🌹गुरूजी डाक्टर ने कहा है कि यह रोग होने की संभावना है, बस इसी की चिंता है।

उत्तर--यदि मानस कमजोर है, तो रोग नही है तो भी आएगा।

आदमी जो सोचता है, वह होता है।अपना भविष्य आदमी स्व्यं बनाता है।

तुम बैठ के यही सोचोगी की हमको रोग है, हमको रोग है, तो रोग को न्योता(invite) दे रही हो।

🌷मन और शरीर का बड़ा गहरा सम्बन्ध है।जिस वक़्त कोई बात मन में जोर से उठी, तो तुरंत शरीर में संवेदना वैसी ही उठेगी।मन में जो घटना घटी वह शरीर के साथ जुड़ जाती है।उसे हम देख नही सकते।

चिंता को चिंता कि तरह देख सकना आसान नही है।भय को भय की तरह नही देख पाते।वह बहुत ऊँची बात है।पर संवेदना को देख सकते हैं।

तो संवेदना को देखना शुरू कर दो। जरुरी नही सिर से पाँव तक चक्कर लगाया जाय।जहाँ संवेदना हो रही है, उसी को साक्षी भाव से देखे जा रहें हैं।

देखते-देखते भय और चिंता की ताकत कम होती जायेगी, और फिर समाप्त हो जायेगी।

भय और चिंता भी अनित्य है, और संवेदना भी अनित्य है।

🌸बहुत बार हम पर जो संकट आनेवाला है, वह साफ़ दिखने लगता है।वह घटना तो बाद में घटेगी, मन में घबराहट पहले होगी।हम जो बीज डालेंगे, वह बीज डालते ही एक तरह की संवेदना होने लगेगी। फल तो बाद में आएगा, संवेदना पहले होने लगेगी।यह प्रकृति का नियम है।बीज भी संवेदना के साथ, फल भी संवेदना के साथ आएगा।

तो फल आने के पहले ही बीज के साथ हमने संवेदना देखनी शुरू कर दी, तो फल की ताकत भी कम हो जायेगी।ताकत कम होते होते जो फल आएगा वह फूल की छड़ी की तरह आएगा।उसकी ताकत कम कर दी।

आम आदमी को होश नही रहता है तो चिंता करता रहता है।हमारा क्या हो जाएगा, हमारा क्या हो जाएगा।तो उसका फल आनेवाला है, उसको मजबूत बना देंगे, बढ़ा देंगे।

हम चाहते हैं भला; और कर देते हैं बुरा, उससे बात उलटी हो जाती है।

What Happens at Death ?

What Happens at Death ? 

                  - by S. N. Goenka.

To understand what happens at death, let us first understand what death is. 

Death is like a bend in a continuous river of becoming. 

It appears that death is the end of a process of becoming, and certainly it may be so in the case of an arahant (a fully liberated being) or a Buddha; but with an ordinary person this flow of becoming continues even after death. 

Death puts an end to the activities of one life, and the very next moment starts the play of a new life. 

On the one side is the last moment of this life and on the other side is the first moment of the next life. 

It is as though the sun rises as soon as it sets with no interval of darkness in between, or as if the moment of death is the end of one chapter in the book of becoming, and another chapter of life begins the very next moment.

Although no simile can convey the exact process, still one might say that this flow of becoming is like a train running on a track. It reaches the station of death and there, slightly decreasing speed for a moment, carries on again with the same speed. It does not stop at the station even for a moment. 

For one who is not an arahant, the station of death is not a terminus but a junction from where thirty-one different tracks diverge. 

The train, as soon as it arrives at the station, moves onto one or another of these tracks and continues. 

This speeding "train of becoming," fuelled by the electricity of the kammic reactions of the past, keeps on running from one station to the next, on one track or the other, a continuous journey that goes on without ceasing.

This changing of "tracks" happens automatically. 

As the melting of ice into water and the cooling of water to form ice happens according to laws of nature, so the transition from life to life is controlled by set laws of nature. 

According to these laws, the train not only changes tracks by itself, it also lays the next tracks itself. 

For this train of becoming the junction of death, where the change of tracks takes place, is of great importance. 

🌷 Here the present life is abandoned (this is called cuti-disappearance, death). The demise of the body takes place, and immediately the next life starts (a process which is called patisandhi - conception or taking up of the next birth). 

The moment of patisandhi is the result of the moment of death; the moment of death creates the moment of conception. 

Since every death moment creates the next birth moment, death is not only death, but birth as well. 

At this junction, life changes into death and death into birth.

Thus every life is a preparation for the next death. 

If someone is wise, he or she will use this life to the best advantage and prepare for a good death. 

The best death is the one that is the last, that is not a junction but a terminus: the death of an arahant. 

Here there will be no track on which the train can run further; but until such a terminus is reached, one can at least ensure that the next death gives rise to a good birth and that the terminus will be reached in due course. It all depends on us, on our own efforts. 

We are makers of our own future, we create our own welfare or misery as well as our own liberation.

How is it that we are the creators of the tracks that receive the on rushing train of becoming? 

To answer this we must understand what kamma 

(action) is.

🌷 The healthy or unhealthy volition of our mind is kamma. 

Before performing any action at the mental, vocal, or physical level, whatever wholesome or unwholesome volition arises in the mind is the root of that action. 

The consciousness arises due to a contact at a sense door, then the sañña(perception and recognition) evaluates the experience, sensations (vedana) arise, then a kammic reaction (sankhara) takes place. 

These volitional reactions are of various kinds. 

How strong is the volition? How slow, deep, shallow, heavy or light? 

According to this the intensity of these reactions will vary. 

Some are like a line drawn on water, some like a line drawn on sand and some a line on rock. 

If the volition is wholesome, then the action will be the same and the fruits will be beneficial; and if the volition is unwholesome, then the action will be the same-it will give fruits of misery.

Not all of these reactions result in a new birth. 

Some are so shallow that they do not give any substantial fruits. 

Some are a bit heavier but will be used up in this lifetime. They do not carry over into the next life. 

Others being still heavier continue with the flow of life into the next birth, but they themselves do not give new birth. Nevertheless they can continue to multiply during this life and the next. 

Many kammas however, are bhava-kammas, or bhava-sankharas, those that give a new birth, a new life. 

Each one of these bhava-kammas (actions that give rise to the process of becoming) carries a magnetic force that is in tune with the vibrations of a particular plane of existence. 

The vibrations of a particular bhava-kamma will unite with the vibrations of the bhava-loka (world, plane) that has the same intensity, and the two will attract each other according to the universal laws pertaining to forces of kamma.

As soon as one of these bhava-kammas is generated, this "railway train of becoming" gets attracted to one or the other of the thirty-one tracks at the station of death. 

🌷 Actually these thirty-one tracks are the thirty-one fields of existence. 

They are the eleven kama lokas (realms of sensuality: the four lower realms of existence, and the seven human and celestial realms); the sixteen rupa-brahma lokas (where fine material body remains), and the four arupa-brahma lokas(non-material realms, where only mind remains).

At the last moment of this life, a specific bhava-sankhara will arise. This sankhara capable of giving a new birth will get connected with the vibrations of the related realm of existence. 

At the moment of death the whole field of thirty-one realms is open, so it depends on which sankhara arises as to which track the train of existence runs on next. 

In the same way a train gets shunted onto a new track, the force of the bhava-kamma 

reaction provides the push to the flow of consciousness into the next existence. 

For example, the bhava-kamma of anger or malice, being of the nature of heat and agitation, will unite with some lower field of existence. 

Similarly, one with the nature of mettā (compassionate love), having peaceful and cool vibrations can only unite with some brahma-loka.

This is the law of nature, and these laws are so perfectly "computerized" that there is never any flaw in the operation.

At the moment of death, generally, some intense sankhara will arise; it may be either of a wholesome nature or an unwholesome nature. 

For example, if one has murdered one's father or mother, or perhaps some saintly person, in this lifetime, then the memory of this episode will arise at the moment of death. 

Likewise if one has done some deep meditation practice, a similar state of mind will arise.

When there is no such dense bhava-kamma to arise, then a comparatively less dense kamma will arise. Whatever memory is awakened will manifest as the kamma. For example, one may remember a wholesome kamma of giving food to a saintly person, or one may remember killing someone. Reflections on such past kammas as these may arise. 

Otherwise, objects related to the particular kamma may arise. One may see the plate full of food that was offered as dana, or the gun that was used to kill another. 

These are called the kamma-nimittas (signs).

In another case, a sign or a symbol of the next life may appear. 

This is called gati-nimitta 

(departing sign). 

These nimmitas correspond to whichever bhava-loka the flow is being attracted towards, such as the scene of some celestial world, or perhaps of an animal world. The dying person will often experience one of these signs as a forewarning, just as the train's headlight illuminates the track ahead. 

The vibrations of these nimittas are identical to the vibrations of the plane of existence of the next birth.

A good Vipassana meditator has the capacity to avoid the tracks leading to the lower realms of existence. 

He clearly understands the laws of nature, and practises to keep himself ready for death at all times. If he has reached an advanced age, there is all the more reason to remain aware every moment. 

What preparations are undertaken? 

One practises Vipassana, remaining equanimous to whatever sensations arise on the body and thereby breaking the habit pattern of reacting to the unpleasant sensations. 

Thus the mind, which is usually generating new unwholesome sankharas, develops a new habit of remaining equanimous. 

Very often at the time of death, if there are no very heavy sankharas to arise, habitual reactions occur; and as the new sankhara is being made, an old one from the storehouse might get stirred up onto the surface, gaining in strength as it arises.

At the approach of death, it is very likely that one will experience very unpleasant sensations. Old age, disease and death are dukkha (misery). 

They produce unpleasant sensations of a grosser type. If one is not skilful in observing these sensations with equanimity, then one will be likely to react with feelings of anger, irritation, maybe malice, which provides an opportunity for a bhava-sankhara of like vibration to arise. 

However, as in the cases of some well developed meditators, one can work to avoid reacting to these immensely painful sensations by maintaining equanimity at the time of death. 

Then, even those related bhava-sankharas lying deep in the bhavanga (seat of birth-producing kamma) will not have an opportunity to arise. 

An ordinary person will usually remain apprehensive, even terror-stricken at the approach of death and thus will give occasion for a fearful bhava-sankhara  surface. 

In the same way, grief, sorrow, depression, and other feelings may arise at the thought of separation from loved ones, and the related sankhara will come up and dominate the mind.

A Vipassana meditator, by observing all his or her sensations with equanimity, weakens the sankhara and thus does not allow it to arise at the time of death. 

The real preparation for death is this: developing a habit pattern of repeatedly observing the sensations manifesting in the body and mind with equanimity and with the understanding of anicca.

At the time of death, this strong habit of equanimity will automatically appear and the train of existence will link up with a track on which it will be possible to practise Vipassana in the new life. 

In this way, one saves oneself from birth in a lower realm and attains one of the higher realms, which is very important because Vipassana cannot be practised in the lower realms.

A meditator who is on the point of death is fortunate to have close relatives or friends nearby who can help maintain a good Dhamma atmosphere, free from lamenting and gloom; people who can practise Vipassana and generate vibrations of mettā, which are most favourable for a peaceful death.

At times a non-meditator will attain a favourable rebirth at the time of death due to the manifestation of wholesome 

bhava-sankharas such as generosity, morality and other strong wholesome qualities. 

But the special achievement of an established Vipassana meditator is that he enables himself to attain an existence where he can continue to practise Vipassana. 

In this way, by slowly decreasing the stock of accumulated bhava-sankharas stored in the bhavanga of his flow of consciousness, one shortens one's journey of becoming and reaches the goal sooner.

🌷 One comes into contact with the Dhamma in this life because of great merits one has performed in the past. 

Make this human life successful by practising Vipassana. 

Then whenever death comes, it will come with the experience of an equanimous mind, bringing with it well-being for the future.

(N.B.: The analogy of a running train changing tracks should not be mistaken for transmigration, as no entity goes from one life to the next. Nothing passes to the next life except the force of the accumulated kamma sankharas.)

Vipassana Research Institute - http://www.vridhamma.org/en2000-03

Everything is Anitya in The World

"मंगल धर्म का अनोखा अनमोल उपहार!"

🌹जीवन के अंतिम क्षणों तक भी अपने कष्टो की जरा भी परवाह न करते हुए मैत्री के अनंत सागर भगवान बुद्ध ने एक धर्म-जिज्ञासु को धर्म सिखाया जो की उसके हित-सुख का कारण बना।

जीवन के अंतिम सांस तक सभी प्राणियो की अथक सेवा।

🍁आखरी सांस छोड़ने के पहले उनके ये अंतिम अनमोल बोल-

"वयधम्मा संखारा, अप्पमादेन संपादेथ।"

हे भिक्षुओ! सुनो, सारे संस्कार व्यय-धर्मा हैं, मरण-धर्मा हैं।

जितनी भी बनी हुई वस्तुए है, व्यक्ति है, घटनाए हैं, स्थितियां हैं, वे सब नश्वर हैं, भंगुर हैं, मरणशील हैं, परिवर्तनशील हैं।

यही प्रकर्ति का कठोर सत्य है।

प्रमाद (negligience)से बचते हुए, आलस्य से दूर रहते हुए, सतत सतर्क(alert) और जागरूक(aware) रहते हुए प्रकर्ति के इस सत्य का सम्पादन करते रहो।

इस सत्य में स्थित रहते हुए अपना कल्याण साधते रहो।

Vipassana is way to Purify Mind and Get away from misery

Pujya Guruji : 

"Each morning, the light of the sun dispels the darkness of the night. It makes no difference which part of the world it is shining upon, or in which season or year; whether in the past, present or future, the darkness vanishes automatically with each sunrise. 

Similarly, the light of Vipassana dispels the darkness of ignorance and of misery regardless of the time or the place. 

All around the world today the darkness of suffering is painfully apparent. People everywhere are eager to find an answer to the misery in their lives. Thus it is no wonder that the light of Vipassana--the light of wisdom--has proven itself of such relevance to the modern world.

When we generate vibrations of negativity--anger, hatred, ill-will, animosity, ego, etc.--the atmosphere around us becomes charged with these vibrations. This pollution, although invisible, causes so many problems in human society--tensions, stress, strain, conflicts. Misery, nothing but misery. 

🌷Vipassana is the way out of this misery. 

It is a technique to purify the mind. 

In order to overcome the darkness of ignorance and negativity we must generate love, compassion and goodwill. 

In order to generate these wholesome qualities, we need to purify our minds. 

This was necessary in the past, it is necessary today, and it will always be necessary."

(Vipassana Research Institute - http://www.vridhamma.org/Opening-Talk-94-Seminar)

कृपया साक्षी भाव को स्पष्ट करें ?

कृपया साक्षी भाव को स्पष्ट करें ?

उत्तर :मनुष्य का अर्थ है जिसके पास मन है .अर्थात सोचने की क्षमता ,विचार करने की क्षमता .

पशु के पास विचार करने की योग्यता नहीं होती है ,उसके पास मन नहीं है .

इस विचार शक्ति के कारण मानव ने समाज ,विज्ञान,उद्योग ,विज्ञान ,भाषा ,भवन ,सारा नया संसार रच दिया .

यह विचार शक्ति या मन मनुष्य के लिए समस्या बन गया है ,क्योंकि विचार क्रिया अनियंत्रित ,एक आदत होगी है

जो रुकने का नाम नहीं लेते है .जो हमारे दुखों का कारण है .मन ही दुःख व बंधन का कारण है.

ऋषि ,मुनि ,बुद्ध पुरुष या आत्मज्ञानी पुरुषों ,ने अपने अनुभव से यह घोषणा की कि इस मन के परे,विचार के ऊपर

चेतना का एक और स्तर है जिसे आत्मा या साक्षी कहते है .साक्षी चेतना मन से मुक्त है .साक्षी चेतना का यह गुण है कि

वह विचार करने में भी समर्थ है ,विचार शक्ति से युक्त भी है और विचार से मुक्त भी है ,निर्विचार भी है .

विचारों के ,मन के दृष्टा को ,साक्षी कहते है .जब हम विचार को देखते है तब हम साक्षी होते है ,दृष्टा होते है.

जब हम सिर्फ विचार करते है ,तब हम मन या विचारक होते है.

आप जब निर्विचार है तब आप साक्षी है .शब्द रहित आत्म बोध ,"मैं हूँ " के बोध को साक्षी कहते हैं .

उदहारण के लिए जब आप एक फूल[अथवा किसी दृश्य] को निर्विचार होकर देखते है तब आप साक्षी है .

अथवा जब आप किसी फूल या दृश्य को देखते है तब आपके अंदर उस फूल के बारे में मन में प्रतिक्रिया उठती है की यह गुलाब

का फूल है ,तब आप उस प्रतिक्रिया ,विचार को भी देखे तो यह हुआ साक्षी .साक्षी का अर्थ है आप दृश्य और दृष्टा दोनों को जान रहे है .आपकी शुद्ध सत्ता साक्षी है .

Thinking during meditation

🌷Que : As I am meditating (during a course), some thoughts come out in clear sequence, and I feel I'm beginning to solve some of the things that are of concern to me...

SNG : Yes. So that becomes a big distraction. 

Although it is very helpful because every thought that will come at the deeper level will be a good thought, a wholesome thought, and the decision will be a right decision. 

But now you are not here for decision making, you are here to purify the mind. 

So even if such thoughts start coming, don't suppress them, but don't take any interest in them. 

Pay entire attention to the sensation. 

If you start feeling very delighted with this kind of thought, then you forget the sensation, and your process of purification has stopped. 

So be with the sensation and let the thoughts come. They won't harm you.

 

🌷 Is it all right to practise techniques such as hatha-yoga and pranayama?

SNG : The physical aspects of Yoga and pranayama go perfectly all right with Vipassana. 

But the meditation part of yoga is dangerous with the practise of Vipassana.

That should not be added to it. Merely the physical part of it all right, nothing wrong.

Apply Dhamma in Life

Apply Dhamma in Life.

- by S. N. Goenka.

(The following has been adapted from Goenkaji's discourse on Day 30 of the 30-day course.)

The most important thing is to apply Dhamma in life. 

If you merely take courses after courses—ten-day courses or long courses—and do not apply it in life, Dhamma will become a lifeless rite or ritual. 

Different religions and sects have their own rites, rituals, and ceremonies. It would be very unfortunate if Vipassana courses also become a rite or ritual for a meditator. 

Whenever you join a ten-day course or a longer course, you are eradicating your weaknesses and developing your strength. 

You have to use this strength in your day-to-day life. 

In a course, you work at the deeper level of your mind, eradicating layer after layer of complexes. 

After the course, if you again start accumulating the same complexes, the same impurities, the same defilements, then the purpose is not served. 

One has not understood what one is doing. 

The entire life pattern must change. 

Dhamma must manifest itself in day-to-day life.

One has to keep trying to apply Dhamma in life. 

"Whatever strength I have gained in a course like this, I will use it to ensure that my life becomes a Dhamma life. I will perfect my sīla, gain mastery over my mind and purify my mind. While facing different situations in life, I will practice Dhamma instead of generating unwholesome sankhāras (mental reactions)." 

In this way, you must keep watch over yourself.

You have a human life and have come in contact with the wonderful Dhamma. 

You have developed confidence in Vipassana. 

Now you must make best use of it. 

Gaining a human life, coming in contact with Dhamma, and learning how to practise Dhamma—this is a rare opportunity indeed.

The goal is clear: to come out of all misery. This is possible only when one eradicates all the defilements. 

The aim: at least to reach the goal to become an ariya, a sotāpanna. Then Dhamma will take care because one is liberated from the four lower fields.Before one becomes sotāpanna, one has to develop oneself to becomes a cūla-sotāpanna, a minorsotāpanna. 

A sotāpanna starts flowing in the stream of liberation, and is bound to reach the final goal of full liberation. 

A cūla-sotāpanna starts flowing in the stream of Dhamma and is bound to become a sotāpanna. 

There are three important qualities in the life of a sotāpanna:

1) Total liberation from all doubts and scepticism about Dhamma (vicikicchā). 

How can there be any doubt about Dhamma, about the path after one has directly experienced Dhamma, directly experienced the path, has walked on the path, and experienced the benefits. If one has doubts about Dhamma, about the path, about the technique, and feels that one has become a sotāpanna, it is a big delusion.

2) Total liberation from attachment to all rites and rituals (sīla-vata parāmasa). 

Every sect, every organized religion has some rites, rituals, and ceremonies. 

Some people develop tremendous attachment towards these rites, rituals and ceremonies, and feel that they will get liberated by practising them. 

A sotāpanna is liberated from this kind of delusion and understands that attachment to these rites and rituals cannot take one to the final goal. If one still has attachment towards them and feels that "I am a sotāpanna," it is a big illusion, a big delusion.

3) Total liberation from the belief of some essence in this mind-matter phenomena (sakkāyaditthi). 

For conventional purposes, to deal with people, one has to use these words—"I" and "mine". 

However in reality neither the physical structure nor the mental structure nor the combination of the two is "I" or "mine" or "my soul".

That becomes clear to a sotāpanna not by listening to discourses or by reading scriptures but by direct personal experience. 

Having divided, dissected, disintegrated, and dissolved the entire physical and mental structure, it becomes clear how the mind and matter interaction is going on constantly, how the illusion of "I" and "mine" is being created. 

These 3 qualities become established in a sotāpanna. 

A cūla-sotāpanna develops these very qualities, because unless these qualities are developed, the goal of sotāpanna is far away.

A rare and wonderful opportunity has come in your life. 

Make full use of this opportunity for your own liberation. 

A) Buddhuppādo dullabho lokasmiṃ.

One is fortunate to be born in an aeon in which twenty-five centuries back someone became fully enlightened. 

It is so rare for someone to become fully enlightened, a sammāsambuddha. 

One has to accumulate and perfect pāramīs forcountless kappas (aeons); it takes a very long time. So manykappas are empty; there is no Buddha at all. We are fortunate that in this present kappa, Gotama became sammāsambuddha and even after twenty-five centuries, his sāsana, his teaching, the Dhamma, Vipassana, is still alive.

B ) Manussa-bhāvo dullabho. 

It is so rare to get a human life—such a valuable life. Nature has given such wonderful capability to human beings—to observe the truth within themselves. One observes the mind-matter interaction: how due to this reason, this happens; how if this is not there, this does not happen.

The Dhamma becomes so clear to a human being because of the capability to objectively observe the reality within oneself.People say that someone is fortunate if he or she dies as a human being and is born in the celestial world. 

But the Buddha says somebody in the celestial world who dies and is born as a human being is really fortunate.

A human life is a wonderful life. The faculty of a human being to be able to look within is so wonderful. This is the life when one can observe the reality as it is, go beyond the apparent truth and move towards the ultimate truth. We are fortunate, we have got this rare opportunity now; we are human beings.

C) Dullabhaṃ saddhammasavanaṃ.

However if a human being does not come across the truth, the law, the Dhamma; if he or she does not even get an opportunity to hear the Dhamma, one does not make any use of human life. One spends the whole life like any other being—an animal, a bird or a reptile. Just to listen to the truth about the Dhamma—this itself is so rare.

D ) Dullabhā saddhā sampattiṃ.

Even if one has heard about Dhamma, listened to the words of Dhamma, it is so rare to develop confidence, devotion, faith in Dhamma. 

E ) Pabbajita bhāvo dullabho. 

Even if one develops faith in Dhamma, it is so difficult to leave all the multifarious responsibilities of the householder's life and live like a monk or a nun,.

All these rare things have been attained. Now what remains is—establish yourself in Dhamma, strengthen yourself in Dhamma.

Handadāni, bhikkhave, āmantayāmi vo, 

The Buddha invites his disciples, just before he passes away to heed his last words.

All his words are so wonderful. 

But his last words are like an invaluable heritage, an invaluable gift: 

Vaya-dhammā sankhārā, appamādena sampādetha.

All sankhārās are vaya-dhammā, anicca. 

Whatever gets composed is bound to get decomposed, whatever arises is bound to pass away. This is the truth; this is the reality; this is the law; this is the nature; this is the Dhamma. 

Keep on realizing this reality diligently, appamādena—remaining alert, remaining attentive.

It is a wonderful opportunity to be a human being; to come in contact with the Buddha's teaching; to hear the beautiful truth of the Dhamma; to develop faith in the Dhamma; and to practise Vipassana, living the life of a monk or a nun.

Make use of all these in your day-to-day life. Dhamma is not just for ten days; Dhamma is not just for thirty days; Dhamma is for the whole life. 

Every moment is so precious. 

Every moment for a human being who knows about Dhamma, who has realized the truth of Dhamma even a little, who knows how to practise Dhamma, becomes so precious. 

You can't afford to lose this opportunity.

Make use of it for your own good, for your own benefit, for your own liberation and for the good and benefit of so many others. There is so much suffering all around. There is no other way to come out of suffering.

May