Acharya Mahaprajna
0 patient one! Try to understand the root and manifestation of suffering.
You will see that those who lack self-knowledge become a prey to suffering.
I say: Look at the tortoise and its shelter. The tortoise has his mind in the opening in the shelter which is covered with sevala and lotus leaves. It is not prepared to enter into its hole because it is inclined towards the open sky.
I know that in order to live a successful life you would like to have:
- Health
- Longevity
- Joy
- Peace
There is no peace without discernment.
- There is no joy without peace.
- There is no health without joy.
- There is no longevity without health.
In order to obtain this you have to begin your life anew and in a new style. For some time you will have to follow the footprints left by others and then you will have to fly in the sky where there are no footprints. This new phase of your life is not a phase of thinking but of perceiving and not one of argumentation but of experience.
Self-discipline is a sadhana (exertion), which results in immunity from the influx of fresh deeds into the soul.
Tapa (penance) is a sadhana (spiritual exertion), which results in a complete eradication of the effects of past deeds.
Renunciation of activity is a sadhana which results in the attainment of spiritual powers.
Conscious dissociation from past deeds produces discernment and intuitive knowledge.
Mostly people live a life of delusions. Lack of discernment is a deep-rooted torpor which makes us self-forgetful.Deployment of the forces of delusion:
- The first line of defence - passions.
- The second line of defence - sleep.
- The thirdline of defence - lack of self-discipline, waywardness of the sense-organs and the mind, and their fickleness.
- The fourth line of defence - lack of discrimination regarding what is beneficial and what is not, perverted vision and lack of wisdom regarding joy and suffering.
The attainment of discernment is the first assault on the defence lines of delusion.
We have assumed attachments and aversions to be our natural tendencies. We have assumed anger also to be our natural tendency.
Pride, deceit, greed, hatred, fear - we have assumed these to be our natural characteristics. This is delusion.
Discernment enables us to understand their real nature.
- How can attachment which produces pain be the characteristic of the soul?
- How can aversion which produces pain be the characteristic of the soul?
- How can anger which produces pain be the characteristic of the soul?
The exercise of Kayotsarga (abandonment of the body).
- The body is an insentient entity. The self is not the physical body.
- Breath is an insentient entity. The self is not breath.
- The sense-organs are insentient entities. How can the soul be the sense-organs?
- The mind is material. How can the self be the mind?
- Speech is a material process. How can the self be speech?
Man can see his real existence only after he has cut himself off from the above. The self lies beneath them.
Five resultants of Right Perception:
- Peace, Sense of freedom. Non-attachment, Tolerance, Dedication to truth.
The soul perceives itself:
- Vibrations of breath - a part of the soul.
- Vibrations of the body - a part of the soul.
- Vibrations of the mind - a part of the soul.
- Vibrations of feeling - a part of the soul.
- After these the aura, then perception of Prana (vital energy) and then perception of consciousness.
Who is the perceiver? What is the object of perception?
Consciousness is divided, and, therefore, subtle consciousness is the perceiver and gross consciousness is the object of perception.
