Yuvacharya Mahapragya
THE SCIENCE OF LIVING AND EXPERIMENTS IN INTUITION
Like water, meditation flushes the filth of the mind, cleanses those impurities that daily arise in the mind. The purification of the mind is as necessary as that of the body.
There are many centres in the body that affect physical health but there are very few in regard to mental health. We have neglected this fact since our education has conditioned practically everyone to think and believe that all our problems are rooted in the world of matter and therefore their solution also has to be sought in the same world. The world of consciousness, according to this viewpoint, simply does not exist or is at least insignificant. It is thought irrelevant both as a source of problems and as a place where their solutions can be found. It is time we thought of making education complete and whole. It can be done by including the Science of Living as an integral part of education so that we look for causes of and solutions to various problems neither exclusively externally nor exclusively internally - both the approaches are wrong - but both externally
and internally.
Today the biggest problem is that we have lost faith in our power. And the main power we have lies in our breath.
Intuition needs tending. It has to be sustained by practice. It is a great pity we have forgotten the importance of practice. The awakening of intuition will result in an increase in the capacity for action and the development of the practical power.
Practice of Science of Living yields the following three achievements.
Awareness of one's powers.
Access to those paths of development which the above awareness makes known.
Careful study, practice and experimentation.
Once these achievements have been made, faith and self-confidence are automatically built.
THE SCIENCE OF LIVING AND THE BUILDING OF A NEW GENERATION
If the will is weak and the faith feeble, no change is possible. Water will not turn into steam or change into ice until the temperature reaches a certain nodal point. Likewise, man's will to change can come to fruition only when its strength reaches a certain nodal point. Meditation will be the means of bringing about the desired change.
The two together - willpower and meditation - are the most potent instruments of change.
Those who have complete faith in the power of human will and effort regard no change as impossible. Such a view makes man the arbiter of his own destiny.
For total change one has to take recourse to three important techniques: causing inner illumination, developing equanimity and practising tolerance.
It is through breathing alone that the will's direction can be made to reach every cell of the body. This process which involves experimenting within the body through its own perception is a kind of exercise in self-hypnotism and auto-suggestion. In fact, each cell is a veritable powerhouse where both the centre of knowledge and the centre of light are located. By effecting a change in them through the experiment described above one succeeds in bringing about their renewal and rebirth. The worst addictions and the most violent emotional outbursts can thus be curbed and conquered through such a process of auto-suggestion.
Unless the message of our will is transmitted to every cell of the body, no lasting inner change can be effected. This transmission of messages or communication has to be not only painless but even gentle and loving, so that what is communicated is not a 'command' but an earnest direction of the will.
Tolerance is, in fact, a very broad concept and includes the capacity to bear with both physical adversity and a disfavourable mental climate. Meditation is the key to the attainment of the above kind of equilibrium.
Practice of tolerance is thus inseparably related to breath.
