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PREKSHA MEDITATION, THERAPY AND CURES/ 173
PSYCHOLOGY
Study of human body is divided in two branches - Medical Science and Psychology. While the former presumes all diseases have bacterial, viral or chemical origin, the latter adds another dimension of conscious and subconscious mind affecting the body functioning. Psychologists have established that a depressed state of mind can lead to many physical ailments.
Jain study of human psychology is a trio-logy of Spirit, Karma and NauKarma. Mahapragya has quoted several similarities between modern psychology and Jain studies. Some such comparisons are stated here.
1. Human Psyche
Humans have around fourteen autonomic activities programmed in to his physiology. Hunger, thirst, sexual desire, breathing etc. are some physiological activities which take place automatically. Similarly, love, hate, anger, affection, fear, etc. are some spontaneous psychological responses of mind. Medically, these activities and reflexes are the result of basic gene (DNA) programming. From Jain Philosophical view point, we may say we are bonded to our Karmas. Yet both, modern psychologists and ancient Jain philosophers agree that this programming can be modified and evil can be got rid of.
Human weakness, interestingly, is coupled with willpower. We have the capacity to change and grow, without which our evolution would not have been possible. For example, hunger - a basic need triggered by Vedniya Karma - can be over-powered and one can observe fast for days and even months. If determined, a person enjoying all physical comforts can adapt to austerity. According to author, the path of self-improvement can be treaded with Karma transformation.
To be enable to bring about Karma transformation we need to understand the fundamentals of human behaviour, habits, desires and above all human ego. We shall briefly discuss these parameters in the following paragraphs.
1.1. Habits
Medical fraternity believes that the human habits are manifestations of hormonal and chemical activities within the brain. Mahapragya too has found through his experiments of Preksha-Meditation that various behavioural abnormalities can be attributed to the pituitary and thyroid glands. He suggests that the secretions from these glands can be controlled by concentrating on the
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