Acharya Mahaprajna
With the accumulation of heterogeneous matter, the body grows ill; with its expulsion, the body regains health. After the dissociation of outer accumulation, the causes of mental unsteadiness come to an end of themselves. The cause of dissociation is penance. The sadhak who does not know the meaning of penance, cannot understand the essence of meditation.
The Attack Within
The eyes are closed. The sadhak is making an effort to achieve concentration of mind. Sitting in an appropriate posture for the control of all the senses, he has cut off all contact with the outside world. There is no ingress of sound, form or taste from outside. All entry is stopped. Yet in the brain are stored lakhs and crores of sounds, forms and smells. This process has been going on for millions of years. Entry from outside is closed. But when these accumulated sounds and forms emerge within, a man is quite amazed. A person, who appeared to be quite steady before meditation, at least did not appear to be too fickle, grows unimaginably restless. Mark it now: Where are the sounds coming from? The outer door is closed. Nobody can come in from outside. When there was free entry from outside, the inner man was asleep. Now that nobody is coming from outside, the inner man has an opportunity to wake up. When the conscious mind is awake, the sub-conscious mind sleeps. In the language of psychology, it is said that when the conscious mind works, the sub-conscious mind lies inert. In Sthanang Sutra, it is laid down:
“When the man exercising control over the self awakes, his speech, vision, smell, taste and touch lie asleep. When he sleeps, then these five wake up. When the conscious mind is awake, the inner mechanism lies inert. But if we put the conscious mind to sleep, the inner mind wakes up. While the outer mind is awake, the accumulation inside goes on increasing, and a day might come when there is a terrific explosion and a man cannot endure it. Only when the sub-conscious mind is awakened, do we come to know what lies within. Until an attempt is made to cleanse the mind, one continues to live in total ignorance.”
