Acharya Mahaprajna
Does breathing begin and end at the same point?
Inbreathing is called Svasa and exhaling is called Prasvasa. The end of inbreathing is the starting point of exhaling. The two points are therefore, one and the same.
We develop our sensitiveness through small experiences. Does this natural development lead us to the state of a great Sadhana in the natural course?
It is true that sensitiveness or feeling feeds our competence and strengthens it. What use of our powers we are going to make depends upon how much detached we have become. Our sensory and mental powers have to be developed gradually until they reach a point where they will enable us to see through a thick wall.
Have to do something else besides seeing or is simply seeing enough?
There are two essential things in what I have called seeing. To see means to see truth. After having seen truth, you have to begin the process of changing. An act of seeing by itself does not bring about any change. This change has to be deliberately brought about. It needs a lot of effort. You cannot change anything by simply having seen the truth of it. You have to put in effort to transform it. And this applies to the act of changing the self also. There is a lot of dirt and waste lying within us. We have to remove and shift it by a special effort. The waste is composed of our predilections, the ego, personal attachments etc. This shifting is called Nirjara.
Does Anupreksha consist in simply seeing the essence of things?
Anupreksha has four constituents. The first is to see things as they are. The second is Samkalpa (resolution) to change the self. The third is sound and the fourth Bhavana (the state of being). Bhavana means identification with the objective.
You have stated that one can experience Moksha at the present moment or just now. How is it possible?
Generally we think that Moksha is an objective outside us. This is wrong. Moksha is a part and parcel of our very being. It is the real state of our being. It is the state of detachment. It develops within us. It is self-experience.
What is Paryapti? How can it be combined with Prana?
Paryapti means a sheath. The soul travels from one body to another through rebirths. It carries the subtle body with it, leaving the gross body behind. As soon as it is reborn, it begins to accumulate huge masses of Pudgalas around itself. These masses assume the form of sheaths or Paryaptis. Human beings have six Paryaptis: Ahara Paryapti, Sarira Paryapti, Indriya Paryapti, Bhasa Paryapti, Svasochhvasa Paryapti and Manah Paryapti. All these sheaths or Paryaptis are made of the Pudgals. As soon as these sheaths have been developed, they become coordinated with the Taijas and Karma bodies. The Taijasa body generates electricity and produces Prana (vital flow). The energy thus created begins to flow into the Paryaptis and from there into the gross body. Para-psychologists have located six or seven kinds of the subtle body. The subtle bodies contain innumerable cells known as the Anna Kosa, Prana Kosa, Mano Kosa, Vijhana Kosa, Ananda Kosa etc. The Kosas may be compared to the Paryaptis.
You have said that the intellect is the greatest hindrance in sadhana. Please explain Lokottara Yoga a little more.
It is not the intellect but scepticism which is the hindrance. The intellect is indispensable in sadhana. The practice of sadhana is impossible without the help of the intellect. It begins with an intellectual conviction. You are attracted towards sadhana because you are intellectually convinced of its value. The intellect and scepticism are not one and the same thing. It is the intellect, which enables us to conceive the objective. It makes us distinguish between what is beneficial and what is not. The entire planning of sadhana depends upon the intellect.
Scepticism and logical thinking are also intellectual activities. But scepticism destroys faith. Doubts crop up in the absence of faith. Faith and resolution are the essential elements of sadhana. It is very difficult to give up the sceptical attitude. But a wavering faith will not take us too far. A strong resolution undermines scepticism. Take the example of Bhikshu Swami, the founder of the Terapantha sect. He would not have been successful without a strong faith and resolution. A determined effort does bring about success.
Now let us consider Lokottara Yoga. Jain Acaryas have emphasised the need to neutralize the passions. No system of sadhana can be successful without destroying the passions. A practitioner may acquire the powers of performing miracles. The powers to perform miracles are the mechanical powers of the body. The body possesses several mechanisms and scientists are trying to find out whether it is possible to have radio communications of sound through the mechanisms of the body. The mechanisms of the body can produce miracles, but a practitioner of Yoga is not concerned with these miracles. His aim is self-realization this is possible only by destroying the passions and attachments.
Upayoga or the activities of the soul and Kasaya or passions are antithetical entities. The more we remain in Upayoga, the more do we purify our tendencies. Do not be under the wrong impression that the process of the purification of the tendencies is a process different from the natural Upayoga of the soul. One may succeed in controlling his emotions like anger, but a complete purification of the tendencies is not possible without freedom from passions and the latter can be eliminated through self-realization only. Concentration on the self or consciousness sets into motion Upayoga, which results in the purification of the tendencies and is the greatest achievement of sadhana. It is the most important purpose of Jain sadhana.
Does Samadhi consist in stopping the mental processes? What is the difference between concentration, meditation, and Samadhi?
You cannot have Jagrata Samadhi by simply stopping the fleeting states of the mind. What is essential is the consciousness of the objective. The mere stopping of the mental processes without the direction towards which you intend to carry your self is to create a mental vacuum in which there is no consciousness of a purpose. A state of Samadhi is the culmination of the process of the attainment of the objective. It is a complete transformation of the practitioner. It means a complete identification of the knower, the object of knowledge and knowledge itself. It means a complete merging of the seer, the object of seeing, and the act of seeing into a single state. It means the identity of the meditator, the object of meditation, and the act of meditation into an undivided state. This, of course, happens at an advanced state of Samadhi. Let us take an example. Suppose that your objective in meditation is the realization of the self. You become the seer, the self becomes the object, and over and above these two is the process of seeing. You propose to see the self through the concentration of the mind. As soon as you have arrived at a stage in which you perceive the self, the distinction between you as the seer, the self as the object of perception and the act of perception cease to be separate things and merge into a single undivided state. Concentration is essential to meditation as well as Samadhi. The culmination of Dharana is Dhyana and the culmination of Dharana is Samadhi. Samadhi involves the highest form of concentration.
