The Essence Of Life

The Daily Rising Kashmir

When energy is realised from within nothing external is remembered.

Preksha Dhyan qualifies to be regarded as a Philosophy of Life because it tries to understand the mind not merely theoretically but practically. Full comprehension is not possible on the basis of theoretical study alone. It is possible only through practice.

 Just as we make breath the object of meditation the mind itself is made the object of meditation. In Preksha Dhyan, this is also called Vichar Preksha. We concentrate on the mind and then start perceiving the incoming thoughts. We neither stop the flow of thought nor provoke it. All we do is fix the attention on the brain and meditate on it. All thoughts, good or bad, are perceived. Vichar Preksha is perhaps the most effective means of understanding the mind.

Sharir Preksha requires perceiving the body and the vibrations therein. Under Preksha Dhyan one more practice, called Saptadhatu Preksha has been developed. It means perception of seven constituents of the body. We should first meditate on the chyle, then on the blood, the coursing of the blood, then the bones, then on the marrow, then on the semen and like this cover all the seven constituents (the remaining two being the flesh and the fat). It is an effort at understanding constituents of the body.

Another practice consists in meditating on the vital energy. It is difficult practice but very effective. Medical science uses the terms body, mind, and sense, but as yet refrains from discussing the subject of the vital essence of life, Prana. It does use terms like vital energy and vital force, but there is no serious work done. Of course acupressure and acupuncture therapies have given it a lot of attention. In Yoga, we are told about it in the form of Nadis (tubular organs for the passage of pran or energy carrying cosmic, vital, seminal and other energies, as well as sensation, intelligence and consciousness in the causal, subtle and physical bodies) like ida, pingala, sushumna etc.

Let us think of health. Today, there are innumerable instruments and big diagnostic machines which never existed before. They can reveal even the minutest parts of the body and both the brain and the heart can be scanned. But the irony is that when both, machines and physicians find no ailment in an individual, he says he is extremely miserable. To such people we advise the practice of pran. We tell them that theirs is not a physical disease caused by germs and viruses or by some foreign elements, but a case of unbalanced pran.

The imbalance is beyond the competence of any machine or physician to perceive. The physicians are dependent on machines. They first see the various investigative reports. The mind has become dependent on machines, whereas it should be the other way round.

With balancing of pran many problems are automatically resolved. Once a Preksha Dhyan training camp was being held in Tulsi Adhyatma Needam. Jethabhai Jhaveri walked in. He had a collar around his back. On being asked what the matter was, he said he was suffering from Spondylitis and that he could neither sit erect nor stretch. We gave those attending the camp practice in pran. Jethabhai grasped it and did it several times. Next morning he again practiced it in the early morning sun. The third day he had discarded his collar and once again began sitting erect and lying normally.

There are many responses to the question: "When does God laugh?" One of them is, "God laughs when the patient is dying and the doctor says that he will not let him die." Can any doctor give life to someone? If medicines could keep the people alive, the population of the world would have been many times more than it is today. No one would have died. Doctors would keep everyone alive. What keeps us alive is our Pranshakti or bioenergy. As long as bio-energy is there, cells will retain the power of regeneration (constructive metabolism) and so long as cells keep regenerating, life will remain intact. Once the regenerative power ends, our resistance or immunity will decrease and gradually a stage is reached when neither the doctor nor any medicine will be able to save life.

Pranshakti (bioenergy) is the main basis of life. In Sanskrit life and pran are synonyms. Acquiring this understanding is the main subject of Preksha Dhyan.

Once Einstein invited a friend for dinner. The latter arrived at dinner time but found that Einstein was totally absorbed in his research. In fact, he had forgotten all about the dinner. The guest sized up the situation, helped himself with the food and quietly returned home. When Einstein finished his experiment he found empty used plates on the dining table. He said to himself that possibly he forgot that he had already eaten his dinner and so went back to the laboratory.

How could such a great scientist behave so abnormally? When we are engaged in the subtle investigation of bio energy, our energy withdraws within it and nothing external is remembered.