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Thursday, October 7, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
S.N GOENKA THE TRUE HUMAN
Well who is this man S N Goenka ? If you have ever tried to find the term ‘Meditation’ in Google, you must have found this wonderful website : Dhamma.org . This website is among the most popular website on meditation since a very very long time. This site is the international home page of the organizations which offer courses in Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka and his assistant teachers in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin. Mr. Goenka is a teacher of Vipassana meditation and his Vipassana courses have attracted thousands of people of every background. Unique among teachers of meditation, Goenka is a retired industrialist and former leader of the Indian Community in Burma. Although a layman, his teaching has won the approval of senior Buddhist monks in Burma, India, and Sri Lanka, a number of whom have taken courses under his guidance. Despite his magnetism, he has no wish to be a “guru” –instead he teaches self-responsibility
Saturday, November 7, 2009
ENQUIRE
Realize the constant and eternal light of the Soul which neither rises nor sets, through meditation and deep enquiry.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
my experience
hi all
COMING ON BLOG AFTER LONG GAP.AS I WAS ON VISIT TO VIPPASSANA MEDITATION CENTRE,IGATPURI NEAR BOMBAY,UNABLE TO LOG ON BLOG.IT WAS TURNING POINT OF LIFE TO ATTEND 10 LONG DAY VIPPASSANA COURSE.SOME OF THE QUESTION WHICH IMMEDIATELY COMES IN MIND IS:WHAT IS VIPPASSANA?VIPPASANA IS RELIGION WHICH BELIEVES IN LAW OF NATURE.IN ANCIENT INDIA,RISHI,MUNI USED TO DO TAPASYA IN CAVES AND FORESTS,AND USED TO GET MOKSHA.MANY PEOPLE DON'T BELIEVE IN TERM MOKSHA.BHAGWAN SHIV IS VIPASSANA YOGI.MANY SADHUS,RISHIS AND MUNIS DONE TAPASYA ,GIVE THIS KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HOW TO ACHIEVE MOKSHA IN REAL LIFE WITHOUT DISTURBING GRIHASTHASHRAM.ONE OF PIONEER ,IS GREAT MAHATMA BUDDHA.VIPPASANA IS TO OBSERVE NATURAL BREATH WITH SAKSHI BHAV(WITNESS).WE HAD TO DO MEDITATION BY OBSERVING NATURAL BREATH.WHY NAME BUDDHA?AS HE GOT NIRVANA BELOW THE TREE BODHI.MY EXPERIENCES:I WAS IN karunika dhamma karnal haryana FROM 10oct.TO 21th of oct.I CAME TO KNOW FROM a megazine .HE IS REGULARLY DOING VIPPASSANA.FIRST DAY OR TWO IS JUST TO ACCLIMATISE WITH THE ATMOSPHERE.AS DAYS PASSED ,WE ENJOY THE ATMOSPHERE AS CENTRE IS SITUATED IN HILLY REGION.WHAT WE HAD TO DO ?WE HAVE TO OBSERVE NOBLE SILENCE FOR COMPLETE 10 DAYS.NOBLE SILENCE MEANS IN HINDI ARYA MOUN,IT MEANS NOT TO TALK WITH MOUTH OR WITH EVEN BODY OF SPEECH.VIPPASANA TEACHINGS:1}.ACCEPT LIFE AS IT COMES.2}.DONOT REACT BY MAINTAINING COMPLETE SAMTA[NOT TO LOSE MENTAL AS WELL AS PHYSICAL BALANCE] ,BE THE SITUATION IS GOOD OR BAD.3}.PATIENCE4}.SAHAJ-BE AT EASE IN ANY GIVEN SITUATION.5}.CHANGE IS THE RULE OF THE LAW.ACCEPT THE CHANGE GRACEFULLY.6}.ACTION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TALKING.7}.FACE THE FEAR ,ANGER AND HATRED WITH SAMTA AND SAKSHIBHAV[WITNESS].CONCLUSION:IT IS ONE OF THE GREATEST GIFT OF BHAGWAN BUDDHA FOR THE WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE ON THE EARTH.IT TAKES TIME TO IN REALITY TO INCULCATE HIS TEACHINGS,BUT WE CAN ABLE TO INCULCATE HIS TEACHINGS BY WAY OF PRACTICING MEDITATION.I WILL SUGGEST EACH AND EVERYONE TO VISIT THE VIPPASANA MEDITATION CENTRE AT IGATPURI.WEBSITE ADDRESS:WWW.VRI.DHAMMA.ORG .
pawandeep sandhu
COMING ON BLOG AFTER LONG GAP.AS I WAS ON VISIT TO VIPPASSANA MEDITATION CENTRE,IGATPURI NEAR BOMBAY,UNABLE TO LOG ON BLOG.IT WAS TURNING POINT OF LIFE TO ATTEND 10 LONG DAY VIPPASSANA COURSE.SOME OF THE QUESTION WHICH IMMEDIATELY COMES IN MIND IS:WHAT IS VIPPASSANA?VIPPASANA IS RELIGION WHICH BELIEVES IN LAW OF NATURE.IN ANCIENT INDIA,RISHI,MUNI USED TO DO TAPASYA IN CAVES AND FORESTS,AND USED TO GET MOKSHA.MANY PEOPLE DON'T BELIEVE IN TERM MOKSHA.BHAGWAN SHIV IS VIPASSANA YOGI.MANY SADHUS,RISHIS AND MUNIS DONE TAPASYA ,GIVE THIS KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HOW TO ACHIEVE MOKSHA IN REAL LIFE WITHOUT DISTURBING GRIHASTHASHRAM.ONE OF PIONEER ,IS GREAT MAHATMA BUDDHA.VIPPASANA IS TO OBSERVE NATURAL BREATH WITH SAKSHI BHAV(WITNESS).WE HAD TO DO MEDITATION BY OBSERVING NATURAL BREATH.WHY NAME BUDDHA?AS HE GOT NIRVANA BELOW THE TREE BODHI.MY EXPERIENCES:I WAS IN karunika dhamma karnal haryana FROM 10oct.TO 21th of oct.I CAME TO KNOW FROM a megazine .HE IS REGULARLY DOING VIPPASSANA.FIRST DAY OR TWO IS JUST TO ACCLIMATISE WITH THE ATMOSPHERE.AS DAYS PASSED ,WE ENJOY THE ATMOSPHERE AS CENTRE IS SITUATED IN HILLY REGION.WHAT WE HAD TO DO ?WE HAVE TO OBSERVE NOBLE SILENCE FOR COMPLETE 10 DAYS.NOBLE SILENCE MEANS IN HINDI ARYA MOUN,IT MEANS NOT TO TALK WITH MOUTH OR WITH EVEN BODY OF SPEECH.VIPPASANA TEACHINGS:1}.ACCEPT LIFE AS IT COMES.2}.DONOT REACT BY MAINTAINING COMPLETE SAMTA[NOT TO LOSE MENTAL AS WELL AS PHYSICAL BALANCE] ,BE THE SITUATION IS GOOD OR BAD.3}.PATIENCE4}.SAHAJ-BE AT EASE IN ANY GIVEN SITUATION.5}.CHANGE IS THE RULE OF THE LAW.ACCEPT THE CHANGE GRACEFULLY.6}.ACTION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TALKING.7}.FACE THE FEAR ,ANGER AND HATRED WITH SAMTA AND SAKSHIBHAV[WITNESS].CONCLUSION:IT IS ONE OF THE GREATEST GIFT OF BHAGWAN BUDDHA FOR THE WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE ON THE EARTH.IT TAKES TIME TO IN REALITY TO INCULCATE HIS TEACHINGS,BUT WE CAN ABLE TO INCULCATE HIS TEACHINGS BY WAY OF PRACTICING MEDITATION.I WILL SUGGEST EACH AND EVERYONE TO VISIT THE VIPPASANA MEDITATION CENTRE AT IGATPURI.WEBSITE ADDRESS:WWW.VRI.DHAMMA.ORG .
pawandeep sandhu
Why I Sit by Paul R. Fleischman
This morning, the first thing I did was to sit for an hour. I have done that regularly for twenty years, and have spent many evenings, days and weeks doing the same.
I would like to know myself. It is remarkable that while ordinarily we spend most of our lives studying, contemplating, observing and manipulating the world around us, the structured gaze of the thoughtful mind is so rarely turned inwards. This avoidance must measure some anxiety, reluctance or fear.
Most of our lives are spent in externally oriented functions that distract from self-observation. This relentless, obsessive drive persists independently of survival needs such as food and warmth, and even of pleasure. Second to second, we couple ourselves to sights, tastes, words, motions or electronic stimuli, until we fall dead. It is striking how many ordinary activities, from smoking a pipe to watching sunsets, veer towards, but ultimately avoid, sustained attention to the reality of our own life.
This motivated me on a search that led through intense intellectual exploration in college, medical school and psychiatric training, and finally to the art of "sitting", as taught by S.N. Goenka, a Vipassana meditation teacher with whom my wife and I first took a course near New Delhi, India, in 1974. Those ten days of nothing but focusing on the moment by moment reality of body and mind, with awareness and equanimity, gave me the opportunity ironically both to be more absolutely alone and isolated than I had ever been before, and at the same time to cast my lot with a tradition, a way, as upheld, manifested, explained and transmitted by a living person. I am continuously grateful to S. N. Goenka for giving me this technique.
Vipassana meditation was preserved in Asia for two thousand five hundred years since its discovery by Gotama, the historical Buddha. His technique of living was labelled by western scholars, "Buddhism", but it is not an "ism", a system of thought. It is a practice, a method, a tool for living persons. It does not end its practitioner's search. For me, it provides a compass, a spy glass, a map for further journeys. With daily practice and intensive retreats mixed into the years, I find the marriage of autonomy and heritage, membership and lonely continuity. Vipassana is the binoculars—now I can search for the elusive bird.
Before I received instructions on how to sit, my journey through life was predominantly intellectual. I had found lectures and books to be inspiring, suggestive, artful, but evasive. One could advise, one could talk, one could write. But sitting is a way for me to stand for something, to sit as something, not just with words, but with my mind, body and life. Here is a way to descend the stages, protected by teacher, teaching, technique and practice, into the light and darkness in me.
I want to know, to simply observe, this living person as he is, not just as he appears while careening from event to event. Of course, this will undoubtedly be helpful to me as a psychiatrist, but my motives are more fundamental, personal and existential.
I am interested in my mind, and in my body. Previous to my having cultivated the habit of sitting, I had thought about myself and had used my body as a tool in the world, to grip a pen or to chop firewood, but I had never systematically, rigorously, observed my body—what it feels like; not just with a shy, fleeting glance, but moment after moment for hours and days at a time; nor had I committed myself to observe the reciprocal influence of mind and body in states of exhaustion and rest, hunger, pain, relaxation, arousal, lethargy, or concentration. My quest for knowing is not merely objective and scientific. This mind-and-body is the vessel of my life. I want to know it with the same organic immersion that sets a snow goose flying ten thousand miles every winter and spring.
Because the harmony in me is at once so awesome and sweet and overwhelming that I love its taste yet can barely compel myself to glimpse it, I want to sit with the great determination that I need to brush aside the fuzz or distraction, the lint of petty concerns. To sit is to know myself as an unfolding manifestation of the universals of life—a gripping, unending project. Hopefully one I can use even when I look into death's funnel. For me, this knowing is a great force, and a great pleasure.
I sit because of, for, and with an appreciation of daily life. The great poets sing of the omnipresent ordinary, pregnant with revelation—but I know how easily and recurrently my own life yields to distraction, irritation, tunnel vision. I do not want to miss my life the way I once missed a plane at a New York airport. It may be ironic that simply to wriggle free of daydreams and worries I need a technique, a practice, a discipline, but I do; and I bow to that irony by doing what I must do to pry my mind off ephemeral worries, to wake to more dawns, to see my child unravel through his eddying transformations.
I sit to open my pores, skin and mind both, to the life that surrounds me, inside and outside, at least more often if not all the time, as it arrives at my doorstep. I sit to exercise the appreciative, receptive, peaceful mode of being filled up by the ordinary and inevitable; for example, the floorboards sagging in the crooked bedroom where I sleep, or my two year old son, tugging one splinter at a time, to help me stack firewood in new January snow.
I feel a need for a rudder, a keel, a technique, a method, a way to continue on course. I need increasing moments of self-control (though not constricting, deadening, or inhibition). While sitting one does not get up, or move, or make that dollar, or pass that test, or receive reassurance from that phone call. But military training, or violin lessons, or medical school, are also routes to self-control in this ordering and restrictive sense. Sitting is self-control around specific values. Observation replaces all action. What is the point of committing one's life to this practice, only to spend the time with daydreams, or anxious yearnings for promotion and recognition? Of course, those will happen anyway. They are part of the human make-up. Cultures would not have proliferated the ubiquitous moral codes, the Ten Commandments, the Five Precepts, if we were not so replete with ten million urges.
There is little I have heard from others —and it is my daily business to listen— that I have not seen in myself as I sit. But I also know the necessity of work, training and restraint. Dependence, loneliness, sensuality, exhaustion, hunger, petulance, perversion, miserliness, yearning and inflation are my old friends. I can greet them openly and warmly in people close to me, because I know them from the inside and therefore cannot condemn them without condemning myself. I also have been learning to harness and ride their energy.
Sitting pushes me to the limit of my self-directed effort; it mobilizes my willed, committed direction, yet it also shatters my self-protective, self-defining maneuvers and my simple self-definition. It both builds and dismantles "me." Every memory, every hope, every yearning, every fear floods in. I no longer can pretend to be one selected set of my memories or traits.
If observed, but not reacted upon, all these psychic contents become acceptable, obviously part of myself (for there they are, in my own mind, right in front of me); yet also impersonal, causally-linked, objective phenomena-in-the-world that move ceaselessly, relentlessly, across the screen of my existence, without my effort, without my control, without me. I can see more, tolerate more, in my inner life, at the same time that I am less driven by these forces. Like storms and doves, they are the persona of nature, crossing one's inner sky. Psychic complexity swirls up from the dust of cosmetic self-definition. At the same time, the determination and endurance I have to muster to just observe, grow like muscles with exercise. Naturally the repetition of this mixture of tolerance and firmness extrapolates beyond its source in sitting, out to relationships.
I sit because knowing that I will die enriches and excoriates my life, so I have to go out of my way to seek the discipline and stability that is necessary for me to really face it. Sitting rivets me on the psychological fact that death is life's door. No power can save me. Because I am aware of death, and afraid, I lean my shoulder into living; not reactively, but with conscious choice and decision of what will constitute each fleeting moment of my life. To embrace life I must shake hands with death. For this, I need practice. Each act of sitting is a dying to outward activity, a relinquishment of distraction, a cessation of anticipatory gratification. It is life now, as it is. Some day this austere focus will come in very, very handy. It already has.
I have been sitting at least fifteen hours a week for years, and when, as often happens, I am asked how I find the time, I know that part of the certainty in my aim is an anger that will not allow the rolling woodlands and hilltop pastures of my psyche to be bulldozed by TV, non-nutritional food, fabricated news, tweed socialization, pedantic file-cabinets of knowledge, or loyalty rallies to leaders, states, gods, and licensures. The voices of the herd will not so easily drive me from my forest cabin of deeply considered autonomy and honest talk, because I have had practice in this sort of firmness. A child's anger is the kindling of adult will. I can stay true to myself yet mature, be willed but not willful, by sitting in the spirit of Woody Guthrie's song: "Don't you push me, push me, push me, don't you push me down!"
I sit to be myself, independent of my own or others' judgements. Many years of my life were spent being rated, primarily in school, but, as an extension of that, among friends and in social life. As often happens, out of their concern for me, my parents combed and brushed me with the rules of comparison: I was good at this, or not good, or as good, or better, or worse, or the best, or no good at all.
Today I find that sitting reveals the absurdity of comparative achievement. My life consists of what I actually live, not the evaluations that float above it. Sitting enables me to slip beyond that second, commenting, editor's mind, and to burrow in deep with immediate reality.
I am relieved to be more at home in myself, with myself. I complain less. I can lose discussions, hopes, or self-expectations more easily and much less often because the talking, hoping, and doing is victory enough already. Without props or toys or comfort, without control of the environment, I have sat and observed who I am when there was no one and nothing to give me clues. It has happened that I have sat, asked for nothing, needed nothing, and felt full. Now my spine and hands have a different turgor. When I am thrown off balance, I can fall somewhat more like a cat than like a two-by-four. When I sit, no one, beloved or enemy, can give me what I lack, or take away what I am.
So as I live all day, I can orient myself into becoming the person I will have to live with when I next sit. No one else's commentary of praise or blame can mediate my own confrontation with the observed facts of who I am.
I sit in solitude to lose my isolation. What is least noble in me rises up to the surface of my mind, and this drives me on to be more than I was. When I am most shut into my dark self I find the real source of my belonging.
The two greatest difficulties I have faced while sitting for extended hours or days are physical pain, and the loss of the social position that I had previously seemed headed for and entitled to in the community. Pain that starts in the knees or back can flood the whole body and burn on and on. The self-protection of calculated membership and its comfortable rewards are lost to me in those aching, endless hours.
I imagine my other options: a better house, winter vacations in the tropics, the respect of colleagues listening to me speak as I climb the career ladder. I imagine the financial crises I am less prepared to withstand. I imagine the humiliating rejection that crushes the refugee from poverty or racism or any form of powerlessness, all of which are in my heritage and possibly in my future (and in anyone's heritage or future if you look far enough). Why do I sit here? A thrush hops onto a low limb at the edge of a wooded clearing with triumphant song. Knowing yet staying, I am an inheritor and transmitter, flooded with gifts from those who loved and left their trace, and this still, glowing posture is the song of my species.
Sitting helps me overcome my deepest fears. I become freer to live from my heart and to face the consequences, but also to reap the rewards of this authenticity. Much of what I called pain was really loneliness and fear. It passes, dissolves, with that observation. The vibrations of my body are humming the song that can be heard only when dawn and dusk are simultaneous, instantaneous, continuous. I feel that a burst of stern effort is a small price to pay to hear this inner music—fertile music from the heart of life itself.
I sit to anchor and organise my life around my heart and mind, and to radiate out to others what I find. Though I shake in strong winds, I return to this basic way of living. The easy, soothing comfort and deep relaxation that accompany intense awareness in stillness, peel my life like an onion to deeper layers of truth, which in turn are scoured and soothed until the next layer opens. I sit to discipline my life by what is clear, simple, self-fulfilling and universal in my heart. There is no end to this job. I have failed to really live many days of my life, but I dive again and again into the plain guidance of self-containment and loving receipt. I sit to find and express simple human love and common decency.
© 1986 Paul R. Fleischman
For more info on vipassana, visit www.dhamma.org.
I would like to know myself. It is remarkable that while ordinarily we spend most of our lives studying, contemplating, observing and manipulating the world around us, the structured gaze of the thoughtful mind is so rarely turned inwards. This avoidance must measure some anxiety, reluctance or fear.
Most of our lives are spent in externally oriented functions that distract from self-observation. This relentless, obsessive drive persists independently of survival needs such as food and warmth, and even of pleasure. Second to second, we couple ourselves to sights, tastes, words, motions or electronic stimuli, until we fall dead. It is striking how many ordinary activities, from smoking a pipe to watching sunsets, veer towards, but ultimately avoid, sustained attention to the reality of our own life.
This motivated me on a search that led through intense intellectual exploration in college, medical school and psychiatric training, and finally to the art of "sitting", as taught by S.N. Goenka, a Vipassana meditation teacher with whom my wife and I first took a course near New Delhi, India, in 1974. Those ten days of nothing but focusing on the moment by moment reality of body and mind, with awareness and equanimity, gave me the opportunity ironically both to be more absolutely alone and isolated than I had ever been before, and at the same time to cast my lot with a tradition, a way, as upheld, manifested, explained and transmitted by a living person. I am continuously grateful to S. N. Goenka for giving me this technique.
Vipassana meditation was preserved in Asia for two thousand five hundred years since its discovery by Gotama, the historical Buddha. His technique of living was labelled by western scholars, "Buddhism", but it is not an "ism", a system of thought. It is a practice, a method, a tool for living persons. It does not end its practitioner's search. For me, it provides a compass, a spy glass, a map for further journeys. With daily practice and intensive retreats mixed into the years, I find the marriage of autonomy and heritage, membership and lonely continuity. Vipassana is the binoculars—now I can search for the elusive bird.
Before I received instructions on how to sit, my journey through life was predominantly intellectual. I had found lectures and books to be inspiring, suggestive, artful, but evasive. One could advise, one could talk, one could write. But sitting is a way for me to stand for something, to sit as something, not just with words, but with my mind, body and life. Here is a way to descend the stages, protected by teacher, teaching, technique and practice, into the light and darkness in me.
I want to know, to simply observe, this living person as he is, not just as he appears while careening from event to event. Of course, this will undoubtedly be helpful to me as a psychiatrist, but my motives are more fundamental, personal and existential.
I am interested in my mind, and in my body. Previous to my having cultivated the habit of sitting, I had thought about myself and had used my body as a tool in the world, to grip a pen or to chop firewood, but I had never systematically, rigorously, observed my body—what it feels like; not just with a shy, fleeting glance, but moment after moment for hours and days at a time; nor had I committed myself to observe the reciprocal influence of mind and body in states of exhaustion and rest, hunger, pain, relaxation, arousal, lethargy, or concentration. My quest for knowing is not merely objective and scientific. This mind-and-body is the vessel of my life. I want to know it with the same organic immersion that sets a snow goose flying ten thousand miles every winter and spring.
Because the harmony in me is at once so awesome and sweet and overwhelming that I love its taste yet can barely compel myself to glimpse it, I want to sit with the great determination that I need to brush aside the fuzz or distraction, the lint of petty concerns. To sit is to know myself as an unfolding manifestation of the universals of life—a gripping, unending project. Hopefully one I can use even when I look into death's funnel. For me, this knowing is a great force, and a great pleasure.
I sit because of, for, and with an appreciation of daily life. The great poets sing of the omnipresent ordinary, pregnant with revelation—but I know how easily and recurrently my own life yields to distraction, irritation, tunnel vision. I do not want to miss my life the way I once missed a plane at a New York airport. It may be ironic that simply to wriggle free of daydreams and worries I need a technique, a practice, a discipline, but I do; and I bow to that irony by doing what I must do to pry my mind off ephemeral worries, to wake to more dawns, to see my child unravel through his eddying transformations.
I sit to open my pores, skin and mind both, to the life that surrounds me, inside and outside, at least more often if not all the time, as it arrives at my doorstep. I sit to exercise the appreciative, receptive, peaceful mode of being filled up by the ordinary and inevitable; for example, the floorboards sagging in the crooked bedroom where I sleep, or my two year old son, tugging one splinter at a time, to help me stack firewood in new January snow.
I feel a need for a rudder, a keel, a technique, a method, a way to continue on course. I need increasing moments of self-control (though not constricting, deadening, or inhibition). While sitting one does not get up, or move, or make that dollar, or pass that test, or receive reassurance from that phone call. But military training, or violin lessons, or medical school, are also routes to self-control in this ordering and restrictive sense. Sitting is self-control around specific values. Observation replaces all action. What is the point of committing one's life to this practice, only to spend the time with daydreams, or anxious yearnings for promotion and recognition? Of course, those will happen anyway. They are part of the human make-up. Cultures would not have proliferated the ubiquitous moral codes, the Ten Commandments, the Five Precepts, if we were not so replete with ten million urges.
There is little I have heard from others —and it is my daily business to listen— that I have not seen in myself as I sit. But I also know the necessity of work, training and restraint. Dependence, loneliness, sensuality, exhaustion, hunger, petulance, perversion, miserliness, yearning and inflation are my old friends. I can greet them openly and warmly in people close to me, because I know them from the inside and therefore cannot condemn them without condemning myself. I also have been learning to harness and ride their energy.
Sitting pushes me to the limit of my self-directed effort; it mobilizes my willed, committed direction, yet it also shatters my self-protective, self-defining maneuvers and my simple self-definition. It both builds and dismantles "me." Every memory, every hope, every yearning, every fear floods in. I no longer can pretend to be one selected set of my memories or traits.
If observed, but not reacted upon, all these psychic contents become acceptable, obviously part of myself (for there they are, in my own mind, right in front of me); yet also impersonal, causally-linked, objective phenomena-in-the-world that move ceaselessly, relentlessly, across the screen of my existence, without my effort, without my control, without me. I can see more, tolerate more, in my inner life, at the same time that I am less driven by these forces. Like storms and doves, they are the persona of nature, crossing one's inner sky. Psychic complexity swirls up from the dust of cosmetic self-definition. At the same time, the determination and endurance I have to muster to just observe, grow like muscles with exercise. Naturally the repetition of this mixture of tolerance and firmness extrapolates beyond its source in sitting, out to relationships.
I sit because knowing that I will die enriches and excoriates my life, so I have to go out of my way to seek the discipline and stability that is necessary for me to really face it. Sitting rivets me on the psychological fact that death is life's door. No power can save me. Because I am aware of death, and afraid, I lean my shoulder into living; not reactively, but with conscious choice and decision of what will constitute each fleeting moment of my life. To embrace life I must shake hands with death. For this, I need practice. Each act of sitting is a dying to outward activity, a relinquishment of distraction, a cessation of anticipatory gratification. It is life now, as it is. Some day this austere focus will come in very, very handy. It already has.
I have been sitting at least fifteen hours a week for years, and when, as often happens, I am asked how I find the time, I know that part of the certainty in my aim is an anger that will not allow the rolling woodlands and hilltop pastures of my psyche to be bulldozed by TV, non-nutritional food, fabricated news, tweed socialization, pedantic file-cabinets of knowledge, or loyalty rallies to leaders, states, gods, and licensures. The voices of the herd will not so easily drive me from my forest cabin of deeply considered autonomy and honest talk, because I have had practice in this sort of firmness. A child's anger is the kindling of adult will. I can stay true to myself yet mature, be willed but not willful, by sitting in the spirit of Woody Guthrie's song: "Don't you push me, push me, push me, don't you push me down!"
I sit to be myself, independent of my own or others' judgements. Many years of my life were spent being rated, primarily in school, but, as an extension of that, among friends and in social life. As often happens, out of their concern for me, my parents combed and brushed me with the rules of comparison: I was good at this, or not good, or as good, or better, or worse, or the best, or no good at all.
Today I find that sitting reveals the absurdity of comparative achievement. My life consists of what I actually live, not the evaluations that float above it. Sitting enables me to slip beyond that second, commenting, editor's mind, and to burrow in deep with immediate reality.
I am relieved to be more at home in myself, with myself. I complain less. I can lose discussions, hopes, or self-expectations more easily and much less often because the talking, hoping, and doing is victory enough already. Without props or toys or comfort, without control of the environment, I have sat and observed who I am when there was no one and nothing to give me clues. It has happened that I have sat, asked for nothing, needed nothing, and felt full. Now my spine and hands have a different turgor. When I am thrown off balance, I can fall somewhat more like a cat than like a two-by-four. When I sit, no one, beloved or enemy, can give me what I lack, or take away what I am.
So as I live all day, I can orient myself into becoming the person I will have to live with when I next sit. No one else's commentary of praise or blame can mediate my own confrontation with the observed facts of who I am.
I sit in solitude to lose my isolation. What is least noble in me rises up to the surface of my mind, and this drives me on to be more than I was. When I am most shut into my dark self I find the real source of my belonging.
The two greatest difficulties I have faced while sitting for extended hours or days are physical pain, and the loss of the social position that I had previously seemed headed for and entitled to in the community. Pain that starts in the knees or back can flood the whole body and burn on and on. The self-protection of calculated membership and its comfortable rewards are lost to me in those aching, endless hours.
I imagine my other options: a better house, winter vacations in the tropics, the respect of colleagues listening to me speak as I climb the career ladder. I imagine the financial crises I am less prepared to withstand. I imagine the humiliating rejection that crushes the refugee from poverty or racism or any form of powerlessness, all of which are in my heritage and possibly in my future (and in anyone's heritage or future if you look far enough). Why do I sit here? A thrush hops onto a low limb at the edge of a wooded clearing with triumphant song. Knowing yet staying, I am an inheritor and transmitter, flooded with gifts from those who loved and left their trace, and this still, glowing posture is the song of my species.
Sitting helps me overcome my deepest fears. I become freer to live from my heart and to face the consequences, but also to reap the rewards of this authenticity. Much of what I called pain was really loneliness and fear. It passes, dissolves, with that observation. The vibrations of my body are humming the song that can be heard only when dawn and dusk are simultaneous, instantaneous, continuous. I feel that a burst of stern effort is a small price to pay to hear this inner music—fertile music from the heart of life itself.
I sit to anchor and organise my life around my heart and mind, and to radiate out to others what I find. Though I shake in strong winds, I return to this basic way of living. The easy, soothing comfort and deep relaxation that accompany intense awareness in stillness, peel my life like an onion to deeper layers of truth, which in turn are scoured and soothed until the next layer opens. I sit to discipline my life by what is clear, simple, self-fulfilling and universal in my heart. There is no end to this job. I have failed to really live many days of my life, but I dive again and again into the plain guidance of self-containment and loving receipt. I sit to find and express simple human love and common decency.
© 1986 Paul R. Fleischman
For more info on vipassana, visit www.dhamma.org.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Feeling Energy - The Law of Attraction and Our Emotional State
What are you feeling at this moment? Well that feeling, whatever it is, is the energy you are putting out into the universe right now. That energy, positive or negative, is setting the 'law of attraction' in motion and shaping the circumstances of your future. This is why it is so important to begin to be aware of your emotional state as you go through your day.
I was reminded of this only the other night as I lay in bed trying to get to sleep. I had been working late and hadn't made time for my usual relaxation and meditation routine. Consequently my thoughts were running wild round my head like a thundering train without a driver.
My focus drifted to a person in my life whose occasional negative comments I usually ignore but this time they had said something about a friend and it had gotten to me slightly. As I lay there my state and emotions began to spiral downwards into a more negative place. I imagined myself telling this person exactly what I thought of their opinions. All sorts of scenarios came up in my imagination where I was scolding them and generally making them look bad in front of others.
After about five minutes of this my body was pulsing with adrenaline. I had a sick feeling in my stomach and my energy, optimism and normal positive state had plummeted. I was hot and sweaty and it hit me how much I had let myself indulge in these negative impulses.
At this point I realised what was happening and got out of bed as I knew I would not fall asleep any time soon. I needed to let go of these negative associations. I had broken one of my own rules which is to only fill my mind and body with positives before going to sleep.
I had to break this state of mind and this pattern of thought by giving my mind something else to do. I performed a couple of yoga sun salutations. Physical activity is great for shifting states! I Followed this with some simple breath control; a few deep breaths and then focused for a couple of minutes on slow breathing. After making myself a cup of warm milk (it is thought the 'Tryptophan' in milk helps create 'Serotonin' in the brain, which helps you sleep) and a piece of toast, I felt in a completely different frame of mind; more positive, balanced and a good deal calmer.
None of us are immune to these moments. We are human beings; all of us learning and developing ourselves, but we must be vigilant to the tricks and illusions created by our wandering minds and egos. We do have control over our state of mind and we can shift ourselves to a 'better' emotional place but only if we are aware of what is going on. By feeling better and more positive we are creating a more positive future for ourselves by harnessing the law of attraction in the best way. The period before sleep is one of the most important times in our positive mind training. Becoming more conscious of our emotions and how we are feeling in our bodies at different times is one of the keys steps to 'feeling wealthy'
I was reminded of this only the other night as I lay in bed trying to get to sleep. I had been working late and hadn't made time for my usual relaxation and meditation routine. Consequently my thoughts were running wild round my head like a thundering train without a driver.
My focus drifted to a person in my life whose occasional negative comments I usually ignore but this time they had said something about a friend and it had gotten to me slightly. As I lay there my state and emotions began to spiral downwards into a more negative place. I imagined myself telling this person exactly what I thought of their opinions. All sorts of scenarios came up in my imagination where I was scolding them and generally making them look bad in front of others.
After about five minutes of this my body was pulsing with adrenaline. I had a sick feeling in my stomach and my energy, optimism and normal positive state had plummeted. I was hot and sweaty and it hit me how much I had let myself indulge in these negative impulses.
At this point I realised what was happening and got out of bed as I knew I would not fall asleep any time soon. I needed to let go of these negative associations. I had broken one of my own rules which is to only fill my mind and body with positives before going to sleep.
I had to break this state of mind and this pattern of thought by giving my mind something else to do. I performed a couple of yoga sun salutations. Physical activity is great for shifting states! I Followed this with some simple breath control; a few deep breaths and then focused for a couple of minutes on slow breathing. After making myself a cup of warm milk (it is thought the 'Tryptophan' in milk helps create 'Serotonin' in the brain, which helps you sleep) and a piece of toast, I felt in a completely different frame of mind; more positive, balanced and a good deal calmer.
None of us are immune to these moments. We are human beings; all of us learning and developing ourselves, but we must be vigilant to the tricks and illusions created by our wandering minds and egos. We do have control over our state of mind and we can shift ourselves to a 'better' emotional place but only if we are aware of what is going on. By feeling better and more positive we are creating a more positive future for ourselves by harnessing the law of attraction in the best way. The period before sleep is one of the most important times in our positive mind training. Becoming more conscious of our emotions and how we are feeling in our bodies at different times is one of the keys steps to 'feeling wealthy'
Sunday, March 8, 2009
गौतम बुद्ध की डायरी
ग्रीष्म ऋतु आ गई है। आज से अगले चार महीनों तक मैं अपने जलमहल में रहूँगा। मुझे यहाँ रहना बहुत पसंद है। इस महल में हर तरफ़ पानी के तालाब जो हैं। पानी से खेलते रहना मुझे बहुत अच्छा लगता है।
आज मैंने पिताजी को मेरे विवाह के बारे में मासी से बात करते सुना। कह रहे था कि यशोधरा बहुत सुंदर है। मुझे उत्साह भी हो रहा है किन्तु थोड़ा भय भी लग रहा है। विवाहित जीवन बहुत भिन्न होता है ना बाल्यावस्था से? नये कर्तव्य। पता नहीं यशोधरा को कैसी चीज़ें पसंद होंगी? मासी को तो मेरी पानी से खेलने की आदत बहुत बुरी लगता है। यशोधरा को कैसा लगेगा। और यदि उसे बुरा लगा तो वह मुझसे कहेगी या नहीं? कहीं बिना बताए रूठ कर न बैठ जाए। स्त्री-स्वभाव को समझना भी तो बड़ा कठिन होता है, ऐसा मैंने सुना है। गलत तो नहीं ही सुना है। मासी को ही देखो, किस बात पर क्रोधित हो जाएँ, किस बात पर प्रसन्न हो जाएँ और किस बात पर उनका वात्सल्य उमड़ पड़े, इसका पता लगाना कितना मुश्किल है। यशोधरा का प्रेम किस बात पर उमड़ेगा और कैसी बातें उसे क्रोधित करेंगी, इसका तो पता नहीं है।
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मुझे लगता था कि जीवन में कितनी प्रसन्नता है। किन्तु यशोधरा के मेरे जीवन में आने के बाद पता चला है कि वह प्रसन्नता तो कुछ भी नहीं थी। अब तो ऐसा लगता है कि एक-एक क्षण बस वहीं ठहर जाए। लेकिन ठहरने की क्या ज़रूरत है। अगला क्षण भी तो उतना ही मनोहर होता है। अब जीवन हमेशा ऐसा ही रहेगा। कितना मधुर, कितना मनोहर। यशोधरा की मधुर आवाज़, उसकी धीमी हँसी, उसको गहनों की मीठी रुनझुन और इन सबके बीच वसंत महल में चल रहे सुरीले गीत। जिसने भी जीवन बनाया है, उसका धन्यवाद कोई कैसे करे।
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मासी ने आज मुझे बताया कि मैं पिता बनने वाला हूँ। मेरा एक अंश इस संसार में आएगा। जिस तरह पिताजी ने अपना प्रेम मुझपर बरसाया है हमेशा, वैसे ही मैं भी उसपर अपना प्रेम न्यौछावर करूँगा।
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जब मैंने यशोधरा को पहली बार देखा था, तब अगर वह मुझे संसार की सबसे सुंदर स्त्री लगी थी तो राहुल के जन्म के पश्चात मातृत्व के तेज के साथ वह और भी अधिक सुंदर लगने लगी है। और राहुल? उसे तो सीने से हटाने का भी जी नहीं करता मेरा। वह मेरा अंश है। मासी उसके रंग-रूप और हाव-भाव को देखकर हमेशा कहती हैं कि मैं भी बचपन में ऐसा ही था। कितना सुखद है पिता बनना। जीवन अब और भी सुंदर हो गया है। और कल तो राहुल पहली बार अपने पैरों पर खड़ा हुआ था। कितना प्यारा लग रहा था।
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आज तक मैं किस छलावे में जी रहा था? पिताजी और मासी एक दिन नहीं रहेंगे हमारे साथ। यशोधरा एक दिन बूढ़ी होकर कुरूप हो जाएगी। मैं संभवतः रोगी होकर मर जाऊँगा। और राहुल? उसके साथ भी यही सब होगा। उस कोमल से शरीर को इतना दुःख देखना पड़ेगा। ये जीवन हमेशा इतना सुखद नहीं रहेगा। तो फिर आज के सुखों का क्या अर्थ है? हम क्यों हैं इस संसार में? क्यों आते हैं? कुछ दिन सुख के छलावे के बाद दुःख झेलने को। जिसने भी जीवन बनाया है उसने क्यों बनाया? क्यों दुःख भरे इसमें?
जब जीवन का अंत होना ही है, जब जीवन में दुःख आने ही हैं, तो इस सुख के छलावे में रहकर क्या करना है? जीवन का सत्य क्या है, उद्देश्य क्या है? पिताजी ने जान-बूझ कर मुझे इतने दिनों तक इस झूठ के बीच रखा। वह अब भी मुझे सत्य की खोज नहीं करने देंगे। मुझे यहाँ से दूर जाना होगा। पता करना होगा कि सत्य क्या है।
यशोधरा और राहुल? नहीं, नहीं। मुझे पता नहीं है कि मैं कहाँ जा रहा हूँ। मैं उन्हें इस अनिश्चित पथ पर अपने साथ नहीं ले जा सकता। मेरे जाने से उन्हें दुःख होगा। किन्तु वह तो कभी न कभी होना ही है। तो आज हो जाए तो उसमें क्या अलग होगा। और जब मुझे सत्य के दर्शन हो जाएँगे, तो मैं वापस आकर इन्हें भी बताउँगा।
प्यारी यशोधरा।
किन्तु अब मुझे जाना ही होगा।
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जिस सत्य के लिए मैं इतना भटका, इतने तरीकों से समझने की, पाने की कोशिश की, वह इतनी सीधी-सी बात में छिपा हुआ है। हमारे अंदर है। फिर क्यों संसार में इतने लोग, इतना कष्ट पाते हैं? औरक्यों जन्म-मरण के इस चक्रव्यूह से आगे नहीं निकल पाते हैं?
नहीं। अब और ऐसा होने की ज़रूरत नहीं है। मेरे जीवन के इतने वर्ष गए इस साधारण सत्य को समझने में। लेकिन मैं इस ज्ञान को व्यर्थ नहीं जाने दूँगा। मैं सबको बताउँगा। लेकिन यह बेचैनी-सी क्यों लग रही है मुझे? क्यों ऐसा लग रहा है कि मैंने कुछ अधूरा छोड़ दिया है? क्या है जो मुझे इतना व्यथित कर रहा है?
यशोधरा! यशोधरा कैसी होगी? उसने इतने वर्ष शायद रो-रो कर काटे होंगे। लेकिन अब? अब उसे और दुखी रहने की आवश्यकता नहीं है। मैं उसके पास जाऊँगा। मैं उसे उस सत्य के दर्शन कराऊँगा, जो मैंने इतने कष्ट से पहचाना है। और मेरे इन कष्ट के दिनों में उसने भी तो कष्ट सहे हैं। हम दोनों ने अपनी अज्ञानता के कारण कष्ट सहे हैं। अब इन कष्टों का निवारण होगा। मैं कल ब्रह्म-मुहूर्त में ही प्रस्थान करूँगा।
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मैं आज कपिलवस्तु के लिए प्रस्थान करने की सोच कर उठा था। किन्तु ऐसा कर नहीं पाया। यशोधरा तो भोली है और मुझपर उसका अगाध विश्वास है। वह मेरी बातें अवश्य समझने का प्रयत्न करेगी और उन्हें मानेगी भी। किन्तु पिताजी। जिस पुत्र को उन्होंने तिल-तिल बढ़ते देखा है, उसके मुँह से सत्य-दर्शन की बातें उन्हें बचपना लगेंगी। वह मुझे अपने मार्ग पर कभी नहीं बढ़ने देंगे। ऐसा नहीं है कि वह मेरा बुरा चाहेंगे। लेकिन माता-पिता के लिए बच्चे हमेशा ही बच्चे रहते हैं। वह यह कभी नहीं मान पाएँगे कि उनके बच्चे कुछ ऐसा जान सकते हैं, जो उन्होंने नहीं जाना। मुझे क्षमा कर दीजिएगा पिताजी। मै ऐसे सोचकर आपका अनादर नहीं करना चाहता। ऐसा भी नहीं है कि मेरे अंदर बहुत गर्व भर गया है। किन्तु आदर-अनादर की सांसारिक परिभाषाओं ने कुछ बड़े सत्यों को अनदेखा कर दिया है।
और यशोधरा? उसे कष्ट सहना होगा। विश्व-कल्याण हेतु।
इसलिए मैं बोधगया से कपिलवस्तु जाने के बदले उससे उलटी दिशा में बढ़ गया आज। मुझे एक नए जीवन का प्रारंभ करना है।
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आज वाराणसी के पास, सारनाथ नाम की जगह पर, पाँच भद्रजनों को मैंने अपने अनुभव और उस सत्य के बारे में समझाने का प्रयत्न किया जिसे मैंने देखा है। यह बात तो निश्चित है कि उनकी मेरे प्रति श्रद्धा है। किन्तु इस श्रद्धा का कारण यह नहीं है कि वे मेरी बात समझ गए। मैंने जो वर्षों कष्ट सहे हैं, एक राजसी जीवन छोड़ कर, सत्य की खोज के लिए; उसके कारण ये लोग मुझ पर श्रद्धा रखते हैं। मुझे लगा था कि यह सत्य इतना साधारण है कि सबको समझाना बहुत आसान होगा। किन्तु ऐसा नहीं हुआ। अनुभव को शब्दों में रखना बहुत कठिन था। नहीं समझ पाने का भाव उनके चेहरे पर साफ दिख रहा था। मैंने कल फिर उनसे बात करने वाला हूँ। किन्तु उससे पहले मुझे सोचना होगा कि अपने अनुभव को, सत्य को, साधारण शब्दों में कैसे रखूँ ताकि सब लोग उसे समझ पाएँ।
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आज मुझे थोड़ी सफलता मिली। कुछ साधारण शब्दों में मैं उन्हें अपना सत्य समझा पाया। मैंने तीन साधारण वाक्यों में उन्हें अपना अनुभव समझाया:
संसार में कष्ट है।
कष्ट का कारण इच्छा और तृष्णा है।
इसलिए इच्छा और तृष्णा को मिटा देने से कष्ट भी मिट जाएँगे।
और इन पाँच लोगों को इस सत्य पर विश्वास हुआ। उन्होंने कहा कि वे मेरे साथ चलेंगे और इस सत्य का प्रचार-प्रसार पूरे विश्व में करने में मेरी सहायता करेंगे। विश्वास नहीं होता। इतनी शीघ्र हम एक से छह लोग हो गए। अगर इसी तरह से लोग जुड़ते गए तो संसार से कष्ट का निवारण होने में अधिक समय नहीं लगेगा।
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संघ से जुड़े लोगों की संख्या बढ़ती जा रही है। आजकल जहाँ भी जाता हूँ वहाँ मेरी चर्चा मुझसे पहले पहुँच जाती है। लोग भिक्षा देने के लिए आतुर रहते हैं और सत्य के बारे में जानने को बेचैन। ऐसा लगता है कि पूरे संसार को ही इस सत्य की प्रतीक्षा थी।
पिताजी तक भी मेरी चर्चा पहुँच गई है। आज उनका संदेश लेकर कपिलवस्तु से लोग आए हैं। फिलहाल तो मैंने उन्हें टाल दिया है। कल वे भी मेरे प्रवचन में बैठेंगे। उसके बाद वह वापस जाकर पिताजी से क्या कहेंगे? क्या मेरा वहाँ जाना उचित होगा? कम-से-कम यशोधरा के लिए। ना जाने किस हाल में होगी। और राहुल? अब तो बड़ा हो गया होगा। शायद अपने पिताजी के बारे में पूछता होगा। क्या बताती होगी यशोधरा उसे?
किन्तु नहीं। अभी समय नहीं आया है। कई लोग संघ से जुड़े हैं। किन्तु मुझे नहीं लगता कि पिताजी अभी भी इसे मेरे बचपने से अधिक कुछ मानते हैं। अभी नहीं।
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कपिलवस्तु से आए संदेशवाहक भी आज संघ में सम्मिलित होने के लिए सम्मति लेने आए थे। बड़ा ही आनंद हुआ। यशोधरा और राजपरिवार के लोगों के पास तो मैं इस सत्य को लेकर नहीं जा पाया हूँ। किन्तु कम-से-कम राज्य के कुछ लोगों का कल्याण तो होगा।
किन्तु आजकल एक और समस्या आ रही है। जब तक मैंने इस सत्य का प्रचार मुख्यतः विद्वज्जनों के बीच किया, वह सत्य क्या है, इतना बताना पर्याप्त होता था। लेकिन जैसे-जैसे मैं आम लोगों के बीच आ रहा हूँ, ऐसा प्रतीत हो रहा है कि उन्हें मात्र इतना बताना पर्याप्त नहीं है। कुछ वैसी ही स्थिति हो रही है जैसी वर्षों पहले सारनाथ में हुई थी। लोगों की मेरे ऊपर श्रद्धा है। श्रद्धा का कारण यह है कि मुझसे मिलने के पूर्व ही वे मेरे बारे में, मेरे जीवन के बारे में बहुत कुछ सुन चुके हैं। इसलिए वे मेरी बातें सुनते हैं। इसलिए वे संघ से भी जुड़ते हैं। किन्तु सत्य को आत्मसात करना उनके लिए कठिन है। जो मैं समझ रहा हूँ, उसे लोगों को समझाने के लिए शब्दों में ढालने की आवश्यकता है। उन्हें यह बताने की आवश्यकता है कि वे इस सत्य को कैसे पा सकते हैं। मुझे और चिंतन करना होगा।
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आज मैंने एक रोगी बच्चे को देखा। उसका रोग असाध्य नहीं था। कुछ सुलभ जड़ी-बूटियों से ही मैंने उसे ठीक कर दिया। मुझे आश्चर्य हुआ कि किसी वैद्य ने उसे अब तक ठीक क्यों नहीं किया था। पता चला कि वह तथाकथित छोटी जाति का था और कोई भी ऊँची जाति का वैद्य उसके पास आने को, उसका निरीक्षण करने को तैयार नहीं हुआ। कैसा अन्याय है ये? ये जाति-प्रथा हमारे समाज को कितना खोखला कर रही है। और सबसे बड़ी दुख की बात तो यह है कि जिन लोगों के साथ अन्याय हो रहा है, उन्हें भी नहीं लगता कि उनके साथ अनुचित हो रहा है। तो अन्याय का विरोध भी कौन करे? आज से मैंने यह निर्णय लिया है कि मैं इन लोगों का संसार के सत्य से साक्षात्कार कराने हेतु और अधिक प्रयत्न करूँगा। इनमें से अधिक-से-अधिक लोगों को संघ से जोड़ने की आवश्यकता है।
किन्तु एक अच्छा समाचार भी है। अष्टांग को मार्ग जो मैंने सोचा था, आम जनों के सत्य के रास्ते पर चलवाने के लिए, उसे लोगों ने हार्दिक रूप से स्वीकार किया है। संघ से पहले से जुड़ चुके लोगों को अपना मार्ग अब अच्छी तरह से दिख रहा है। संघ से जुड़ने वाले लोगों की संख्या में भी बहुत तीव्र गति से वृद्धि हो रही है। अब मैंने अपने सत्य की व्याख्या में एक चौथा वाक्य जोड़ दिया है कि अष्टांग के मार्ग पर चलने से इच्छा और तृष्णा का अंत किया जा सकता है।
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पिताजी की ओर से अब तक सात संदेशे आ चुके हैं। संदेश ले कर आने वाले सभी लोगों ने संघ को अपना लिया है और वापस नहीं गए हैं। मुझे अभी भी कपिलवस्तु जाने का साहस नहीं हो रहा है।
और यशोधरा?
नहीं। मुझे उसके बारे में नहीं सोचना चाहिए। सांसारिक बंधनों से अब मेरा कोई नाता नहीं है। संघ में भी यही समस्या सबसे अधिक है। संघ के भिक्षुओं का स्त्रियों के प्रति झुकाव समस्या उत्पन्न करता है कई बार। संघ में अभी तक स्त्रियाँ सम्मिलित नहीं हुई हैं। मुझे लगता है कि इसे एक नियम ही बनाना पड़ेगा। ताकि आगे भी ऐसा ना हो। अन्यथा ये भिक्षु अपने पथ से भटक जाएँगे।
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आज दसवीं बार पिताजी का संदेश आया है। इस बार उनके पत्र की भाषा से ऐसा लगता है कि उन्होंने मेरे रास्ते को स्वीकार कर लिया है। हालांकि वह अभी भी इसमें विश्वास नहीं करते, किन्तु वह मुझे रोकने के लिए अधिक प्रयत्न भी नहीं करेंगे।
संभवतः अब कपिलवस्तु जाने का समय आ गया है।
किन्तु कुछ बातें सही नहीं चल रही हैं। आज मैंने एक ऐसे पुरुष को देखा जो कि एक असाध्य रोग से पीड़ित था। उसके घर वालों ने मुझसे उसे आशीर्वाद देने और उसे अपनी शक्ति से ठीक कर देने की प्रार्थना की। वैसे ही, जैसे मैंने अन्य लोगों को ठीक किया है। मैंने उन्हें समझाने का प्रयत्न किया कि यह रोग असाध्य है और मैने लोगों को किसी दैवीय शक्ति से नहीं वरन् औषधियों से ठीक किया है। और उसके रोग के लिए कोई भी औषधि अभी तक के चिकित्सा-विज्ञान में ज्ञात नहीं है। किन्तु उन्हें मेरी बात पर विश्वास नहीं हुआ। उन्हें लगा कि मेरे स्वागत में उनसे कोई कमी रह गई थी, इसलिए मेरा आशीर्वाद उस रोगी व्यक्ति को नहीं मिला। मैं उन्हें नहीं समझा पाया कि मैं आशीर्वाद देने वाला कौन होता हूँ।
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यशोधरा! उसका बुझा हुआ रूप देखने के लिए मैंने अपने आप को किंचित् तैयार नहीं किया था। कहाँ गया वह यौवन, चेहरे की लाली, भरे हुए गाल, लंबे केश, आँखों की चमक? यह तो कोई और स्त्री मेरे सम्मुख खड़ी थी। और इस परिवर्तन का कारण क्या मैं था?
लेकिन जब उसने अपना मुख खोला तो मुझे पता चला कि उसे मान में कोई परिवर्तन नहीं हुआ है। मुझे लग रहा था कि वह मुझे ताने देगी, कोसेगी, रोएगी। और तब मैं उसे उस सत्य के बारे में बता पाऊँगा जो मैंने पाया है। और उसके कष्ट भी दूर हो जाएँगे। किन्तु उसने मात्र इतना पूछा, “अगर विश्व में कोई एक सत्य है तो वह जंगल में ही क्यों पाया जा सकता है, महल में क्या समस्या है?”
जब मैं सत्य की खोज में गया था तब मुझे पता नहीं था कि सत्य क्या है। बस इतना जानता था कि जहाँ मैं रहा हूँ, वहाँ किसी ने मुझे सत्य नहीं जानने दिया। इसलिए मैं चला गया। किन्तु यह मैं उससे बोल नहीं पाया। क्योंकि मुझे पता था कि इसके कारण मेरा उसके प्रति व्यवहार सही नहीं हो जाता। जब मैं सत्य नहीं भी जानता था, तब भी मैं कुछ और बातें जानता था। पुरुष और पिता के कर्तव्य। जो मैं जानता था, उससे भी मैंने मुँह मोड़ लिया था।
मैने जब एक बार फिर यशोधरा के चेहरे को देखा तो उस बुझे हुए चेहरे में भी मुझे वह कांति दिखायी दी, जो मैंने संघ के सबसे विद्वान् भिक्षुओं में भी नहीं देखी है। और मुझे ऐसा लगा कि यशोधरा ने भी सत्य को जान लिया है। और उसने सत्य से अधिक भी कुछ जान लिया है। शायद उसने जो जाना है उससे संसार का अधिक भला हो। किन्तु अब मैं बहुत आगे निकल चुका हूँ। मेरे ही बनाए नियमों के अनुसार संघ में स्त्रियाँ नहीं सम्मिलित हो सकती हैं। हर बात जो मैं यशोधरा से करना चाहता था, हर अनुभव जो मैं बताना चाहता था, बेमानी हो गए थे उस क्षण में।
मुझे कुछ नहीं सूझा। मैंने बात बदल दी, “देवि! भिक्षुक द्वार पर भिक्षा प्राप्ति हेतु खड़ा है।”
“मेरे पास मेरे पुत्र के अलावा कुछ नहीं है। मैं इसे आपको दान करती हूँ। आशा करती हूँ इसे सत्य किसी भिन्न तरीके से मिलेगा और संसार में एक और यशोधरा नहीं जन्म लेगी।”
उसने मुझे ताना दिया। किन्तु वह एक पत्नी द्वारा पति को दिया गया ताना नहीं था। वह एक ज्ञानी द्वारा अज्ञानी को दिया गया ताना था। मुझे रुकने की, कुछ सीखने की आवश्यकता थी। किन्तु मैं बहुत आगे निकल गया हूँ। अब मैं पीछे नहीं हट सकता।
आज के प्रवचन के बाद कपिलवस्तु के कई लोगों ने संघ में दीक्षा ली।
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इतने वर्ष बीत गए हैं। इतने लोग संघ में आ चुके हैं। कितने लोगों ने चार मूल सत्य और अष्टांग को आत्मसात कर लिया है। किन्तु फिर भी मुझे संतुष्टि क्यों नहीं होती? ऐसा क्यों लगता है कि इन सिद्धांतों को अपनाने के बाद भी लोग सत्य को नहीं पा सके हैं?
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आजकल लोग मेरा स्वागत धूप, दीप और अन्य पूजा की सामग्रियों से करने लगे हैं। कई स्थानों पर मेरी प्रार्थना के गीत लिखे जाने लगे हैं। लोग मेरे चरण-स्पर्श करना चाहते हैं और उन्हें लगता है कि बस मेरे आशीर्वाद मात्र से उन्हें निर्वाण मिल जाएगा। बड़े-बड़े, धनी सेठ और व्यापारी हमारे भिक्षुओं को विहार और उद्यान दान कर के पुण्य और निर्वाण की प्राप्ति करने का प्रयत्न कर रहे हैं। यह सब क्या हो रहा है? मैं तो संसार में सत्य का संदेश देने के उद्देश्य से निकला था। फिर सत्य से अधिक महत्वपूर्ण मैं कैसे हो गया? यह सही नहीं हो रहा है।
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अब तो संघ इतना बड़ा हो गया है कि कई भिक्षु मुझसे अलग रह कर भी यात्रा करते हैं। मेरे नाम पर किन बातों का प्रचार किया जा रहा है इस पर अब मेरा वश नहीं रह गया है। सुना है कुछ स्थानों पर लोगों ने अष्टांग को लिखकर दीवारों पर चिपका लिया है और सुबह-शाम उसे पढ़ते हैं। क्या मैं कभी उन्हें समझा पाऊँगा कि उन्हें पढ़ने मात्र से किसी का कल्याण नहीं होगा। जब मैं लोगों को सत्य की महत्ता समझाने का प्रयत्न करता हूँ, ताकि वह मुझे सत्य और ईश्वर ना समझें, तो वे लोग इसे मेरा बड़प्पन समझते हैं।
ये मैंने क्या कर दिया है? विश्व को सत्य दिखाने के लिए निकला था मैं, लेकिन मैं तो लोगों को और भटका रहा हूँ। क्या कहा था उस नवयुवक ने, जो मुझसे कई वर्ष पहले जेतवन में मिला था। उसे पता था कि मैंने सत्य को पाया है। किन्तु हर किसी को अपना सत्य स्वयं ही ढूँढ़ना पड़ता है। इसलिए वह संघ की शरण नें नहीं आएगा। सत्य कहा था उसने। क्या उसे सत्य मिल गया?
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आज जब राहुल को समाधि पर से उठते देखा तो मुझे उसके चेहरे पर वही कांति दिखाई दी जो मैंने यशोधरा के चेहरे पर अंतिम भेंट में देखी थी। राहुल ने मेरे चरण-स्पर्श किए और कहा,”भगवन्! आज मैंने अपना सत्य पा लिया है। और अब मुझे जाने की आवश्यकता है।”
मुझे उसकी बात पर एक बार में ही विश्वास हो गया। उसने सत्य पा लिया था। मैं पहली बार उसे लेकर एकांत में टहलने निकला। आज वह मेरा शिष्य या मेरा छोटा-सा बालक नहीं था। उससे मैं किसी बराबर वाले की तरह बात कर सकता था। मैंने उसे अपने मन की बात बताई। कि किस तरह मुझे लग रहा है कि मैने लोगों को सत्य के पास ले जाने के स्थान पर उन्हें और भटका दिया है। और किस तरह मुझे इन सबसे दूर चले जाने की इच्छा हो रही है।
राहुल के उत्तर में ऐसी गंभीरता थी, जिससे मैं आश्चर्यचकित हो गया, “भगवन्। मैं आपकी मनोदशा अच्छी तरह से समझ रहा हूँ। आपके साथ भेजने से पहले मुझसे माताजी ने कहा था ‘तुम्हें मैं तुम्हारे पिता के सुपुर्द कर रही हूँ। आशा करती हूँ कि तुम उनसे प्रेरित होगे और सत्य की खोज करोगे। किन्तु पुत्र! हर किसी को अपना सत्य स्वयं ही ढूँढ़ना पड़ता है। और सत्य जानने के बाद एक बात और जाननी होती है। कि उस सत्य को जानने के बाद जो सही लगे वह करो। किन्तु यह आशा मत रखो कि कोई और आसानी से वह सत्य तुम्हारे द्वारा पा लेगा।’ भगवन्, उनकी बातों को याद कर के मुझे आश्चर्य नहीं हो रहा आपके विचारों पर।”
यशोधरा जानती थी। यही वह बात थी जो वह जानती थी। मेरे सत्य के आगे की बात।
राहुल ने आगे कहा, “किन्तु एक और बात है जिसे आप अपनी निराश मनोदशा में अनदेखा कर रहे हैं।”
“वह क्या है?”
“भगवन्! मैं मानता हूँ कि आपका सत्य विश्व नहीं समझ पाया है। और आसानी से समझ पाएगा भी नहीं। किन्तु क्या आपने यह नहीं देखा कि कम-से-कम जाति प्रथा से प्रताड़ित लोगों में पहली बार एक आशा कि किरण जगी है। कर्मकांडों और कई अन्य सामाजिक बुराइयों के बारे में लोगों ने सोचना प्रारंभ तो किया है। मानता हूँ कि अगर लोग सत्य को समझ जाते तो ये सब बातें वैसे ही बेमानी हो जातीं। किन्तु जब तक पूरा विश्व सत्य को नहीं समझता, कम-से-कम कुछ तो पहले से अच्छा हो सकता है। यदि आज आप इन सबको बीच में छोड़ कर चले गए तो जो अविश्वास इनके मन में घर कर लेगा, उसके बाद तो सत्य की खोज के लिए कोई आशा ही नहीं बची रह जाएगी भगवन्।”
राहुल चला गया। वह दुनिया में सत्य के प्रचार का प्रयत्न नहीं करेगा। बस स्वयं सत्य के मार्ग पर चलेगा। और शायद उससे जिन थोड़े लोगों का कल्याण होगा, वह कम नहीं होगा। मेरे किए गए कार्य से अधिक सम्पूर्ण होगा।
यशोधरा! मैं उस दिन रुका क्यों नहीं? किन्तु अब तो और भी देर हो चुकी है। अब तो मैं और भी आगे निकल आया हूँ।
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मुझे निर्वाण मिले बहुत समय बीत गया है। लोगों ने सत्य से दूर जाने को जो काम मेरे रहते ही प्रारंभ कर दिया था, वह तो अब और भी अधिक गहरी जड़े ले चुका है। मेरे नाम पर मंदिर बनाए गए हैं। कई जगहों पर मुझे भगवान माना जाता हैं। चीन और जापान में तो मेरे कई अवतार भी माने जाते हैं। बौद्ध धर्म भी बन गया है, जिसके अपने ही नियम हैं। और उस धर्म का ‘संस्थापक’ मुझे माना जाता है।
किन्तु इतिहास बदलने की शक्ति मुझमें नहीं है। काश! मेरे अंदर वह दैवीय शक्ति सच में होती, जो लोग मानते हैं कि मेरे अंदर थी। तो मैं इतिहास में जाकर कुछ घटनाओं को बदल देता। महात्मा बुद्ध का पहला उपदेश - सारनाथ में - कभी नहीं होता।
by...........
PAWANDEEP SANDHU
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Buddha reincarnation Ram Bahadur Bamjan - 18 year old miracle boy!
Ram Bahadur Bamjan - now an 18 year old boy, was born in Nepal (a Himalayan nation that borders northern India) and gained massive popularity after he acquired what people believe is the ability to disappear and appear anywhere. In May 2005, he started meditating (worshiping) at his home village Ratanapuri, then disappeared and appeared on two occasions for 10 and 4 months respectively.
In March last year (2007) he was found by the police, meditating in a 7 feet deep underground bunker.
In August 2007, he addressed a large gathering and said some things about international peace and spiritualism. wikipedia here>
2 days ago - On the 10th of November 2008, Bamjan appeared again. Since then, people are visiting in their tens of thousands, just to get a look at the “reincarnation of Gautam Buddha”, as he’s widely believed to be.
In March last year (2007) he was found by the police, meditating in a 7 feet deep underground bunker.
In August 2007, he addressed a large gathering and said some things about international peace and spiritualism. wikipedia here>
2 days ago - On the 10th of November 2008, Bamjan appeared again. Since then, people are visiting in their tens of thousands, just to get a look at the “reincarnation of Gautam Buddha”, as he’s widely believed to be.
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