The Lifestyle of a Good Jain

There are a lot of problems related to our day-to day life, one of them is good health. By making a little change in our lifestyle we can get be masters of good health. Lifestyle has a direct relation to health, and health is directly related to body, mind and emotions. All these three are related to self control. Henceforth, lifestyle has three major characteristics -

• Self Control ( Upshaman)

• Balance (Samata)

• Suppression (Upshaman )

Without exercising self control no great deed is possible. If all the three have to be perfected then self control will have to be first perfected otherwise the possibility of a good life will remain a mere dream. Generally the meaning of self control is considered very limited. According to Patanjali, self control itself is dhyana, dharana, Samadhi. In the words of Lord Mahavira and in the present scientific age through the control of the brain can self - control can gained.

Let us take a quick look at the different parts of our mind. Emotional brain is a part of the brain. It is in this half that feelings such as anger, fear, jealousy, passions(Kasaya), greed, peace etc. arise. If we can control the emotional brain then self control will be possible.

There is another half of the mind where positive and negative feelings are felt. Just like one person will feel extremely happy about something while the other will be totally averse towards it. For e.g. one person likes classical music and the other likes rock or heavy metal. Likewise every person's capacity to bear pain also varies. All these thoughts are directly dependent upon our mind. It depends upon the brain to give messages to the whole body.

To run the body some other organs play a vital role they are - the bacbone, the nervous system and the endocrine system. The gift of science to the common man today is the knowledge is Genes and DNA. Where all thoughts are originated, destroyed and their extent is determined. In Adhayatama there is principle called Karma Siddhanta (Action principle) and a part of it is called Nama Karan Karma ( Trans migrating body), meaning with any soul Jeeva Karma Pudgal (matter substance) get attached and travel with him from one birth to another. They determine the sex, place, environment, colour, height, age, nature that a soul or a Jeeva will ultimately take. Even physiologist believe that the shape, lifespan, or any possible disease etc that might happen to a persons are dependent upon his genes.

Coming back to our major topic man knows what is good or harmful for his body. Yet he keeps losing self control and is unable to lose habits that are a detrimental to his health. What is the reason that he loses his self control?

Before finding the answer we will have to look into some of the reasons for bad health.

• Diet- excessive and unfavourable diet

• Physical work- lack of physical movements

• Sleep- improper sleeping habits

• Speech- wasting one's energy in useless speech wastes the life and genetic energy

• Celibacy- In to Ayurveda celibacy has been considered to be the major pillars of a healthy life. Lord Rama condemned polygamy.

A majority of alpha waves causes the mind to relax. When feelings such as anger, jealousy and selfishness arise the mind cannot produce alpha waves. Due to this the nervous system gets weak and diseases such as ulcer, acidity, blood pressure, heart trouble become rampant. Infant with the exception of accidental diseases it becomes the major cause of all diseases. "Madhava Nidhan" believes that the one of the cause for a weak heart is greed.

How to achieve self control?

One of the ways to achieve this self control is Anupreksha. To link emotions to the brain waves is Anupreksha. To control the mind we have decided a route, in which the emotions or thoughts have a prime importance, by repeating the thoughts again and again they becomes ingrained in the mind and the body accepts the same. We can effect the Leshya through emotions and thus change our Leshya. Human physiologists believe that through emotions we can strengthen the endocrine and nervous system. Through constant commands we can control our nervous system and thus our brain. The question is what sort of command do we give to the brain? Through Anuprekha we can give the right sort of command.

Has there been a stage in your life when you felt excessively detached from the world and had no desire to live?

Or is it that you feel excessively attached to a person or an object that it is impossible for you to perceive life without it?

The truth is that such a stage arises in every person's life. So what is the answer? The solution is simple (Anitya anupreksha) i.e. Impermanent Anupreksha.

In this we give repeated suggestions to our mind that everything in this world is destructible and impermanent. Any diseases, wealth, human relations are all subject to impermanence, and what is impermanent is destructible. By repeating this the excessive love for that object or person will get controlled. When such a situation arises the mind becomes balanced and gets conditioned to bear great grief or loss. Likewise to control excessive anger forgiveness should be practised, to control greed contentment can be practised. If a person is in a state of illness he can evoke feelings that the soul is never invalid or diseased. The mind should constantly be given commands such as " I am physically, mentally and emotionally a healthy person". This will bring miraculous results.

Yet another method of controlling the mind is through controlling the breath. If the breath is controlled and both the nostrils are activated then mind will automatically get controlled and the body will be filled with abundant energy. If along with all this our five senses are controlled a healthy mind can be cultivated.

This is your secret to a beautiful and happy life and the bigger secret is "Don't let it remain a secret!".