Acharya Mahaprajna
In the preceding chapter we discussed the scientific version of what stress, strain and tension are. In this chapter, we shall discuss the philosophical version.
Three Types of Tension
Three types of tension are:
- Muscular tension
- Mental tension
- Emotional tension.
Everybody suffers from these three types of tension, and relaxation is a harmless and useful antidote to counter their injurious effect. Half an hour's systematic total relaxation is equivalent to two hours' sleep in terms of rest and recovery of the muscles. Perhaps more.
Today every man is a victim of tension. He has no peace of mind and is always restless. When he is physically tired, he seeks relief in sleep or rest. Rest and sleep are good antidotes for muscular fatigue. Thus it is not difficult to identify muscular tension and also its remedy—rest and sleep.
On the other hand, while we know how to use our mental equipment, we do not know how to give rest to it. We know how to think but seldom do we know how to switch off the process of thinking. It is difficult to halt the train of thoughts because we are not aware of the process of mental rest.
Overloading the mental faculty is the main cause of mental fatigue and tension. Overthinking causes mental disorder and many people suffer from this disorder because they keep the delicate equipment active whether it serves any purpose or not. Constant use of the faculty is a way of life for them.
A simple way of giving rest to mind is to learn living in the present. We live more in the past or future and very little in the present. We constantly indulge either in the memories of the past or are busy with the planning for the future. We are very much enmeshed in the new-work of unnecessary memories, and thus, there is little time for living in the present. To live in the present is unloading the mind of the burden of the past and relieve it from mental tension.
The third type is emotional tension which is worst of all.
Intense craving to possess pleasant and desirable, intense grief for loss of dear ones or property, intense desire for getting rid of some unpleasant or undesirable infliction - all these produce emotional tension. Desire for retaliatory violent action also produces emotional tension. An incident of confrontation in the past may continue to fester for years and one is overwhelmed with a desire for violent retaliation.
Continuity of a high degree of muscular tension is a problem of the present times. Mental tension is far more serious than this! But emotional tension is the most difficult and pernicious of all. It produces dangerous psychological distortions and bestial behaviour. The only remedy is systematic meditation. Emotioanl tension, produced by bestial urges of retaliation etc., can be relieved by regular practice of 'Preksha'. If 'Preksha' is adopted as a way of, life, one acquires not only physical and mental goodness but also psychical goodness by eradicating all evils from one's thought, speech and action.
Kãyotsarg—Physical Meditation
Every human being possesses four dynamic faculties - body, breath, speech and mind. Being intrinsically dynamic these are perpetually in action and radiate energy waves in the surrounding space. The dynamic nature of these faculties sustains life and the forces regulating their activity are not external but intrinsic. Besides, the energy waves radiated by one interact with those radiated by others. Thus we are all inter-connected, inter-related and inter-dependent. Nobody is absolutely independent. Relative independence is realised by periodically inactivating, at least partially, the above faculties, and meditation is the tool for achieving this. Acquisition of maximum mental steadiness is meditation. Motionless body is physical meditation or Kãyotsarg. Conscious, slow, deep and rhythmic breathing is meditation of breath. Internal and external silence and steadiness of mind are vocal and mental meditations respectively.
No living being can realise absolute motionlessness. The basis of the bodily movement is the muscular system. There are three types of muscles:
- Skeletal or voluntary muscles
- Smooth internal muscles
- Cardiac muscle—heart.
Only the first type i.e. muscles of the head, trunk and limbs are voluntary muscles. Their action or inaction is voluntary i.e. controlled at will. The other muscles such as those of intestines, blood-vessels, uterus etc. act involuntarily or automatically and we have no conscious control over thier action. The action of heart is initiated within itself. So when we speak about the immobilisation of the body, we refer to the inaction of the voluntary muscles only. The movement of limbs is voluntary and can be stopped at will. Thus, the first step in a meditational exercise is to adopt a specific posture and then remain motionless in that posture. This is an essential prerequisite condition for meditation.
The internal muscles—heart, intestines etc. continue their action throughout the meditation session. The activity of the brain and the autonomic nervous system also continues. Thus, inspite of the motionless state of the body and steadiness of mind, the sense-organs and other sensory out-posts continue to transmit sensations to the brain and the latter continues to process these into perceptions. This is the primary stage of meditation.
Higher states of immobilisation of the body can also be achieved, but these are difficult to describe and mostly beyond language. Roughly we can divide these stages into three types: profound, more profound and most profound.
In the highest stage of motionlessness, agitation, and excitement, all activities—voluntary and automatic—cease altogether.
Relaxation—Simulating Death
Kãyotsarg is simulation of death. Two conditions are essential—(i) total cessation of voluntary movements that is relaxed condition (near total demagnetized state) of all skeletal muscles, and (ii) extremely slow rate of respiration as if the system has stopped working. Total relaxation is when there is an acute perception of this state which is neither imagination nor auto-suggestion but a real experience. The body is forgotten and cast away. It is further characterized by an actual experience of floating outside one's body and this is 'death' while living. Everybody has to leave his body when death occurs but the real experience of casting away one's body and be alive is a good achievement. Our real existence is neither body nor respiration. It is far beyond them. When the body is virtually lifeless and the respiration is all but stopped, it is the 'death' of the body which can be cast off. The essence of this exercise is the actual awareness of the truth that the conscious element is not identical with the inert body. The self-awareness is so real that the material shell of the body is forgotten.
Awareness of the Self
From the above it is clear that total relaxation is that condition in which the separateness of the body and the soul is no longer a belief but a real experience. The awareness of the real self apart from the body, apart from the tribulations, apart from the emotions and excitement is the real purpose of Kãyotsarg.
The consciousness [1], the SELF, is neither the body, nor the desires nor the sleep nor the primal urge. This realisation by actual experience is the first step towards emancipation. And the process of self-awareness begins with cessation of body-movement, discipline of the limbs, speech and sense-organs.
In fact, the process of self-awareness does not commence until all voluntary movements are totally stopped and the gravity is freely allowed to do its pull on the body. Thus motionlessness of the body is the main gate to self-realisation. After stopping the action of the skeletal muscles, the next step is to suspend the action of the more subtle internal smooth muscles, But as long as the flow of vital energy is active and the wandering of the mind continues, total staticity of the body cannot be realised. All subtle as well as gross movements of the body are caused by the haphazard flow of vital energy and the scattered activity of the mind. If the stream of vital energy and the flow of thoughts are canalised and turned towards self-arwareness and self- realisation, the muscles will calm down. This is beacuse the impulses, which activated and excited the muscles and which were generated by mental unsteadiness, are no longer available. Once the body is totally motionless, it can be cast off, and the purpose of Kãyotsarg fulfilled.
Cast off the Body and Realize the Self
Kãyotsarg is not merely relaxation of the muscles but actual experience and awareness of the real, non-material self, quite apart from the material non-self i.e. body. Total relaxation is essential and precedes this experience—the body is only a shell and the SELF can free itself from this.
State of total relaxtion is the state of 'seeing' and 'knowing' and leads to self-realisation.
Physical Body-the Scapegoat
Kãyotsarg is the process to search and find the root-cause of all miseries and sufferings. The gross physical body is the medium for perception of suffering or its manifestation but not its root cause. The root cause is the subtlemost body called karma-šarīra [2]. In the state of Kãyotsarg one is able to detect and identify the root cause of mundane suffering. And once this truth is known, there is a fundamental change in the attitude towards the gross body.
The real enemy—the tyrant, the progenitor of all worldly suffering, is the karma-šarīra. But until this truth is discovered, it is the poor gross body which bears the brunt of the wrath of the sufferer. In reality, the gross body is our ally and not the enemy; at least it could and should be made an ally in the war against the real enemy. Once the elusive real enemy is identified, all efforts must be made to liquidate it. And the gross or physical body could be our ally rather than an opponent in the war. Until this truth is realised, one does not befriend and cooperate with the physical body. The first action of alliance with the physical body is to relax it and make it free from all tensions and stresses.
To perpetuate its existence, the enemy—the karma-šarīra—has made elaborate preparations. Survival of the enemy is the state of bondage for the spiritual SELF and the death of the enemy is emancipation of the SELF. It is understandable that the interest of the enemy—karma—is to perpetuate the state of bondage. Having enmeshed him in its clutches, it will resort to every means to keep him enslaved. The first line of its attack is to control the functioning of the physical body—unfortunately not recognised as an ally by spiritual self—and its strategy is to keep the body in perpetual agitation, tension and motion.
Delusion, agitation and motion are potent weapons in the armoury of the enemy. It deludes and continues the delusion so that the spiritual self is unaware of its own separate existence.
Tension produces vibrations, shock-waves in the form of primal-drives, urges and impulses. The smoke-screen of the turmoil of agitation is so effective that the enemy is unseen and unrecognised. The delusion of the spiritual self is unbroken and the assertion of its authority nullified. Self-awareness is impossible under the bombardment of waves of excitation and emotion. If there was no motion, if the turmoil was somehow stopped and the calm of motionlessness achieved the spiritual self would undoubtedly become aware of his our existence and strive for his freedom and emancipation. It is clear from the above that turmoil produced by the karma-šarīra is not only a plan of defence for survival but also a very potent weapon of attack. If one desires to defeat the enemy and win the war, it is obvious that the turmoil of motion is to be stopped. And Kãyotsarg is the right strategy in this direction.
When all bodily movements are stopped, the Shockwaves boomerang on the enemy and shock it. The calm of motionlessness is a direct hit and it trembles for the first time. A serious breach has ben created in its fortifications. The practioner's motionlessnes and subsequent self-awareness explodes the conceit of the enemy and it trembles. Its lines of assault fall in large numbers. Its armament becomes useless and the defeat commences.
Can one doubt about one's own being? Can one be uncertain regarding the independent and eternal existence of the spiritual self? The doubts are because there is agitation and turmoil. All the IFs and BUTs and arguments arise out of turmoil. In the darkness of sophistries and behind the smokescreen of agruments, the question of self-awareness gets side-tracked and grave doubts about one's own being arise.
If the arguments and sophistries did not raise their heads and if the agitation and turmoil which spur all these did not exist, there would nerver be any doubt or uncertainty about the separate and independent existence of the spiritual self.
Sophistry conceals the reality and hides the truth. When sophism overwhelms man's mind, truth deserts the mind and becomes unrealisable. And the root-cause of all this is the agitated state (of the physical body) spurred by karma-šarīra. The primary purpose of the turmoil is to sustain falsehood, superstition and ignorance and keep man away from wisdom.
Another result of turmoil is to prevent man from becoming aware of his misery. Misery is there but he is not aware of it. He sometimes admits the existence of misery, he suffers, he experiences unhappiness but he forgets so soon and so easily that he believes in its non-existence. All this is because of the delusion produced by turmoil. One is not aware of his suffering, his weakness, his impatience and his ignorance because he is deluded by the turmoil.
The first offensive in the war against the enemy is steadiness by relaxation, eliminating turmoil and agitation of the body. Keeping perfectly still, stopping all voluntary movements is an essential part of this exercise.
But this is just the beginning. Total relaxation, though essential, is not all. It is only 25 per cent of the exercise. The balance three-quarter part consists of forbearance and fearlesseness.
Forbearance
This virtue is a constituent of kãyotsarg. It is the first of four main gates of self-realization. It means to bear with fortitude. It is an important component of Kãyotsarg. Having stopped all voluntary movements and totally relaxed the muscles, the practitioner is now prepared to bear anything that happens. If there is pain in the limbs, he bears it stoically; if the body aches, he bears. If it is raining, let it rain. If there is a storm raging, let it rage. Some infliction may come from external environment and some from internal one. All are welcome. Endure, bear stoically and with fortitude, without flinching, without agitating and without disturbing the motionlessness of the body and self-awareness. Nothing to worry—this freedom from anxiety is also Kãyotsarg. One who has not developed the virtue of forbearance cannot experience total relaxation. Slight bodyache and the tension returns, muscles contract and posture changes. A fly or a mosquito can disturb the motionless state of the body; the turmoil returns. Even a noise in the vicinity may cause the head to turn and encroach on the steadiness.
Forbearance, thus, is essential for self-awareness. Without it the material shell of the body cannot be cast off.
Fearlessness (abhaya)
Development of forbearance brings fearlessness. Cowards can never win any war; shedding off cowardice is the first prerequisite of declaring war against the enemy and total fearlessness carries one to the final victory (over the enemy).
The spritual self never knows any fear and is entirely free from it. Realisation of self-awareness necessitates freedom from fear. Without it neither relaxation nor self-awareness is possible.
Relaxation is freedom from fear. Self-awareness is casting off the material shell of the body without fear.
Freedom from anxiety (for the body) may appear easy enough but is not so easy. 'It is my body' or 'I am the body' - identification of the self with the body creates anxiety and fear. In fact, it is inherent in the identification. Only when one realises by actual experience that the spiritual self is non-material, and has an independent existence, separate from the material body, can he be completely free from fear and anxiety. Self-realisation and self-awareness are great steps forward for total freedom from fear.
Conscious element, common as it is to all living beings, is still a perfect mystery to science. The physical world in which the experiences of sense-organs occur does not constitute the sole area for the operation of living organism at all levels of its existence. Man, in all countries, in all ages and at all stages of culture, has sought to penetrate into other regions of consciousness that lie outside the scope of the normal faculties. There are other levels, not so far amenable to explanation in scientific terms, of which it is possible to have first-hand experience. Man functions at several levels, and at each level a different fact of his multifrom existence is brought into operation. There is his body, the tangible part of him, that everyone accepts. The Greeks called the body 'soma', and equated it with a shell within which a non-material element lay encased. This element animates and vitalizes the inert mass of bone and flesh, enabling man to function on the physiological level, an abilty he shares with other living organisms. When he reasons, another aspect of his personatity is revealed. But he also responds to higher levels of consciousness and aspires to achieve a state that he recognizes, however dimly, as greater and purer than himself. This is what we mean by saying that he has a soul. It is difficult to define and distinguish precisely between such terms as the 'soul', the 'spirit', the 'psyche' (Greek), 'ruha' (Jewish), 'ruh' (muslim) ãtman (Hindu), jiva (Jain).
