The Science of Living : Basis & Process

By Muni Mahendra Kumar

The important process or the very basis of Science of Living is an effort to make our body, breath, speech and mind truly well-trained. Unless we understand this basic fact, we cannot get the right cure. When the instruments of cure themselves become diseased, how can they effect a cure? The body, the breath, the speech and the mind - these are the four elements that can bring about a cure. But problems arise when they are themselves in a sick state. The answer to these problems lies in making the instruments healthy, strong and well­trained. Now the question arises: In what way can they be trained? The process of training consists of four parts: preksha (seeing or perceiving carefully and profoundly), anupreksha (contemplantion), kayotsarg (total relaxation) and spiritual vigilance (awakening of the consciousness and its constant alertness). One must learn to observe, to produce sound waves, to relax and to be alert. Together, these four ways constitute a complete education and can bring about a major transformation. It is through these ways that we can bring about lasting changes in the body, the breath, the speech and the mind.

The first way relates to perception. Indian philosophy is based on perception or seeing. In fact, darshan (philosphy) means seeing or perceiving. Its meaning has changed now. The philosophy being taught in colleges and universities is based on inference and reasoning but in ancient times it stood for direct apprehension. Not inference or abstract reasoning or causation or universality or pervasiveness, but sheer apprehension. Today, we have lost the power to see and we fail to distinguish between thinking and seeing.

Seeing then is something very important. One has to see the breath, the body and the psychic centres (chaitanya kendras).

The human mind is fickle and wavering. Seeing the breath or breath perception (to use a more common expression) is the best way to steady the mind. For it is our inner propensities and attitudes which cause the mind to waver, To control these propensities and attitudes is to control the mind; and there is no better means of exercising this control than through the breath.

The next element is seeing the body or body perception. It does not mean looking at its external form but seeing all those actions that go on within it.

Within the human body exist many chemicals, electricity, a large number of movements and vibrations. Many chemical changes take place within the body as a result of glandular secretions. Our brain also undergoes many chemical changes. The mind itself is the source of many chemicals. Seeing the body involves getting to know the manner in which these chemicals bring about subtle changes in our habits and attitudes.

The third element is seeing the psychic centres of which there are many in our body. Though the number of these centres is very large, under Preksha Meditation only thirteen of them are regarded as important. As soon as one starts seeing these centres, they become active and it is not difficult to know whether they are active or not.

The seeing or the perception of the breath, the body and the psychic centres is subsumed under the first of the four processes mentioned earlier, viz. preksha.

The second way is called anupreksha (contemplation). It involves thoughts, sounds as well as feelings. In a sense it is the use of self-hypnosis. Everyone knows how brave resolutions to give up bad habits and addictions either prove temporary or fall completely. The reason is not far to seek. Whereas our habits operate through the subconscious mind, our resolutions do so through the conscious mind. Until the message of what we want to achieve reaches the subconscious mind, the activities that we habitually undertake consciously will not change. It is here that anupreksha or contemplation plays a crucial role.

The third way is kayotsarg or total relaxation. In the present age medical science has fully revealed the truth that most of our problems are caused by mental stress. It lies behind most diseases, bad habits and distorted thinking. Through kayotsarg this stress can be effectively relieved. As the stress decreases, problems become less intractable. Since most psychosomatic ailments are caused by stress, lessening of stress automatically affects the psycho-physiological condition. When breathing is slow and undisturbed the body itself becomes relaxed and restful and this, in turn, brings about positive changes even in the case of hardened habits.

The fourth way is spiritual vigilance, i.e. awakening of the consciousness and its constant alertness. We often act in a state of torpor. This sluggishness or nonalertness becomes the cause of many problems which we can avoid by being spiritually vigilant. Such vigilance has to be constantly practised. If we learn to be vigilant during the time when we are awake, the vigilance continues to exist even when we are asleep. This is in accordance with the science of yoga which recognises two kinds of sleep-one in which we are unaware of the fact that we are sleeping (supta nidra) and the other in which we have the awareness of being asleep Uagrit nidra). The latter is merely the result of spiritual vigilance and there is no better key to mental cure than such vigilance or constant alertness. By following this method even the most complicated psychic diseases can be cured.

The Problem of Education : The Science of Living educates the mind, the speech and the body alike. Educating the body means developing competence to sit in the same posture for a prolonged period. Educating the speech means not having any propensity to speak even though there may be many compulsive inner urges to do so. Similarly, educating the mind means being free from unbridled memory, magination and thinking.

Modern education is object-oriented. It concentrates on the object-that which is to be known; it does not concentrate on the subject­the knower. Thus we know so much about the external world but very little about ourselves. It is like recognising the image or the reflection and ignoring the real object. It is on this point that modern education can be faulted. It ignores the knower.

In the scale of values, elf-discipline or self­restraint occupies the highest place. It is however, mpossible to achieve it without the practice of meditation. All meditational techniques and methods of spiritual development are in fact a means of achieving self-restraint.

It should be clearly understood by all that schools and colleges impart knowledge only of the external world,the world of matter and of physical objects. It is truncated knowledge. For making it whole one has to learn the nature and content of the world of consciousness, the psychic world.

Every student should devote about a year to the Science of Living for developing self­discipline, after finishing his or her formal education. We have no doubt that if such a plan could be implemented, society would be able to find a lasting and real cure for the maladies in the present-day education.

Why Teach the Science of Living : The most burning issue at the present time relates to the mad and unbridled arms race between the major powers. The whole world is in the grip of fear and the greatest need of the hour is disarmament. The different feelings, attitudes and desires are all arms. One can then classify arms into two main kinds: those which relate to material objects (objective) and those that are connected with our inner attitudes and propensities (subjective). A mind given to jealousy, prejudice and passion is the greatest and the most lethal weapon. A bad thought or a bad feeling has more capacity for harm than an atom bomb. If not curbed, it may prove most destructive.

The Science of Living or Jeevan Vigyan is the most effective means of disarming all physical, mental and emotional aberrations. We have to revamp the present-day education system by introducing into it the above concept of spiritual training whereby the learners are able to achieve 'disarmament' in the primary sense. Let body, speech and mind all become purged of their abuses and the individual, the family and society will automatically be cleansed of the poison of hatred, malice, terror and injustice.

In the absence of a disciplined body, a disciplined mind and disciplined speech, self­discipline is impossible. If there is no proper flow of blood within the body, the hitter cannot be disciplined. If something is wrong with the essential ingredients of the body (phlegm;air, bile) or with the intestines, stomach, liver, pancreas, lungs, and the heart, how can one be disciplined? It is only when they are in order that the mind can be disciplined. The body and the mind are so closely related and interdependent that for the health of the one the health of the other is a prerequisite. The more basic of the two, however, is the health of the body, perfect functioning of the total physical system. A healthy body ensures discipline.

The spiritual preceptors in the past discovered many important ways of disciplining the mind. They recognised that the most difficult thing is to stop the mind becoming a prey to innumerable uncertainties.

A ceaseless procession of images in the mind, most of which unrelated to real life, weakens the mind and the only way to stop it lies in spirituality.

Spiritual science had discovered a very important method of achieving a sort of mental vacuum - a mind free from thoughts and uncertainties of all kinds - and complete peace of mind. It consisted in steadying the tongue and the vocal cords. Anyone experienced in yoga will also prescribe what is known as khechari mudra for quietening the mind, which requires a fixed retroflex position of the tongue without letting it touch either the palate or the sides of the mouth. He might as well suggest to press the tongue against the roots of the teeth and not letting it move at all and the most experienced practitioner of yogawill prescribe kayotsarg or total relaxation of the vocal cords. Even the slightest mental activity is invariably accompanied by the vibrations of the vocal cords.

Whenever the mind's activity gets out of hand, yoga requires bringing the chin close to the laryngeal cavity and pressing the former hard against the latter. A five-minute exercise of this kind will bring all mental activity to a halt.

The Science of Living and Experiments in Intuition : Like water, meditation flushes the filth of the mind, cleanses those impurities that daily arise in the mind. The purification of the mind is as necessary as that of the body.

There are many centres in the body that affect physical health but there are very few in regard to mental health. We have neglected this fact since our education has conditioned practically everyone to think and believe that all our problems are rooted in the world of matter and therefore their solution also has to be sought in the same world. The world of consciousness. according to this viewpoint, simply does not exist or is at least insignificant. It is thought irrelevant both as a source of problems and as a place where their solutions can be found. It is time we thought of making education complete and whole. It can be done by including the Science of Living as an integral part of education so that we look for causes of and solutions to various problems neither exclusively externally nor exclusively internally - both the approaches are wrong - but both externally and internally.

Today the biggest problem is that we have lost faith in our power. And the main power we have lies in our breath.

Intuition needs tending. It has to be sustained by practice. It is a pity that we have forgotten the importance of practice. The awakening of intuition will result in an increase in the capacity for action and the development of the practical power.

Practice of Science of Living yields the following three achievements:
1. Awareness of one's powers.
2. Access to those paths of development which the above awareness makes known,
3. Careful study, practice and experimen­tation.

Once these achievements have been made, faith and self-confidence are automatically built.

The Science of Living and the Building of a New Generation
If the will is weak and the faith feeble, no change is possible. 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-will-power and meditation­are the most potent instruments of change, 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.

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 auto­suggestion. 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.

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.

Tolerance is, in fact, a very broad concept and includes the capacity to bear with both physical adversity and a disfavourable mental climate. Meditation is the key to the attainment of the above kind of equilibrium. Practice of tolerance is thus inseparably related to breath.

The Science of Living and Social Life : If meditation does not result in change, it will not be judged valuable. All actions have to be evaluated in relation to society. There is in this sense neither an individual value nor an individual norm. By bringing about change in the individual, meditation effects change in society. Here it is worth noting that Preksha Meditation is a scientific process. It operates on the basis of cause-effect relationship.

If the physiological and psychological on the one hand and the meditational or the spiritual on the other could be combined, the whole gamut of social life would be transformed. Once the physiological and the spiritual combine, a new consciousness can emerge. Our main aim is the transformation of consciousness. Physiological change can at best serve a therapeutic function. It cannot bring about the transformation of consciousness. It is only meditation which can do so.

Change in consciousness brings about behavioural changes. One can become truly nonviolent and non-acquisitive only after there has been a transformation of consciousness. Attachment, passion, pugnacity infect everything lodged in our consciousness.

One who practises meditation does not look down upon others as his slaves. His attitude towards the master-servant relationship undergoes a thorough change. He successfully overcomes the tendency to hurt the ego of another person. Behind all quarrels, whether in the family or between employers and employees or between masters and servants, is this tendency to hurt someone's ego.

Far-reaching behavioural changes result from the practice of meditation. When meditation comes to fruition, consciousness is purged of all dross and intuition is awakened.

The Science of Living: A New Dimension of Education ; Intellectuality is undoubtedly a part of education but it is not all that there is to education.

It has to be supplemented by a sense of social responsibility, humanistic values and sound character. In fact, mere intellectuality can prove dangerous. Even those engaged in criminal activities gain from it and it is for this reason that educated thieves prove more skilled and professional. Our main problem today is a glut of intellectuals devoid of character and therefore having lopsided personality.

It does not amount to belittling the importance of intellectual knowledge. All that is being said is that full and complete growth requires that it be supplemented by proper development of the endocrinal system.

The Science of Living, comprises combined training in the art of worldly success, spiritual progress and yoga Modern education lays emphasis on physiology, anatomy and psychology. If all the six are combined, a total and integrated course of complete human development can be devised. We should inculcate in them the power of concentration, will-power and determination.

Education must cater to all the three types of developments-physical, mental and emotional. Today we are laying a lot of stress on the first two and totally ignoring the third. Here it is worth remembering that in order to achieve integrated development, it is not enough to read and cite examples from religious literature. Such reading can be inspiring but it cannot bring about the desired change-the change of consciousness. Sermons and preachings are incapable of achieving this goal for the simple reason that the real carriers of change are the hormones and unless their secretion is controlled, all development will remain partial and one-sided.

Hence the importance of modern Physics. Psychology and Physiology, It is our firm conviction that the findings of modern science must not be ignored in the name of the infallibility of the solutions offered in religious texts.

The enormous and precious findings of science should be the decisive criteria and should provide the overall context for the practical use of religious instruction and textbook knowledge. Then it will be able to build a new generation of people enjoying perfect and all-round health physical, intellectual and emotional.

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Author :  An author of several books pertaining to Meditation and Jainism, Muni Mahendra Kumar is Professor of Jivan Vigyan and Preksha Meditation accredited By Jain Vishva Bharati Institute, Ladnun, Rajasthan

Article Source : Anuvibha Reporter ( Special Issue : Dec. 2000 )
Ahimsa, Peacemaking, Conflict Prevention and Management Proceedings and Presentations
Fourth International Conference on Peace and Nonviolent Action ( IV ICPNA )
New Delhi : Nov. 10-14, 1999

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