Acharya Mahaprajna
The Northlines
The field of self-search is also a field of scientific research. Every practitioner will have to think and exert himself scientifically. There is no other way to a certain Truth. Whatever truth or truths Acharya Tulsi has discovered cannot be claimed by his followers as their discoveries. They will have to gain their own experiences in their own way. They cannot borrow them from their preceptor. The search for truth is a long and complicated process of scientific experiments. To say 'search truth' is not enough. Mahavira added the word 'yourself to this exhortation. He amended sit thus: 'Search truth yourself.'
It may very well be said that there is no laboratory for experiments in the search for truth. Its is true that we need a well-equipped laboratory for this search. The human body is the biggest laboratory in the world. No scientist has at his disposal such a huge laboratory. It is a well-equipped laboratory. It has all kinds of equipments for the search for the self. It contains the finest gadgets and instruments like microwaves, electronic instruments of high frequency, etc. These are self-propelled units. But as the have been lying idle, they have become rusted. It is our job to remove their rust and to utilize them. They are capable of revealing truth.
The process of self-exertion goes on revealing bits of truth as we proceed on. One of these bits is the feeling of friendliness towards every living being. The purpose of sadhana is not to produce weapons of destruction. Its purpose is to produce means of doing good to others and to extend the area of extend the area of friendliness.
If we did not undertake the search for truth, we are likely to become a prey to the ever-increasing feeling of enmity. But once we have entered into the world of the spirit, we begin to feel that we have no enmity towards anybody. Sometimes difference of opinion breeds enmity. We take him to be an enemy who behaves differently from us. We take those whose culture and civilization differ from ours to be our enemies. We take those to be our enemies who refuse to behave in the way we expect them to behave. Let us remember the truth that there is nothing in the world which is not opposed by something or the other. Where there is thesis, there is antithesis also. Not only that. where there is no antithesis, there is no thesis as well. Life is a dialectical process. Bhagavan Mahavira, after a great, self-exertion, came to the conclusion that there are manifacets of truth. He called this by the name Anekantavada or the doctrine of multiplicity of approaches to truth. This doctrine is an admission of the value of differences and opposition. It asserts that both thesis and antithesis are true in their own spheres. We have to admit both or to deny both.
We engaged ourselves in the exercise of samavrttisvasa. One to the nostrils inhales air and the other exhales it. The Hatha Yoga speaks of Ida and Pingala. There are three currents of vital energy (prana) Ida. Pingala and Sushumna. The current of prana, which flows into the body through the right nostril, is called Ida. That which flows into the body through the left nostril is called Pingala The current of vital energy, which flows in the body through the spinal cord, is called Sushumna. The ida current is said to be associated with the moon. It is cold and has an even flow. Pingala is said to be associated with the sun and is hot. The Sushumna current is neither hot nor cold.
Ida an Pingala are the opposites of each other. The former is cold and the latter is hot, and yet they are mutually complementary. If they were not so, life will come to a standstill. They are governed by the principle of the unity of opposites. They are a model of friendliness and we may learn a lesson from them in the give-and-take of life.
The exercise of samavrttisvasa is also an exercise in friendliness. Ida's coolness and Pingala's heat are necessary for us. Both are useful. If we felt heat which inhaling through the right nostril, we should stop it and begin inhaling through the left. By doing so we will begin to feel cold. If the left nostril is in haling and we want to avoid the feeling of cold, we should begin inhaling through the right nostril. This will make us feel heat in the body. The svara sastra (the science of breathing) discusses this process at length. Inhaling through one nostril produces calm whereas exhaling through another produces excitement. Both have their corresponding effects. One is useful in peaceful activities, which the other is useful in exciting work. Both function in their own way without interfering with each other.
According to the Jain a doctrine pudgala (matter) produces four sense-contacts or sensations, cold, hot, rough and smooth. These are the four basic sensations. Every material object produces these basic sensation. It is because of these effects that it is useful for us. Cold and heat on the one hand and rough and smooth on the other are pains opposing each other. Still they are found together in every single structure. We find all things in the world in mutually opposite pairs. There can be no creation without pairing. Pairing may be viewed as the unity of opposites. Electricity is also a unity of opposites, positive and negative. When the opposite currents unite, they produce light. These opposites are not like enemies, which destroy each other. They behave like friends and cooperate with each other. The entire world-process is useful to us because of its internal contradictions.