Daily Excelsior
"Perceive the soul through the soul!" The practice of meditation started with the recitation of this maxim and it was concluded in course of time. A sadhak asked: "Is the maxim of perceiving the soul through the soul a practical one? Is it possible?"
The sadhak said - "My knowledge is subservient to the senses. Whatever I know, I know through the five sense organs and the mind. If I renounce them, wherefrom shall I obtain the data on which knowledge is based? Wherefrom shall I receive the raw material? The sense organs constitute the only means of our contact with the world. There are five sense organs with their five subjects, called the intrinsic modes. There are five qualities - sound, form, smell, taste and touch. To apprehend these, there are five senses—the sense of hearing, the sense of seeing, the sense of smell, the sense of taste and the sense of touch. Each sense apprehends its particular quality. Under these circumstances, how is it possible to perceive the soul through the soul?"
Another problem is this -."Living is a collective affair. If a man is engaged in perceiving himself, will he not become selfish? In collective living, you have to see the other, too. You have to consider the other person's problems and difficulties. If an individual lives in society but is totally self-absorbed, it will not be conducive to good social life. Actually, the maxim should have been 'Perceive the other!' Had this been the aphorism of meditation, it would have been eminently practical. As far as group life is concerned, how can the talk of 'seeing oneself' be useful?"
It is a forceful argument. But there is no argument without a counter-argument. As far as direct experience is concerned, there is no such thing as counter-experience, because it is the direct experience of truth. Jainendraji (the celebrated Hindi writer) often said, "A man practising meditation gets lost in himself. Being self-absorbed, he is isolated from society. Therefore the cannot be of any use to society." Jainendraji spent three weeks in a meditation camp, but because of his above belief, he never participated in any meditation session.
It is true that one cannot live in society without perceiving others. But the greater truth is that an individual, who is not self-aware, is ineapable of behaving well towards others. The more a person strives to know himself, the more alert he would be about conducting himself humanely. Could the rapport, which the great men established with mankind, be possible through merely 'seeing others'? Whether it be the question of collective life or that of knowledge being limited by the senses, we can advance a great deal in our exploration. As a matter of fact, an important maxim for advancing knowledge and for a peaceful and collective life is 'Perceive the self through the self.'
It is not easy to observe the differing states of the mind. Each thought produces in us 33 vibrations per second. Who can witness all the states of the mind? Only that man can see them who remains detached. He who is attached will be swept along and will thus be able to see nothing. But a man should observe the states of his mind dispassionately, and this dispassionate observation is self-perception. One who is not detached is incapable of perception. He, who is swept by the event, cannot witness it. Only he can see who remains detached, equanimous.
The man who observes the different states of the body and the mind, starts witnessing, besides the present, his past and future, too. This is an exercise of generic memory. First of all, a person observes the phases of the gross body, then the phases of the taijasa sharir (electrical body) and the vibrations of karma sharir (microbody). Later, he will start witnessing his past life. Thus progressing from the gross to the subtle, he will develop the capacity to witness his future. This condition of farsight is possible only through self-perception. If we see only others, we will not be able to resolve our problems. Looking at others has become our second nature, but along with it we must develop the capacity to look at ourselves. Then we shall be able to maintain an equilibrium. A balanced approach will be helpful in the all-round development of our life, freeing us from all bias and taking us towards perfection. This is the objective of 'perception of self through the self.