Physical action Vs. Mental action

[Vaidya N. Sundaram]

 Sri Gummaluri Murthy wrote:
 >The physical effort (action) is certainly inferior to mental and as
 >such, physical actions need not be considered.

 Physical action involves a lot of effort, not only physical, but also
mental. For example, an athelete can keep thinking that he can actually
run and win the race but, without sufficient PHYSICAL practice, he cannot
actually win it. Similarly, as much as we would like to think that the
practice of meditation is mental, that yoga sadhana is constant
meditation, it is quite a physical exercise. The example given by
proponents of this thought include the following. The atman in this body
is like a person riding the chariot drawn by horses. The mind and senses
are the horses. If the chariot is not steady (meaning, the physical body
is in motion and not at rest physically), it is only because, the horses
is leading it astray and not trained enough. One way of training the
horses is to keep the chariot still by force. Thus forcing ourselves to
sit down and meditate is as important as meditating. It is for the
purpose that meditating while travelling in a bus or train etc. is to be
avoided. The body experiences movements like shaking etc.

 >The physical effort (action) is certainly inferior to mental and as
 >such, physical actions need not be considered.

 I would thus say that physical action is some thing that deserves a lot
of importance and should not be considered as inferior to mental action.

Vaidya.