Is Vippasana about Buddhism?

       "Vippasana" has created a furore in my house. The moment me and my wife utter this word, my sons say "Oh no, and now you will talk about Vippasana." Others in the family believe that it is a Buddhist technique and something got to do with "Buddhism". Yes, it truly is about "Buddhism", but in the true sense of the word and not in the filtered sectarian "Buddhism" that is prevalent in our world today. Buddhas existed before Siddhartha Gautama and many exist today too, so if we talk about trying to reach their state by practicing something, and if we call this practice as "Buddhism" , then yes Vippasana is about Buddhism. But if you mean that "Buddhist" is one who has to go to a monastery and chant some verses and perform certain rites and rituals, then you are very wrong. 

  Labelling any technique and trying to define it definitely dilutes the very importance of the technique. Vippasana is a technique meant for purification of the mind from the deepest layers. So how is that possible, ask many? Well, what happens when we try to meditate? Our mind wanders, but where does it go? Now, by these questions, we have started a process of observation. These questions are the key. So, instead of just accepting our mind and the thoughts that ensue as  a result of our various experiences, we have started observing our thoughts as if there is another entity that is doing the thinking. This is the key point. But how do we observe because it may not be possible for someone to do that at all, because there is a strong belief that there is nothing true except our own thoughts. Well, that is the mystery! Thoughts have made human beings unconscious and fragmented in perception and views. If only we were  attentive to all that is happening at this instance around us, to observe the fullness and beauty of life around us without labelling any thing or judging anyone, we would realise that all our thoughts are only an outcome of a certain personal reaction due to "EGO" to an external event or stimuli that is recorded and memorized. All these recordings and memories are dormant and lying ready to flood our minds as soon as they get a similar stimuli from external environment. How can this be overcome? Here lies another beautiful fact: The moment we start observing this reaction as another entity observing the behavior of our own mind, the mind calms down and the memory starts to vaporize. An example can be given here:- 

Children at home tend to seek attention by crying even when they are not really hurt. In such situations, based on a certain habit pattern, there are certain reactions evoked from the parents, for example, some parent my react with pity and sympathy, another parent may scold the child and ask the child to shut up as there is actually no issue and the parent is aware of the child's nature. All these reactions can be very spontaneous. If we were to just hold ourselves back and observe the feelings/ thoughts going through our mind when the child screams/ cries for attention, we will observe this thought coming and then slowly ,as if it is a magic happening, subsiding on its own. This is the true form of nature, if you just observe something without any judgment, no memory gets attached and it just passes away. Instead of deriding the thought, we must pause and just observe the thought and say to one self: "See this thought just came to my mind", and then the magic of nature will be visible.

Vippasana is nothing but this art of observation of sensations on our own body which are well beyond our control and are ephemeral and just arise and pass away. These sensations are linked to our mind and based on certain external stimuli and the memories stored in our mind, they manifest as sensations on our bodies. We normally cannot feel these sensations unless they are very strong. All subtle sensations are hidden as our mind cannot sense them normally. Vippasana makes the mind sharper to observe even those subtle sensations. The pivotal point here is that the mind has stopped wandering and is now listening to it's master and is in the "NOW" rather than wandering into the "PAST" or the "FUTURE", which was its original habit.

Therefore, Vippasana is only a tool to master one's mind and try and purify it from the deepest layers by vaporizing all memories and recordings collected due to the external stimulus to one's EGO, which a person mistakes to be self. The "EGO" is not the self and one must learn to differentiate between the two to become more alert and observe the games of the mind.

Thoughts and consciousness- What is the difference?

       These are a few thoughts generated after reading two phenomenal books by Eckhart Tolle- "The Power of NOW' and " The New Earth" :-

Thoughts - Where do they originate from? Are they a reflection of our past experiences?  That means we are always bonded to our past and all our actions that succeed a thought are based on a judgement which is based on our past experience. How true are those judgements? Are the perceptions fragmented as we are missing out the larger vision while looking with coloured filters at situations based on our past experiences which are absolutely specific and personal to each one of us and though it may share similarities with many other people, it still belongs to that individual only and therefore is not a universal truth. Then what is the UNIVERSAL TRUTH? Is it something mystical and special that is known only to the enlightened and that all normal human beings will always keep striving to learn about that ?

      A Lot to introspect, isnt it? I was intrigued when I read many books related to J Krishnamurti, Eckhart Tolle etc.  and realised one thing... there was a deep connection or correlation between all the literature related to spiritual leaders or writers, be it Vippasana, Art of living, Sankaracharya, Sai Baba, Prophet Mohammed, Jesus Christ, Guru Gobind Singh etc. etc. 

What is that---> All spirituality leads to a single direction and that is " INWARDS". 

    This is very difficult to understand, because most of us think that our thoughts are our innards. But have we ever tried to observe our thoughts in silence? If we try this, we will see that there are two entities-- mind and life or should I say energies . The life energy is independent and activates without any control and is actually the "now' moment or the present, whereas the mind energy keeps fluctuating between the past and the present. Don't we feel the minute silence/ blank between two successive thoughts. It is that in between silence which is the actual life energy. What if we were able to extend this moment more and more where there is no thought? Is it possible to do that? IS IT NOT ESCAPISM FROM REALITY? What is reality then, our thoughts or the blank space between two thoughts? 

    How many times have we really observed the beauty of life all around us? Do we hear the birds really in the mornings, rustling of the leaves, fluttering of the wind. Everything is alive and buzzing around us, but how conscious are we about them? Are our thoughts keeping us away from this reality? Is being aware of this reality important? Keeping our mind in a thoughtless space actually makes us aware of everything that is alive and everything is alive, only we were never "CONSCIOUS". So what is consciousness? 

    Here I correlate with Vippasana. When we practice Vippasana, we feel different sensations because our mind has become sharp and is focussed on the present, basically we are attuning ourselves with our life energy and seeing all subtleties that exist within this physical frame of our bodies. The thinking mind is put to rest and our observation in silence of various subtleties is bringing us towards the reality of life or the Universal Truth of impermanence of everything around us and teaches us to be equanimous in all situations whether they are pleasurable or painful. This is an absolute state of consciousness which takes us inwards such that we are able to isolate ourselves from our habitual mind that used to always jump from past to future keeping us away from the present. 

It is very important not to attach any labels here for eg. Vippasana or any other style for that matter because the mind is a game master and will easily deceive you into believing and making this experience as a recording and again slowly push you back into the usual "unconscious" stage of mind fluctuating from past to future etc. Acceptance of the present and trying to be aware and conscious of all life around us at each and every moment as we perform our functions will probably help us to slowly change our habit pattern and take us closer to the reality or the universal truth of consciousness away from the thought filled mind which clouds you with fear, negativity and self- deceit.