Acharya Mahaprajna
Deccan Herald
The principle of Preksha meditation is that balanced emotions lead to a healthy body and unbalanced emotions lead to an unhealthy body.
Unbalanced emotions make a person unhealthy and an unhealthy body will trigger the emotions.
Napoleon was defeated in the battle of Waterloo. The cause of his defeat was studied. Along with that study came a medical report as well. The report said that at the time that he took the decision to fight the Waterloo battle, his pituitary gland had failed. If we go along further with this fact, we can conclude that the failure of the pituitary gland renders a person cruel, merciless and bereft of compassion.
Preksha meditation is not a practice that is restricted to making the mind one-pointed for an hour, but is a holistic approach to life. One who wishes to live a good life should internalise the system of Preksha meditation. Because physical and mental illness strike and cause anguish, they disrupt the normal course of life. In order to think about these issues, we must enter the world of emotions. By investigating the subtle world of emotions, we will reach the truth.
Japanese scientists have done considerable research on the topic ‘Emotions and diseases’. I would like to request some of the brilliant doctors and scientists working in the field of Preksha meditation to carry out research on the effect of emotions on our lives. How we can make our lives better, using emotions, is a subject for research.
Summarising this chapter, we see that there are two worlds –– the inner world and external world. The internal world is called the world of emotions and the external world is called the mind. The mind does not interfere with the internal world.
Uttaraadhyayan sutra, one of the prominent Jain Aagamas, gives a clear explanation of the world of emotions. A question was asked to Bhagvan Mahavir, ‘What does a soul get by purification of emotions?’ Bhagvan Mahavir answered, ‘One becomes fearless on purification of emotions.’
A person who neither meditates nor does chanting but resolves to be continuously aware of his emotions all the 24 hours of the day, and tries to keep them as pure as possible, will find there is no need of meditation, because, I believe, meditation is happening of its own. There is no need for him to do any other practice. If emotions are pure, that means he has found the solution. That is why we must transcend the boundaries of the mind, enter the world of emotions, purify them and thus obtain the secrets of optimum health and happiness.