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To See
Things As They Really Are ! |
The residents of the
Swaminathan home are still in mourning. His parents and brother are still trying to
figure out why their son, J.Swaminathan, a 26 year old, brilliant, software engineer
jumped to his death. To the rest of the Bangaloreans, he is just a forgotten
accident statistic. But for the 85,000 odd software professionals in Bangalore, the
high paying, 24 hour - 7day routine has finally claimed its victim. Professional
burnout, say some, while others say it is the deadlines, leaving no time for home.
Whatever the cause, corporate stress is here to stay and ready to claim its next
victim. |
There are many
stress-buster therapies, techniques and methods prophesized by various schools that have
mushroomed in Bangalore, almost in sync with the 600 odd software companies that have set
up shop here. The list is endless. Reiki, Tai-Chi, Silva method, Forum, Pranic healing,
Past life workshops, Crystals, dowsing etc. Maybe because it is free and not often
advertised, unlike the others, Vipassana Meditation is not popular among
Bangalore’s stressed out corporate cadres.But, it could be the solution to those
professionals living on the edge, burning out fast and looking for a miracle.
Vipassana means to see things as they really are. It is a simple, practical
technique that purifies the mind from misery, anger and all negative influences and its
deep rooted causes, and transforms the individual into living a life of peace and harmony. |
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Shri S.N.Goenka |
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In today’s fast paced world, they almost
sound as extinct as the Snow Leopard. But, S.N.Goenka, the diminutive, soft spoken
chief of Vipassana worldwide, is confident that slowly, but surely peace and
harmony will spread through Vipassana, which has already transformed the lives of
millions world-wide. With celebrities like ChandraBabu Naidu and Priyanka Gandhi as its
regular practitioners, Vipassana is here to stay.
Some of the greatest experiments of Vipassana have been its practice and
unprecedented success in many of India’s prisons. In a historic session at the
Central Jail in Jaipur in 1975, Goenka was allowed to stay in a makeshift room in the
prison’s dispensery. When the first four hardened prisoners in iron handcuffs and
ankle locks were brought to him, he exclaimed . " How can people in chains
be put before me? This cannot happen. Remove the chains!." Since that day,
Vipassana has spread like a quiet wildfire to prisons in Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana,
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhara Pradesh and Karnataka.
In the notorious Tihar Jail,(where there is a full fledged centre, thanks to the dynamic
Kiran Bedi, the then Inspector General of Prisons, for the first time media personnel were
given access to the Maximum Security Zone of the prison. Two Israeli students of
Vipassana, Ayelet Menahami and Eilona Ariel filmed a documentary film, Doing time,
Doing Vipassana, an eloquent story of the effect of Vipassana on hardcore murderers,
rapists and terrorists.
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