Non-violence Relative Economics And A New Social Order: Part.1

Human emotions like greed, fear, enmity, antagonism, vanity, cruelty, intolerance, absolutism in thought and action, desire for excessive consumption, abuse of environment, aggression between peoples, absence of a feeling of holism of the universe and the planet are responsible for violence and war. In order to bring about a change of heart, the individual must first gain an insightful understanding of the factors that lead to the rise of these tendencies in him and the means with which they can be curbed, controlled, refined and sublimated. The human mind needs to the thoroughly researched as the seeds of both ahimsa (non-violence) and himsa (violence) take their roots in it. The training of the mind precedes all other things in a course meant for the training of people in ahimsa.

Inculcation of CosmicValues: a Holistic Perspective

This training is proposed to be geared to the needs of a nonviolent socio-political world order. The members of the global community ought to be trained and oriented in such a way that human and cosmic values like detachment towards the body and the matter, fearlessness, friendliness, forgiveness, humility, compassion, communal harmony, tolerance of divergent views, relative thinking, relative behaviour, positive attitudes, selflessness, a sense of universal responsibility towards the world as an integral whole abstinence from harming nature, respect for inherent human rights, consumption of resources in keeping with the satisfaction of the basic needs of all on which depend peace and sustainable development may blossom in them naturally. The above values cannot be imposed on an individual from outside. They exist in all human beings but are often dormant. They must be awakened.

(A) THEORY

Let us try to understand the theoretical explanation given by the Doctrine of Karman^[1] in Jain Philosophy for the phenomenon of change of heart. This may give us a clue to comprehend end the scientific theory.

Fruition and Bondage o/Karman

Cycle of the fruition of the old karman and bondage of the new karman is continuous and without break, fruition produces instincts which not only generate feelings but also command appropriate actions that satisfy the need. Animals just act out instinctive rituals of survival and reproduction by eating, mating and fighting. Man also does feel angry, hungry sexually aroused but he can, because he has the reasoning mind, control his responses to the insistence of the instinctive drives and modify his action. He could, for example, channel an erotic mood on to another creative track, or reject fatty food after a look at his bulging waist line. Both instinctive actions of the animal and modified ones of man-result in the bondage of new karman. All actions come through the brain. The simple nerve network that is the brain of a jellyfish, the simplest of animals, has a few simple programs that keep it afloat and seeking for food. Higher mammals such as ourselves have many more complex programs.

Scientific Explanation

At the lowest level, more nerve-cells regulate the detailed movements of, say, limbs. In the human brain, the cerebral cortex exercises a great deal of overriding control and we can identify many lower levels. The spinal cord contains the basic reflex mechanisms for the control of movements of the body and limbs. The cerebellum, among other functions, ensure that the movements are steady and properly timed. The reticular system at the center of the brain has a central function in activating all the rest, for instance, by the control of sleep and wakefulness. The hypothalamus and neighbouring regions contain the system of reference standards, which ensure that the whole brain takes the actions that are needed for continued life. The cerebral cortex, the largest part of the brain, is concerned with analysis of incoming information and deciding what to do in the light of memory-records stored from the past.

Animals and men live out patterns of activity, following programs of instructions partly inherited and party learned. These programs are written or initiated in the hierarchical structure and activities of the nervous system. An essential feature is that the patterned activity is generated from within. The programs unfold themselves, without waiting for stimuli, although the former often need the latter for their fulfillment.

Interaction of Feeling and Behavior

Nerve-cells and their connections are organized into higher assemblies of neurons that operate reflex actions such as blinking or drawing away the hand from a hot plate. But the behaviour even of simple animals, cannot be described as the consequence only of reflexes, as if they were puppets performing a series of movements dictated by the environment. In man, as indeed in all animals, much of the impetus to act comes from within. Our behaviour involves an elaborate interaction of nervous system (of which the brain is the main constituent) and endocrine system. Philosophers, as well as scientists-including neuroscientists-agree that hormones secreted by endocrines have profound influence on our mental states and behaviourial patterns.

The coordinating effects of the nervous system, as we have seen, are transmitted, nearly instantaneously by electro-chemical impulses. The endocrines secrete chemical messengers (hormones) which are carried through the body by the blood stream. The action of the latter is more slowly established but longer lasting than that of the former. While nerve-action is measured in milli-seconds, some hormones need several days to get started and then last for weeks, months or even years. Nerve-impulses control the function only of muscles while hormones may act on all the cells of the body. Lately, it has been realized that nervous and endocrine systems, both functioning to integrate the organism, are not as divergent as was formerly supposed. Many endocrine glands act on the nervous system through their hormones; on the other hand, endocrines are stimulated or inhibited by products of the nervous system.

Within the central nervous system, there are groups of nerve-cells, which are capable of functioning as glands. The chemical messengers released by these neuro-secretory cells are called neurohormones. These cells serve as links between the central nervous system and the endocrine system. With the help of these dual cells acting as go-between, the central nervous system can control the functional activity of many endocrine glands, and adjust their activity in accordance with the requirements of varying internal and external environments. Equally or more important is the reverse relationship by which the endocrine system can influence the central nervous system. This concept of the reciprocal inter-relation of the two systems is now generally accepted. For instance, pituitary which is described as the conductor of the endocrine orchestra is itself controlled by the overlying hypothalamus which is a very important part of the brain. The pituitary gland produces some dozen different hormones, which control many medium-and long-term functions such as sex, reproduction and location, growth, metabolism and thyroid activity.^[2] Thus inter-connection of pituitary and hypothalamus is a typical instance of the interlocking of the two systems.

Recent studies on neuro-secretions leave no doubt that the nervous system has its own endocrine specialization for the release of hormones. The functional interlocking is so remarkable that nervous and endocrine elements are coming to be regarded as constituting a single integrated system called neuro-endocrine system. As research deepens our knowledge of coordinator systems, it becomes increasingly apparent that their products participate not only in every bodily function, but have profound influence upon the mental states and behaviour of individuals.

The neuro-endocrine system is the seat of feelings, emotions and passions of man. Impulses and urges which are the forerunners of emotions and passion,^[3] not only generate feelings but also command appropriate action that satisfy the need. To understand the behaviour and its determinants, it is not enough to know about nerve-cells and their connections. We have to appreciate all the manifold influences that determine what we may call our moods and all the facts of human behaviour.

Love, hate and fear are endocrine expressions. It is the primitive urge of aggression from the endocrine, that will start war and not the brain, because no reasoning mind will ever wish to kill or injure. All the passions, emotions and impelling forces are the actions of the endocrine expressions. The reasoning mind itself has no emotions but many a time the powerful impulses from the endocrine can overwhelm and continue to tinge the supposed reasoning. Urges and impulses, the precursors of the emotions, are not produced either by brain or by endocrine. In fact, these are forces more subtle than those found in the physical body. They are produced in the microbody (.karmana sarira) as a result of the rise of the bonded karman (.karmaphala). Thus karmana sarira is the origin of all impulsive forces and the mundane soul is always enveloped by karmana sarira. The radiations of psychic energy have to pass through this enveloping field and their interaction (called adhyavasaya) proceeds further towards the gross physical body. At the border of the subtle body, they are transformed into urges and impulses which will later produce fellings and emotions in the physical body.

FEARING AND FIGHTING

Aid for Survival (Philosophical Explanation)

Bhaya samjna, instinct of fear, is one of the four primordial (unlearned) instincts^[4] possessed by every living organism. Preparations for defense are essential for all animals, in a sense, for all life. Every living organism is continually in danger of destruction. Life is a precarious steady state maintained only by continual activity and preparedness to meet and counter adverse conditions. Instinct of fear is an aid for survival available to all life. In humans, all psychological distortions cruelty, vindictiveness, hate etc. are produced by the deluding (mohaniya) karman. They are called quasi-passions (nokasaya).

Programs for Defense

Brain provides higher animals and men with special programs that alert them to threats to their security and enable them to deal with them. Readiness to meet danger is ensured partly by inborn programs and partly by others that are learned. These are the programs that give them fear and anxiety. Stimulation of certain regions in the brain of an animal produces arching of the back, bristling of the hairs, baring of the teeth and all the signs of aggression. Conversely after removal of some other regions, monkeys no longer display the appropriate reaction of fear to a sudden disturbance, and they will pick up and examine dangerous objects such as snakes. Evidence that there are similar centers in the human brain comes from the results of injuries and tumors, which may turn a mild person into an aggressive one or the reverse.

The physiological responses to clues to danger, whether inborn or learned, prepare the individual to give an appropriately strong response of fight or flight, and suitable responses are as necessary in social life as in physical conflict. The right response may vary from a fight to the death to submission to a superior in the hierarchy of business or any part of social life. In either case, the individual must be prepared.

Mechanism for Fight or Flight-Origin of Aggression

It has been known for a long time that secretion of adrenaline by adrenal glands prepares the body for fight or flight. Quite recently several systems of aminergic^[5] nerve-cells and fibers in the brain have also been found to be involved in aggressive and defensive actions by men and animals. We begin to see the connections between the programs of fear and anxiety that prepare us for trouble, and those of defense and attack with which we deal with it.

Anxiety, fear and aggression are necessary parts of life, vital to the continued existence of the individual and of the species. We characterize them as evil and wish they could be abolished, but they are the inevitable corollaries of the precarious and unstable nature of life. We cannot avoid meeting destructive conditions and we may need aggressive forces to protect ourselves from some of them. Certainly we can make every effort to minimize conflicts within our species. To do that, we shall need to consider what human attitudes and controls are required to regulate our reactions to each other in growing population with limited resources. The programs for defense, if appropriately controlled, may yet the exceedingly useful. No one should deceive oneself into thinking that all groups of men are going to live contentedly without constraints. There are too many inequalities among us already and those who are deprived will seek for better conditions, which the privileged will deny them. There are certain to be conflicts. But proper and adequate development of man's innate capacity for peace and non-violence may, at least, help to limit and to contain them.

Control of Aggression

The control of aggression is very complicated. It involves many different brain regions and is influenced by many chemical substances. There are three areas in the basal parts of the brain whose effect is to increase the tendency of violence and no less than six parts that reduce it, the latter lying further forward in the brain. The Neocortex^[6] has greater influence and in man it could dominate these basal zones. There is continual interplay between the tendencies to violent actions that spring from the lower centers and the restraints imposed by the learned responses of the cortex. In man, the orbital zone of the frontal cortex is an especially important inhibitor of the tendencies produced by the lower regions.

The actions of the lower parts of the brain are greatly influenced by the higher parts. Experience and learning are such dominant factors that in man the lower centers are largely controlled by cultural or individual influences. It is characteristic of humans that they can be educated. We may have innate capabilities for aggression and violence, but it does not follow that we need to use them.

The Chemistry of Aggression/Violence

Three Chemical transmitters, characteristic of some of these areas, have been identified and their amounts can be altered by several deliberate mental procedures. These are (1) noradrenaline (NA) and (2) dopamine (DA). Increase in the levels of a third amine (3) serotonin is found to depress aggressive behavior. A proper ratio between these amines is important in control of aggression.

The discovery that these substances are active in the brain has been made only recently, but for many years it has been known that adrenaline produced by the adrenal gland is involved in reactions of alarm and stress. In the brain, amines are 'transmitters' used by one nerve-fibre to activate another at synoptic junctions. It is very interesting that the central part of the adrenal gland (the medulla) is devoted to producing similar substances and sending them in the blood all round the body. The 'alarm reaction' that they cause was one of the first examples of emotional processes to be studied by physiologists. Stimulation of the nerves to the adrenal gland releases adrenaline, which has the effect of preparing the body for action. The heart speeds up, digestion stops, blood is diverted from the viscera to the muscles and sugar is mobilized as fuel from the liver. It is indeed strange that this and the similar substance, noradrenaline, are at the same time at work in the intricate networks of the core brain, making the animal or man alert, attentive, and ready to respond.

Aggression (Violence)- not a Biological Necessity

As stated in the beginning, an aggressive response is ready to be used in every normal adult human by virtue of his possessing primordial unlearned instincts. But anger does not spring up spontaneously; at least in normal people, it has to be 'aroused'. It is triggered (and grows), for instance, by infringement of 'rights' to territory or possessions, frustration and attack on children etc. These responses are part of the mechanisms of 'fight' or flight' and come from the ancient core brain (including the hypothalamus) as much as from adrenal.

The question is do people have a biological need for the 'discharge' of aggression (like orgasm in sex)? There is some evidence which lends plausibility to the theory that they do. For instance, readiness with which people respond to calls for aggressive war, universal prevalence of sports with contents of combat and violence (e.g. bull-fight), popularity of art and theatre in war, from sagas (like Mahabharata) to horror films.

Nevertheless, it is incorrect to say that every individual feels that he has a need for aggression, though most do become angry when provoked. The tendency to defend one's right or one's children does not mean that one has to be violent and it should not be equated with aggression.

Thus, aggression is neither a biological necessity nor it is universal. There are many historical instances of non-violent communities where violence was controlled voluntarily without any special laws or police.^[7] There is no dearth of instances of non-violent response even to the most aggressive provocations in the history of mankind.

The question, before us, is how conflict could be made limited and contained? We have ample information to help us to control the dangerous capacities for violence. Protective and defensive mechanisms possessed by us are to be seen as having the positive survival values and not identified with aggression and attack. Surely such a view is more sensible.

The Chemistry of aggression/violence gives us a very important clue for controlling aggressive behavior in general and violence in particular. We know that serotonin is secreted within the brain, possibly by pineal body and through a proper technique of meditation, people maybe trained to increase its proportion in blood circulation. The secretion of adrenalin and noradrenalin by the adrenal gland can be increased or inhibited by changes in the amount of ACTH released by pituitary under the influence of ACTH-releasing factors from hypothalamus. Both pituitary and pineal are found to be amenable to the conditions produced by meditational practices.

Systematic meditational practice has the power to produce changes in the electrical activity of the nervous system as well as transmute the synthesization of the secretion of the endocrine system. This has now been established by the use of bio-feedback and other scientific measuring equipment. Meditation was until recently looked upon as an item of Eastern mysticism. But it has now been irrefutably proved by scientific observations that the meditative state produces symptoms that are diametrically opposite to those produced during the state of stress and emotional upset. And since hypertension and other psychosomatic illnesses are caused by frequent triggering of stress mechanisms, meditational practices can prevent and cure such illnesses. Meditational practice is not an irrational, emotional or religious experience but a deliberate mental operation of psycho-analysis. It is, in fact, a form of psycho-therapy for eradicating the forces which produce and would continue to produce psychological distortions, emotional crisis, mental disorders and irrational behaviour, if not destroyed. It is a "process of remedying inner incompleteness and reducing inner discord" as aptly started by William lames.

(B) PRACTICALS

Preksha Dhyan i.e. perceptive meditation is the practical technique for imparting the training in non-violence. The main exercises are perception of breathing, perception of psychic centres and therapeutic thinking or contemplation. They are known as Shvas-preksha, Chaitanya kendra preksha and anupreksha respectively. They include also leshya-dhyan i.e. perception of psychic colour. Here we discuss in brief the raison d'etre of practising meditation.

Raison D'etre of Perception of Psychic Centres

Though every man does possess the faculty of a reasoning mind, it is not capable of just and fair reasoning until properly developed. Till then man's response to the insistence of his impulses is based on his intelligence and a priori logic. His judgment is then devoid of conscious reasoning. In fact, the logic is often so tinged by the intense impulses that they overwhelm the supposed reasoning. At such times, reasoning seeks proofs to justify the action demanded by the instincts. Thus, it is essential to develop and evolve the reasoning mind in order to countermand the impelling forces of the primal urges.

Practice of the perception of psychic centres has the capacity to restore equilibrium in the endocrine system to strengthen the power of reasoning mind and weaken the forces of primal urges.

Meditiation is a process of integrated development of personality. It changes habits, refines attitude and behaviour and transforms the entire personality of the practitioner. The result of meditational practice can be observed, defined and interpreted scientifically. Modern science has proved that life's processes lie almost wholly within oneself and are amenable to transformation. It has been established by the use of the feedback equipment that meditation changes the electrical activity as well as transmutes the synthesization of hormones.

Contact with the Subconscious Mind

All the (endocrine) glands in our body are components of the subconscious self. Because they affect the brain, they are more powerful and important than the brain. If they are properly harmonised by proper and efficient meditation, one becomes free from fear; and freedom from fear means freedom from all hurdles. Endocrinology science of endocrines-does not specify the proper method of harmonising the system. Only the psychic science can show the way in this regard. And the method shown by it is regular practice of meditation. Meditation (concentrated perception) of psychic centres (fields of neuronal endocrine action) remove distortion and discordance from the system. The more profound the concentration, the more harmonised will the system become. And this will result in freedom from fear, cruelty and other psychological distortions. A new personality will be evolved with regenerated, revitalised and rejuvenated conscious mind. The capacity Of our conscious m ind^[8] is limited in the field of personality development. While it is adequately capable (if developed by proper education) of coping up with arguments, hypothesis, critical evaluation and creative imagination on the fields of science, art and literature etc., it is not always capable of controlling behavioural patterns of the individual. Indeed, by far the greater part of one's behaviour is not controlled by conscious decisions. It follows, therefore, that this faculty cannot bring about changes in the attitude and behaviour of a person, let alone realising a tranquil (waveless bereft of agitation and excitation) state. However, when one practices perception of the psychic centre of intuition, one's will and determination can transcend the conscious mind and reach the subconscious mind. Then blissful tranquil state is realised, and attitude and behaviour drastically changed.

Thus we realise that focussing our psychic attention on psychic centers concentrated perception of these centres-would open doors and windows through which the super-conscious would give us a sense of wisdom and subdue our animal impulses.

Psycho-therapy

Colour affects us both physiologically as well as psychologically. Colourtherapy is used to cure somatic illnesses and mental imbalance. Colour is also useful for modifying our moods and behaviour. Perception of psychic colours (lesya dhyana) is an efficient psychotherapy for remedying spiritual incompleteness and stupor and reducing inner discord. Psychological distortions and vitiated thoughts produce and accumulate toxic matter inside the body. Lesya dhyana is a unique process of catharsis for cleansing the body. Colurtherapy and lesya dhyana purge out the accumulate toxic matter and purify the emotions and thought.

The simplest cathartic for purifying the emotion is the perception of bright colours.

When we visualize the above bright colours and intensify the vizualization, our emotions and attitudes change automatically. There is no scope for thinking or contemplating. The radiant energy of bright colours neutralizes the waves of thought, uncertainty and delusion. They subside. At the same time, the delusion-subsiding waves are reinforced and activated.

By the process of catharsis, let us purge out our distortions and make our emotions as pure as snow. Let us apply the psycho-therapy of lesya dhyana to cure physical, mental and emotional sicknesses.

Benefit of Perception of Psychic Centres

The most important benefit derived from preksa is development of the power and will which is inherent in the conscious self. He will be free from irrational phychologial distortions and will thus be ever blessed with perfect bliss.

Another benefit is the reinforcement of the vital energy. We can stimulate the centre of vital energy in our body by the perception of psychic centres.

Centres of vital energy, general health, bio-electricity and purity are all related to out subtle electrical body. The premeditational exercise of internal trip and the perception of spinal cord directs the flow of vital energy upward, and brings it to the centre of wisdom from the centre of energy via the spinal cord.

Thus the bio-energy stored in the nether centres can be tapped by meditation of psychic centres and (utilised for spiritual uplift.)

All the above-mentioned benefits accure from the regular and systematic perception of psychic centres.

Anger, haughtiness, sexual arousal, selfishness, jealousy, fear and hatred all these emotional urges are aroused when our psyche roams about the navel region. It is quite normal for this to happen because we do not know the outcome of this. But we know that it is beneficial to keep psychic attention in the upper regions above the heart and throat and up in the cranium. If our attention is repeatedly concentrated in these upper regions, our urges and distortions would be regulated, amenable to control and can even be transmuted. Our 'libido' can then be put to creative activity. This results in attitudinal change and development of an integrated personality. This then is the key for change of attitude and behaviour, and building up character.

If the attitude and behaviour of a practitioner and a non-practitioner are identical, the meditation would be futile. But the change in attitude and behaviour must also change social outlook.

He who practices the perception of psychic centres regularly would positively adopt an attitude of equanimity, and his behaviour would radically change. Having got rid of psychological distortions, his behaviour would be free from irrational fear, lust, cruelty, vindictiveness, etc. His way of life-personal as well as social-would be full of compassion, modesty and honesty.

When we consider social health, it is necessary that the harsh treatment meted out to some unfortunates such as drug addicts and anti-socials, should be replaced by compassion. Actually, they are sick people and like any other sicks, have little control over their malady. The injustice done to them causes an irreparable damage to their psyches. The root cause of the suffering both by the anti-socials and the society is the imbalance of the neuro-endocrine system of the unfortunate victims. The obvious remedy is to restore the equilibrium.

The society must, first of all, change its attitude towards the so-called anti-socials firom cruelty to compassion. The victims should instead of being sent to the prisons be sent to such health centres where they could be treated with the psycho-therapy based on the meditational practice such as Preksa Dhyana.

One cannot over-emphasize the simple fact that the social health is the result of emotional health of the constituents of the society. The practice of the perception of psychic centres is a simple remedy for restoring the emotional health of the constituents of the society. There is no other remedy as simple and as economic as meditational therapy. Some pessimists may insist that it is impossible to subjugate the forces of the primal drives, and eradicate the distortions from one's attitude and behaviour. But such pessimism is proved to be baseless and irrelevant by the actual results obtained by the meditational therapy. It is true that the social health cannot be restored overnight. Regular and constant practice is needed not only to restore but to maintain it. It would require establishment of proper facilities where the emotionally sick members of society can be taught to heal themselves and maintain their emotional health by the development of the inherent potency by knowing how to live properly which includes eating, drinking and breathing properly as well as thinking properly.

Contemplation (Anupreksha)

The exercises of contemplation of positive attitudes with autosuggestion and repeated recitation of ideals are useful in traning of mind or change of heart. They are called Anupreksha and Bhavana and may also be called therapeutic thinking. Subjugation of the effect of negative emotion and attitude can be achieved by self-mastery. Now, since the obstruction to self-mastery lies deeper than conscious mind, in order to attain it, one must tap power that lies deeper in the subconscious. Therapeutic thinking helps one to attain it. It is ethical, not intellectual. It involves faith, self-exertion and regular practice.

One must develop faith in one's own consciousness and psychic self to help one to cope with a crisis by developing underlying mental strength. Exercise of Therapeutic thinking is based on the practical application of faith and belief. The exercise brings about the necessary change in the body-chemistry, thereby weakning the forces of distortion and ultimately purging it out. The process of producing or transmuting the internal chemicals is a form of faith-heading or spiritual healing.

Therapeutic thinking is a process of catharsis which purges out psychological distortions such as cruelty, hatred, retaliation etc. it is a psycho-therapy to cure physical, mental and emotional sicknesses of the individuals. It is a proper and powerful therapy to annihilate the root causes of all social evils and disorders. Once the root cause of physical diseases, mental imbalances and emotional distortions are removed, there will emerge a state of unprecedented individual and social health. Terrorism, militarism, retaliation, exploitation and all other social evils will become things of the past.

Application of therapeutic thinking, auto-suggestion and faith-healing is as ancient as mankind itself. Franz Masmer provided the link between the ancient healing techniques with modern faith-healing. Sigmund Freud, the founder of Psychoanalysis, and later still, Jung applied the technique of suggestion with great success. That suggestions given to patients under deep relaxtion can produce striking and significant alterations in their bodily and mental behaviour is proved by ample evidence. Actually the healing power lies wholly within the patient's own organism. The healer is merely an agent helping to stimulate this power.

By use of auto-suggestion and intense willing, the practitioner can modify his psychological distortions, change his attitude and behavioural patterns and generally develop his personality.

Preksha Dhyana is a comprehensive system of meditation. Though perception and awareness are primarily used for mental concentration, concentration of thought i.e. contemplation is not excluded. Thus, the system of Preksha Dhyana bifurcates into (a) concentration of perception and (b) concentration of thought, i.e. "Preksha" and "Anupreksha" repectively. In the former technique of meditation, perception is primarily used for concentration, while in the latter the conscious mind is encouraged to concentrate on a thinking process, i.e. contemplation. Both techniques are competent to develop practitioner's conscious reasoning and modify one's attitude and behaviour.

Attainment of Bliss^[9] (Samadhi)

One of the most important benefits of the practice of contemplation is the attainment of the state of bliss and blessedness. It is considered to be the greatest achievement of a purposeful life. All other achievements seem insignificant when one attains this state. One, who is fortunate to attain various other things (wealth, power etc.) is sometimes found to be helpless and miserable. But one who has attained bliss is never unhappy or miserable. The words pleasure, joy, delight etc. also denote feeling of satisfaction or happiness. But in this case the feeling is most likely to be sudden or transient and not sustained. One attains bliss (Samadhi) when one is fee from physical sickness (vyadhi), mental agony (adhi) and emotional malaise (upadhi). Only when one has overcome the trinity of physical, mental and emotional disorders, one can hope to attain sustained happiness. When one suffers from physical illness (due to malfunction of a vital organ), one is unhappy with pain and misery. If one is afflicted with a mental disorder (such as tension), one becomes agonised and does not find peace for a single moment. Inspite of possessing all the comforts of life, one feels quite unhappy. An emotional malaise is even more terrible than a mental malady. Emotional malaise means psychological distortion. Cruelty, fanaticism, militarism are some of the psychological distortions. When one suffers from one or more of these, one becomes almost inhuman and does such acts as do not behave a human being. The obstacle of evil trinity must be removed before one can attain sustained happiness. Strange as it may appear, one is able to choose one's way of life: Which way shall I adopt? The way of evil trinity or the way of bliss? Question may be raised: Does anybody wish to choose the way of evil trinity? The answer is: One suffers from the trinity of malaise only if one chooses to do so. An internal driving force produces a desire to become sick and ultimately manifests itself in Sickness. The process is: over-indulgence in food, drink and sex, anger, greed and lust all these are the precursors of sickness. How can one distinguish between the desire for over-indulgence in sex, etc. and the desire for going on the path of sickness? In reality, both are identical. If one chooses the other way, one does never fall sick.

Similarly one, who does not wish to be afflicted with a mental disorder, will never suffer from it. This mental disorder is effective only if an internal desire drives one to the affliction and not otherwise. The mental state of like and dislike-attachment to some to and aversion for others-are driving forces in this case. It is difficult to maintain mental health with strong likes and dislikes also. One cannot distinguish between the desire for mental disorder and the mental tension produced by like and dislike, attachment and aversion. The same logic applies to the emotional malaise. The root of all evils is greed and discontentment and this is the basis of one's desire to choose the evil trinity as one's way of life.

This means that if one desires to choose the other way of life, he is to overwhelm and subjugate his carnal desires of lust and hate. And when one has discarded the path of evil trinity and adopted the way of bliss, his way of life changes radically. In fact, bliss is not a miracle nor is it something reserved for a few choosen people. It is a way of life for anyone and everyone who cares to choose it. One who realized this truth-this science of life-this art of living, can live a life of sustained happiness i.e. bliss.

The doctrine of contemplation is an important part of Preksa Meditation. Once the principle of contemplation and the technique for its practice is fully understood, a powerful tool for changing the way of life is in our hands. The aspirant of bliss, by the practice of contemplation becomes aware of the obstacles in the process of attaining bliss. His desire for over-indulgence in luxuries, his negative attitude of like and dislike, his psychological distortions etc., disappear with the subjugation of greed and discontentment. Thus, in the absence of factors which were responsible for generating the evil trinity, state of bliss is attained.

The exercises of Therapeutic thinking for acquisition of desirable virtues and eradication of psychological distortions consist of several steps. One of these steps is 'repeated recitation of the ideal and its contemplation.

Repeated prolonged recitation of words (or sentences), which describe the practitioner's intense will to acquire a virtue, can bring about a radical attitudinal reform. The mental faculty or function which is directed to conscious and intentional action is called will. If one applies one's will-power with a resolute determination that something shall happen, it will happen. Full concentration of mental faculty coupled with intense willing results in the fulfillment of the desired objective. In other words, repeated willing and autosuggestion by a practitioner of Anupreksha enables him to achieve a desired objective. Whether one's goal is spiritual or not, the exercise of auto-suggestion positively accomplishes the desired transformation.