Acharya Mahaprajna
Our body has two centres: Gyan Kendra or Centre of Cognition and Kriya Kendra or Centre of Activity. There are two nerve-networks: sensory and motor. Sensory nerves are connected with the Gyan Kendra and motor nerves are connected with the Kriya Kendra.
Psychology speaks of three aspects of human disposition: Cognitive aspect, sensation aspect and action aspect. There would have been no hiatus between cognition and action if man had not been bestowed with sensations. When the stomach is disturbed reason dictates that one should drink buttermilk instead of milk. This is a rational turn or change. But faith has primacy over reason. The function of Will-Power is to transform knowledge into faith.
Sankalpa, Japa and Bhavana
These are three different words. Patanjali used the second, the Jain literature uses the third, and in modern literature the first is more popular. The intended meanings of the three words are not at all different.
Japa means to be animated or inspired by -in this case to be animated or inspired by that which is reverentially repeated to the extent that the repeater and the repeated almost become one.
In Ayurveda, the Lavan Bhaskar powder is animated (inspired) by lemon. Amalki Rasayan is animated by its own juice or essence, which means that embric myrobalm is levigated in its own juice. Even where certain substances are not different, they develop different characteristics as a result of the process of animation. The animating substance becomes dominant in the resultant substance. Panchputi mica (mica substances to a particular method of preparing drugs - various substances being generally wrapped up in leaves, covered with clay and heated in fire) is very different in its qualities from Ek hazarpati mica (Panch means 'five' and Ek hazar means 'a thousand'). Many people make resolutions but do not subject it to 'Ievigation' (reinforcement). Mere two or four repetitions of the resolution do not yield the desired result. It takes long to 'Levigate' effectively. The longer it is done the greater the animation. A substance gets primarily imbued with the properties of the animating substance. If the latter is lemon, its properties will dominate, and if it is pomegranate, its properties will dominate.
The same process applies to the human mind. It too shall develop or imbibe the enduring effects of the feeling it is animated by. This accounts for differences of faith. Resolution plays an important part in building of faith.
In the science of Intoning Sacred Formulas two resolutions play an important role. Seven kinds of purification are required for resolution:
| 1. | Dravya Shuddbi | | The inner being of man should be free from anger, arrogance and jealousy, and should be straight and simple. |
| 2. | Kshetra Shuddhi | | The place should be peaceful and clean. |
| 3. | Samaya Shuddhi | | Three times recitation of select Vedic hymns-morning, noon, and evening. |
| 4, | Asan Shuddhi | | Sitting either on the bare floor, or on a wooden structure of planks or on a woollen blanket. |
| 5. | Vinaya Shuddhi | | Pause at the right place while making an utterance. |
| 6. | Manah Shuddhi | | Purity of mind. |
| 7. | Vachan Shuddhi | | Purity of speech. |
Resolution has three types:
| Vachik | | That which is done verbally. |
| Upanshu | | Silent speech or speech with lip movements but without articulation. |
| Manasik | | Not even lip movement, only contemplation. We should silently repeat the names of only those who are our ideals. It builds faith. When we silently and reverentially repeat the name of a pure soul, our mind gets imbued with its quality. Every sound affects the body. Different sounds have effect on different diseases. It was only on this basis that therapy through sound started. Sound creates vibrations in the atmosphere and also produces the idea, which bursts out or flashes (explodes) on the mind when a meaningful sound is uttered. It is no less effective. |
Our resolution should be positive - instead of 'I shall not be angry' it should be 'My love is increasing.' The positive proves more beneficial than the negative. Negativeness is automatically dissolved in the positiveness of a resolution.
It is mentioned in the Bhagavati Sutra that Lord Mahavira was once asked, 'Lord! Is food cooked in fire botanical or metallic?' The answer was, 'Metallic'. It has been animated by metal, therefore the food that was botanical has become metallic. This is identity or oneness. In it the earlier state gets dissolved into the later stage.
To retain a resolution for a long period is a sign of its success. For establishing identity or oneness a short period is not enough.
The resolve, 'I am pure' should be held at least for fifty minutes and that too with such a feeling of identification that the thinker and the thought become inseparable. It is this intensity of identity which bears fruit. It is called Samrasibhava by Jain Acharyas and Samapatti by Patanjali. The essence of resolution does not lie in its articulation but in the identity of the person resolving and the resolution.
| Jainendra: | I sense some danger in the resolutions we are being made to make during the morning prayers. |
| Muni Shree: | What is the danger? |
| Jainendra: | I believe that no liberation is possible without getting riddance from the ego. |
| Muni Shree: | Why do you treat the ego as bondage? It also denotes existence. |
| Jainendra: | I am talking about the ego, which indicates vanity. I prefer 'The soul exists' to 'I am soul.' |
| Muni Shree: | The resolution, 'I am soul' denotes the primacy of existence not of vanity. By identifying with the soul a man gets disembodied and turns into soul. |
