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THE ART OF POSITIVE THINKING
means of these theoreticaland experimental aids, we can avoid blind reaction and maintain our equilibrium,
We have presented a non-violent vicw of right thinking in the context of meditation. This analysis of psychological non-violence is bound to prove immensely useful to us. Generally our conception of violence and non-violence is extremcly limited; to kill a living being is violence, not to kill is non-violence. In the face of such simplistic treatment, no further discussion is possible.
But if we consider the matter from various aspects, we shall discover that without non-violence, no two persons can live together. If each man is after running the other down, there can be no society, no family. Non-violence ensures that one man will not be devoured by another, that people will cooperate with one another. From the time when society came into being till the present day, nonviolence has mattered much more than violence, that is why nonviolence has developed so much. All this is intelligible on the psychological level. A person practising meditation must go into it deeply, otherwise he would not be able to achicve a correct apprcciation thereof. Meditation develops our sense of affcction and friendship for all; it helps us achieve total freedom from reaction.
The moment you decide to practisc Preksha Meditation, you also accept five directivo principles of conduct: (i) living in thic present; (ii) freedom from rcaction; (iii) amity towards all; (iv) austerity in eating; and (v) observing silence or modcration in speech.
The practice of these principles is in cffcct the practice of nonviolence. Without practising non-violence, no man can bc temperate in speech or abstemious in food, or cxcrcise any mcasure of selfcontrol. He who does not practisc non-violence, is incapable of practising goodwill towards others. Nor without the practice of non-violence can therc bc any srccdom from rcaction. A man divorced from non-violence cannot properly live in the present. Such a person is everlastingly caught in like and dislike, in plcasure and pain. The whole practicc of meditation is incsscncc thc practice of non-violence. Hence it is absolutely ncccssary to understand non-violence in the context of meditation, to analyse it psychologically, and to constantly examinc onc's conduct and behaviour in rclation thereto.
Let us also fully appreciate the fact that the practice of Preksha Meditation strengthens our faith in non-violence and adds a new dimension to our life.
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