MIRACLES III

THE SUPER-SCIENTIST

Vipassana is an ancient meditation technique which was introduced to the world by a super-scientist. His name was Gautam the Buddha - the same person, who was born in Lumbini and in his initial days, was known as Prince Siddharth. Any layman will tell you that he was a God. That is far from the truth. No religious scriptures ever described him as God.

And, that is why Shri Goenka refers to him as a super-scientist. He explains further, “2000 years ago, the word ‘भगवान’ was not used to refer to a God, but to refer to ‘the one who shows you path’ or a ‘मार्गदर्शक’ ”. So in those days, when the Buddha was called a 'Lord' or 'भगवान', it meant that people regarded him as a teacher or guide."

Through his various experiments, he discovered the practice of Vipassana, and propagated it wherever he went. The tradition passed on through the guru-shishya-parampara through centuries, and continues in its pristine form even today.

And, this is what I was practicing.

For someone who may be sceptical and may think that this is a place where religious conversion takes place, I would like to say – I am following the same religion now which I used to follow before joining the camp. The only inconvenience one may have is that for 7-days, they don’t allow you to do any form of prayer. For those 7 days, you have to follow only what is being told. You are not even allowed to do Yoga or physical exercise.

The only thing you have to do in the camp is to train your mind.

Vipassana is simply a path shown by the Buddha, and is referred to as ‘dharma’(धर्म) by Goenkaji. As you know the word धर्म also means duty. If you abide by the धर्म or your duties, you are bound to live happily.

Buddha was always a normal human being. His curiosity and dedication led him to discover the great science of mind. He disentangled the mysteries and achieved ‘nirvana’. 

Okay, so Buddha has suggested something. And, that he got ‘nirvana’ using that is known. How does it help me? Do I also seek nirvana now? Is it not for some older people interested in spirituality?

The whole purpose of my telling this story is to tell you the practical benefits of this practice. Most of my readers are young, and I feel it is my duty to tell them about this great science. In my recent experience in the corporate world also, I realized that even these corporate people recognize the importance of such meditative practices.

THE JUNGLE

Many scary incidents happened as we were in the jungle and it was the middle of summer.

Apart from birds and squirrels, I saw a ‘nevla’ crossing the walkway.

Then, one day a ‘gohera’ was sitting just outside my room. I was inside. I opened the door of my room to go out, and suddenly felt a jerk as the door had hit something. When I moved forward to see what had hit the door, I saw a crocodile-like creature run fast into the shrubs near-by.

There were scorpions also. A big scorpion was found in my friend’s room and when he called the dhammasevaka, the scorpion was taken out using a broom and a bucket and was released near a shrub just outside the door. My friend protested saying that the scorpion should have been released at a distance, and that it might crawl back in. But, the dhammasevaka said, “Don’t worry. It won’t come.”

The vow of ‘not to kill any living being’ forbade us to do any harm to the creatures, even if they were poisonous.

Fortunately, the meditation halls were cleaned thoroughly and did not have these creatures.

However, anywhere else including our rooms, the fear of finding some dangerous creature was there. It was tough for me to sleep. I slept very ‘attentive sleep’ or what you know as श्वान-निद्रा. At night, even if I felt the touch of my own blanket, I would quickly get up, wear spectacles and turn on the light to make sure that it was not a scorpion or a snake.

For anyone interested in learning this meditation, the best thing to do is to go in the winters, because then most of the animals are undergoing hibernation. However, the summer experience is an altogether different challenge that has its own thrills.

The interesting thing is that I was less afraid at the camp. At nights, I would walk to the water-cooler which was around 200 metres from my room. I didn’t feel any fear at that time. Of course, this was the effect of meditation which I realized later.

THE MEDITATION - II

What is noble silence, and why is that so important?

Noble silence means silence not just in terms of speech; but also in terms of actions. When you look someone in the eye and smile, it conveys a message that I am happy you are here or I like you. Noble silence stresses that you avoid even the non-verbal communication. It means that you have to cut-off yourselves completely from the world. During the 7-day stay, you can only talk to your teacher wherein you can ask questions about the meditation. Nothing else.

The reason for noble silence was explained as follows: (my attempt to reconstruct words of Shri Goenkaji from memory)

“Here in this meditation camp, you have come to train your mind. At the moment, it is like an untamed horse. When you try to tame it, it will resist. Thus, initially you are required to work hard. When you are kept in touch with the outside world, the taming of mind becomes difficult, because the mind is occupied by the thoughts of the world. Thus, the training of mind requires complete isolation. After this 7-day training, you will go to your home and live in the normal world. But, the practice learned here should be continued at home also, at least for 1 hour daily. That way you will be able to get benefit of this knowledge. And, in any case as all of you are students, you will definitely improve your concentration and excel in studies.”

The ‘aanapana’ practised on the first three days sharpens your mind to feel even the subtlest of sensations around and inside your nose. You can feel the heat that emanates from the outgoing air that you breathe out.

On the third day afternoon, you receive the true wisdom, i.e. , Vipassana.

There are two important concepts of this science –

Anicca – impermanence

Samta - equanimity

During the practice of Vipassana, these two concepts play a central role. ‘anicca’ means that everything in the world is impermanent. Whatever sensations you feel are impermanent, whatever circumstances you encounter are impermanent. Good times follow bad times and bad times again follow good times. The cycle continues - like the Ashok Chakra on our national flag, which symbolizes motion or cycle. Interestingly, when you read history, you will come across Ashoka the Great who had after the blood-laden War of Kalinga got refuge in the path of the Buddha. The only constant law of the universe is CHANGE.

This is a law of nature. No one can deny it. And, if you believe it completely, you understand that good times follow bad times and bad times follow good times. This is a cycle. No one can stop that. What one can do is to learn how to react in these times. And, that is what the second principle teaches you.

‘samta’ means staying equanimous in all situations – whether it is pleasant or unpleasant.  Be objective. Be aware of the situation, but don’t develop any like or dislike for the situation. This way you can enjoy the good times and deal with the bad times in a proper manner.

To understand it better, imagine a person who is stuck in a building where fire alarm has gone off. The simple observation with which you will agree is that the one who panics will take wrong decisions and may add to the gravity of the situation further. However, one who thinks objectively and then takes an action will do much better.

Both the principles are applied while practicing Vippasana Mediation. With the newly acquired ability to focus our attention on our breath now the Guru asks us to move this focus gradually from head to toe and again from toe to head. As we move our focus through various body-parts, we feel many sensations – some pleasant and some unpleasant. The idea is simple. When you focus your attention on your body-parts where an unpleasant sensation is occurring, and observe it with an objective mind, you will realize that the sensation disappears after sometime.

Fantastic! You have just seen the proof of the principle of ‘anicca’ or impermanence in your own body.

This is a very simplified explanation of the concepts of Vipassana. A thorough understanding requires deep reading or a participation in a camp. 

AFTER-EFFECTS

(will be posted in the next post)

S.N. GOENKA

Mr. S.N.Goenka, who is today the leading teacher of Vipassana, was one of the most successful businessmen of his days in Burma. He was rich and respected. But one day, a tragedy affected his life. He was diagnosed with migraine pain. He went to the best of doctors, but with no success. His headaches were increasing in frequency and intensity, when one day his gardener (or some worker) told him about a spiritual teacher, who taught a meditation. That was when Shri Goenkaji met Sayagyi U Ba Khin, who later became his guru and who assigned to him the duty of spreading the technique to India - ‘the country of its origin’ - and the world.

Mr. Goenka has been invited to lecture by institutions as diverse as the United Nations General Assembly, members of the Indian Parliament, Harvard Business Club, Dharma Drum Mountain Monastery (of Ven. Sheng Yen) in Taiwan, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Smithsonian Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Silicon Valley Indian Professionals Association.

Today, the Vipassana meditation centres are spread all over the world. The meditation is practiced even in some of the prisons. 

DISCOURSES: MY FAVOURITE STORY

Everyday there were discourses by Shri Goenkaji. Here I present the story which I found most interesting.

The sages have always been great scientists. They used to study human mind. They knew the intricacies and complexities of mind, and understood how to control its behaviour.

Laymen used to go to the sages for advice on various issues.

Once, there was a man who told a sage that he gets angry quite quickly and that he needs a solution.

He was asked to recite numbers 1 to 100, when he feels the anger in him rising. He did that and was satisfied that he could control his anger to quite a good extent.

Then, another person came who had a similar problem. To this person, the sage suggested the same solution. However, he returned back after some time saying that the solution did not work for him.

So, the sage told him, ‘See, xyz is the name of a God and if you recite his name 108 times, He will give you power to control your anger.” He did that and was satisfied.

Then, another person came who was suggested this “108-times-recitation” method. He came dissatisfied saying that it was not working for him. So, the sage gave him a stone and told him, “This is a statue of the god. Recite his name 108 times and also put a ‘tulsi’ leaf near his feet after each recitation.” This man was also satisfied.

Similar incidents kept on happening and Gods and religious practices evolved. The aim was always one and the same – divert your mind away into something else, and your suffering shall disappear.

The basic problem with all these practices was that once the cause of the suffering returned back, the suffering of the human being also returned back. Moreover, with time the reasons for many of the practices were lost. Thus, the scientific practices got converted into orthodox religious practices, and the true essence of these practices was lost.

Thus, we should not believe in everything which others tell us to believe in. We should experiment and learn the truth by experience. 

(The next episode will cover more stories like - my interaction with a person from rehab, the after-effects of this meditation camp on myself and Vipassana inside prison.)