Utility Of Science Of Living In Building Our Life

JAIN VISHVA BHARATI UNIVERSITY

Acharya Mahapragya Pravas Samiti 's president Shri Babulal Sekhani along with his team requesting Acharya Shri to extend his Bidasar stay

Deterioration Of Cultural Values

We see that there has been a great deterioration in human values all over the world. Eternal values like spiritualism, non-violence, harmony, tolerance and truth etc. are getting deteriorated. That is why immorality violence, intolerance, terror, callousness, fear and discontentment are on the spread. Man fears his fellow-beings, there is no trust. The sources of pleasure, peace, happiness and sensitivity have dried up. Man is restless, frightened and scared. That is why the importance of balance between individual liberty and administrative control is being increasingly felt. Administration, discipline and self-restraint all the three are essential to society. Liberty in the absence of self-restraint amounts to madness and crime.1

According to the famous literary figure Jainendra Kumar, "Culture comprises human relations. Deformity occurs when violence gains entry in these relations and it then poses a great threat to culture." Jainendra Kumar has suggested a remedy too for this malady. According to him, there should be no pressure, no striking, no disrespect between man and man. Instead, there should be sympathy, respect and co-operation. There should be brotherhood among neighbours, economic relations should be based on co­operation, people should be willing to help other and privacy and individuality of man should be maintained. All these factors are both the necessities and the characteristics of culture.2 According to prominent Acharya Tulsi, the founder of Anuvrata movement - only that culture flourishes and succeeds that produces persons devoted to duty. A country maintains and preserves its culture, civilization, art and national integrity only on the force of its saints and monks.3

According to Dr. Radhakrishnan, the only thing that can provide dignity to mankind is its spiritual endeavour. No culture can be permanent until it practices and supports this spiritual endeavour.4 Swami Vivekanand proclaimed, "India cannot die, it is immortal and will remain so long as a majority of people do not give up spirituality.5 In the present circumstances, Indians do not proud of being Indians and how can they do so? So long as there is no Indianisation of education, respect for nationality will not develop. He said that no importance is given to Indian vernaculars and Indian culture. We cannot have good and healthy citizens so long as Indian spirit is not introduced in education.6

Measures To Be Adopted For The Protection Of Indian Culture

The main characteristic of Indian culture is the formation of such rules and life-style that bring about the development of physical, mental and spiritual faculties, an over-all development of personality. The whole concept of yoga and the different methods of meditation are the result of this very peculiarity. Nowhere else do we find such an arrangement for physical, mental and spiritual development. Putting into practice the famous saying, "Sound mind in a sound body", a well-planned programme was made for physical development that helped in mental and spiritual development as well. In no other culture of the world is found such an organized programme. This is the first and the foremost peculiarity of Indian culture.7

It is clear now that the values of human life and the gist of culture can be learnt and taught in early childhood only. A vigilant and cultured man glows with the sense of life and sense of the world. Without this vigilance and awareness, the importance of values cannot be appreciated. Awareness of beauty, affection, harmony, equanimity, respect for all religions, tolerance, co-ordination, healthy feelings of heart, keen intellect, scruple, sense of the best forms of man, balance between liberty and equality, duties and rights are the essential elements of culture. The education that is imparted to the students in the present time, does not provide these values to students.8

Education is an indispensable part of development. It removes superstitions, social evils, false beliefs and refines life. Education has a two­fold function. On the one hand it teaches the art of living and on the other hand adds skill and efficiency to traditional arts. Educated persons are conscious of their aims and goals and at the same time they are ready to meet the challenges of time. But all these things are possible only when value-based education is imparted. The present education system provides nothing of the sort. The tragedy is that our language and culture have been reduced to a secondary level in our own country and consequently the desired results are not being obtained. Children are not being taught what they ought to be taught. It is futile to blame children for what they are learning in the name of standard of life, as the Indian spirit is missing in their education. Our culture can be preserved only through the medium of education.9 Science of living has emerged as a ray of hope in this dark and gloomy world. It is the lamp that will remove the darkness of ignorance.

Science Of Living: A Sure Means Of Building Of Life

It was winter break in the educational institutes. A Teacher's Training Camp pertaining to spiritualism, yoga and moral education was organized in 'Tulsi Adhyatma Needam' from 25-12-1978 to 31-12-1978. Acharya Mahaprajna graced the occasion with his benevolent presence. The need for a new system of education was being keenly felt. There was a long discussion as to what name should be given to this new activity. After much thinking, Acharya Mahaprajna named this mammoth task of providing this spiritual, yoga and moral education as SCIENCE OF LIVING. His suggestion was approved and applauded unanimously and this new programme came to be implemented as science of living. According to Acharya Mahaprajna, "Science of living is the name of a coordinated and harmonized system. There is in it a coordination of non-violence, moral education and internal change. It has been developed in the sphere to education with the coordination of Anuvrata and Preksha Dhyan." The main aim of science of living is the building of spiritual-scientific personality. One, taught by this method will neither be a scientist nor a spiritual entity only. One will have all the attributes of both a scientist and a spiritual personality. This is the greatest requirement and the urgent need of the period. The acute problems of the present time need as immediate and sure solution and for this, it is necessary to understand life and to make suitable changes in life-style, if needed.

There are three aspects of science of living: conative, emotional and practical. Science of living aims at:

1. Finding out the rules of life by which all these three aspects can be achieved.
2. Finding out the rules by which a proper balance between emotional and intellectual development can be established.
3. Finding out the rules by which intellect, pure conscience and inner-self can be aroused.

Acharya Mahaprajna has brought out the following aspects of the science of righteous living:

1. Science of living is training of righteous living.
2. Science of living imparts training in non-violence, moral values and brings about internal change.
3. Science  of  living  is   the  co-ordination   of  Anuvrata  and Prekshadhyan.
4. Science of living is the study of anatomy of body and to observe experiments with them.

Science Of Living And The Components Of Life

What is life? This is the first and foremost question that confronts every rational being. It is the first question because everything depends on life. Everything may happen when there is life. If there is no life, nothing will happen. All the activities follow life. The end of life signifies the end of all the activities of mind, body and speech.

It is a big question because the things have value when life exists and become meaningless with the end of life. The components of life are:

1. 1. Body,
   2. Breathing,
   3. Vitality,
   4. Mind,
   5. Emotions/Aura/Psychic colours,
   6. Karma,
   7. Consciousness, Growth.

Let us ponder over them one by one:

1. Body

The first component of life is body. Everything lies in body. A physician too examines the body first of all, when someone complains of some ailment. And it is very mysterious. A physician examines the body from medical point of view. He tries to understand both the nervous system and the glandular system. But the concept changes when the body is studied from the point of view of science of living. There are certain centres in the body where consciousness is highly dense centred. In prekshadhyan, they are known as centres of psyche. Experiments in meditation are carried out on them. If spiritual power is to be aroused, we will have to concentrate on the centre of intuition. If we want to be balanced, disciplined and self-restrained, we will have to concentrate on the centre of purity. If the habit of drinking is to be given up, one has to concentrate on the ear. Vigilance centre is the centre for de-addiction. Ten systems in all, such as digestive system, nervous system, respiratory system etc. are responsible for the various activities of body. All these systems are closely related not only to the physical activities but to human behaviour also.

2. Breathing

The second component of life is breathing. The brain has two sides - right side and left side. The breath taken with the right nostril activates the left side of brain. The various experiments made in breathing help in bringing about emotional change.

3. Vital Force

Vitality is the main source of our life-force. Body is conducted by vitality. Breathing is conducted by vitality. Mind and speech too are conducted by the force of will and speech. Balance of vitality controls the whole life. When it gets imbalanced, the physical health is affected adversely and the whole system of life gets disturbed. In Prekshadhyan, there are many means that can maintain balance in vitality:

1. Perception of body,
2. Perception of Taijas centre,
3. Perception of purifying centre,
4. Perception of equanimous breathing.

Health means balance of vitality. Man gets sick when this balance is disturbed. Vitality is a subtle element. It is not perceived by any instrument. Hence it is unknown.

4. Mind

The fourth ingredient of life is mind. There are two stages of mind - instability and concentration. An instable mind is responsible for failure and a concentrated mind is the key to success. The means by which concentration can be gained are as follow:

1. Perception of deep breathing - rhythmic deep breathing.
2. Restraint in breathing by adopting some particular procedure - breath stopping.
3. Perception of vitality centre.
4. Perception of Intuition centre.
5. Perception of thoughts.
6. Perception without a wink.
7. Contemplation.

Too much instability of mind causes many problems. On the other hand, concentration of mind provides solution to many problems. Memory, imagination and thinking all three are the business of mind. When these three reach to an undesirable point, they cause mental tension.

5. Psyche

The fifth ingredient of life is psyche. Psyche is a ray of the light of knowledge. It is affected by our consciousness and in return, affects our gross body. Through brain and nervous system, it conducts and controls every activity of life - body, speech and mind. The aim of Preksha meditation is - purification of psyche. It aims at removing anything that covers consciousness so that no dirt of delusion may defile it. The means that help purifying psyche are as follow:

1. Perception of the centers of consciousness.
2. Experience of attachment and aversion free moment.
3. Experience of pure consciousness - equanimity.
4. Thought-free meditation.
5. Experiment of knower - perceiver feeling.
6. Psychical activity.

6. Emotions - Psychic Colours - Aura

The sixth ingredient of life is emotions. The test of the purity or the impurity of psyche is the purity or the impurity of emotions, psychic colour and aura. Success and contentment are gained by positive emotions. Healthy emotion is the basis of the mental health. The basic aphorism of Preksha meditation is freedom from physical, mental and emotional ailments.
Man instinctively wants to lead a life of ecstasy. Physical, mental and emotional ailments are the obstacles in gaining this state of absolute meditation. In Preksha meditation, emotional health is given the utmost importance. If one is fit emotionally, one is sure to be fit mentally and physically too. The experiments for gaining emotional health are as follow:

1. Psychic colour meditation.
2. Contemplation of friendship.
3. Contemplation of compassion.
4. Contemplation of tolerance.

Mind is a non-sentient element. It is not self-conducted. Its motivating force is emotions. Mind is related to subtle body. There is a subtle body within the gross body and that is known as Taijas body. That is an electrical body. In the centre of that body are formed emotions. Emotions are the motivating and determining factors of life. They affect the psyche in the gross body. This psyche, through the brain, affects and conducts all the activities of life.

7. Karma:

The seventh components of life is - karma. Karma is the result of human endeavour. The endeavour of the present is known as self-exertion and that of the past is known as karma. Karma is one of the elements that affect human life the most. This invisible force can neither be denied not can it be regarded as supreme. Whatever happens in life is not always accidental, without rhyme or reason or result of circumstances. Some incidents may be affected by circumstances but behind most of them there is some reason and that is karma. Some diseases too are the result of karmas. It is surprising that the physiologists who have investigated each and every cell of body and have tried to find out the bio-chemicals, did not come forward to search the soul. The first step towards the search of the soul is the search of karma. The ways by which karmas can be transformed are as follows

1. Indeterminate meditation.
2. Congitational meditation on worldly troubles.
3. Righteous analysis.
4. Psychic colour meditation.
5. Psychic center meditation.
6. Prayer.

The aim and object of science of living is to study the effect of Preksha Meditation on these seven aspects of life with scientific tools and psychological tests in order to realize the innumerable mysteries of life and for the building of life. In the direction of understanding life as a whole, concentrating on these seven points and constantly trying to refine them is the first step to be taken by any human being. By paying full attention to these aspects and by following them we can build our life and can mould our character.

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