Acharya Mahaprajna
[raison d'etre = reason or justification for existence]
Perception of Body is Perception of Self
Although our final goal is to see pure consciousness, the first object of our perception is the physical body, because body is also consciousness and cannot be separated from the conscious self. One can raise one's finger because it is permeated by consciousness. Not a single organ in the body is devoid of consciousness - not a single cell can function without consciousness. Life is consciousness. One eats, speaks and breathes, because one is 'living'. If the conscious self leaves the body, one cannot eat, speak or breathe. Breath, speech and body, thus, can be identified in the conscious self. The process of eating and digesting is a physiological as well as a psychical function. Similarly, speech, perception and thought are physiological as well as psychical. The whole body itself is physiological as well as psychical.
For those who presumed that meditational practice must be a rather mystical exercise, perception of the body may look cheap. "Perceive your eye, your ears, your mouth, your cheeks" - all these can be, perhaps, more carefully perceived through a mirror. One can do it at home and perhaps in a better way, why then organise sivirs (meditation camps)?
What you can perceive through a mirror is only skin-deep, the outermost portion of the body, the shape and colour of the body. Have you ever perceived what lies beneath the skin? Have you ever become aware of the internal sensation caused by the flow of vital energy inside? No! Nobody even thinks of being aware of what is happening inside, deep inside where the conscious self is activating the flow of the vital energy. The reason for perception of body is not to look at the external surface of the body but to be aware of one's own real self, to realize that within this bundle of bones and flesh, vital energy is constantly flowing energising every cell. Perception of body is the only means of direct cognition of the internal phenomena.
