Acharya Mahaprajna
One should ask oneself the question: Do I have to be satisfied with what I am or should I change? Nothing need be done if one is complacent, but if one wants to change for the better, one has to be ready to put in the necessary effort. No change is possible without bold action. There are certain changes which are automatic and involuntary. Everyone and everything is subject to these changes that go on at all times. However, there are other changes which are the result of our volition and will. It is our own power of will and volition that brings about these changes. There is no example in history of a time when man really wanted to change and could not. One who really wants to change and change a hundred per cent certainly succeeds in doing so. If the will is weak and the faith feeble no change is possible. Very often people want to change but are unable to do so. Surely, there must be a lapse somewhere, for it is impossible that a change would not come about even after our will to change had reached a nodal point. So long as this point is not reached there can be no change. This is a law of nature. Water will not turn into steam or change into ice until the temperature reaches a certain nodal point. Likewise, man's will to change can come to fruition only when its strength reaches a certain nodal point. Meditation will be the means of bringing about the desired change. The two together - willpower and meditation - are the most potent instruments of change. Though no one can completely change overnight, unceasing gradual change can ultimately result in complete transmutation.
Modern scientists often talk of change. In fact, genetic engineering is directly aimed at such a change. Transforming genes could result in the emergence of new generations. Geneticists envision a time when man could be custom-made. One could ask for an artist, a litterateur, an author or anything else, including a boy or a girl, and one would get it. The Science of Living does not depend upon processes involving proteins and acid like RNA and DNA. Can that science then talk of any change? Will it then be said that genes being the given one would be what one was predetermined to be? Such an attitude would be utterly fatalistic and deterministic. In fact, all those who believe in any irrevocable fate have propagated their belief in the inevitability of the human condition and the impossibility of any change. On the contrary, those who have complete faith in the power of human will and effort regard no change as impossible. Such a view makes man the arbiter of his own destiny.
For total change one has to take recourse to three important techniques: causing inner illumination, developing equanimity and practising tolerance. The inner illumination is none other than intuition. Once it is awakened the process of change is set into motion. This inner awakening or intuition enables a man to gain complete confidence in his power to change himself. All doubts dissolve in the crucible of self-confidence. It is very often seen that before joining short courses in the Science of Living people entertain all kinds of doubts and fears. Will they be able to eat the food given here? Will it be possible for them to get up at 4 A.M.? What will they do to avoid boredom? Will they find it easy to subject themselves to rigorous discipline? All such doubts and fears betray a lack of self-confidence. They show how people are afraid of running a risk or of taking a leap forward. For only those succeed in reaching the great heights of development who are prepared to brave dangers and summon enough courage to take long strides on the road to progress. All this is perfectly possible if the inner being has been illuminated or the intuition awakened. This illumination or awakening requires faith in one's potentialities and this faith is built by utilizing our breath power.
If breath power is the key to all kinds of development - as indeed if the case - nothing can be more disastrous than its wastage. We have to learn to conserve it. We should draw upon the reservoir of our breath power only to the extent it is necessary to do so. This would automatically starve our base instincts and wild emotions. Anger, hatred and all other impulsive outbursts would cease. Viewed thus, conserving breath power becomes a religious and spiritual process.
The second technique required for total change concerns equanimity. In one sense it means facing cold and heat equally well, making equal use of both the sun and the moon. In this our breathing is involved, for breath through the left and the right nostrils represents the moon and the sun, respectively. For a balanced life one will have to concentrate on both. The former stands for purity, the latter for light.
Advanced students of the Science of Living are required to perceive the breath centre. For this twice they have to inhale through the left nostril and exhale through the right. This order can be properly explained. The moon has a terrific influence on the mind. It causes huge tidal waves of emotion. Its impact is more keenly felt on certain days of the month. Accordingly to quieten the mind, to rid it of all thoughts, one has to use the left nostril. On the contrary, where intensification of the life-force or vital energy is needed, one has to use the right nostril. Such experiments with breathing help transmute our being. It is through breathing alone that the will's direction can be made to reach every cell of the body. This process which involves experimenting within the body through its own perception is a kind of exercise in self-hypnotism and auto-suggestion. In fact, each cell is a veritable powerhouse where both the centre of knowledge and the centre of light are located. By effecting a change in them through the experiment described above one succeeds in bringing about their renewal and rebirth. The worst addictions and the most violent emotional outbursts can thus be curbed and conquered through such a process of auto-suggestion.
By now it must have become obvious how nay effort to change our insight through external means is doomed to utter failure. Unless the message of our will is transmitted to every cell of the body no lasting inner change can be effected. This transmission of messages or communication has to be not only painless but even gentle and loving, so that what is communicated is not a 'command' but an earnest direction of the will.
The third technique of activating the process of change is the practice of tolerance. One who is always concerned about the opinions and remarks of neighbours, acquaintances and others will never be able to change himself. One has to learn to tolerate criticism and unfavourable comments and to concentrate on what one has willed to do. Fear of people's opinions renders the will ineffectual. Tolerance is, in fact, a very broad concept and includes the capacity to bear with both physical adversity and a disfavourable mental climate. Tolerance implies a state of imperturbation, of not being excited by extremes. Such a state betokens complete maturity and disciplined sensibility which refused to be affected by both favourable and unfavourable circumstances.
Meditation is the key to the attainment of the above kind of equilibrium. One who meditates uses the left nostril for breathing. Besides, long and rhythmic breathing is also a part of breath control. It enables a man to fortify his defences against extremes of experience. Adversity results in a heated mind. Any excitement creates excessive heat in the pineal and the pituitary.
The two glands become hyperactive and an excited mind has to put up with them. But if one is a practised breather, he will start rhythmic breathing and all the energy generated by the glands, which would otherwise go waste, will be conserved and put to constructive use. Then emotions, impulses and passions will not be able to squander our energy.
Practice of tolerance is thus inseparably related to breath. Even the most barbaric atrocities will evoke no response if our breath gets unified with our consciousness. With such a unification achieved, man can make himself immune to and out of reach of all grief. It will also be the beginning of the process of transformation from the human to the divine. Given the necessary willpower and the practice of the right techniques, there is nothing that man cannot achieve.
There are two more instruments of change, religious reflection and knowledge of the previous life. The change which manifests as an awakened consciousness or intuition enables a man to get into a trance. This exalted state acts as an antidote to the tendency of relapsing into darkness experienced prior to the dawn of the light of intuition.
