Tue, 29 Oct 2019 10:25:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 32 32 157365197 Benefits of Vipassana or Satipatthana Tue, 22 Oct 2019 14:19:17 +0000



I went for the 10 days retreat. The experience was very fulfilling. On day 4 of the Vipassana program during meditation, I was vividly seeing the events from my childhood more than 35 years ago which upset me very much and I was unable to sleep that night. I was finally able to put the thought on hold when I promised my younger self that I will take care of this matter. I was planning on writing a confronting letter. What do you recommend I should do here?


Vipassana or Satipatthana is like a mental vacuuming process. It cleans up all hidden impressions from the deeper corners of the mind. It has worked in your case. If one continues the practice, it will keep bringing up hidden impressions to the surface and finally releasing them. It’s doing its job well. Now you must do your job. And what is that? Continue practice!

How impressions are created?

Our own reactions of cravings & aversions towards people/situations/things create impressions in our minds.

How impressions are stored?

These impressions sit in our unconscious mind like seeds waiting to sprout one day.

How to stop this vicious cycle?

When they sprout, they bring up various thought/memories/sensations. If you react, you are sowing new seeds, so one must learn the skill of non-reaction.

That is the practice of Vipassana or Satipatthana.

Buddha understood that the highest problem of a human is his own repeated thought. That is what we call stress. He wanted to find the cure for this disease called ‘repeated thought/craving/aversion’. He discovered the process of observing reality without reacting and shared it with the world as Satipatthana or Vipassana.

Once you have established yourself in the purity achieved by non-reaction, you become ready to dive into the higher samadhi’s, which can carve the path to eternal peace as your continued experience.

To get there, one must continue the practice of non-reaction. Non-reaction is key!

About your question of whether you should confront, it is your decision dear. If you think it will resolve the issue, go ahead. If you think, it is a reaction that will sow more seeds than you know better.

May you be happy!


Why are Buddha’s Suttas not easily accepted? Thu, 10 Oct 2019 09:38:56 +0000



Why are Buddha’s Suttas not easily accepted? I notice that NOT ONLY in Hindu monks but also in the Buddhist sects. Why can’t man accept the Truth?


Your question is valuable and will help many others.

Buddha’s original teachings are in the form of Suttas in the 5 Nikayas:

1] Digha Nikaya

2] Majjhima Nikaya

3] Samyutta Nikaya

4] Anguttara Nikaya

5] Khuddaka Nikaya

They are hard for a weak mind to embrace. They were teachings given to spiritual seekers who had been walking the path for an extremely long time. All teachings are directed to help one to ‘See reality as it is’. The materialistic man cannot accept the Reality/Truth easily. It is the pure spiritualist who will embrace the Truth without any selfishness.

Here are some reasons why certain Hindu and Buddhist monks cannot accept Reality of the Buddha’s Suttas: 

] Traditional ritual monks [Hindu or Buddhists or others] lose income because Buddha’s Suttas say rituals cannot take one to Nibbana [Enlightenment] because they only create more craving. The first teaching of the Buddha is the ‘destruction of craving’.

] Rich monks and monks with titles/high positions avoid the Buddha’s Suttas because the original Suttas praise renunciation.

] Materialistic Spiritual Organizations want to centralize control of the Sangha. But according to the Buddha’s Suttas, the real authentic Sangha is decentralized and not under any administrative control.

] Academics want to do everything easy for a degree and an ancient extinct language like Pali is hard to learn and attracts few students, so the Buddha’s Suttas are avoided by them.

Now let’s look at other Buddhist sects:

The most common reason for the different Buddhist sects not embracing the Buddha’s Suttas is that the Suttas talk about non-sectarianism being the ONLY right way to Nibbana. Every division is born of craving and the Buddha taught only the ‘destruction of craving’.

] Mahayanists don’t like the Buddha’s Suttas because the Mahayana teachings are clearly different from the original 5 Nikayas and hence one arrives at the conclusion that Mahayana was clearly not taught by the Buddha.

] People obstinate about Vipassana [insight] as the one and the only path and disdain the Buddha’s suttas because the Suttas teach the Jhanas in addition to Insight and do not have an Insight-only path approach. 

] Forest tradition embraces blind belief [e.g. Original Mind] which is loudly spoken against in the Buddha’s Suttas so they discard the Suttas.

] Abhidhammists retaliate because the Buddha’s Suttas explicitly show that the Buddha didn’t teach the Abhidhamma.

] Tantrics don’t embrace them because the Buddha’s Suttas don’t mention tantra at all.

] Worshippers of Amitabha Buddha ignore the Buddha’s Suttas as the Suttas clearly discourage any blind worship, external ritual and only encourage ‘Seeing Reality as it is’.

Then who follows the Buddha’s Suttas?

Only the Suttavadins follow the original Pali Canon [the 5 Nikayas]. 99% of the Suttavadins are people who have walked the various paths outlined above and realized the follies mentioned above. They have slowly filtered out that which is not conducive to their spiritual growth and arrived at the 5 Nikayas.

Only by one’s own experience can one reach the purest teachings and embrace it willingly as they are extremely detrimental to the health of Maaya [Ignorance].

If you can see clearly, you will notice that it is only the selfishness of man that prevents him from accepting the Truth. This does not mean that the ‘Truth’ is not for everyone. It just means that everyone is not ripe enough NOW to be able to embrace the Truth, may it be a Monk or a Sadhu or a Saint or a Guru or a layman. Everyone is at different stages of spiritual maturity.

Have compassion for their stage and keep moving on your path without harbouring any negativity for anyone. Buddha’s original Suttas are for the very few who have realized the true futility of this world and have only one sole purpose in life – ‘true freedom from the suffering of Mind’ NOT a ‘fake belief or palliative ritual or temporary pleasantness of a technique’.

Only PURE people will be chosen to move ahead!


How to give it back to the evil people in life? Thu, 10 Oct 2019 09:32:21 +0000



I’m following the Buddha’s path of compassion but I need advice on how to treat people who treat you unfairly, cold-heartedly or are just evil people? I have been running into a lot of problems with it. I’ve been ignoring people. But I’m starting to feel anger come up & want to tell people to shove it. How to give it back to the evil people in life? I try but cannot be kind in return to harshness.

Thanks for any input & advice.


It’s easy to say that one must be compassionate and kind in return of harshness. It’s very hard to do it without the proper explanation of why one must do so. The mind needs a proper understanding of reality, otherwise one will not be able to implement this.

I think bringing out the ‘How’ and ‘Why’ along with the ‘What’ Is very important, so here goes…

What to do?

Be compassionate in return of harshness.


Because when you think about speaking harshly, your inner environment will go through a series of stages:

Stages 1 – You immediately feel the pinch [of impurity] inside at the thought of being nasty to someone.

Stage 2 – If you don’t stop yourself there, you blurt out nastiness and you feel a big pang inside you, even a punch of impurity.

Stage 3 – It doesn’t stop there, you keep replaying the same nastiness again and again to yourself like a broken record in the mind, this increases your inner impurity. You are punching yourself repeatedly with the same.

Stage 4 – Finally, it comes to a point where the person starts living rent-free in the upper chambers of the mind. There is constant inner-environment pollution for you because of constant remembrance.

Conclusion: In every stage above, YOU are churning more than the other person who you spoke harshly to.

Who is suffering?

You are suffering from all this inner-environment pollution.

Who is responsible?

You are responsible for polluting your own inner environment because of repeated thought, not the other person.

What is the solution?

Simple! You don’t start the drama from your side in the first place. If you care about your inner environment, recognize the first pinch, and bring up Metta [loving-kindness] or Karuna [Compassion] for the person.

How to bring up compassion for the hateful?

By recognizing the truth that one can give only what one has. If one has hatred, that’s what he will give others. If one has love, that’s what he will give.

Secondly, if this person is hateful, he himself is suffering inside. He is going through the inner-environment pollution that I described above.

Ask yourself – is it wise to get angry with the one who is suffering? OR is it wise to have compassion for such a suffering one?

If the above makes sense to you, you imbibe it!



It completely makes sense, but I took everything they said personally.


It’s not personal dear.

You took it personally because you thought that they were hateful towards you. That is an incorrect understanding.

The correct understanding is that, in reality, they are a well full of hatred so that is all that can come out from them at that moment. One can give only what one has.

  • If you throw a bucket into a well full of dirty water, what will you get?
  • On the contrary, if you throw a bucket into a well full of clean, pure, sweet water, what will you get?

Who is responsible for the nature of the water being dirty or pure? The bucket or the well? You were just a bucket dear. 

If it were not thrown at you, it would go out towards another. Thus it has nothing to do with you personally. They are not hateful towards you. They are FULL OF HATE. Period!

So in short, they are suffering from a valley full of hateful emotions swirling inside themselves. They were burning in the fire of their own inner churning before they picked up the burning coals to throw at you. They are fully burnt inside dear. They are suffering inside!

One can only be compassionate towards the ‘suffering one’ by ‘not taking it personally’!

It’s not personal!


Dealing with disrespectful people using Buddha’s principles of observing sensations! Thu, 10 Oct 2019 09:25:43 +0000






I am struggling with self-management. Please guide me.



Step 1: Internal action: 


Step 2: Internal action:



Step 3: External action:


What skills are to be used here?






What is the meaning of ‘Seeing Reality as it IS?

For e.g. In this situation:



– Minds Fluff – People will disrespect me.





– then for the other individual who said all those things.


Take care!


Dealing with sadness… Thu, 10 Oct 2019 09:14:25 +0000



There are instances when someone just blurts out anger for nothing I did (some people have anger management issues and I know that) and my reaction usually tears, going in silence and feeling hurt. Is that my bucket of anger too? If not, how do I stop reacting the way I do?


Your reaction is not anger, it is sadness.

Sadness comes out of ‘not getting what one wants’.

‘What one wants’ is an expectation.

An expectation is nothing but one’s own Raaga.

Raaga is nothing but few words in the mind that one holds on to tightly.

Recognize that words are just the weapon of the Ego with which it hurts itself before hurting others.

Let go of words, then automatically things will fall into place.

Raaga will drop.

Expectation will drop.

Want will drop.

Sadness will drop.

The reaction will drop.

You will be free! Let go of the words. Self-talk is not healthy. Let go! Dive into the silence behind the words.

Let go!


The collapse of craving! Fri, 02 Aug 2019 20:50:22 +0000





First, let’s understand clearly from our experience what is the nature and mechanism of desire/craving.

Mechanism of Craving:

If you become aware you will notice that the intensity of the craving is NOT proportional to the size or price of the new thing. It is always the same degree of feverishness. If we could draw a graph for the feverishness of craving, it would be a plateau. Whether it is a craving for a new relationship or craving for ice cream, the agitation is the same. This gives a clue that it is not really the object that one is craving for.

Then what do we crave for? To understand that we must first understand what really is craving.

Craving = Incessant thought chain = Restlessness

If it is restless energy why do we relish craving?

We don’t relish restlessness. We relish its end. Craving is only restless energy inside us waiting to be silenced. We relish the collapse of craving – the end of craving.

The collapse of craving = End of thought chain = Rest

The collapse comes only after the lifespan of the craving is exhausted. Therefore we do not realize what exactly gives us the high. We feel it is the craving that is the cause of delight but in reality, it is the collapse of craving that brings the ultimate rest.

In Summary, every desire arises in us only because we are thirsting for that complete collapse of the mind at its culmination.

How to recognize this collapse?

By being more aware of your current craving and following it through its culmination.

The collapse lasts a very short time but it is very REAL and EXPERIENTIAL for everyone. For e.g. When you long for something and your desire is fulfilled and you receive it, you say ‘I love to receive new things’. Look into that response. Where is it coming from? You will find a moment of silence there. This silence is almost like a pleasant melting sensation. Some call it peace, some label it as happiness. Recognize that this silence is in honour of the passing away of craving 😉

You will realize that you ONLY love the collapse of the mind at the culmination of the search/thirst.

And what does the mind collapse into?

Into that which you truly are… Awareness!

Awareness is the background and mind is the foreground. When the mind runs its marathon, there is feverishness. When this marathon ends, the feverishness dissolves into the background of stillness… the background of awareness.

Don’t believe me! Experiment for yourself and see.


Law of Nature – Kudrat ka kanoon! Fri, 02 Aug 2019 20:22:57 +0000



Is it okay to think negative about someone but not really do any action to hurt them? The negative thought was planted in me by another friend. I keep thinking about the negativity again and again, but I am not doing or saying negative in turn. Do I still create Karma?


Yes, of course, you create Karma:

  • just by your agreement to indulge in the negativity,
  • by constantly allowing the mind to wallow in the pus of negativity,
  • by not protecting your mind from negativity,
  • by giving priority to impure thoughts rather than purity,
  • by your intention [devoid of action] of ill-will,

There is a doha/2-liner by S.N. Goenka, the founder of Vipassana. It is originally in Hindi:

Kudrat ka kanoon hai,

is se bacha na koi,

maila man vyakul rahe,

nirmal sukhiya hoe.

In English:

There is a law of Nature

that spares no one.

The impure mind shall by law remain restless.

The pure mind shall by law experience happiness.

When you are young [not in physical age but spiritual age], you do not see this Truth clearly. You see that everyone indulges in negativity and yet have happy pictures on social media so they must be happy. Follow the herd! You suffer through the trials and tribulations of life because of your negativity, relentlessly seeking happiness, that always plays hide & seek with you. You just cannot figure out why you cannot find happiness despite all the chasing & achieving.

Then one fine day, someone more mature [spiritually, may or may not be physically] comes along and shows you the Truth. Truth is – The more impure your mind is, the less happy you will be. Happiness is not in external things/situations/people that you have achieved. It simply lies in the state of ‘non-agitation/non-restlessness/non-feverishness’.

This state of ‘non-agitation/non-restlessness/non-feverishness’ can be attained ONLY BY KEEPING THE MIND PURE AT ALL COSTS. There is no other short-cut. If you still choose to continue with your negativity, go on and suffer some more, maybe that is the only way for your mind to realize and give up its futile search for happiness amidst negativity.

If you are smart enough to get this, then start your journey with the Buddha’s path that emphasizes on VIRTUOUSNESS as a pre-requisite for attaining a peaceful meditative mind. Remind yourself again and again – The state of ‘non-agitation/non-restlessness/non-feverishness’ can be attained ONLY BY KEEPING THE MIND PURE AT ALL COSTS.


Killing microbes accrues Karma or not? Fri, 02 Aug 2019 20:01:42 +0000



I am a novice Buddhist. I admit that killing any living beings leads to negative karma production. Is there any explanation in karma formation in killing microorganisms? I had this debate with my friend, he claims microbes have some sort of intelligence, that sustains life in them. While I said, they generally lack consciousness. Can you help me understand will killing them generate karma?


The true teachings of the Buddha are for you and your own spiritual growth. It is your intention that creates Karma, not the action in itself.

For e.g. A doctor and a murderer both have knives in their hands, and both insert the knives into another human being, but a doctor has the intention to save while a murderer has the intention sprouting from negativity. Thus the doctor does not create bad karma while the murderer does. If the intention to kill has a bigger picture of ‘wanting to save a life’ behind it, then you will not accrue karma at all.

Having said that, some people can make the excuse that their intention behind doing something wrong was actually pure. To help avoid this pitfall, Buddha brought to light one more powerful truth – the Law of Universe/Dhamma produces Vedana [pinch in your insides] whenever your intention is wrong.Dhamma punishes you instantly through a pinch or a punch. The more aware you become, the easier it will become to start recognizing this pinch/punch/pang of guilt right at its onset. This first pang itself is an indication that a mini-karma has been instantly deposited into your Karma bank. It is a warning that if you encourage the proliferation of this thought anymore, you will receive more and more pinches/punches/pangs.Image result for karma bank

The wise one recognizes the signal from Dhamma/Law of Universe and withdraws from the negative intention. The fool continues to ignore the signal and accrues a lot of Karma. This signal comes for any and every negativity generated and encouraged within the inner environment. It not only applies only to killing but also to the action of generating anger, jealousy, disappointment, hatred, greed, etc.

Dhamma punishes you by generating tremendous restlessness within you first. This is a signal to help you prevent yourself from throwing out that negativity on someone else. Dhamma punishes you instantly. It has nothing personal against you. It is simply a law like gravity and electricity, it applies to all. It spares nobody.

This is the complete meaning of Sheel [morality], one of the triple gems of the Buddha.

One who recognizes that an inner PURE environment is the one that is free of any pinches/punches/pangs, is surely a wise spiritual seeker. He is the one who attains the highest Truth just by walking on the path of purity. The fool misses the point and is forever trapped in the vicious cycle of karma.

Are you wise or foolish?


Want to spend an afternoon interacting with a fully enlightened person… How to find one? Fri, 02 Aug 2019 19:57:59 +0000






But why have Indians lost out on Spirituality?






One must use one’s discretion to see the Truth by oneself:




  • The Fully Enlightened one loses the thirst for material gains.



    • Awareness

Why isn’t a Fully Enlightened being popular amongst the masses?





Happy search!


Interview topic – Enlightened Beings Fri, 02 Aug 2019 19:53:53 +0000





Interest in knowing something is called curiosity. It is not sufficient to help one attain the highest possible goal for a human called ‘Awakening’. So what you understand will only be intellectual at the moment. Once you start walking the path, you might hit self-realization experientially. So if you have not yet started the path yet, start now dear.


So far I was of the opinion that Enlightenment refers to knowing everything that is possible and considered as the knowledge (Facts and Truth). That includes natural science, social science, philosophy, medicine, human nature, existence or non-existence of God, virtues, relationship to living and non-living things and fundamental nature of universe and correlation to each other. Is my understanding correct?


Let me change the word from Enlightenment to Awakening for ease of understanding. Awakening is the self-realization of ‘Who am I?’ It is not the process of learning dear. It is the process of un-learning and shedding all that you know, until you lose everything, including the idea of what you thought you were, including the concept of ‘I’.


I thought Enlightenment is the act of optimizing the use of that knowledge by sharing, living harmoniously by caring, respecting, nurturing everything in the universe.


That is not the goal of Awakening dear. That happens naturally as a by-product……just like when plants produce carbohydrates [for their own food] by photosynthesis, but oxygen is naturally and automatically released as a by-product… this oxygen helps every living being survive on this planet.

…just like when a farmer harvests grain [for food], but straw is naturally and automatically produced as a by-product… this straw is used by animals as well as humans in numerous ways.


I thought Enlightenment is the process where a person must give away all vices.


Actually, vices give up on him 🙂 because while walking the path to Awakening, he automatically realizes that the generation of even a single negative defilement in the mind disturbs his own peace. He dwells in the peace of his own nature so fully, so completely, that there is no more room for negativity and after a while even positivity.

His pendulum stops swinging between negative & positive, he attains a totally neutral, balanced, centered field. Rumi said, “Out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing, there is a field. I will meet you there.”


I thought Enlightenment is the process where one must keep control on materialistic needs to live with very minimum basic necessities required to survive, even so to share thoughts or pass on knowledge to others freely without any materialistic or monetary gain in return.


Materialism gives up on him 🙂 In that field beyond the 2 opposites, there is absolute fullness. This fullness is too full 🙂 there is no room for material there.


I thought the purpose of Enlightenment is to spread Peace and facilitate the transformation of society towards a new, non-violent, co-existent way of lifestyle.


Again another by-product that happens in some cases naturally and automatically if at all.


Could you tell me as to why a need arises for an Enlightened being to share his knowledge? Does something happen after full awakening that an enlightened being has to share the truth with whoever comes in their presence? Does every enlightened being have a purpose in awakening the human species or participate in this ascension process?


No, not every enlightened being participates in this process because not all Enlightened beings come out and teach or preach or lead. There are many silent types who just chop wood and carry water like they always did. You must have heard the saying, ‘Before Enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After Enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.’


Does an enlightened being have the power to enlighten someone else rapidly or do you still have to clear all your karmic baggage while on the spiritual path and enlightenment will happen in its divine timing?


An Enlightened person cannot bring about anybody else’s Enlightenment. Siddhartha Gautama could work only on himself and bring about only one person’s enlightenment, HIS OWN. Then only was he called ‘Buddha’ – the Awakened one. He could not even bring about his own brother Ananda’s Enlightenment. Ananda had to awaken on his own by his own Purushartha after overcoming his own attachments.

Understand that only YOU can awaken yourself, it’s a personal process. Even if someone else pushes you, if you are not ripe yet, you will not awaken.

An Enlightened person can definitely show you the path, that compassion of his is what is called ‘Grace’. But you will have to walk on it by yourself. Nobody can walk the path for you…Nobody!


I went through horrible Karma despite having a lot of wisdom or so I thought. At the times when it’s needed, where does this wisdom go? Can an Enlightened one bless me to erase the bad times?


That’s a delusion that someone else can erase your current bad karma [Prarabdha]. However, they can definitely help you in the following limited ways:

1] He can give you some spiritual advice on how to walk the spiritual path so that you get mentally strengthened to be non-reactive by the time you have to face another karma in the future.

But only your sincerity in walking the spiritual path will diminish the effect of your future Karma, not anything else.

2] He can ease your restlessness by calming you down by sending vibrations of harmony that he himself experiences. Vibrations are truly experiential.  You yourself know the difference in the feelings you experience when walking into a temple versus walking into a casino.

Again, this effect of borrowed harmony is temporary. And you have experienced that yourself. Otherwise, you should have already been Enlightened by now. Are you?


So if I have to walk the path to Awakening myself, how will I know which is the right path for me? Who is the right teacher?


If you are truly sincere about the path, your gut will give you signs of the right path.

1] You will be compelled from within to walk that path. Your intellect can say otherwise though. You must learn to hear the inner voice even though it is feeble. Is just listening to it sufficient? No. You must follow your gut and dive yourself into self-research at the same time. Self -research about how to reach the state of ‘No-mind’ permanently not temporarily.

2] Based on your research that points towards the Right teacher who teaches you how to reach the permanent state of ‘No-Mind’ , you must start walking the path. Don’t expect that your teacher is going to touch your head with a magic wand, and you will get awakened. That happens only in Harry Potter books. You make every effort to understand how to reach NO MIND. Every other teaching other than that is Hog-wash.


I am inspired to do some Self-research. Can you give me one clue on how to reach ‘No-Mind’?


Find the GAP. The gap in between 2 thoughts… The gap in between the breaths… All techniques whether Vedic, Bodhic, Advaita-Vedantic/Vichara path, etc all point toward the same teaching of ‘Becoming a Witness to Reality’.

The only way you can be a witness is when you establish yourself in the Shunyata that you first encounter in the GAP. Filter out all other teachings as hogwash and focus on just finding the GAP. Get your foot into the door first!

Again, don’t believe me blindly. Start your self-research now!

