Science of the Rishis: A Daily Rhythm

The Science of the Sacred: How Intention Transforms Blood and Life

If Mahavira is to say, “Arihant Mangalam, Siddha Mangalam, Sadhu Mangalam,” then he is saying that you will only be able to say this when you aspire to become an Arihant. Or, when you begin to say this, your journey to becoming an Arihant will begin. And the greatest journey begins with a very small step. And nothing is revealed by the first step. Intention is the first step.

Have you ever thought about what you want to become? Even if you haven’t thought about it consciously, it still operates unconsciously – what you want to become. You develop respect in your mind for what you want to become. Not only respect, but your thoughts revolve around what you want to become; it enters your dreams; it permeates your breath; it enters your blood. And when I say it enters your blood, I’m not speaking metaphorically – I’m talking about a medical, a completely physical fact.

Experiments have been conducted, and astonishing results have been obtained. At the Delabar Laboratory at Oxford University, they studied the effect of thought on blood – even the thought of another person, let alone your own thoughts, which will certainly have an effect – the effect of another person’s thoughts, even unspoken thoughts, on your blood. If you go to a person whose heart overflows with compassion and goodwill, who can think of nothing but good for you – then the conclusion of ten years of experiments at the Delabar Laboratory is that in your blood – upon going to such a person who has feelings of goodwill towards you – the white blood cells immediately increase by fifteen hundred. If your blood is tested outside the door, and then you go inside and sit with a person filled with goodwill, and then your blood is tested again, the white blood cells in your blood – the white cells of the blood – increase by fifteen hundred. When you go near a person who harbors ill will towards you, your white blood cell count decreases by sixteen hundred – immediately.

And medical science says that the fundamental basis of protecting your health is an abundance of white blood cells. The more of them you have in your body, the safer your health is. They are your guardians. You may have seen, but not noticed, that when you get an injury and pus forms, that pus is simply a protector, the white blood cells of your body. They immediately rush and form a protective layer. What you consider pus is not pus; they are not your enemies; they are white blood cells that immediately rush and surround the wound, as if the police have set up a cordon. Because no germ can enter the body by crossing their layer. They are protectors.

Experiments conducted at the Delabar laboratory have astonished scientists, showing that a person filled with positive feelings can have such an effect that it changes the proportion of another person’s blood! The volume changes! The blood flow changes! The heart rate changes! The blood pressure changes! Is this possible? Now it is difficult to deny it.

After Dr. Jagadish Chandra Bose, another great name is that of an American, Cleve Backster. Jagadish Chandra had said that plants have life. Backster has proven – it has been proven – that plants also have feelings. And plants recognize their friends and their enemies. A plant recognizes its owner, and its gardener. And if the owner dies, the plant’s life force weakens, and it becomes sick. Backster has also proven the memory of plants, that they too have memory. And when you go and stand near your rose plant with love, it waits for you again at the same time the next day. It remembers that you didn’t come today. Or when you stand near a plant filled with love, and then suddenly pluck a flower, the plant is greatly surprised, deeply confused. Baxter has developed instruments that record the life currents of all this, showing that the plant becomes completely confused; it doesn’t understand how the person who was standing there with so much love could have plucked the flower. It becomes as confused as a child would be if someone were standing near them, showing affection, and then suddenly twisted their neck because their face looked so nice. The plant simply doesn’t understand what has happened! Great confusion arises within it.

Baxter says: We have confused thousands of plants; we have put them in great distress. They simply don’t understand what is happening! The one they experienced as a friend suddenly becomes an enemy. Baxter also says that the plants we love emit very positive vibrations towards us.

And Baxter has suggested to the American Medical Association that soon we will be able to cure certain types of patients by taking them to specific plants—if we have made those plants so vibrant—with love, emotion, music, prayer, and meditation. If we fill them with so much life energy, then taking certain types of patients to them will be beneficial. Each plant has its own unique characteristics of life energy. For example, the red rose is very beneficial for angry people. Perhaps that’s why Pandit Nehru loved it so much. According to Baxter, the red rose is very beneficial for anger. It reduces anger; it spreads an aura of non-anger around itself. It too has its own aura.

Plants also have hearts. Granted, they are uneducated, but they have hearts. Man becomes more and more educated but loses his heart.

This concept can become the foundation for cultivating auspiciousness—the concept of auspiciousness, indeed, the concept of auspiciousness. We are so weak, and inauspiciousness is so readily available to us, that it would be a miracle if we could even conceive of auspiciousness in relation to the Arhat. It would be a miracle if we could even say that the Arhat is auspicious. It will be difficult to say that a stone is auspicious. It will be very difficult to say that an enemy is auspicious. It will be very difficult to say that a foe is auspicious. Mahavira knows you very well. Even with the greatest, you will find it difficult to conceive of auspiciousness; let’s start with that: the Arhat, the Siddha, the Sadhu, and the Dharma as expounded by those who have attained enlightenment.

The word ‘Dharma’ in the Jain tradition does not have the same meaning as the English word ‘religion’ or the Urdu word ‘mazhab’. Nor does it have the same meaning as the Hindu ‘Dharma’. The meaning of Dharma in the Jain tradition should be understood – it is very unique, distinctive, and expands the Jain perspective into a new dimension. ‘Mazhab’ means a creed, a sect, a denomination. The English word ‘religion’ means almost the same as ‘yoga’. The root from which it is derived, ‘religare’, means to connect, to connect man with God. Yoga also means the same – connecting man with God.

But Jain philosophy does not even have a place for God. Therefore, you will be surprised to know that Jains do not consider yoga in a positive light. Jains say – the Kevali is ayogi – non-yogi, not a yogi. That is why some ignorant, misguided people call Mahavira a Mahayogi; they are wrong. They are unaware of the terminology of the Jain tradition. Mahavira says: there is no need to connect with anyone; one needs to break away from what is wrong, to separate oneself. Non-yoga – non-attachment to the world – then the true self is attained. Yoga says: union with God, then the true self is attained. Mahavira says: the true self is already attained. What we are meant to attain, we already possess. We are simply clinging to the wrong things, which is why we cannot see it. Let go of the wrong things, become detached, become separate. Therefore, in the Jain tradition, non-attachment (ayoga) has the same value as yoga in the Hindu tradition. The Jains have a very unique understanding of religion. Mahavira says that the inherent nature of a thing is its religion, its dharma. Mahavira’s meaning of dharma is the same as Lao Tzu’s concept of Tao.

The inherent nature of a thing, its own natural unfolding – if a person can act and choose spontaneously without being influenced by anyone, then they attain dharma – if a person can do so without being influenced. Therefore, Mahavira does not consider influence to be a good thing. To be influenced by anyone is to be bound. All impressions are binding. To become completely uninfluenced is to become oneself, to become the self. This selfhood, this being oneself, is what they call dharma. The dharma as expounded by the Kevalin (the enlightened one) means that when a person remains only as pure knowledge, only as pure consciousness, then the way they live is dharma. Their life, their rising, their sitting, their movement, their sleeping – whatever they do – the raising and lowering of their eyelids, all the rays that emanate from their entire existence – that is dharma.

Theory – Empathy, Energy, and White Blood Cells: The Science of Positive Presence

Mindful Workplace (Sattva): Embody Authentic Leadership (Kevali-Bhāva)

• Workplace Practice: True authority is not asserted through rigid control, but demonstrated through consistent, transparent action. Let your personal ethics, work rate, and emotional regulation serve as your primary communication. When your daily conduct naturally reflects integrity and clarity, leadership becomes an effortless byproduct of your state of being.