2005-09-19T15:01:47Z User 60 http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v60/ OrgSpace NewsLog

PRANAYAMA Pranayama, then, means energy control. This energy control is often effected with the aid of breathing exercises. Hence, breathing exercises have also come to be known as pranayamas. Patanjali’s reference is to the energy control that is achieved as a result of various techniqu...

Practice one or two at a time. If you ever feel agitated during or after your practice it means you've done too much. Before beginning, close your eyes and center yourself. After your practice take the time to sit calmly and experience the after-effects of the pranayams. They are an ideal prelude to meditation.

ENERGIZING / HEALING BREATH - Lying on your back or sitting in an upright posture, begin by inhaling slowly and deeply, and imagine that the breath is filling your feet. Feel the muscles, bones, send skin becoming permeated with the breath's energy. Continue breathing into each body part, moving upward all the way to the head. Make every breath slow and deep, with full attention. Another variation is to hold the breath in each body part before exhaling.

Benefits; This simple exercise has the power to energize your body and to heal it of many ailments.

BREATH OF JOY - Sitting up with spine straight, inhale very slowly and deeply. Feel that you are inhaling, not only oxygen, but also joy, peace, strength, or courage - -whatever positive quality you want to draw into yourself. Imagine the breath to be filling not only your lungs, but also your whole body, from the feet all the way up to the point between the eyebrows. Focus the breath at that point, and hold it there without straining; feel that your are burning up all negative thoughts in the blaze of divine light. Exhale fully, expelling from your body and mind all negativity. Practice 6-12 times.

Benefits: Dynamically releases blocked energy (physical& emotional) and uplifts our consciousness into joy, peace, love, etc.

DIAPHRAMATIC BREATHING -The diaphram (the dome-shaped muscle/membrane which separates the lungs from the abdominal cavity) works by a downward movement (as you inhale) that causes the lungs to expand, creating a lower air pressure within the lungs than outside the body. In this way air is drawn into the lungs. The downward movement of the diaphram (as you inhale) expands the abdomen a little outward. As you exhale the diaphram moves back up towards the chest allowing the abdomen to come in towards the spine. In it's resting position, the diaphram is dome-shaped, with it's top located underneath the heart, and the sides and front attaching to the inner ribcage and the tip of the breastbone. Lying on your back, sitting, or in a standing position, place your palms on your abdomen, and observe your inhalation coming in through your nostrils and drawing the breath into the lower lungs. Visualize/feel the diaphram descending as you inhale. Feel your abdomen pushing out gently into your hands. Exhale and observe the diaphram moving upwards towards the chest and your abdomen moving back in. Remove your hands and breathe this way for a few minutes. Ideal for using with the yoga postures.

Benefits: An excellent way to release mental / physical stress & tension. It calms the mind and induces a state of relaxation in our body. It gives an internal massage to our abdominal organs, improving digestion and relaxing blocked energy.

FULL YOGIC BREATH - The diaphramatic breath is the first stage of the Full Yogic Breath. The second part is the expansion of the ribcage. As the inhalation flows upward from the diaphram the ribcage expands outward to the sides and a little in back. The third phase is the expansion of the lungs in the chest area. All three phases should flow together smoothly. Exhale slowly in reverse order. You may hold the breath for a few seconds before exhaling. Never strain as you do this breath; the entire inhalation from the diaphram, into the ribcage area, and into the upper lungs should be one smooth, flowing motion.

Benefits: Maximizes the intake of oxygen and the expelling of carbon dioxide. Relaxes muscular restriction in and around the diaphram, ribs, and chest, allowing for them breath to flow freely and naturally at all times. It is very energizing for the body; excellent for fasting. Used with visualization, it's great for drawing vitality into every body cell (as you inhale) and expelling all fatigue (exhaling).

MEASURED BREATHING - From a sitting position, inhale to the count of 8, hold me breath for 8, and exhale for 8. Adjust the count so there is no straining involved. Use the Full Yogic Breath. Feel the breath flowing up the body as you inhale; hold, concentrating at the spiritual eye; exhale, feel the descending breath taking you deeply into inner peace.

Benefits; Excellent preparation for meditation. It deeply relaxes body and mind. Measured breathing will help you release the stress that can cause mental and emotional pain; bringing us to a place of deep peace and tranquility.

DOUBLE BREATH - Begins with a two-part inhalation, inhale through your nose with a short, sharp inhalation, followed by a long, strong inhalation-completely filling the lungs. Then without pause, exhale through your mouth, again with a short, then a long exhalation-making a breathy sound:

"Huh, Huhhhhhh," emptying the lungs completely. This breath is a part of Yogananda's Energization Exercises.

Benefits: Powerfully energizes the body and brings clarity to the mind. May be used with tensing the body as you inhale (in a smooth flow, from low tension to high), and relaxing the body as you exhale (in a flow, from tension to complete relaxation). A great tool for releasing all residual tension in body and mind.

SITKARI PRANAYAMA - Sitting in a meditative posture, place the teeth together. Put the tongue against the teeth, and inhale forcibly through the mouth with a hissing sound. Hold the breath in the lungs as long as you can do so comfortably. Exhale through the nose, closing the lips, and feel the coolness of the breath penetrating up into the brain, and spreading out into the entire nervous system. Make the inhalation and exhalation equal in length, breathing diaphramatically. Practice 3-6 rounds.

Benefits: Helps to make you more aware of the breath and energy as it enters the lungs. It strengthens the diaphram and induces muscular and mental relaxation. It soothes the nervous system and is excellent to do on a hot day as it eliminates thirst. In addition, sitkari purifies the blood.


SITALI PRANAYAMA - To practice this pranayam you must be able to curl your tongue into the form of a tube. If you are unable to do this, stick with the above exercise (Sitkari). Place the tongue at the lips. Inhale through the tube of your tongue, and concentrate on the coolness that you feel at the back of the throat. Hold the breath, then exhale through the nose, and feel this coolness spreading out into your nervous system, and up into the brain. Begin with a 1-1-1 ratio, then change to a 1-4-2 ratio. Make your inhalation gentle and even. Practice up to 6 cycles, concentrating on the cooling effects.

Benefits: Very cooling for the brain and nervous system. Helps to cool the body on a warm day. Similar benefits as Sitkari Pranayam.

ALTERNATE BREATHING - Begin by sitting in a meditation asana and take a few deep Full Yogic Breaths. Center yourself in your spine. Using the right hand, bring the index and middle finger into the palm. Extend the thumb and ring and little fingers. The thumb will be next to the right nostril and the ring and little finger at the left nostril. Close the right nostril with the thumb and inhale through the left to a count of 8; close off the left nostril and hold the breath to a count of 8; lift the thumb off the right nostril and exhale (through the right) to a count of 8. Repeat six times. If 8 is too long of a count (or too short), use whatever count works for you. Do not strain. You can slowly increase the count as you are able to. A slight constriction in the throat, so as to make a gentle sound there during respiration (Ujjayi Breath), will help to increase the consciousness of the movement of energy in the spine. The sound of the breath in the throat will remind you of ocean waves washing up a beach. After approx. two weeks of practice you may change the ratio to: 1-2-2. For example, inhale through the left nostril mentally counting to 4; hold the breath 8 counts; then exhale through the right to a count of 8. Repeat up to 6 times. Remember not to strain.

Benefits: Helps to balance and harmonize the two currents in the spine (the pran and apan). This results in a state of mental poise and in a deepening inner awareness. An excellent preparation to meditation. Can be used with visualization to draw in positive qualities as you inhale; holding the breath fill your consciousness with these qualities; exhaling throw out all opposing states of negativity. Or, as you exhale, surrender yourself into the arms of Infinite Peace.

A variation of the Alternate Breath: Inhale through the left nostril, hold the breath, exhale through the right nostril; then inhale again immediately in the right nostril, hold the breath, then exhale in the left. Begin again through the left and continue. To begin, have the ratio equal: 1-1-1; then you may change to 1-2-2. Repeat 3 - 6 times. In time you can change the ratio to 1-4-2. For example inhale left counting 2, hold 8, exhale right counting 4; then inhale right to 2, hold 8, exhale 4. Continue for 3-6 cycles. Adjust counts to your ability.

Benefits: Induces calmness and tranquility. The flow of prana is equalized as all blocks in the energy channels are cleared. The blood is purified of toxins and the lungs are cleansed of stale air. A very good practice for good health.
KAPALABHATI PRANAYAMA -

Sit in a meditative position and take a few deep breaths. Then inhale and as you exhale draw the abdomen inward sharply, forcing the air out through the nostrils in a quick thrust. Let the inhalation flow in automatically; all of your effort should be focused on the exhalation. Continue for 12 to 24 times to begin with-then more as you become accustomed to it. Each respiration should take about one second. Keep the shoulders relaxed, focusing all movement in the diaphram. Finish by taking 2 or 3 Full Yogic Breaths. Focus on the inner energy lifting upward to the point between the eyebrows. To assist this awareness, inhale with a Full Yogic Breath and hold the breath within for a few seconds, concentrating at the spiritual eye; then exhale and feel the breath flowing out from the spiritual eye. Repeat 2 or 3 times.

Benefits: Kapalabhati is very good for strengthening the diaphram. It helps to raise the energy to the brain. Excellent to do before meditation, as it helps you to dynamically bring all your attention to the Ajna chakra (spiritual eye). It purifies the frontal lobe of the brain. It also purifies the bloodstream and helps the lungs draw in more oxygen and expel toxins.

SURYA BEPHA PRANAYAMA - From a sitting posture/ and holding the right hand as you did for the Alternate Breath Pranayam, close off the left nostril and inhale slowly through the right. Next, close both nostrils, and retain the breath as long as it is comfortable. Concentrate at the spiritual eye and mentally chant Aum. Then exhale slowly through the left nostril keeping the right nostril closed. Repeat 3-6 rounds. Do not overdo.

Benefits; This pranayam is beneficial for the sinuses, the lungs, and the heart. It has a heating effect on the body and bestows dynamic physical energy.

UJJAYI PRANAYAMA - Inhale slowly through both nostrils, keeping the throat slightly constricted so as to make a gentle sound that will help you to feel the breath in the throat. The sound will remind you of ocean waves washing up the beach. Direct the breath to flow slow, even and smooth. Concentrate on the feeling of the breath moving in and out through the throat. A variation to deepen your awareness of the energy currents in the spine is to extend the feeling of the breath in the throat to the spine. With closed eyes, inhale with the Ujjayi Breath drawing a current of energy up the center of the spine from the tailbone all the way up through the medulla, through the brain, to the point between the eyebrows. Hold the breath for the same duration as the inhalation, then exhale (with Ujjayi) feeling the descending current moving down the center of your spine. Exhale to the same count. Practice this variation as long as there is no strain involved. Ujjayi can also be used in conjunction with the yoga asanas, helping you to control (slow) the flow of breath, thereby calming the heart and mind.

Benefits: This simple practice has a subtle influence on the whole body. It calms the mind and has a soothing effect on the nervous system. Ujjayi is very useful for people with high blood pressure as it slows down the heartbeat. It has subtle effects on the flow of life force in the astral (energy) body and helps you to be aware of its movement within the sushumna (astral spine).

"After practicing the breathing exercises, go into inner stillness. Feel the connection between your breath and the Cosmic Breath, as if your breath were but a function of the breezes of cosmic consciousness. In your breathing, as in your working, feel that you are an instrument of the Divine. " ]]> http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v60/__show_article/_a000060-000025.htm 2005-09-19T15:01:47Z 2005-09-19T15:01:47Z

Pranayama is an important, yet little known part of Yoga. Its techniques have been practiced for centuries by ardent students of Yoga in remote ashrams, and have been preserved for us through many generations both in practice and in handwritten books. Until recently, this art and science of Yogic ...

Pranayama is the fourth part of the eight-fold Yoga described in the Yogasutra of Patanjali. This is the most authoritative book on yoga. It was written or according to many experts on the subject, in the second century before Christ. The eight limbs of yoga mentioned in Patanjali's system are: (1) Yama, (2) Niyama, (3) Asana, (4) Pranayama (5) Pratyahara, (6) Dharana, (7) Dhyana, and (8) Samadhi.

Pranayama is also mentioned in the Gita, which is, by far, the most popular book on yoga. But a detailed account of how pranayama is to be practiced is not found in the Gita or the Yogasutra. For that we have to turn to the texts of Hathayoga and to some later Upanishads which are called Yoga-upanishads; These texts are of approximately the fifteenth century AD, and later. It should not be concluded from this that the techniques of pranayama have been known only for the last five hundred years. Many direct and indirect references to pranayama, what it car do, why it is practiced, and what its importance is, occur in Vedic literature, in ancient Upanishads, Smritis, Puranas. and treatises such as the Yogavasistha. This shows that aknowledge of pranayama and its practices was known since the time of the Vedic rishis. But it seems quite certain that the practice of pranayama was taught to very few. It was never widespread. Even the few who learned it, followed it more as a part of religious observances than as a discipline for the body and mind.

The credit for making the practice of pranayama popular as a discipline in its own right and as a means for maintaining the health of the body and mind goes to the followers of Hathayoga. They gave it a place of great importance among the practices of Hathayoga, and it was they who described various techniques of pranayama, emphasizing the utility of each of them. Hathayoga is said to consist of four main types of practices, namely, asana, pranayama, mudras, and nadanusandhana, that is, being aware of the inner sounds. These four types of practices are supposed to lead ultimately to the state of sarnadhi, which would bestow upon the individual aspirant of yoga absolute knowledge, or self-knowledge, which in its turn leads to emancipation or liberation from the cycle of rebirths.

When we start thinking about pranayama with this background some questions arise in our mind. We shall discuss them here one by one. The questions are as follows: -

1. What is pranavama?

2. How did pranayama originate?

3. Why do we breathe at all?

4. Why should we control the breath?

5. What can pranayama do?

Pranayama is control of breath

In simple terms pranayama may be called the control of the breath. Its essence lies in the modification of our normal process of breathing. Breathing is an act in which we take air from the atmosphere into our lungs, absorb the oxygen from it into our blood, and expel the air again into the atmosphere together with carbon-di-oxide end water vapour. This act of inhalation and exhalation is repeated every four to five seconds. Thus normally we breathe about fifteen times every minute, each time taking about 500 ml. of air into the lungs. So we inhale and exhale approximately seven liters of air per minute. Every modification of this normal breathing process would not count as pranayama. The normal breathing pattern shows marked changes under various conditions. For instance, while we are lifting or carrying loads, walking uphill, running, or doing any physical exercise we breathe more rapidly and more forcefully. At high altitudes, in a rarefied atmosphere our breathing becomes heavy. Its pattern changes with emotional excitement and in the case of disorders such as asthma, tuberculosis, bronchitis and other lung affections. Modification of breathing under these conditions is brought about involuntarily and perhaps without awareness of it unless there is difficulty in breathing. In fact we are hardly ever aware of the fact that we are breathing.

Pranayama consists of modifications of the breathing process which we bring about deliberately and consciously. We can modify breathing in three different ways:

1. By inhaling and exhaling rapidly, taking shallow breaths.

2. By inhaling and exhaling slowly, taking long or deep breaths.

3. By stopping the act of breathing altogether.

The first way of modifying breathing is not usually included in pranayama proper, although it is sometimes closely associated with it. The second and third ways mentioned above do belong to the domain of pranayama. In fact, pranayama practice may very well be summarized in these two ways.

There is one more condition to be fulfilled if any breathing modification is to be called pranayama. That is regarding the posture. Pranayama is practiced in a sitting posture. There are about half a dozen postures available for this purpose. They are called meditation postures, because they are very suitable for meditation. The most renowned among them is Siddhasana. The simplest and most comfortable and less strenuous is Swastikasana. Padmasana is the one which is most recommended traditionally for pranayama. We shall describe these postures in detail in a later chapter. It may be enough to mention here that pranayamais defined by Patanjali as a modification of breathing in a sitting posture which is steady and comfortable. Such a posture is an essential part of pranayama.

Thus pranayama is a complex act in which after assuming a suitable posture the student inhales and exhales slowly, deeply, and completely, and also stops the breath. Inhalation in pranayama is called parka, which literally means ‘the act of filling’; Exhalation is called recheck, meaning ‘the act of emptying'. Retention of breath is called kumbhaka Kumbha means a water pot. Just as a water pot holds water when it is filled with it, so in kumbhaka the breath is held after filling the lungs. Actually, kumbhaka can be practiced in two ways. We can hold the breath in after a puraka, or we can hold the breath out after a rechaka. The first variety is recommended much more in traditional books. It is called abhyantara kumbhaka or antah-kumbhaka. The second variety of kumbhaka is called babyakambhaka.

In traditional writings the two words pranayama and kumbhaka are often used as synonymous words. This may be explained by the fact that kumbhaka is the most important part of pranayama. There seems to be a difference of opinion among experts about whether a modified way of breathing which does not include any kumbhaka can be called pranayama at all. For instance, if one practices only puraka and rechaka without any kumbhaka, then can it be said that one is practicing pranayama?

Some writers, who have argued that kumbhaka is an indispensable part of pranayama, would insist that mere puraka and rechaka do not form pranayama. But there are others who do not agree with this way of defining pranavama.

How did pranayama originate

Howsoever we define pranayama, that is to say, whether we make kumbhaka an indispensable part of it or not, one essential feature of pranayama according to any definition, is, that it involves a control of breath. Breath is called prana in Sanskrit. Prana also means the soul. In the word pranayama prana does not mean the soul, but the breath The association of these two meanings of the word prana is obviously quite close. Breath and life go together. When any living being dies, breathing stops. This close association between breath and the soul attracted the attention of the ancient Aryans more, because they believed in a cycle of rebirths, until the soul became emancipated by attaining moksha or mukti.

This is called the belief in transmigration of the soul. This belief is very clearly expressed in the following slakes of the Bhagavadgita:

``Just as one throws away old clothes and takes new ones, so, too, the soul, i.e., the dweller in the body, leaves old bodies and enters into new ones." (Gita: II.29)

"Whosoever is born is sure to die, and one who dies is sure to be born again. This cycle is unavoidable. Hence it is no use being unhappy about it." (Gita: Il.27)

The observation that so long as one is breathing one is living, and that when the breath stops life comes to an end, accompanied by the belief that the soul transmigrates from birth to birth, must have played an important role in the initial ideas about pranayama. Our ancients first came to see that for the preservation of life we must preserve breath, and preserving breath entails two things, i.e., breathing slowly, and then not breathing (for a short time) at all. This idea was further strengthened by the belief that the length of one's life is to be measured not in terms of days or years, but in terms of how many times one is destined to breathe. From the fact that the stoppage of breath and the end of one's life coincide, our ancients probably conceived the idea that when the number of breaths one was destined to take was exhausted, one could not live any longer. This idea is conveyed even today in phrases like 'breathing one's last,' for indicating death.

The idea that the breaths of everyone of us are numbered, that our life-span is dependent on how many times we shall breathe in a given life, and that, as a consequence of this fact, we must reduce the number of breaths so as to live longer— this idea was responsible for the origin of pranayama. We have this idea clearly mentioned at several places in the ancient texts on pranayama. For instance, it is declared in the Gorakshapaddhati (I.93), that

"Due to fear of death even Brahma, the Lord of creation, keeps on practicing pranayama, and so do manyyogisand minis. Hence it is recommended that a student of yoga must always control his breath."

In the same manner the Hathayoga-pradipika (II.39) says,

``All the gods including Lord Brahma became devoted to the practice of pranayama because they were afraid of death. We the mortals should follow the same path and control the breath."

It may be that the origin of pranayama, as is clear from the above references, was influenced by the idea of conquering death through the control of breath. But later on many other advantages must also have come to light. We shall have occasion to consider them at a later stage.

Why do we breathe at all

Taking it for granted that breathing means living, and viceversa, one may still wonder why life is so dependent on breathing, and why it comes to an end when breathing becomes impossible. All of us know that we cannot live without air. But very few of us are in a position to say why this is so. It would be very helpful to be aware of the processes involved In breathing in order to understand how pranayama can be used for the prevention and cure of disorders.

To begin with we must differentiate between breathing and respiration. In common usage these two terms are often used as synonyms. But actually respiration is a wider term. Breathing is a physical or mechanical act performed with the help of specialized organs, in which air, or more specifically, oxygen from the air enters the body, and then the air together with the impurities from the body such. as Carbon dioxide and water vapour, is drawn out of the body. Respiration, as a wider term, includes this act as well as the further process of carrying the absorbed oxygen to every part of the body and distributing it throughout the body. In case of man and higher animals we may say that they breathe as well as respire. But in case of plants, lower forms of life, and microorganisms, there is only respiration and no breathing, because there are no organs for breathing. A new-born baby starts breathing just after birth when the lungs are filled with air for the first time. Before birth, in the womb of its mother it does not breathe, but respiration still exists, and oxygen is supplied to each cell of its growing body inside the womb.

Now let us see why oxygen is indispensable for life. Every living tissue and cell requires a constant supply of energy to live. To be alive means to undergo certain bio chemical processes. These processes which are the essence of life cannot go on without energy. This energy is stored in the molecules of certain substances such as glucose, fructose, fatty acids, and amino acids. These molecules are the end products of the process of digestion of food materials which we eat. The energy stored in these molecules can be released from them only through a chemical interaction called oxidation of the energy containing compounds, which cannot take place without oxygen. In the absence of oxygen the process of release of energy comes to a halt, which means the death of that tissue. Oxygen is already present in the atmosphere on earth. At sea level there is about 20% oxygen in the air. This oxygen cannot be utilized by the cells and tissues of our body directly from the atmosphere. It has to be carried to each cell and tissue. This important job of carrying oxygen to each minute part of the body is done for us by the blood. This is called internal respiration. The task of bringing oxygen in contact with the blood is called external respiration. It is the same thin" as breathing. Thus breathing may be called the outer expression of the process of internal respiration. Thus if breathing stops, then each cell and tissue of the body which requires oxygen continuously for keeping on the process of oxidation in order to release energy stored in the end products of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, would be starved of oxygen. Lack of oxygen means no further oxidation, which means no supply of energy for the big-chemical process of living, and that inevitably results in the death of that cell or tissue. That is why life is solely dependent on breathing. This was perhaps the reason why our ancestors used the word prana both for the air we breathe and for the essence of life, namely, the soul. But even if it is true that breathing is so vital for life, one may still wonder whether there is any advantage in controlling the breath. That is our next question.

Why should we control the breath

It may tee observed that wherever we are required to go into action at once, such as while taking a long or high jump, or lifting a heavy weight with all our might, or hitting a hard blow, and so on, we automatically stop the breath. Breathing is also arrested when there is a sudden shock and when there is complete absorption of the mind in something interesting. This shows the relation between intense physical or mental activity and breath control. This control is brought about by the nerve centers in us which govern breathing activity. In pranayama, we control the breathing activity by bringing into action inhibitory impulses from the brain. This point shall be discussed in greater detail later on. Here we are discussing why we should control the breath at all.

It is true that for carrying out various activities of daily life we do not have to control the breath at all. It is already being controlled and modified according to the needs of the body by the respiratory center without our being aware of it. For instance, while we are resting, breathing automatically slows down, whereas, when there is physical activity necessitating an increased supply of oxygen and the faster removal of carbon dioxide, breathing automatically becomes faster and deeper. Thus controlling the breath is not required for the usual activities of daily life. Control of the breath is, however, undertaken for another reason, which is of interest to all of us.

It is one of the basic pre-suppositions of yoga that the breath (prana) and the mind (chitta) are not separate or independent of each other. They are, in fact, considered to be two different expressions of one single basic entity. They are interdependent. They work together and stop working together. We are using both the entities, namely, breath and the mind constantly. Breath is important because our existence depends on it. Mind is important because everything that is necessary for success in life such as pleasure, happiness, enjoyment, our relationship with the world, our reactions to the happenings ire and around us, are all dependent on it. If the mind is well trained, peaceful, and full of contentment, that is to say, under one's control, then life becomes fruitful.

This fact is brought out in a very clear fashion in the Katha Upanishad (I. iii. 3 to 6) as follows:

"The soul is like a traveler who has set on a journey of life in the chariot of the body, driven by the intellect (buddhi) with the mind for the reins and the sense organs being the horses. The objects of experience form the way to be traversed. The soul, senses, and mind together form the enjoyed of pleasure and pain, i.e., the individual. If the midis not properly controlled, then the senses go out of hand like untrained horses. But if the mind is properly controlled (I ``kta) then the senses obey the orders of the master, i.e., the individual, like well trained horses. Indeed, such an individual reaches the highest goal of life."

Now to control the mind, howsoever essential it may be for success in life, is one of the most difficult things to achieve. All of us are aware that if we would control our minds we could make life happier and far more enjoyable both for us and for others. Still we find ourselves helpless. It is here that pranayama can come to our aid. The ancient masters of yoga knew that even if it is very difficult to control the mind directly, it can be controlled by controlling the breath. They mentioned this at several places in the yoga texts. For instance, the Yogavasistha (ii. 78.46.) has explained:

``When through continued practice of pranayama the vibrations of breath are silenced, that causes the mind, too, to become completely silent. That is the state of Nirvana."

This same point is brought out in the Hathayoga-pradipika (IV. 23) by saying,

``Where the mind is absorbed completely, the breath also is silenced, and vice versa."

The Annapoornopa~'isI7ad has gone a step further to make the point clear. It has emphasized (II.89) the oneness of mind and breath, and so, has stressed the importance of pranayama for controlling the mind thus:

`'The vibrations of breath or air (Panama) are the same as the vibrations of the mind. So the thoughtful attempt to control the vibrations of breath."

Many other statements from ancient texts can be quoted here to show the significance of pranayama for silencing the mind. But it is hardly necessary to multiply examples. The whole point of view may be summarized in the following declaration of the Anna poor no punished (II. 44J:

"Yogis control the breath in order to have peace of mind (chittashanti)."

It may be said on this that all of us are not yogis, and so pranayama is not useful for all of us. But that is not true, because every one of, us needs peace of mind, and if it can be achieved through the practice of pranayama, then pranayama would certainly be useful for all of us.

This does not mean that peace of mind is the only end for which pranayama is practiced. In fact, it is a rather distant goal, although it has been emphasized largely in the traditional outlook on pranayama. There are more easily achievable and nearer goals, such as the maintenance and restoration of health, efficient functioning of the various systems of the body, especially the respiratory system, and cure of disorders such as asthma, hypertension, diabetes, and so on. These effects of pranayama will be discussed thoroughly in a further chapter.

What can pranayama do

It is essential for everyone interested in learning and practicing pranayama to know what it can and cannot do. For instance, it should be understood that not every disorder can be treated by pranayama. Similarly, it is not equally useful to all of us. There are certain conditions under which pranayama can not end should not be practiced. It is also necessary to know how pranayama works, so that all possible dangers in its practice can be avoided.

A student who wants to learn pranayama and continue -practicing it needs to have a clear idea regarding its scope and limits. As a part of yoga, pranayama should normally be practiced along with other parts, such as asanas and meditation. This gives better results especially in the prevention or cure of disorders. We shall discuss in detail the utility of pranayama in relation to this in a later chapter. In the beginning it is helpful to eliminate some false beliefs about pranayama which are common even among some yoga teachers. We shall consider these beliefs in the chapter to follow.
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PRE-CONDITION Posture: You may select a posture of meditation in which you can sit comfortably and steadily for a long period. The posture of meditation may be 'full lotus-posture,' 'half lotus-posture,' 'simple cross-legged posture, or 'diamond-posture' (Vajrasan)....

Recitation of the Mahaprana Dhvani:
Alternatively start meditation with the repeated recitation of the Mahaprana Dhvani. Exhale fully, then inhale deeply as long as you can. By slow exhalation, produce the sound "mmm" through the nostrils like buzzing of a bee, while concentrating your mind on the Centre of Knowledge situated on the top of the head and keeping the mouth closed. Inhale deeply again and repeat the same exercise nine times.

The Aphorism of the Aim:

"Sampikkhae Appagamappaenam"

Perceive and realize the deepest and highest levels of your consciousness by your conscious mind. See yourself through yourself. For perception and realization of the self, practice preksha meditation.

Resolve for Meditation:

"I am practicing preksha meditation for the purification of my mind (psyche)". (Repeat three times)

KAYOTSARGA

The first step of meditation is Kayotsarga, that is relaxation with self-awareness. Keep your body steady, relaxed and free from tension. Keep your spine and neck straight but without stiffness. Relax all the muscles of your body. Let your body become limp.
Practice steadiness of body at least for five minutes. Keep your body completely steady, as motionless as a statue. Do not allow the limbs of your body to move. No movement at all.

Kayotsarga has two implications--complete relaxation of the body and self-awareness. For achieving complete relaxation of the body, mentally divide it into several parts and concentrate your mind on each part of the body one by one, from feet to head. Allow your mind to spread in the whole part--allow it to undertake a trip in the whole part; use the technique of auto-suggestion to relax the whole part and experience the resulting relaxation. Experience that each and every muscle, each and every nerve has become relaxed. And in the same way attain, the relaxation of the whole body. Use deep concentration and remain completely alert. Practice Kayotsarga.

Detailed Instructions for Relaxation:

Starting with the big toe of your right foot, concentrate your mind on it. Allow your mind to spread throughout the big toe. Suggest to the muscles and nerves to relax. Relax..... Relax..... Relax…..Experience that they are relaxing. Experience that they have become relaxed. In the same way, attain relaxation of the other parts of the right limb--the other toes, sole, heel, ankle, upper part of the foot, calf-muscles, knee, thigh, upto the hip-joint. In the same way relax the left limb upto the hip-joint. Experience that the whole of the lower portion of the body has become completely relaxed.

Now achieve the relaxation of the middle portion of the body from the waist upto the neck. Concentrate your mind on each part one by one starting with the lower abdomen, relax the front, the back, the right side, the left side, the outside and the inside of your lower abdomen. Similarly relax the upper abdomen-- the front, the back, the right side, the left side, the outside and the inside of your upper abdomen. Now through your navel enter the abdominal cavity and relax the large intestine, the small intestine, the kidneys, the spleen, the liver, the pancreas, the stomach and the diaphragm. Use autosuggestion and achieve relaxation. Then concentrate your mind on the chest and relax the entire rib-cage. Beginning with the lowest rib, relax each and every rib in turn. Relax the front ribs, the back ribs, the right ribs and the left ribs. Now enter the chest and relax the right lung, the left lung and the heart by auto-suggestion. (Those who have got any heart trouble should pause here for a few minutes and by auto-suggestion slow down the heart to remove stress.)

Now achieve the relaxation of the neck muscles in the front and in the back. Then concentrate your mind on both the hands and arms one by one; starting from the thumb, relax the fingers, the palm, the wrist, the lower arm, the elbow, the upper arm and the shoulder. Experience that the whole of the middle portion of your body has become completely relaxed.

Now achieve the relaxation of the upper portion of body from throat upto the head. Here we have come to a bit more difficult part of the exercise. So far you were relaxing large muscles which respond quickly to your suggestion. But now we have to relax a large number of small and tiny muscles which are difficult to relax. First unclench your teeth and unlock your jaws and let your tongue go limp. Keep your lips softly closed. Now relax all the facial muscles; beginning with the chin, relax the lips, the inner portion of the mouth including the teeth, the gums, the palate and the tongue; then relax the cheeks, the nose, the ears and the temples, both the eyes, the forehead and the scalp, through auto-suggestion. Experience that the whole of your upper portion of the body has become completely relaxed.

Again allow your mind to travel from the head upto the feet and from the feet upto the head; this time rather quickly and see that there is no tension anywhere in the body. Experience that the whole body from the feet upto the head has become completely relaxed. Maintain the posture of Kayotsarga throughout the meditation session. Try to keep your body completely steady and motionless.

Now practice inner silence at least for five minutes through relaxation of the vocal cords (voice box). Concentrate your mind on the voice box inside the throat and completely relax it. Observe complete inner silence. There should be no vibrations in the voice box.

INTERNAL TRIP (Antaryatra)

The second step of Preksha meditation is the practice of internal trip through the spinal cord. Take your mind to the lower end of the spinal cord, called the Centre of Energy. Allow your mind to go upward inside your spinal cord upto the top of the head called the Centre of Knowledge. Again allow it to come back through the same path to the Centre of Energy. Again and again repeat the same process. Let your mind continuously undertake the trip inside the spinal cord and perceive the subtle vibrations of the vital energy, taking place inside the spinal cord, or whatever sensation you get there. Simply perceive them without any reaction. Concentrate your entire consciousness on the spinal cord.

You may synchronize your internal trip with the process of breathing. During exhalation, undertake the upward trip and during inhalation, undertake the downward trip. Use deep concentration and complete awareness. Practice the internal trip through the spinal cord.

Allow your mind to rise and fall inside the spinal cord just like mercury rising and falling inside the instrument used for measuring blood pressure.


PERCEPTION OF BREATHING

The third step of preksha meditation is perception of breathing.
Regulate your breathing; make it slow, deep and rhythmic. Let the vibrations of each breath reach your navel. Allow your abdominal muscles to expand during inhalation and contract during exhalation.
Now concentrate your mind fully on your navel. Practice deep, slow and rhythmic breathing, by allowing each breath to take the same time. Perceive each inhalation and exhalation through the expansion and contraction of the abdominal muscles accompanying each inhalation and exhalation respectively.

Continuing the slow, deep and rhythmic breathing, now shift your attention from the navel and focus it inside the nostrils at the junction of both the nostrils. Perceive each incoming and outgoing breath. Remain fully aware of each and every breath.

Continuously practice slow, long and rhythmic breathing--inhale and exhale each breath while remaining fully aware of it. Fully occupy your mind in perception of breathing.

If you are distracted by any thought, do not try to stop it forcefully, but also perceive it, and then again start perceiving your breath. If the distraction is frequent, you may hold your breath for a few seconds without causing any discomfort.

Maintain the continuity of the awareness of breathing. Merely perceive it without like and dislike.

B. PERCEPTION OF ALTERNATE BREATHING

In the practice of breathing through alternate nostrils, you have to inhale through one nostril and exhale through the other, then inhale through the same and exhale through the other.

Try to accomplish the alternation by exercising your will-power. But in the beginning you may make use of finger and thumb of the right hand by placing the right thumb against the right nostril and the ring finger of the right hand against the left nostril and resting the middle and index fingers on the forehead. Now, remove alternately the thumb and ring finger for opening the path of breath through the right and the left nostril respectively.

The third step of preksha meditation is perception of breathing through alternate nostrils. Regulate your breathing; make it slow, deep and rhythmic. Concentrate your mind inside your nostrils, practice breathing through alternate nostrils. Inhale through the right nostril and exhale through the left one. Now inhale through the left nostril and exhale through the right one; this completes one cycle. Repeat the same exercise again and again continuing the rhythmic breathing. Perceive each inhalation and exhalation by concentrating the mind in alternate nostrils. Let your mind and breath go hand in hand. No thinking, no memory of the past, no imagination of future. Simply perceive.

Continuously the mind and breath should accompany each other. While you are breathing in, let your attention follow the breath inside. While you are breathing out, let your attention follow it outside.

Now, practice the perception of breathing through alternate nostrils together with holding the breath intermittently. Concentrate your mind inside the nostrils. Inhale through the right nostril and hold the breath inside, exhale through the left nostril and hold the breath outside; again inhale through the left nostril and hold the breath inside and exhale through the right nostril and hold the breath outside. In this way, practice holding of breath four times during one complete cycle. Continuously remain aware of each exhalation and inhalation. You may hold the breath only for a few seconds without causing any discomfort. Repeat the same exercise for several rounds. Let the mind and breath go hand in hand.
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Meditation is an adventure, the greatest adventure the human mind can undertake. Meditation is just being, not doing anything; no actions, no thoughts, and no emotions. You just are and it is a sheer delight. From where does this delight come when you are doing nothing? It comes from nowhere, or i...

There are four basic steps:

1. Watch your physical actions (body)

2. Watch your thoughts (mind)

3. Watch your feelings and emotions (heart)

4. Watch the watcher - Ultimate awareness

The first step in awareness is to be very watchful of your actions. Slowly and slowly one becomes alert about each gesture and movement. As you became aware, a miracle happens. Many things that you used to do before without awareness simply disappear, because you realize that they were useless. Your body becomes more relaxed and attuned. A deep peace along with subtle music prevails in your body.

Then begin becoming aware of your thoughts. They are more subtle than your actions and more dangerous as well. When you become aware of your thoughts, you will be surprised to learn what goes on inside your mind. You will see a mad mind inside of you. It affects whatever you are doing and not doing. The sum total of it is going to be your life and this mad mind has to be changed. The miracle of awareness is that you need not do anything except just become aware. The very phenomenon of watching it changes the mad mind. Slowly and slowly the mad mind disappears, and the thoughts start falling into a certain pattern; they become more of a cosmos. Now one observes a deeper peace.

When your actions and your thoughts are at peace you will see that they are attuned to each other. Now they are not running in different directions. For the first time there is a unity between them. This will help immensely to work on the third step, that is becoming aware of your feelings and emotions.

The third step is the most difficult one, but if you can watch your thoughts then it is just one more step. A little more intense awareness is needed when you start reflecting your emotions and feelings. Once you are aware of all three they will all unite into one phenomenon. When all three are functioning together perfectly, you can feel the music, and then the fourth happens. It happens on its own accord. It is a gift from the whole, a reward for those who have accomplished these three.

The fourth step is the ultimate awareness that makes one awakened. One becomes aware of one's awareness. That makes a Buddha, the awakened. Only in that awakening does one realizes what bliss is.

- the body knows pleasure

- the mind knows happiness

- the heart knows joy

- the watcher knows bliss

Bliss is the goal of being a seeker, and awareness is the path towards it.

The important thing is that you are watchful. Slowly, as the watcher becomes more and more stable, a transformation happens, at this time the things that you are watching disappear.

For the first time, the watcher itself becomes the watched, the observer itself becomes the observed.

YOU HAVE COME HOME.

The following qualities are essential in all different methods of meditation:

1. a relaxed state of mind, no fight within the mind, no control of the mind, and no concentration.

2. just watch with awareness whatever is going on, without any interference, just watch the mind silently, without any judgment or evaluation.

In summary, a relaxation, a non-judgemental attitude, and watchfulness all together is meditation.

Slowly and slowly a great silence descends over you. All movements within you cease. You exist but there is no sense of "I am," just a pure space or emptiness remains.



A Story of Baal Shem and a Watchman on Meditation:

Hassidism is a mystical and a rebellious branch of Judaism. Its founder, Baal Shem, was a unique person. He used to go to the river every evening and would return in the middle of the night. At the river in the night, he felt absolutely calm and quiet. He used to simply sit there, doing nothing, just watching his own self, watching the watcher.

One night when he was coming back, he passed by a rich man's house. A watchman was standing by the door of the house. The watchman was puzzled because every night at exactly this time, Baal Shem would pass by.

The watchman said, "Forgive me for interrupting but I cannot contain my curiosity anymore. What is your business? Why do you go to the river? Many times I have followed you, and there is nothing there, you simply sit there for hours, and in the middle of the night you return."

Baal Shem said, "I know that you have followed me many times, because the night is so silent I can hear your footsteps. I know every day you are hiding behind the gate. But it is not only that you are curious about me, I am also curious about you. What is your business?"

"My business? I am a simple watchman."

Baal Shem said, "That is funny, that is my business too!"

The watchman said, "But I don't understand. If you are a watchman, you should be watching a house, a palace, animals, or children. What are you watching there, sitting in the sand?"

"There is little difference. You are watching for somebody outside who may try to enter the palace. I simply watch this watcher. This is my whole life's effort, I watch myself."

The watchman said, "This is a strange business. Who is going to pay you?"

"It is such a bliss, such a joy, such immense benediction, it pays itself profoundly. Just a single moment, and all the treasures in the world are nothing in comparison to it."

"This is strange. I have been watching my whole life, but I have never experienced a bliss. I have never come across such a beautiful experience. Tomorrow night I will go with you. Just teach me. I know how to watch, it seems that I only need to change the direction. You are watching in the opposite direction."

There is only one step, and that step is the change of direction. Either we can be focused outside or let our whole consciousness be centered inwards. Soon we will know that we are knowers and we have never lost our awareness. We have simply got our awareness entangled in our outside activities. Withdraw our awareness from everything else and just let it rest within ourself, then we have arrived home.
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Meditation is the art of living in the present. Human beings normally choose to recollect past or predict future rather than think about present. This attitude leads to the vicious circle of hopes, failures, regrets and tensions. Meditation leads us to stay with the time thereby keeping us away fr...

Who has stolen the innocence and beauty of the world ?

That mind which has the capacity to give birth to anger, greed and fear. The mind cannot be developed to its full capacity by a stereo typical form of education. We will have to develop our emotional mind with the intellectual. These two facts of knowledge have to be inculcated to that extent where in all negative thinking gives way to positive thinking, so that all energy gets channeled into positive constructive behaviour. The art of developing the mind to its absolute capacity is meditation. The various steps that we will have to cover before that ideal self are discussed herein briefly.

Diet Control

The supermarket is filled up with various mouth watering delicacies, on top of which is the era of advertisements, the desires of the tongue keeps increasing. How much and what to eat are getting to be the major topic of discussion. We find it more and more difficult to keep our senses in control. It is said 'eat to live and not live to eat'. This is indeed easier said than done with all the various incentives available in the market. The only way it can become practical is when the desire to eat actually becomes less. Through meditation we can actually learn to control our desire for food.



Disciplining the tongue

If you want to test the depth of the man than test the quality of his language and speech. What sort of a personality a man or woman has depends directly upon how well or badly spoken he/she is. All our contact with the society occurs through this language of ours. Today one of the major causes for misunderstanding in the family and society is the lack of control on the tongue. One of the major outcome of meditation is the discipline of the tongue.

Sudden anger too is the outcome of a unstable tongue. Anger is also an art. A person should be versed with how much and when to get angry. When a person gets angry his hands shake and lips tremble, in such a condition a person says one thing but what comes out of his mouth is something totally else. Anger is one of the causes of suicide because a person loses his mental balance in anger. We can divide anger into three different kinds. They are

Very severe
Medium
Minimal

The very severe kind of passion or anger can be described as a line scratched on the stone. It cannot be rubbed easily. The second type of anger can be described as the sort of line that is drawn on the sand, it is very easily rubbed with the next wind. The third or the minimal variety of anger can be described by the line drawn on the water which is rubbed the moment it is drawn. Through meditation we can reduce the intensity of feelings such as anger, pride, fear, hatred, complexities of any sort etc. Through meditation we can learn where exactly in our brain these feelings arise and how we can control them. That is why meditation is considered to be the method of metamorphosis into a better personality.

Through meditation there is a notable decrease in feelings such as sorrow or dissatisfaction. In yoga science the first major effect for instability of mind is considered to be sorrow. Tension, restlessness, sorrow all mental and internal feelings of displeasure are caused by instability of mind.

Awareness

Awareness can be increased only after mental stability has been established. Only awareness can give a complete personality. Once there is awareness it becomes easier to understand any given topic and its sole theme. A famous magistrate in Germany after learning meditation said 'My awareness has increased to the extent that I get to know whether the accused being convicted is actually guilty or innocent' Through meditation the brain cells become so activated and sensitive that one can immediately catch the vibrations going in the other persons mind. In every persons mind desires take place but it is the law of nature that all the desires of a person cannot get fulfilled. Sometimes when these desires are not fulfilled a person gets so dissatisfied and frustrated that it might lead to his mental break down and sometimes even cause madness. To avoid this state, meditation acts as a permanent tranquilizer. Fulfillment of desires is not in the hand of the person but keeping his mental equilibrium is definitely in his own power. Through the practice of meditation his attitude becomes so universal and balanced that he learns to lead a happy life under all circumstances.

An important test of a man who meditates is his rate of breathing. Before meditation a person takes 16 to 18 breaths per minute, after meditation there is a decrease in the rate of breathing starting from 14 to even 6 or 4 per minute, one count of breath includes both inhaling and exhaling. As and when we experience peace inside us, our emotional area will become balanced and the number of breaths will become lesser and lesser. With the balance of breaths a lot of diseases such as BP, heart trouble and other physical problems can get solved. A person who learns the value and depth of the breath can not only control his diseases if any, but can also be forewarned of any future illnesses or accidents much before they are actually taken place. Through meditation a person becomes more compassionate, if the desires to understand a persons problems or the desire to solve them does not arise then the whole aim of Meditation is lost.

Through meditation we can learn the art of living in society; for example, if the management wants to improve their productivity then they will have to have a compassionate ear towards the problems of its staff. Even in the close knit relationship of husband and with or parents and children the importance of understanding cannot be over ruled. This understanding can be acquired through meditation.

Everybody craves to improve himself to the ideal self such as improve his mind, thoughts, personality. Meditation is the key to improve one's mind and thoughts. It is also the golden gate to a new personality and a better life. However, meditation is not a magic wand by which we can change everything in a fraction of time, this will happen slowly. The reason behind every change is a long and perseverant action. Through systematic development only can there be an equal and proportional development in the personality.
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It is very pleasant today. Drizzling and light snowier. How delectable is a drizzle after sizzling heat! I its the nature of weather to change . Something it is hot , at other times cold. Nothing in the world is eternal; everything undergoes a change. Man to is sometimes calm, at other times infla...

The second state is that of thinking in which a living being exercises his mind, entertains impressions and opinions. The third state is that of thought transcend. This is the state of meditation where all thinking comes to an end. No imagination, no memory, no reflection! this is the state of thought-transcendence. The experiencing of such a state in which thought is completely absent is a wordless realization which brings forth a super consciousness which is beyond the senses, the mind and the intellect. This super-consciousness is an extrasensory state of mind. Here the soul is the only object of experience, all other memories vanish. It is an ultra psychic condition which no words can describe. This state can only be experienced. All that falls with in the sphere of the intellect can be expounded in words, but the words beyond the intellect is beyond language. All expression thereof is inadequate. At the same time, one cannot remain silent about it; it seems to demand expression. To talk about it or not is man's dilemma. However, the world we live in is a world of intellect and thought which is beset with many paradoxes; a person says one thing today and something quite different tomorrow.
Churchill once said, "A perfect politician is who says once thing in the morning, repudiates it in the evening, but with such tact as to convince his hearers that he spoke the truth on both occasions."
Contradiction is inevitable in the field of thought; each argument can be countered. Logic is ever exposing contradictions. That indeed is the office of logic. However, logic or thought is never productive of unanimity or harmony; instead, it creates paradoxes, for that is how thought moves. To expect stability in the dualistic world of thought is to caught in illusion. It is to be far removed from fact, for conflict is inherent in thought, contradiction being its chief characteristic. We are here considering the nature of thought which is sometimes good, at other times evil; sometimes constructive, at other times destructive. We are interested in reducing to the minimum the element of destructiveness in thought; that is way we are posing the question, "What is right thinking?"
The question involves the purification of the mind , of thought itself. By emptying the mind of all thought, by maintaining our balance, we can make our thinking constructive and creative. We can thus reduce the element of destructiveness in it, whereas thought, which has in it the seed of contradiction and conflict, ever sullies the mind and destroys its purity. As the mind becomes silent with the emptying of thought, it progressively grows more subtle and refined; all its incongruities and contradiction gradually dissolve. There is no other way to achieve this purification.
There is a old legend of an extraordinary blanket which existed two thousand and five hundred years ago. It cost a fortune-more than a hundred thousand sovereigns. Why so costly? Because it was an air-conditioned blanket-it cooled in summer and warmed in winter. It was cleaned, not with water but with fire. The blanket was flung into the fire and all the dirt would go out of it. Unless it was so treated, it would not be clean. Similarly, the dirt of accumulated thought could not be got rid of through water, nor could one thought be purified by another; nor intellect or logic could make thought clear. For clearer thinking, for the purification for mind will become fresh and creative. It would become constructive, imbued with faith, energy and light.

Thinking born of fear is ever negative and destructive. A fearful man is incapable of right thinking; fear dulls his mind and heart; his thinking become blunted. It would be idle to expect a fear-ridden brain to function normally. Such a brain can not think constructively. The first condition of sane thinking is total freedom from fear. The mind must be absolutely fearless, and the brain, and indeed the whole environment, must be free from fear. Only in the right atmosphere will sane thinking become possible. A man oppressed by fear can not think straight.
Why are you afraid? Why is man ridden by fear? In fact the fear is a outcome of wrong thinking. A man's individuality is determined by his thought. He has accepted certain ideas beliefs and the whole environment is vitiated by fear. A man who has understood a little bit of spirituality, whose dry and anguished existence has been even touched by the grace of religion, can not but a fearless. He who is not fearless can not be spiritual or religious; he can not be sane. Fear is the root of all diseases, of all conflict and unspiritual. Can a fearful man experience truth? People talk of soul and of God endlessly, but they live in illusion. How can a man ridden by fear know anything of highly subtle and
super-sensual elements? The mind is never free of fear-fear of ill health, fear of old age, fear of death and of separation; fear of loss of things and persons-the mind is ever dominated by fear and the power of consciousness quite overthrown thereby, and one talks of souls and of God! Will the soul manifest itself in a state of fear? Never, Fear can only gives rise to a goblin; it can not lead us to soul or God. Fear is the creator of evil spirits; with many people, it takes the form of the ghost or demon. Its is kind of mental projection; in the very moment o fear, a ghost beings to take shape before our eyes; it is the projection, the image, the reaction of a fear-afflicted mind. Is such a mind capable of any subtle penetration?
Lord Mahavir pronounced a subtle truth. He never said that non-violence alone constituted religion, despite the common belief. On the basis of my own understanding I can say that Lord Mahavir emphasized much more the importance of fearlessness than o non-violence. The spirit of non-violence is implicit in fearlessness; without fearlessness this sprit of can not manifest itself in life. A coward can never be truly non-violent. The man who is too much attached to life, who is afraid of dying, can not be non-violent. A friend said the other day that the Jains in India almost outnumbered the Sikhs and yet the Sikhs managed to get their way while nobody paid any heed to Jains. I said, "I don't want to enter into a lengthy discussion, but one thing is clear." The Sikhs are not afraid of dying; the Jains are. It has been reported in that in the time of British rule, the English were opposed to the construction of a Gurudwara in Delhi. They were the absolute masters. And yet when the Sikhs began to offer sacrifices, the British Government was quite unnerved, and was compelled to grant permission. Nothing is impossible where there is no fear of death; for all incompetence owes its existence to this fear. One is greatly attached to life and is, therefore, afraid to die. But is one's removal from the scene, of much moment? Will one's death unpeople the world? Who cares! Of course, when a man is alive, his friends and relative pretend to love him forever. But who remembers him after death? For a few days, there is a formal exhibition of his grief; then all is forgotten. Once a year, on the occasion of the death anniversary, people do perfunctorily pay a tribute to the memory of the dead, "He was a good man", they say, " May his soul rest in peace!" That is all. As well as a man is infatuated with life, he can not think straight. The first condition of constructive thinking is complete freedom from the fear of death.
Most of us are too fond of intellectual discussion. We give a great deal of importance to it. But a discussion without practical work by oneself is of little value. We churn the curd and butter comes out of it. But often their is no curd, and a man goes on turning the water. Sometimes their is no water even-only an empty vessel and the churning stuff. At times their is not even the vessel, nor the churning rod-all is imagination. And we hope to get butter out of it! For butter, we need the curd as well as the churning. Mere intellectual discussion is like churning the water. There is no curd but the churning is going on. There is a empty vessel or a vessel is filled with water. Discussion must be combined with practical work. No mere theory, would do, practice must go with it.

There are two aspects of education (I say it on the basis of experience and ancient tradition)-theory and practice. Learn the theory and put it into practice! Then alone full understanding comes. Many people come to me in hurry. They would to say, "Sir, I have to go back immediately. I can hardly spare a few minutes. My mind is utterly restless; I am much perplexed, facing a great many problems. Kindly teach me a way to make mind tranquil." I tell such a one, you are an extraordinary creature. You have tremendous problems in your hands-the problem of the mind, and you want a solution with in two minutes! I don't possess a magic wand. I don't believe in sudden explosions of energy. Nor would mere blessing do the track. I only believe in awakening spiritual practitioner's own intelligence; I want to activate his own velour, so that the ardently seeks the truth on his own which alone is the liberating factor. One of the maxims of Preksha meditation is : 'Find out the truth for yourself.' Let each individual find out the truth about himself. Let him not depend on any one. Dependence upon another can prove very dangerous. Mutual dependence is a necessity of life. But there is a limit to it. complete dependence upon another is often harmful. One must not even depend on the guru beyond a certain point. Nor leave it on the guru to do everything, or one is in for disappointment. One must not depend even upon one's own father. What will you do when the father is no more? The father is not there for all time, is he? After all one will have to stand on one's own feet. What is required is an awakening of the pupil's own wisdom. Some masters mistake tempting offers to their disciples, give out sweet assurances that everything would turn out well even without their doing anything. All that turns out to be delusion. The disciple later complains "Sir, what you assure me would happen, has not come to pass."
The very belief in a guru is misleading. Why do take a guru's word for granted, and later you start complaining? Whether it is religion, or God, or the guru, whether it is one's own self, or another, there is a limit to belief. Up to a certain point you have to trust another. It is said in the context of preksha meditation, "Find out the truth about yourself. Discover your own path to salvation!" We are of course here to provide limited assistance. If the engine of a motor bus fails, the passenger get down and the bus a push so as to restart the engine. So far so good. But you have to go far. Will you keep pushing the bus all the way for a hundred miles? It is just not possible The engine must work by its own power. An occasional push may be in order, but pushing all the time would be utter madness.
Total freedom from fear is our ultimate goal. We must be brave, without any kind of fear. The thinking of a person afflicted with fear can never be right, it stands vitiated by his fear.
Equanimous thought is balanced thought. Any kind of superiority or inferiority complex results in perverted thinking. The one great criterion for wholesome thinking is to determine whether thoughts is born of equanimity or not. It seems to me that two kinds of feelings dominate a man's life-like and dislike; craving and aversion. All thoughts is actuated by like and dislike. Totally unconditioned thinking is rare. Someone dear to us say something and we appreciate it fully; but the same thing uttered by an adversary inspire us in a feeling of contempt of fear. Why? we are enquiring into the nature of wholesome thought. Thought conditioned by feeling of like or dislike is not wholesome at all.
Many things happen in the course of life. Two factors influence them all-like and dislike, approval and disapproval. All our action is conditioned by these. Passion or disgust, approbation or disapprobation, attachment or indifference, attraction or revulsion. There is no other motive for thought.
Man indulges in evil deeds or doubtful conduct; deceives others. Wherefrom do these tendencies originate? On the other hands, operates attachment such as, "This is my family, my son, my wife-may they be happy! Let there be a bigger house, more money, no lack whatsoever." On the other hand, aversion prevail. Where there is 'like', 'dislike' bound to be; the two go together. A man go to the market and after a great deal of effort obtain a pure ghee, because he does not want his son to partake impure stuff. He dose not want his wife and other members of his family consume adulterated foodstuffs. All because he is greatly attached to them. And yet the same person sells adulterated medicines to others, because he is indifferent to their fate; because he is not attached to them. Due to lack of affection, he indulges in corruption without any scruples. This feeling of attachment/unattachment powerfully affects one's approach and perversions in thought and action originate there from. Without equanimity, all thoughts become shabby and the contradiction therein can never be resolved.






]]> http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v60/__show_article/_a000060-000016.htm 2002-02-21T01:37:41Z 2002-02-21T01:37:41Z

The sweltering summer! The scorching sun! In the hot season, one' brain to get heated up. For right thinking, however, one must have cool brain; a fervid brain hinders thinking.It also creates a unnecessary problems which invariably result in immoderate action. One chief sign of good health is tha...

A politician's friend said to him, "I met such and such person today and he was abusing you." On hearing this, the politician flared up. He said, "Let me win this election and become the minister, and then I will teach them a lesson for abusing me."
This is what emotional thinking leads to. That politician should first confirmed weather the person alleged to have abused him, actually did so. Otherwise one hears a canard and gets heated up for nothing. Who has not witnessed terrible fits of anger or pride? And we are also acquainted with the ill effects of these. The servant does not immediately carry out our order, our pride is hurt. In a highly wrought state we some times say and do abominable things. We indulge in abuse and give the servant a beating, and sometimes even dismiss him for service. All this is done in the frenzy of hurt pride. We never stop to consider for a moment as to way one man must obey another. It is not always obligatory after all. To obey is good, but sometime not to obey is better. The master is endowed with the faculty of thinking; so is the servant.
A master said to the servant, "Go and irrigate the garden." The servant said, "Master it is raining like cats and dogs. Why irrigate now?" Master said, "You are a fool! if it is raining why don't you take umbrella with you?" Now, what is the servant to do? The master who commands does not even stop to consider that irrigating the plant in the rain is utterly pointless. Why should the servant obey such a foolish command?

All those who gives commands are not necessarily wise and many foolish orders are given. Sometimes these orders may result in a great injustice. And yet the master becomes indignant if any of his commands is not immediately carried out. Later, of course, he has to face the music too. In a state of frenzy, all thinking becomes perverted. There is than little understanding between man and man. An over charged brain is mainly responsible for deterioration in relationship between husband and wife, between brother and brother and between master and servant. With this all of frenzy between them, one man can never fully understand another, nor can be see another person as he is; his frenzy colours all that he sees. The man in front will appear to be the image of his wrath. Frenzied thinking can never be right. Hence one of the criteria for balanced thinking is the practice for non-attachment. How is it possible? Is it possible to obviate wrath and pride? Most people never think in terms of obviating or mitigating pride. The think anger is natural; pride is man's second nature; these can not be obviated. So man dose not change and pride and anger continue. Many people think that man can not change, so the question of ending anger and pride which are part of human nature dose not arise. The man who is engaged in the practice of meditation frees himself first of all from these false assumption, he who is not so freed can not be a good practitioner. The first lesson that the spiritual practitioner has to learn is that man is capable of changing, that his nature can be changed. If man can not br transformed, if his nature can not be changed, it is batter to abandon meditation altogether, for meditation then has no utility whatsoever. The significance of meditation lies that through it consciousness become so concentrated and pure as to wash away the long accumulated dirt. When consciousness is unveiled, all habitual action disappears of itself. Habits have their breeding ground in impurity. Consciousness is so encrusted with layer after layer of impurities, that all kinds if habits take root there. One is often asked since the soul or consciousness is always pure, why should it be never polluted?
Consciousness in ever pure. If we perseveres in the practice of meditation, it will certainly become revealed, but the fact is that it is not so at present. Whatever is the non-existent at the moment, must be seen as the non-existent. What is only a future probability must not be imposed on the future. Most of the time people projects things which are not their at all. Imposition creates innumerable difficulties. The gold burnt in the fire become purified; It is yellow and lustrous. But looking at the earth-incrusted ore dug out the mine, one could never imagine gold have to such luster. At that time it appears to be no more than a clod of earth. There is a great deal of difference between ore and the finished ingot. There is absolutely no comparison between lustrous gold that come out from the fire and the metal mixed with clay in the ore. The sparkle of the finished ingot purified of all dirt and refuse is stupendous indeed. Similarly, the clarity and purify of a consciousness well tempered in the oven of meditation is simply unimaginable in a consciousness vitiated by passion-dominated lust and desire. Wrath, pride, cunning, deception, hypocrisy, greed, hatred, fear, envy, approbation and condemnation, like and dislike-consciousness riddled with these emotions can never be accessible. What it is that is so riddled, so attracted by strong emotions? Not the inanimate, the unconscious. Wrath never descends upon the inanimate. Does the wall ever take offence? It the walls of our rooms were to be moved by anger, man's plight would be pitiable beyond thought. The coarse cloth upon which we sit is never hurt. We place our feet on it, and it says nothing. Just try to place your feet on another man's head! The bare touch would make the victim flare up. But the poor piece of cloth is never angry, never exhibits pride.
The inanimate displays no anger and pride, neither deceit nor hypocrisy. But man cheats man; the animate being deceives its fellows. That the inanimate should cheat the animate has never been seen or heard of. All the circumventions and deceits are conscious man's creation and man alone perpetuates them. It is the sentient, the animate which harbors all the vices; the inanimate, the insentient contains no evil. In the inanimate world, there is only what is- neither good or nor bad. The 'good' and the 'bad' are the creations of a mind conscious mind. As long as the mind dose not realize its true nature, evil is bound to continue.
Meditation is a process of realizing one's conscious self. It is process of awakening awareness. As long as the true nature of consciousness is not seen, all the evil harbour in the mind, in it they find they find their base and support. In such a congenial atmosphere, they grow uninhibited. All the wickedness and the sins have their breeding ground in the mind; it is here that they find their nature. Provide with a solid foundation, these grow even through the conscious being providing this support continues in pain. A queer situation! The landlord suffers hardship while the tenant prospers. It is not easy to evict the tenant. To free consciousness of all impurities is an arduous task. The general conception that one's nature is unchangeable is not altogether wrong. The conditioning of centuries cannot be easily done away with. However the meditation is a process which gradually washes away all accumulated grease and as the grease get cleansed away, the element sticking to it are also got rid of. The tenant enjoys certain rights by law. He can not be evicted. But a house which is decayed get demolished by heavy rain and storm and in that case all the tenants-the evils and impurities-are obliged to fly. Everything stands changed. This is the transformation sought for.

In this world, there are some things which can be changed and others which can not. All that is unchangeable and eternal must be left alone. However, every state of mind is changeable. there is no state which is permanent. The condition of wrath, for example, is transitory; likewise that of pride. of greed, of like and dislike and a thousand of passion which are forever fleeting. All these are changeable. All attachments and all actions are subject to change, and it is therefore possible to change them.Of course the fundamental elements remain constant. There are two such types of elements-the sentient and the insentient, these abide. The sentient can not become a insentient and vice versa. The state of mind change continually. When this truth is clearly understood, all irrelevant impressions by themselves fall off. These dissolution and irrelevant impression is the beginning of transformation. The consciousness of spiritual practitioner transcend all conditioning. His conduct then may appear to be somewhat strange through as a matter of fact all his interest undergo a sea-change, all his attachment die with the experiencing of Supreme Bliss; small pleasures become insignificant and lose their charm for him. Interest in material things last only as long as one has not experienced that state which transcends the previous one. Meditation marks the beginning of that suprasensuous state of complete non-identification. Metter is than seen as simply matter is prized only for its utility. Breathing is vital to life, food and water are necessary for its sustenance, likewise clothing and shelter. Their procurement becomes purely a matter of utility, without any undue attachment. Thus comes into being an entirely new state of mind.
It is to meditation that thoughts owes the development of its creative power. Tranquility is the means thereto- that is the absence of emotional excitement.
Deceit gives rise to suspicion. Without deceit there can be no suspicion, the social atmosphere today has been no polluted that man has lost faith altogether. He does not trust anybody. The son does not trust his own father, nor the father on his son.
Napoleon once said, "There is no such word as 'impossible' in my dictionary." Similarly the word 'faith' has no place in the modern man's dictionary. Doubt and suspicion stalk the land. Nothing can be taken on trust. Distrust constitutes one of the flaws in the thinking. A man is inclined to doubt. He feels threatened and therefore doubts. There is a saying that a burnt child dreads the fire. Once caught twice shy. If society were free from deceit, a man would have no cause for suspicion.
A merchant was traveling with his consignment. On the way lay an octroi post. The merchant contrived to slip away without paying his dues. The in charge of the post came to know of it later and resolved to be more alert in future. Such an evasion had not occurred before. The merchants used to come to him and pay their dues by themselves. But one of the merchants played foul and got away, the officer-in-charge began to suspect all the merchants that passed by his octroi post. He subjected them all to a rigorous deceived before. One man deceived and now all were suspect. All thinking without faith is faulty and destructive. It can never be balanced or constructive.
Faith has a great significance in life. A life without faith has no foundation whatever. There can be no fulfillment in it. Faith rests on three pillars-capacity, accomplishment and a knowledge of the universal laws.

The first element is capacity. Each man must have faith, he must experience the truth that he is endowed with limitless capacity. The second element is accomplishment. Each man must have faith in his power to accomplish whatever he undertake to do. The third element is a knowledge of the universal laws. Each man must know and abide by these.
To have faith dose not imply dependence upon others. It only means that a man must depend upon himself. One cannot depend upon another; one can only depend on oneself. A man may be said to have complete faith only when he believes in his own boundless capacity, in his power of accomplishing whatever he undertakes to do, and when he knows and abides by the universal laws. Each man must know and abide by these.

We know that we have infinite capacity in ourselves. We also know that through right endeavor man can archive what appears to be impossible.Self-exertion and efforts are ever fruitful. However, there is a limit to what is possible. So one must understand the universal laws.If a man should say to himself, "I am going to exercise my will-power, and my power of concentration and the power of mediation and I'll never die." He is living in the fool's paradise. All his determination and will-power will be of little avail. In time, the man is bound to die. Only abysmal ignorance of the universal laws makes him assert otherwise. Death is inevitable; nothing endures. That is a universal law.
Change is the law of nature. One mode gives a way to another. There may be an interval between birth and death-10 years, a thousand, or a hundred thousand, but ultimately there is dissolution and change; nothing endures. Let us take an atom. It may be black to-day but after some time it would change it colour. The transformation takes place of itself. There is no outside agency to bring it about. That is the universal law. It is so decreed. One colour gives places to another, one birth leads to another, everything changes, nothing endures. Nothing is everlasting. It cannot be otherwise. Birth and death are interchangeable. Whatever is born is born to die.
Books on hath yoga repeatedly refer to substance whose use would make one immortal. Such references are found in books on ayurved. A particular substance is recommended whose use, they say, would keep one eternally young and immortal. It is possible that the man using it might keep young all his life, but that he should never die is altogether impossible. It is no necessary that every man should die of old age; one can die young or keep young for a long time. The talk of young is intelligible but that of keeping alive for ever makes little sense. There is nothing which is eternal, which does not perish in course of time. The occurrence of such a reference is ancient texts along with details of experiments performed has created a misunderstanding that a man can alive for ever. On the basis some people gone to the extent of declaring publicly that they have conquered death through meditation. However, it remains an illusion. What a ancient writers wrote must be read in a specific context. "Eternally young and deathless" probably meant that a man would be healthy and not die prematurely. But the spirit was overlooked and the mere letter cherished, leading to a monstrous misunderstanding.
To doubt means to repudiate a probability. A sceptic rejects a probability outright; we must cultivate faith so as not to deny it blindly. Let us understand once for all the one great flaw in thinking; an original, an altogether new idea is presented, and the man immediately reacts by saying 'it's impossible!'
Today we see an aero plane flying high in the sky. None can deny it. Nobody doubts. But in the day before the invention of the aero plane, the principle of an American college is reported to have said to a parish priest, "It is not far when man would fly high in the sky." And the priest immediately reported, "It is impossible! What rot you talk!" What an irony that after 35 years it was the two sons of the same priest who first flew in the air.
To deny a probability is the greatest air.
Some scientists today are reported to be busy developing genes. They have made some progress and it is quit possible that i the course of time they are able to create synthetic genes. Yet many people today ridicule it as an impossibility. "How can be genes can created?" they ask.
It is sheer prejudice that stands in the way of our accepting something entirely new. Why should a probability be discounted after all? All development have been based upon recognizing a new possibility.
A Jain classic entitled Yoniprabhrit records in detail all possible combinations and permutations of the animate and the inanimate in various forms of existence. It is surprising that despite extraordinary advances in modern scientific research, the technique of developing an embryo in the test-tube has been entirely successful. However, in the Yoniprabhrit we came across the possibility of creating all kinds of living beings. There occur a mention of this or that individual having created a thousand he-buffaloes, horses etc. A particular instance is that of a king disciple who knelt before his Guru. "Master!" said the king, "The enemy is assaulted in our town. I am not in a position to halt the adversary. You alone may do something to save us." The guru's heart was filled with pity at the plight of his devoted disciple. He made use of his knowledge gained from his study of Yoniprabhrit, and threw a bit of powder in to the pond from where thousands of horseman instantly emerged. It was an unending stream. The aggressor were quit baffled by the spectacle of a huge cavalry advancing to annihilate them and they took to their heels.

On another occasion the Acharya was reading to his pupils from Yoniprabhrit. The subject was, "The technique of Fish Production." A fisherman to be passing that way. His attention was arrested and he stopped to listen carefully to the whole account of the technique. The very next day he experimented with it. Soon his pond swarmed fish.
The modern word for this technique would be genetic engineering; it is an ancient technique.
The point to be emphasized is that we should never shut the door on any probability. The cultivation of faith means openness of various possibilities. Wherever there is this openness, there is right thinking. There is then no prejudice. Prejudice exists only where there is no open mindedness.
Wrong thinking has its breeding ground is impulsiveness. A king was walking bare-footed. A thorn prick caused him much pain. He called his minister and told him. "See, what pain a thorn pick gives! Many of my subjects walk bare-footed. They are subject to this suffering. Why don't you covered the whole area of my kingdom wither leather so that no one ever suffers a thorn prick?" This order was a outcome of an impulse. In his irrational enthusiasm it did not occur to the king that if the whole earth was covered with the leather where would the wheat grow and what would people and animals eat?
There is the tale of King Midas of Greece who played to God that whatever he touched might be turn into gold. All food and drink, the moment he laid his hand on these, turned into gold, leaving him hungry and thirsty. His daughter came running to him and the king embraced her; instantly she too turned into gold. There upon the king realized how foolish he had been. He prayed to God again, desiring him to take back his gift.
All passions lead to perverted thinking. No right decision is possible in a state of frenzy. If people came to see the truth thereof, many lawyers and judges would become superfluous. Men go to court when they are highly wrought. If their agitation could be somehow resolved, 75% of these cases in the law-courts would stand resolved too.
I am told that in West Germany an experiment is on. The man who goes to the file a criminal case there, is made to site quietly in a vacant room for 5-6 hours. Only then do consultations begin. It has been founded that 70% of the would-be litigants return without filing a case, because what brought them to court was a highly wrought condition, and as soon as their agitation subside they were at peace and disinclined to pursue the matter any further.
We have gone into some aspects of constructive and destructive thinking. There are other aspects too. To ensure constructive thinking, it is necessary to change one's circumstances and the only way to change one's condition of life is through an integrated and pure mind.
]]> http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v60/__show_article/_a000060-000015.htm 2002-02-18T23:11:14Z 2002-02-18T23:11:14Z

Rene Descartes, the famous French philosopher said, "I think, therefore I am. That 'I Think' proves that 'I exist' - I exist because I think." If I were to put it in dialectical terms, I would say, "I exist, and since I possess I developed brain, therefore I think." Think...

Thinking is an important factor of life. On the other hand we recognize the importance of thought; on the other we practices meditation for the attainment of a condition which is free from thoughts. Are we thus not caught in a paradox, an illogicality? Howe ever, we must not lose the sight of the fact that though our ultimate objective is to achieve complete freedom from thought, such an achievement is not possible at the moment. It is a great illusion to think that a man can enter the transcendental state beyond thought the moment he start picnicking meditation. If anything, during meditation the flow of thoughts becomes all the more powerful. Even thought ordinarily never enter in the mind, surface up during meditation. The moment the person assumes the posture of meditation or that of Kayotsarg (relaxation with self-awareness), remote thoughts that never troubled him before flock of mind. At that time the memory of thinking long forgotten comes to the fore and the spiritual practitioner finds himself assailed by all kinds of thoughts which beveled him to such an extent that he even consider abandoning meditation altogether. However the increased flow of thoughts is inevitable at that time, because the state of meditation furnishes an excellent opportunity for them to arise. When a man is in a state of tension, everyone is loath of approach him, thoughts beings no exception. But a man is in the state of Kayotsarg, when he sits relaxed, when all tension dissolve, thoughts say to themselves, "Now, here is a wonderful opportunity. There is no danger." So they unhesitatingly enter the mind. As long as the state of relaxation continues, they come without fear.
Meditation is the process which brings about the general loosening up of person's attachments. There is a equal scope of ingress as well as egress. A spiritual practitioner welcomes all, the comers and the goers. Those not well versed in meditation bind themselves to certain notions which they can never let go as long as they live. Such attachments results much pain.
The moment a man start practicing meditation, he find himself assailed by various thoughts. Let not the spiritual practitioner be disturbed by this thought-flow. Let him instead watch it and know it, i.e., let him observer the in coming thoughts without any interference. As his perception matures., the flow of thoughts would be weakened by itself. Similarly, with the awakening of consciousness, his capacity of direct experience would repine and the thought-flow would grow more and more feeble. To expect thought to suddenly come to an end, to cease altogether on the very first day, would be unrealistic. It is, therefore, imperative that every spiritual practitioner should learn how to think rightly. He who, adopting the thorny path of spiritual practice, is yet desirous of leading his life without the least function, without being embroiled with or in any way bruised by the prickly thorns, must learn how to think properly. He must at all costs master this art.
The vital question is, how does a man think?
Thinking is an art. Rarely one comes across a true thinker. But a man who knows how to think, find his way greatly smoothened.
A mendicant, in the course of discussion, said, "I've certainly learn something from every kind of person." Someone asked, "What have you learn from thief. At night, the thief go out for stealing. On his return I would ask, could you get any thing? He would say, nothing. I've come back empty handed. But tomorrow might be fruitful. On the second day and again on the third day, I put the same question and he return the same answer, 'I could get nothing today, I've come back empty handed, but I hope I get something tomorrow. Thus a whole month passed. For the entire month, the thief could procure nothing. I said to myself, the thief go out for work every night. He spend 7 to 8 hour on it. He loses his sweet sleep, and yet get nothing for his pains. For a whole month, he has not been able to procure anything. And yet, he has not lost hope. He always says, 'If not today, I'll get something from tomorrow'. I said to myself, 'The thief is displayed exemplary patience. Even on returning home empty handed, he never gave way to despair.' So from the thief, I learnt never to despair in the way of devotion. While engaged in a good work, one must never abandon hope."
But how strange and incomprehensible is man's disposition. A person engaged in a good work he is soon disappointed, while the even-door never abandon hope. The thieves, the plunderers and the dacoits never despair.
This is a fact after a great deal of thoughts I have at the conclusion that the evil commands faith much more than the good. To have faith on goodness, one must have greater devotion. It is the absence of faith that spells despair. Faith an devil seem so bound together that a man tasks to evil and his faith there in is strengthened by itself. Not much support is required in that direction. But for the strengthened of faith in the path of goodness, a tremendous effort is called for.
What is the right thinking and how are we to think rightly? It is essential to know this because a man with a negative approach would reject even the factual truth, while a man endowed with positive thinking accedes to truth and is thereby find the solution of his problems.




There are two ways of thinking - negative and positive. Much too often a man indulges in negative thinking; he does not think positively. The negative approach invariably results in despair, loss of enthusiasm, sentimentality, disdain of action and deviation from duty. In short negative thinking means the beginning of failure in life.
The key to success lies in constructive, positive thinking. And only that man is capable of constructive thinking, who has understood the significance of mediation, who has learn how to keep his heart pure, whose mind is capable of concentration and who is free from attachment.
Both constructive and negative thinking have certain criteria by which we know them.
We must first of all determine whether one's vision is partial or whole, whether it is integrated or distorted, because a man endowed with a holistic, comprehensive vision can think constructively, but the thinking of a man afflicted with a partial vision is ever distorted.
In the absence of a total view of any given situation or incident, thinking base upon the partial view remains partial and therefore inadequate. A holistic vision is a must for a right and balanced thinking. Confronted with a positive or a comprehensive viewpoint, many a conflict is resolved, whereas a perplexed vision gives rise to prejudice and many unnecessary problems come to the fore.
Some travelers halted for rest under the cool shade of a mango tree. They eel to talking. One of them. "As I came along, I saw a red lizard on a tree." Immediately another countered, "you seem to be laboring under some illusion, because I too saw a lizard ; its colour was green." The first wayfarer said, "You must have seen some other creature on other tree. For I saw it with my own eyes and I can vouch for it that it was a red lizard." The other protested "I'm telling a lie. It is you are mistaken. It was a green creature that nestled on the tree." Accusation and counter-accusation went on till, gradually, they work themselves up to a high pitch to excitement and came to blows An intelligent companion intervened, "Why are you quarrelling for nothing? I too have followed the same route after you. Both of you are right. That creature on the tree was red as well as green. A total view involves no contradiction. It is only a partial, one-sided, perverted approach that spells mischief. That creature you saw was a chameleon. When the first traveler passed, it had assumed a red hue; when the second passed, it changed into green. You know the chameleon is continually changing its colour. Both of you reported right."
The world we live in is like a chameleon. Everything here changes from moment to moment and man is no exception. How many different faces dose a man assume in the course of a single day? It appears that man is a image of God that manifests himself in a million ways. The person one saw in the morning as the model of tranquility and dispassion shows himself by midday so excited and agitated, as if he were a ruthless monster. In a course of a day man assumes a thousand different forms. He present himself is myriad different shapes. Only once during the day and again once during the night, dose the sea display tides. But the ocean of man's thoughts display thousands of tides in a course of single day. There is a continual rise and fall. No constancy and stability; only fickleness born of perversion. The situation calls for deep research, which means an enquiry in the meaning of the past and of the present. Unless the two meaning coalesce, it will not be possible to know man fully. To know and experience reality, it is necessary to investigate the essential significance of the past and the present. This in itself constitutes a holistic approach, a detached point of view in distinction with the perverted point of view based upon the perception of a part alone. There is little room for the controversy in the holistic approach, but an impressionistic approach, based upon a one-sided view, vitiated by prejudice, inevitably gives rise to contention and conflict.
The healthy approach to thinking is the constructive, positive approach, the holistic point of view.
Emperor Shrenik's queen Chelan was sleeping. It was winter time, terribly cold. As she lay asleep, the following words escaped her lips, "I wonder what he will be doing now!" The emperor was awake. He heard these words which inflamed his whole being. He was proud of his queen' character. Now he thought, "The queen whom I put greatest trust, is muttering in sleep, 'I wonder what he will be doing now.' Who is she talking about? Has she a secrete lover? O God!" His mind was i utter turmoil. He conceived a distrust of his own queen and instantly developed an extreme hatred for her.
The morning found the emperor desolate and angry. He called his prime minister Abhay Kumar who was also his son and said, "Burn this palace without delay! I'm going out see Lord Mahavir."
Abhay Kumar was stunned at the emperor's command. He thought, "To burn the palace, to Queen Chelan to ashes without any prior intimation-what sort of command is that!" On the other hand there was his father's command. On the other hand, the most heinous crime of burning his mother own alive! He new very well what consequences his disregard of the king's order would be lead to. He found himself in a dilemma.

Emperor Shrenik reached the meeting place of Mahavir, and paid his obeisance. In his discourse, Lord Mahavir discussed the topic of 'chaste and loyal women.' Incidentally Mahavir said, "Queen Chelan is the foremost among chaste and faithful women. She is very pious and dedicated to truth." The emperor could not believe his ears. He said to Mahavir, "Respected sir, how is that? You say Queen Chelan is the most virtuous lady. But only last night these words escaped her lips in sleep, 'I wonder what he will be doing now!' Do these words symbolize her quite the contrary?"
Load Mahavir said, You know not the real meaning of these words. Queen Chelan came here yesterday to pay her obeisance. Afterwards on her way to the palace she came across a Jain ascetic who would meditating under a tree. He was without any clothes. It was terribly cold. The queen did not stop there. Making her bow, she went on her way. While she slept at night, one of her hands lay outside the blanket. Because of extreme cold, her hand was benumbed, got so inert as if there were no life in it, The Queen wanted to lift her hand, but could not. Where upon the queen exclaimed, "O, the hand was exposed to the cold for a little while, and see what has become to it! It has become almost dead, completely paralyzed. Homage to the ascetic who meditates in the open without any clothes! I wonder what he will be doing now!"
The emperor was stupefied to hear it. He immediately took his leave. He thought, "If the palace has been burnt in accordance with my orders, a great injustice has been done." He walked briskly. On the way he net Abhay Kumar and anxiously enquired, "Did you carry out my order?" "Yes, Sir. How could I be negligent about any command of yours?"
The emperor said, "Abhay Kumar a great injustice has been done."
Abhay Kumar said, "What do you mean?"
The Emperor related the whole story.
Abhay Kumar said, "Sir don't you kindly worry. I've kindled the fire, as per your command, but it would take a whole day for the fire to reach the palace."
The emperor heaved a sigh of relief.
It would be apparent from this story how, because of perverted thinking, a terrible calamity could occur and how a man could commit a great injustice. God knows how many communal, national, tribal and social conflagration arise from a perverted point of view. The wife says something. The husband dose not pay full attention. And because of misunderstanding, a crisis develops in the family, sometimes leading to dreadful consequences. The husband protest he heard it with his own ears. But his ears are not full-proof. He says he saw it with his own eyes. But his eyes is not the eyes of God. A great many of us experienced for ourselves how a man is deceived by his eyes and ears. What stupidities a man indulge in on the basis partial view? Because of importance and impulsiveness a great many injustices are perpetrated.
For correct and balanced thinking, for a constructive and positive vision, the first requirement is the development of a holistic point of view. No individual should allow himself to be swayed by a perverted vision, and he must never take a decision in any matter without first obtaining full information.
Once in China, compulsory enrolment of recruits was in progress. Someone came to MaoTse-Tung and said, "It is good that you have broken your leg. This save you from conscription." Mao Tse-Tung replied, "You have said it, but I can't say so, because I don't have before me the whole picture without which it is not possible to determine whether it is good or bad."
Only when the whole picture is before one ,one may determine whether a particular happening is good or bad. Such a conclusion cannot be reached on the basis of a partial view. When a man takes a decisions on the basis of partial view, half-baked alternatives and immature feelings, it invariably gives rise to conflict and war. A man muse therefore develop a holistic point of view.
The positive and constructive point of view needs to be expounded at length. Its first principle, however, is the development of a holistic approach. When this principle gets activated in life, the constructive point of view starts maturing itself.



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SURYA NAMASKARA (SALUTE TO THE SUN) Surya Namaskar is a unique system that combines rigorous physical activity with mental exercises & astrological healing. Lord Sun as our scriptures put it, is central to existence of this universe. Even in Astrology, Sun holds pivotal importance. Praying...

Surya Namaskar is included in the regular routine of prayer and worship. Means it must be practiced regularly. Its greater importance has been described in the scriptures. As per the scriptures, a single day worship of the sun has virtues equivalent to the bestowal presentation of one lakh milk cows. Like worship, Surya Namaskaras too has their own significance. Surya Namaskara means prayer (Vandana) of Lord Surya. Surya Vandana is short. Surya Namaskara is an ancient system of Indian exercise. Stand facing the east at dawn and peacefully chant the mantras to pray Lord Surya and offer red sandals, flowers, rice grains (Akshatas) with water of simply the water alone as ARGHE (libation) and perform Surya Namaskara. This whole process must be performed before the sunrise.

Take water in a metal pot and mix all the available veneration materials in it and hold the pot in your fingers alone keeping the thumbs aside and facing the east and chanting the following Mantra offer the libation thrice.

EHI SURYA! SAHASTRANSHO! TEJORASHO! JAGATPATE
ANUKAMPYA MAN BHARTYA GRIHANARGHAM DIVAKARA !


Surya Namaskar is included in the regular routine of prayer and worship. Means it must be practiced regularly. Its greater importance has been described in the scriptures. As per the scriptures, a single day worship of the sun has virtues equivalent to the bestowal presentation of one lakh milk cows. Like worship, Surya Namaskaras too has their own significance. Surya Namaskara means prayer (Vandana) of Lord Surya. Surya Vandana is short. Surya Namaskara is an ancient system of Indian exercise. Stand facing the east at dawn and peacefully chant the mantras to pray Lord Surya and offer red sandals, flowers, rice grains (Akshatas) with water of simply the water alone as ARGHE (libation) and perform Surya Namaskara. This whole process must be performed before the sunrise.

Take water in a metal pot and mix all the available veneration materials in it and hold the pot in your fingers alone keeping the thumbs aside and facing the east and chanting the following Mantra offer the libation thrice.

EHI SURYA! SAHASTRANSHO! TEJORASHO! JAGATPATE
ANUKAMPYA MAN BHARTYA GRIHANARGHAM DIVAKARA !



Now recite the following Mantra to pray Lord Surya.

DHYEYASADA SVITRIMANDALAMADHYAVARTI
NARAYANAH SORSIJASANASANNIVISHTHAH !
KEYNRVAN, MAKARKUNDALA VAN KIRITI,
HARI HIRANYAMAYA VAPURDHRIT SHANKHA CHAKRAM ||

NAMASKARA
There are twelve positions or a posture involves in Surya Namaskara. With all of these twelve positions, each and every part of the body gets ample execrsie. Surya Namaslara also enhances the vision.

Among these twelve positions, ten are Asanas only. The first one and the last one are two positions. All these Asanas and position are very easy to perform and can easily be practised by the people of all ages. Together these twelve positions constitute the process of Surya Namaskara and twenty-five Namaskaras form one Avriti (frequency).


Surya Namaskar is included in the regular routine of prayer and worship. Means it must be practiced regularly. Its greater importance has been described in the scriptures. As per the scriptures, a single day worship of the sun has virtues equivalent to the bestowal presentation of one lakh milk cows. Like worship, Surya Namaskaras too has their own significance. Surya Namaskara means prayer (Vandana) of Lord Surya. Surya Vandana is short. Surya Namaskara is an ancient system of Indian exercise. Stand facing the east at dawn and peacefully chant the mantras to pray Lord Surya and offer red sandals, flowers, rice grains (Akshatas) with water of simply the water alone as ARGHE (libation) and perform Surya Namaskara. This whole process must be performed before the sunrise.

Take water in a metal pot and mix all the available veneration materials in it and hold the pot in your fingers alone keeping the thumbs aside and facing the east and chanting the following Mantra offer the libation thrice.

EHI SURYA! SAHASTRANSHO! TEJORASHO! JAGATPATE
ANUKAMPYA MAN BHARTYA GRIHANARGHAM DIVAKARA !



Now recite the following Mantra to pray Lord Surya.

DHYEYASADA SVITRIMANDALAMADHYAVARTI
NARAYANAH SORSIJASANASANNIVISHTHAH !
KEYNRVAN, MAKARKUNDALA VAN KIRITI,
HARI HIRANYAMAYA VAPURDHRIT SHANKHA CHAKRAM ||

NAMASKARA
There are twelve positions or a posture involves in Surya Namaskara. With all of these twelve positions, each and every part of the body gets ample execrsie. Surya Namaslara also enhances the vision.

Among these twelve positions, ten are Asanas only. The first one and the last one are two positions. All these Asanas and position are very easy to perform and can easily be practised by the people of all ages. Together these twelve positions constitute the process of Surya Namaskara and twenty-five Namaskaras form one Avriti (frequency).

Surya Namaskar must be performed at some open and airy place. Perform Surya Namaskara slowly without feeling tired (fatigue) or panting and puffing, changing the feet every time, it must be performed on each of the feet successively.

The completely procedure of performing Surya Namaskara is thus: It begins with the Mantras, one each for all the twelve Namaskara. These Mantras are as follows:


OM MITRAYA NAMAH

OM RAYAYE NAMAH

OM SURYAY NAMAH

OM BHANAVE NAMAH

OM KHAGAYE NAMAH

OM PUSHNE NAMAH

OM HIRANYAGARBHAYE NAMAH

OM MARICHAYE NAMAH

OM ADITYAYAYA NAMAH

OM ARKAYA NAMAH

OM BHASKARAYA NAMAH
POSTURE OF THE FIRST NAMASKARA DAKSHASANA
Mantra: OM MITRAYA NAMAH
Procedure :
In the first position of Surya Namaskara contemplate the virtues of Lord Surya with concentrated mind and feel that you are the friend of everybody and have friendship with every creature on the earth. Immersing yourself with these feelings stand erect stretching your hand, neck and all other parts of your body. Stretching both of your arms, touch your thighs with palms and inflate the chest and point your vision on the tip of the point your vision on the tip of the nose. This is a position of attention. Since you stand straight in 'Daksha' position hence this posture is named 'DAKSHASANA'.
BENEFITS -

Disorders of the skin and waists are corrected, the back becomes strength and new life and vigor are pumped into the legs.

Focusing of the vision on nose helps to control the mind.

The face becomes glorious

It is an easy and effective way of attaining good health and development of personality for the students.

Meditating with concentrated mind enhances confidence.


POSTURE OF THE SECOND NAMASKARA NAMASKARASANA
Mantra : OM RAVAYE NAMAH
Procedure :
Fold together both of your hands in such a way that that both the thumbs begin to touch your chest. Expand your chest and pull in the belly as far as possible. Look straight ahead. The head, the neck and the body should remain in a straight line. Closing the mouth inhale the breath and hold it inside as far as possible and then expose the breath.
BENEFITS :

Disease of the throat is corrected and voice is enhanced. Both mind and body become healthy.

POSTURE OF THE THIRD NAMASKARA PARVATASANA Mantra : OM SURYAYA NAMAH
Procedure : Raising the arms up, stretch whole of your body backward while gazing the sky with open eyes. Ben backward as mush as possible, expand your chest at the same time.
BENEFITS :
Both the shoulders and the food pipe (Esophagus) get exercise and diseases related to them are corrected. Eyesight is also improved.


POSTURE OF THE FOURTH NAMASKARA
HASTAPADASANA
Mantra : OM BHANAVE NAMAH

Procedure : Inhaling the breath through nostrils retain it and bend forward without folding the knees. Ultimately rest both of your palms on the ground and touch your knees with your forehead or the nose and exhale the breath that you held so far with audible sound. If, in the beginning you are unable to rest your palms on the unable to rest your palms on the ground, simply touch the ground with finger and practice slowly.
BENEFITS :

Disorders of the belly and digestive system are corrected. The chest grows strong, hands too become stronger and your become well balanced, beautiful and good looking.

Disease of the feet, fingers are also corrected and new lease of life is pumped in week persons.


POSTURE OF THE FIFTH NAMASKARA
EKAPADA PRASARANASANA
Mantra : OM KHAGAYA NAMAH

Procedure : Inhale the breath through nostrils and pull your right leg backward in such a way that the knee and the fingers of the foot touch the ground. Push forward your left leg pressing the abdomen (belly) hard. Then raising your head as high as possible, look upward. Push down the waist and hold the breath and stay in the osture as long as you can.
BENEFITS :

The posture stresses the small intestine as well as the seminal vesicles and these are stretched. Thus this posture helps in correcting the constipation and diseases of the liver.

Thinness of the semen is also corrected.

Diseases of the Throat are also corrected.


POSTURE OF THE SIXTH NAMASKARA
BHUDHARASANA Mantra : OM PUSHNE NAMAH
Procedure : Inhale the breath deeply and hold it and pull both of your legs backward, so that the thumbs of the feet, ankles and knees touch each other. Stabilizing the feet and keeping the head, waist, the back and the elbows in a line bend forward and resting both the palms on the ground keep your body like a bow.
BENEFITS :

One get relief from the pains specially of arms, legs and the knees, Bulging waist is trimmed and slimmed this posture is like a panacea for the abdominal disorders.


POSTURE OF THE SEVENTH NAMASKARA
ASHTANGA PRANIPATASANA
Mantra : OM HIRANYAGARBHAYA NAMAH
Procedure : Holding the breath, rest both of your knees on the ground. Touch the ground with your chest and touch the lower part of the neck with chin. Also touch the ground with the upper part of the forehead and the nose. Please note that the abdomen should not touch the ground. It should be pulled in. Exhale the breath now, Both the hands (palms) must be kept on the sides of the chest
BENEFITS :This posture makes the arms strong.

If ladies perform this Asana before getting pregnant, the breast fed babies could be saved from the attacks of many diseases.


POSTURE OF THE EIGHTH NAMASKARA
BHUJANAGA SANA
Mantra : OM MARICHAYE NAMAH
Procedure : Keeping the legs, palms and knees in Ashtanga prampatasana position, unfolding the arms rise up simultaneously inhaling the breath, push the chest out and bend the waist in circle and backward. Look as much up as possible and exhale the breath. (Fig.)
BENEFITS :Removing the dullness invigorates the body and makes the eyes glowing.
Correct all kinds of disorders related to male and female reproductive systems, corrects the irregularities in females menstrual cycles.
Blood circulation is also corrected thereby increasing the glow on the face.



POSTURE OF THE NINTH NAMSAKARA
BHUDHARASANA
Mantra : OM ADITYAYA NAMAH
Repeat the process of Bhudharasana as described in the step six (6)




POSTURE OF THE TENTH NAMASKARA
EKAPADAPRASARANASANA
Mantra : OM SAVITRA NAMAH
Procedure : Repeat the process of the fifth Namaskara as described in the step five (5) just reverse the position of the legs.


POSTURE OF THE ELEVENTH NAMASKARA
HASTAPADASANA
Mantra : OM ARKAYA NAMAH
Repeat the process described in the fourth Namskara, step four (4).




POSTURE OF THE TWELTH NAMASKARA
NAMASKARASANA
Mantra : OM BHASKARAYA NAMAH
Procedure :Standing in the position described in step two repeat the second Surya Namaskara. Thus performing all the postures for Surya Namaskara, each and every parts of the body gets ample exercise whereas the religious significance is also fully met with.
Every human being must perform Suyra Namaskara and the anas related to it. By virtue of Surya Namaskara, the poverty of the people is done away with and they remain properous in many births. Results of Surya Namaskara are described thus in our scriptures:

ADITYASYA NAMASKARAM YE KURVANTI DINE-DINE
JANMANTRA HASTRENA DARIDRAMNOPA JAYATE ..

Meaning :The man who performs Surya Namaskara daily does not get poor in thousand births. Hence, give Surya Namaskara an urgent place in your daily routine. And like the daily rising of the sun. Surya Namaskara is indeed a daily routine.

When to perform Surya Namaskaar?
Surya Namaskaar takes 30-45 minutes of your time. It gives maximum benefit when done at the time of Sunrise. In modern times however, one can do it as the first thing in the morning after waking up & finishing the daily chores - but before eating anything.

Benefits of Surya Namaskaar
The benefits of Surya Namaskaar are enormous. It provides vitality & radiance to both body & mind.
All disorders of eyes, nervous system, digestive system and lungs disappear within a month of regular Surya Namaskaar.
The face of the practitioner also undergoes a sea change for the better. Regular Surya Namskaar also helps one attain longevity of life.

The intangible benefits are also as many. The planetary afflictions are cured, and one is able to get much more out of life and destiny.

How to do Surya Namaskaar
Complete your daily chores like bathing etc. and wear fresh clothes. But you should not eat anything. Stand facing the rising Sun. Fold your hands as in "Namaste". With your eyes closed, pray silently to Lord Sun.

"Hey Surya Dev , Mera Pranaam sweekar karen , Samasta Bhaagya Janit Sankaton Se meri raksha karen"
( O Lord Sun, Salutation to you. Please protect me from all ill-effects that fate may have in store for me).

You can keep a small carpet or piece of cloth to stand on. But it should be clean & kept safely after the entire activity is over.

There are 12 names of lord Sun, that need to be chanted during the entire exercise. One name/prayer before commencement of each round. Each round consists of 12 postures/positions and there are 12 rounds.


Tips:

This yoga is performed at dawn. You need not look at the sun directly.
If not exercising on grassy ground, you may use a mat.
Wear simple, loose clothes.
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Water As Medicine (Pani Prayog) If people start ignoring the lure of fluids like beer and soft drinks, and stick to drinking fresh, pure water instead, one shall soon observe a marked decrease in the number of patients all over the world. Naturopathy has studied the therapeutic qualities of wat...

In olden days, tradition urged people to consume about 1 litre of water, kept in a copper vessel overnight, after they woke in the morning and brushed their teeth. The water, reacting chemically with the copper of its container, reached the benefits of the same deep into the being of its drinker. A small amount of copper intake, daily, is very conducive to our well-being, health-wise.

1. The Internal Use of Water Therapy: To initiate Water Therapy, drink 1.25 litres of pure, fresh water on an empty stomach each morning, after having starved for 8-10 hours the previous night-long. Please do not drink any less than 1.25 litres of water in the morning. Try consuming the entire quantity of water within 5 to 10 minutes. However, if in the initial stages of your therapy, you find drinking so much water rather difficult, you might start by drinking a quantity smaller than the prescribed 1.25 litres, and with time, graduate to drinking more and more water, till you reach the 1.25 litre mark. It is easy to determine this quantity : An average soft-drink bottle holds 250 ml. of liquid. 1 litre = 1000 ml. Gauging thus, 5 soft-drink-bottles-full will give you your daily 1.25 litres of fresh, pure water. This, you are to consume within 5 to 10 minutes. Make sure to give yourself ½ an hour of complete rest, after drinking the water. Exercises, moving bowels or bath can be taken care of, only after this rest-period. Make sure you don't eat or drink anything within 1½ to 2 hours of drinking water in the morning.

Benefits : Which are the ailments that can be cured or controlled by this form of Water Therapy? They are : Asthma, cough and other respiratory diseases, cold and sinus, acidity, constipation, dysentry, indigestion, infections of the intestines, piles, blood-pressure, angina (pain in the heart/chest), uneasiness etc. The above mentioned experiment, if carried out with lukewarm water instead of cold water, can prove to be more beneficial for people suffering from 'Vat'-related diseases. The juice of a whole lemon, if consumed with lukewarm water, with 1½ to 2 spoonsful of dry ginger powder added to it, can help a lot in such cases.

In case of Acidity[link]-related diseases, mix 1½ spoonsful 'Trikatu' (dry ginger, black pepper and piper longum) in 1.25 litres of plain pure water and add ½ spoonful of 'Trifla' (Almond, Beleric myrobalans and Myrobalans) powder to that, and use this mixture for water therapy. If one requires relief from Cough (mucus) related diseases, one should carry out this experiment, with lukewarm water. In 1.25 litres of lukewarm water, add : 1½ spoonsful of ghee made from cow-milk, 1 or 1½ spoonsful of salt and 2 spoonsful of honey. Some people drink coconut-water on an empty stomach every morning, which is a good habit indeed. There is no water as pure as coconut-water, which is rich in potassium and other mineral nutrients. If you have the habit of drinking coconut-water every morning, keep in mind the quantity of coconut-water you consume. If you consume 100 ml. of coconut water every morning, and are into Water Therapy as well, subtract 100 ml from the stipulated 1.25 litres of water (for Water Therapy) and balance the remaining quantity with pure water, for Therapy. The same instruction applies for the juice of wheat leaves and lemon-water. Subtract the quantity of wheat leaves' juice that you drink every morning, from the stipulated quantity of 1.25 litre water for Therapy. Likewise, subtract the quantity of lemon-juice that you consume, from the mandatory 1.25 litres of water you are to drink, and drink pure water accordingly, to make your daily, morning fluid-intake add to 1.25 litres

How does this form of Water Therapy act within the body?
(1) When 1.25 litres of water is drunk in a span of 5-10 minutes, after a night of fasting that lasts for no less than 8-10 hours, the pressure of water that grips the intestines, activates them a lot more than usual.
(2) Due to the sudden water-pressure, the bits and particles of food that adhere to the walls of the intestines, along with gases and other undigested materials, disengage themselves from the intestinal walls, dissolve into the inflowing water and leave the body along with the same. This in turn, gives the intestinal cells a new lease of life.
(3) The intestines are not the only parts of the body to benefit from this Water Therapy. The cells of the entire being get revitalized. When, after 8-10 hours of fasting, water is drunk, the insides of the body soak it up thirstily and as a result, every single cell of the body gets affected by the water-intake. The free radicles and toxic elements adhering to the cells, are literally pressurised into removing themselves from the cells, and then the body's in-built cleansing system gets rid of these unwanted elements very easily, afterwards. This sort of cleansing is good, in cases of cancer and 'metabolic' diseases. Water is directly related to the kidneys and that is why Water Therapy does away with impediments within and ailments of the urinary track very fast. Water Therapy not only destroys the bacteria of the urinary track but there is also a chance of ridding the body of 'Pathri' (Stone) with the same therapy.

Caution:
(1) The first 3-7 days of Water Therapy could trouble the patient somewhat. He might suffer headaches and body-aches, as well as feel his head swimming. Sweating, nausea and loose-motions could also form parts of the 'symptoms'. If not all these, he might definitely experience a certain sort of uneasiness. The thing to keep in mind is that these are not harmful 'after-effects' of Water Therapy. These symptoms merely serve to testify that the body is getting rid of all the toxic elements trapped within its cells. Since these are not signs of harmful after-effects of Water Therapy, the therapy ought to be continued despite them. If necessary, the quantity of water drunk every morning could be decreased to a bearable extent. After a couple of weeks, when these disturbing 'symptoms' subside or die their natural death, the water intake can be increased to its stipulated level.
(2) Though this sort of Water Therapy is good for kidney and heart-patients, they are however advised to try it out only after procuring their physicians' permission and relevant guidance.

2. The External Use of Water Therapy:

This therapy has been divided into two major parts :
(1) Enema
(2) Bathing.

We will give you some never-heard-before information on the subject of bathing but first, let us discuss Enema: It is quite a tradition to use soap-water for the purpose of Enema, but we would not advice that. 'Herbal Enema' is far better. Castor oil, wheat leaves juice and lemon juice mixed in lukewarm water and used for Enema make the intestines clean and strong within no time. During 'Herbal Enema' the so-called 'chemical reaction' that takes place between the intestines and herbs, has no chemicals involved in it and as such, has no side effect, either. One should avoid Enema in the following cases:
(a) If there is a serious blockage in the intestines.
(b) If one is suffering from high fever.
(c) If there exists an ulcer or hole in the stomach or intestines.

Now to discuss Bathing, which is an integral part of Water Therapy. There are various ways of Bathing, amongst which you might be aware of Steam Bath and 'Kati' (Bath below the waist length) Bath. Steam-bathing facilities are only available in big cities, so let us suffice it to say that in this form of bath, even the tiniest pores of the skin open up in such a way as to allow a thorough cleansing of the skin, making it glow. The name 'Kati' bath itself suggests that this is the art of bathing the waist. It helps eradicate problems like irregular periods, piles, pain along the waist, diabetes, and sciatica. The sort of Water Excercises that are gaining popularity in the western countries now-a-days, have their roots in the principles of Kati baths. People are made to excercise, first in cold, then hot and then, in cold water again. For a Kati-Bath, the patient requires a bath-tub first, in which he is expected to remain in a sitting position for about 30 minutes, in lukewarm water-- his waist immersed in the same. You might not be aware of 'Friction Rub Bath'. Ancient Indian Granths have adviced one to massage / rub the head, neck, hands and feet after a bath, with the help of a dry towel. Acupressure points are strewn all over our bodies and as and when these points are pressurised, the bodies develop strength to combat various diseases, internally. During a 'Friction Rub Bath', you press and rub against these special acupressure points and increase your body's immunity power. If you normally finish your simple bathing ritual in 10 minutes, 'Friction Rub Bath' wouldn't take you more than 15 minutes! But only this much can instantly deliver you from: fatigue and body-ache, headache and burning sensations in hands and feet, high blood-pressure and weak functioning of the heart, indigestion and 'Jhunjhuni' (pins and needles?). This sort of bath is especially useful if one suffers from 'Sandhi vaat' and insomnia. All you have to do in order achieve such benefits is stand beneath the shower and rub your head as you bathe, applying some pressure.Rub your neck from left to right. Rub the areas around and even behind your ears, applying pressure.

Hope this information has been helpful in enhancing your health !

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