ALERTNESS
LET ME START THIS SECTION WITH A SMALL BUT WITTY STORY ABOUT THE GREAT SCIENTIST SI ISAAC NEWTON.
NEWTON ONCE INVITED A FRIEND TO DINNER AND THEN FORGOT ABOUT IT. WHEN THE FRIEND ARRIVED, HE FOUND THE SCIENTIST DEEP IN MEDITATION.
KNOWING THAY THE SCIENTIST SHOULD NOT BE DISTURBED WHILE IN CONTEMPLATION THE FRIEND SAT DOWN QUITELY AND WAITED. SOMETIMES LATER DINNER FOR ONE WAS BROUGHT ON A TRAY. HOWEVER, NEWTON CONTINUED TO REMAIN IN MEDITATION, PULLING UP A CHAIR AND WITHOUT DISTURBING NEWTON, THE FRIEND SILENTLY ATE THE DINNER. LATER, NEWTON CAME OUT OF HIS CONTEMPLATIVE STATE, LOOKED WITH SIME CONFUSION AT THE EMPTY DISHES AND SAID IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE PROOF BEFORE MY EYES, I COULD HAVE SWORN THAT I HAD NOT YET DINED.
MOST LUCKY PEOPLE HAVE UNERSTOOD THAT CALMING THE MIND IS A KEY METHOD TO INCREASE ALTERNESS, MANY YEARS AGO I VISITED IGATPURI TO ATTEND A VIPASSANA MEDITATION CAMP. THE COURSE PARTICIPANTS HAD TO MEDITATE FOR OVER TEN HOURS DAILY AND MAINTAIN COMPLETE SILENCE THROUGHUOT THE TEN DAY STAY. IN THE EVENING WE WOULD HEAR VIDEOTAPED LECTURES BY SHRI S.N. GOENKA , THE FOUNDER OF THE MOVEMENT. IT WAS POSSIBLY THE ONLY HUMAN VOICE WE HEARD DURING OUR ENTIRE STAY. ONE OF HIS LECTURES WAS ABOUT TAMING A WILD ELEPHANT.
THE METHOD USED TO TAME WILD ELEPHANT IN ANCIENT TIMES WAS TO TIE THE CAPTURED BEAST TO A FIRM POST WITH A STRONG ROPE. THE UNHAPPY ANIMAL WOULD SCREAM, STAMP AND THROW A FIT, USUALLY FOR SEVERAL DAYS. EVENTUALLY THE ELEPHANT WOULD REALIZE THAT IT COULD NOT ESCAPE. AT THIS POINT IT WOULD SETTLE DOWN. THE TRAINER COULD NOW BEGIN TO FEED AND HANDLE IT WITH SOME MEASURE OF SAFETY.
AFTER SOME TIME, THE TRAINER WOULD BE ABLE TO DISPENSE WITH THE ROPE AND POST ENTIRELY.
ACCORDING TO PROPONENTS OF VIPASSANA, THE HUMAN MIND IS LIKE A WILD ELEPHANT, MINDFULNESS IS THE ROPE. AND MEDITATION IS THE FIXED POST.
MEDITATION AND MINDFULLNESS CAN TAME THE MIND, MUCH LIKE THE POST AND ROPE CAN TAME THE BEAST.
No comments:
Post a Comment