Acharya Mahaprajna
All living organisms are compounds of two elements - a non-material element called soul or spirit and a material element called body. Thus, there are two separate elements—the eternal and indestructible soul and the perishable body. This is because the spiritual self must have a physical body to function and perform through. In other words, a living organism functions in duality, i.e. there is a most subtle spiritual self (soul [1]) within the gross physical body. The purpose of this exercise is to develop a faculty of discernment and attain wisdom to distinguish between
the butter and the whey,
the oil and oilcake,
the eternal and the transient,
the conscious and the material,
the soul and the body.
Once the faculty of discernment is fully developed, the material shell of the body is perceived separately from the spiritual self. This state is neither imagination nor auto-suggestion, but a real experience. Discernment, then, is a philosophical virtue to realise the Truth, and the essence of the exercise is the actual awareness of the truth that the conscious element is not identical with the physical body.
Instructions for Exercise
| 1-2. | Steps 1 and 2 - as in exercise no. 1. |
| 3. | Attain total relaxation acquiring motionless state of the body. |
| 4. | Focus your full attention on the Centre of Bliss. |
| 5. | With each inhalation, recite the following sentence first loudly for 3 minutes and then softly for 3 minutes:
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| 6. | Contemplate on this eternal truth on the following lines.
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| 7. | As step no. 7 in exercise no.1. |
Man, in all countries and in all ages, has sought to penetrate into higher levels and regions of consciousness. These levels are not amenable to explanation in scientific terms and of which it is difficult to have first-hand experience. There is the body, the tangible part that everyone accepts. The Greek 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 psychological level. When he reasons, another aspect of his personality is revealed. But he also responds to higher levels of consciousness and aspires to achieve a state that he recognises, however dimly, as greater and purer than the body-self. 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) 'rūha' (Muslim), 'ātmah' (Hindu) and 'Jīva' (Jains).
