To gain mastery over mind

By Francis P Barclay

Are you worried about oppressive assaults of life? Are you into addiction which you want to but cannot come out of? Are you smote with depression or insomnia? Or suffer the losses of possessions, or disheartened in personal
relations? Don't worry, there's a way out. Do `Vipassana'.
A recent international conference of doctors noted that almost 95 percent of diseases are mind-related and no medication can cure them.
But there is a way to control all mind-related problems, and it is meditation.
`Vipassana', a Pali word meaning `insight,' was one of the two principal meditation techniques used by Gautama the Buddha to conquer his mind. It is a simple and practical way to achieve peace of mind.
`Vipassana' originated in India and spread to the neighbouring countries like Burma (now Myanmar), Sri Lanka, Thailand and some other eastern countries. Five centuries after the Buddha, it disappeared from India. In
other countries also, this technique has lost its purity. In Myanmar, however, it is still preserved by a chain of devoted teachers.
In India, it was reintroduced by S N Goenka, who is basically a Rajasthani doing business in Myanmar. Now, people who call themselves `sevaks' are spreading the technique through `Vipassana' meditation centres all over the country, with the head office at Igatpur in Maharastra.
`Vipassana' enables the meditators to gain mastery over the mind and develop experiential wisdom to eradicate all the defilements of `craving' and `aversion'.
``Thousands of prisoners do `Vipassana' and a phenomenal change has been noticed in them. They avow their faults with tears rolling down their cheeks, instead of resentment festering in thoughts of vengeance,'' says a
teacher of `Vipassana'.
The specialty of `Vipassana' is that it does not give any false hope. It is a practical method which helps to understand the impermanence of sensations and thereby helps to get out of craving and aversion, he adds.
``The meditator discovers for himself, that every time he generates hatred or animosity against anyone, at that very moment he becomes agitated and loses peace of mind. And he wishes to be free from animosity, hatred and
anger,'' Goenkaji says and adds: ``Anger is harmful as it tries to control one from time to time. To solve the problem, one has to seek a deeper reason for the anger within oneself. Simply diverting the mind to some other
activity is only a temporary solution. One must go to the root of the problem and learn to observe anger.''
He explains how `Vipassana', which involves equanimous observation of sensations with the understanding of their impermanent nature, helps one to overcome anger.
``Unwanted things happen quite often. It is impossible for all our desires to be fulfilled in spite of the abundance and the extent of resources at our command. We may possess this wisdom but when time comes we give in to our emotions and lose the balance of our mind. We surrender ourselves to our desires and become the slaves of our mind. `Vipassana' helps in conquering emotions and helps us to be the master of our mind,'' Goenkaji explains.
The Vipassana Meditation Centre has been organising 10-day residential course since 1997. The participants would have to meditate for about 10 hours a day. For the first three days the participants would observe their
natural breath in `Ana pana'.
``It is to prepare the base of the mind and remove the surface-level agitations in them. And they would observe the sensations of the body and realise their impermanence,'' he says.
This year, the free course would commence on May 22 and end on June 1. There would also be a two-day course for children from May 30. For registration and further details contact Bharat N. Shah - 98423 47244,
0422-2472441, 2470949 or Mahesh Agarwal - 98434 51153.