The Anupreksha of Freedom from Selfishness
Step | Subject | minutes |
1 | Mahaprana Dhvani | 2 |
2 | Kayotsarga (Self-Awareness by Relaxation) | 5 |
3 | Drink in the blue colour with each inhalation. As you breathe in, visualize that atoms of blue are entering your body | 3 |
4 | Practise blue-coloured meditation on the Centre of Purity (located in the throat). | 3 |
5 | Now focus your attention on the Centre of Celibacy visualize that suggesting to yourself: - "Desire is being purified; selfishness is waning."
Repeat the above sentence aloud 9 times; and then repeat it mentally 9 times. | 5 |
Pursue your contemplation as follows: - Greed is the central motive in the conduct of one's life. This gives rise to desire and selfishness.
- Inspired by greed a man seeks pleasure and comfort and accumulates wealth for this purpose.
- Self-interest is the great inspiration behind the pursuit of success: a social being cannot renounce it altogether.
- To fulfil one's interest without harming another person's cannot be held to be inadmissible.
- Excessive self-interest and its realization even by harming other people's interests, gives rise to ruthless conduct and behaviour.
- Under such circumstances, self-interest becomes a danger to society.
- Extreme selfishness generates anger, the tendency to steal, gluttony, untruth, irresistible desire for sensual gratification, concupiscence, criminal mentality, indifference to social obligations, ideas and feelings contrary to general welfare, caustic speech and other unpleasant actions. Therefore, I must strive to avoid extreme selfishness.
- Selfish mentality might accomplish shortlived gain, never any long-term benefit.
- By reading the biographies of self-sacrificing great souls who identified their self with the whole of mankind, and by setting them up as one's ideal, it is possible to transcend the narrow confines of selfishness.
| 10 |
6 | Complete the exercise with the recitation of Mahaprana Dhvani. | 2 |