have to acquire complete understanding of our mental problems, their nature, process, source, the secretion causing them and the way to change it. All this constitutes an interlocking chain, a grid. Once it is mastered, the man given to meditation becomes the maker of his own personality and the arbiter of his own destiny. For this it is necessary to learn the art of physical relaxation, silence, concentration and 'thoughtlessness' (freedom from thoughts). Such a state of 'thoughtlessness' is the highest stage of consciousness.
