Vipassana Meditation – Chiselling the Walls of Illusion

More than 2500 years ago, the Great Enlightened Master - Gautama Buddha gave the world a beautiful meditation technique. That wonderful technique of meditation was to form the foundation of Spiritual Enlightenment of hundreds of thousands of meditators throughout the ages. Till this date, the meditation technique that Buddha gave has enlightened more persons than all the other meditation techniques combined together.

Buddha gave the world the meditation technique called Vipassana. "Vipassana" is a Pali word and it means "Pure Watchfulness". It implies watching and observing the reality around us as it is, without any bias whatsoever. Vipassana is also called "Anapansati Yoga". It’s the meditation technique that’s practised by a majority of the Buddhist mediators.

The technique of Vipassana essentially involves watching the breath and the breathing process. Through this watching, the mind calms, the awareness of the meditator improves dramatically over time. He is able to witness the reality and true nature of things as they are, without any mental bias whatsoever. He comes out of all conditionings and this inner cleansing gives rise to immense tranquility and bliss.

The Vipassana Meditator is a blissful person and has a great sense of humour. His mental sharpness improves and he is not attached by anything. Life becomes a drama and he enjoys every moment of it. The awareness that arises in the time of meditation gradually spreads to all the activities of the day. This mental focus and dexterity also brings great success and accomplishments to the Vipassana mediator in all the spheres of his life as an added bonus. This success comes as he participates in the activities of his day to day life totally and not partially.

The small but powerful ray of awareness that starts initially from being aware of the breath, gradually spreads into the more subtle realms of the mind like the thoughts, feelings, emotions and the subconscious mind. Hence layers after layers of the inner mind are peeled gradually and one gets freed of those conditioning. This releases a lot of trapped energy that was entangled in these negative layers of the subconscious mind.

Thus the Vipassana mediator is always in a great state of relaxation and is like a reservoir of energy. His life force is not wasted and leaked in the continuous thought process that goes on always in the ordinary mind uncontrollably. He becomes a true master of himself and his mind. He is able to use it as an equipment rather than being used by it.

In the beginning stages, the mediator needs greater time and silence to get deeper into the Alertness. Witnessing is an art that needs to be learnt gradually. Slowly the mind calms and is not distracted easily. A 10 day meditation retreat is very helpful as it serves as a foundation for the beginner and he gets easily grounded into the watchfulness and learns the knack of Awareness. Then he can practice the meditation and remain watchful uninterrupted even in the most distracting place.

The benefits of Vipassana meditation are numerous. It improves the patience and frees from all vices like addictions and uneasiness. The gains of Vipassana can be felt right from the very first session, but they require regular and continuous practise for the deeper gains to materialize over time. It requires commitment and perseverance on the part of the mediator.

By and by the mediator is able to chisel his way through the illusions of the world and achieve a total clarity. He becomes aware of his own being and true self. He is a true winner and his triumph is beyond words. Vipassana can be done on a standalone basis or can be done along with other meditation techniques, which can greatly enhance the overall results of meditation.