Acharya Mahaprajna
The search for truth is a gigantic and complicated endeavour. We can succeed in this endeavour only if the will to know truth has been aroused in us. Life cannot go on smoothly unless it is based on the knowledge of truth. Truth is vast and a Herculean effort is needed to comprehend it. A deep dedication and constant exertion are needed in order that we may succeed in our endeavour.
We do not need a comprehensive knowledge of truth before we begin our Sadhana. We, of course do need at least a working knowledge of truth, otherwise we may go astray. Doubts, disbelief, and ignorance are persistent obstacles in Sadhana. They have to be overcome.
Comprehending truth is like the act of boiling water. We cannot perform Sadhana without at least a hundred centigrade heats in our bodies. The body of the practitioner presents the greatest difficulty in it. The Taijasa Body presents the next difficulty. The entire energy of our body comes from the Taijasa centre. The practitioner will come face to face with the Taijasa Body after he has made some progress. The Taijasa body behaves in curious ways and it often performs miraculous feats. There are buildings fitted with automatic devices, which function with the help of electricity. As soon as a visitor comes before a door, it opens automatically. The fans in the building also move automatically. Lights will be on in the same way without any human agency. It is electricity, which makes every equipment work. The Taijasa centre is an electrical centre in the human body. When it has been activated, it produces a glow of light around the face. You might have heard of miracles performed by Yogis. The Taijasa body or the Prana force performs all these miraculous feats therein. This centre creates difficulties for the ordinary Sadhaka. I would like to add that the gross body does not produce the miracles and, therefore, they are spiritual things and not miracles as we ordinarily think them to be.
The starting point of Sadhana is the aphorism. Only by weeding out attachments and aversions from the mind do you achieve emancipation from the bondage produced by Karma. The life of the spirit is devoid of attachments and aversions. It is a life of awakened consciousness. It is a mutation in the soul resulting in its purity and transparence. It is self-realization. That is the aim of Sadhana.
The practitioner of Sadhana will find himself confronted by all kinds of hurdles, which sometimes change the course of his practice. There are hundred and one temptations, which will defile him. Society believes in miracles and would like to be assured that the practitioner is capable of producing them, of promising and giving progeny, wealth, and such things. People will be attracted by that practitioner only who can disappear physically, or convert iron into gold and so on. They are not concerned with the absence of all attachments and aversions in the mind of the practitioner. This is the popular view of Sadhana.
The human body is a powerhouse. It has a complete plant capable of producing enormous electricity. When we think, our mind produces electric currents in the brain. We produce electric currents even by remaining deliberately silent. The body produces electric currents when we lie in repose. Our brain produces electric currents when it is in a state of Dhyana. The brain produces electricity when we have reduced the natural activities. The Alpha Rays produced by the mind in a state of complete repose bring about a state of tranquillity. This tranquillity is not experienced when the mind is engaged in thinking. People often express satisfaction when the mind is tranquil. Such an experience is not at all a spiritual experience. It is the Alpha rays, which produce such a state of the mind.
A scientist once performed an experiment. He spread a network of copper wires on the ground. A man was made to sit on this network and positive and negative electric currents were introduced in the copper wires. The man sitting on the network of the wires became completely silent as a result of the electric charges. He began to experience an exceptional peace in his mind. Even a regular practitioner of meditation will not feel this peace in his mind after a prolonged practice. You might say that there is no sense in meditation, if copper wires could produce such a peace. Let meditation be substituted by copper wires.
Salter, an American scientist, performed a few interesting experiments on cats. In a state of meditation, the meditator's brain produces Alpha Rays. Formerly it was believed that these rays were only natural phenomena. They bring about a state of perfect tranquillity in the meditator's mind. Some meditators demonstrated that these rays could be produced by the human brain through self exertion. The meditators could produce them at will. Some facts concerning them were recorded by the Medical Institute of Delhi. This was a new thing for the scientists and medical experts. This was the starting point for Salter. Starting from the fact that these rays could be produced at will, Salter wondered if they could be produced in the brains of animals also. He, therefore, tried to bring the brains of animals into a state of meditation. He kept a cat hungry and administered electric shocks to it. After a few shocks the cat became calm and quiet as a result of the Alpha Rays operating in its mind. After this he gave the cat food and milk and the cat took them. This was repeated a few times. In the course of time the cat came to understand that it would get food as soon as it became calm and quiet. This was a case of conditioned reflex. Whenever the cat became hungry, it would sit calm and quiet. In this state Alpha Rays came into being in its brain. And then it got its food. Eventually it learned how to meditate. The moral of this experiment is that if you made your mind calm and quiet, it would produce Alpha Rays. This is a miracle produced by electricity. It is not a spiritual phenomenon. It is a natural thing produced by natural causes. When your body has been completely immobilized, and your mind is tranquil, your brain will begin to produce Alpha Rays. The practitioner of meditation passes through two operational fields of electricity: the field of electricity produced by friction in the body and the field of electricity normally present in the body. He often gets entangled in these fields, for he feels great calm and relaxation. He begins to feel joy and tranquillity. This creates a misunderstanding in him. He forgets that he is only passing through the first stage of Sadhana. What he experiences is an experience on the surface only and he forgets that much has yet to be achieved. Sleep also produces relaxation and peace of mind. The question, however, is whether this peace comes from where it should come. There should be no misunderstanding on this point. Our ultimate aim is a peace of mind, which comes from a permanent source and never relinquishes us.
You might have heard of the transfer of energy from one body to another. One who has developed tremendous energy in his body can transfer a portion of it to another body. He has only to place his hand on another's head to do so. Our heads and hands are two means of receiving energy from external sources. The head collects this energy. The ancient practice of touching the feet of the preceptor by the head of the disciple is the method of collecting energy by the disciple's head from the feet of the preceptor. If the preceptor placed his hand on the head of the disciple, he would transfer the electricity of his body to the body of the disciple. The disciple is thus enabled to collect energy from the hand as well as the feet of the preceptor. The head is the best recipient of energy. This electricity has miraculous effects. But let us remember that this is not a spiritual gain. There can be no spiritual gain unless the passions have been weeded out of the mind. Consciousness has got to be purified and predispositions and predilections wiped out before there can be any kind of spiritual accomplishment. The feats of the Taijasa body are not spiritual achievements. They are the achievements of a purely mental Sadhana and not the outcome of the removal of attachments and aversions and predilections from the mind.
