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The psyche itself is not directly perceptible. It's characteristic being conscious
activities, "to know" and "to perceive" are its performances. The body and the
mind are the instruments of its performance. All spiritual disciplines aim at
unadulterated conscious performance, i.e. pure knowledge and pure perception.
This is also a state of infinite bliss and pure happiness. Delusion, however,
perverts our perception and makes our knowledge fragmented and piecemeal. Then,
our perception, being contaminated with the emotions of likes and dislikes, cannot
be impartial. Equanimity, can be achieved by impartial (uncontaminated) perception,
or we can say that pure perception is equanimity itself. We hear, see,
smell, taste and touch, through our respective sense-organs and mind. Our mind
is also the instrument of conceptual thinking. Attachment is produced towards
what we like and aversion is produced towards what we dislike. One who is impartial
to both, i.e. like as well as dislike, is equanimous. That is to say, only he
is equanimous whose perception is pure and uncontaminated by attachment and/or
aversion. Practice of Preksa-dhyana progressively develops equanimity. As we progress,
pleasant and unpleasant sensation, fail to produce the emotions of like and dislike.
Consequently the feelings of attachment and aversion, gradually disappear. This,
in turn, further develops our capacity for purer perception. Our mind
functions in many ways. At times a train of thoughts is running; at times some
conceptual planning occupies it. All these activities can be perceived impartially
during the meditational practice. The significance of such perception is that
the "spiritual self" is distinguished from the "thought". The "Self" is the "spectator",
while the mental activity is the object of the awareness. This is not a mere imagination
nor auto-suggestion but a reality. As soon as one commences the perception of
thought as an impartial spectator, the train begins to slow down, (and if the
perception continues), it ultimately comes to a halt. Regular practice of thought-perception
develops the perceptive capacity to a degree, where it is able to divulge other's
thoughts also. As stated earlier, the conscious self in its purest state
is capable of experiencing the entire universal reality at once. Delusion drastically
reduces this innate capacity, and our knowledge is fragmented and piecemeal. Delusion
is nourished by the emotion of attachment and aversion. To develop and ultimately
unobfuscate the inherent capacity of omniscience, one has to commence diluting
the emotions of like and dislike, pleasure and pain. And to dilute these contaminating
emotions, the impartial perception is the only available tool. Though obfuscated,
our conscious self is always capable of executing its authority, which can be
used to further develop equanimity. Thus equanimity begets purity of perception
and purer the perception, higher is the level of equanimity. The cumulative result
of the successive exchange of cause and effect ultimately brings about purest
perception and instant cognition of the entire reality. |