Author(s): Abhishek Kumar, Dr. Ashok Kumar Bhaskar
Abstract:
Preksha Meditation has not stayed where it started. Born within the Terapanth Jain monastic order of Rajasthan, the practice today appears in pediatric pain clinics in Orlando, epigenetics laboratories at Florida International University, and psychoneuroimmunology research at AIIMS New Delhi. This paper examines how that happened, tracing three phases: the philosophical and canonical foundations of meditation in Jainism; Acharya Mahapragya's construction of Preksha Dhyana between 1975 and 1994; and the contemporary scientific literature documenting its neurological, epigenetic, psychological, and clinical outcomes. Drawing on a wide-ranging review of religious studies, contemplative science, and biomedical research, the paper argues that Preksha's evolution reflects a tension not unique to this tradition, between preserving an ethical and spiritual inheritance and pursuing credibility in a world that prizes clinical evidence. Preksha has retained stronger institutional ties to its tradition of origin than most comparable practices, and what that means for the practice's long-term integrity is a question the field has only recently become equipped to examine seriously.
PDF URL: View Article in PDF