A different person

The benefits that can be reaped from the practice of the meditation technique (as given in article 1) are of immense value for a successful and a happy day to day life. The most important lesson of the technique is the ‘practice of Observation’. The Observation is not what’s meant in the normal sense but something more superior to it. A beginner to the meditation would follow the technique trying to concentrate on it. But as he progresses he will learn to observe what he is doing i.e. observe his own performance. This is the fundamental principle and the foundation on which depends the progress of meditation and it is what is meant by Observation here.  

In this technique the Observation is the factor which governs the whole procedure of meditation. It encompasses the elements of mental alertness such as consciousness, awareness and mindfulness. It is the supervisor that oversees the performance of these elements during meditation. The Observation also effects another important function, that is in addition to overseeing, it implements the process of ‘letting go’ during meditation. It sees what is going on within and without you. When you hear a sound, Observation knows it and tells you to let it go without following it. If you experience a pain somewhere in the body Observation recognizes it and commands you to let it go without suffering from it. If a new thought arises Observation senses it and reminds you that you are on the procedure and prevents you from going after the thought.  

Also Observation is the state of the mind when it is free of any defilement. It would prevail during the meditation exercise but the effect of the mind-set it created, however, would last for a few hours more after the exercise, before being faded away. Fortunately however, it would re-surface for short intervals of time in the mind of the meditator when he is relaxing or when he is emotionally disturbed. It is at these moments that Observation guides one on the correct path or brings one back on to the rails if derailed. This is a great benefit derived from meditation. Unlike before, there is a ‘supervisor’ who over sees what you are doing. When you get disturbed emotionally the ‘supervisor’ will remind, “Hello, you are wobbling. You could get derailed. So back on to the track”! I experience this in daily life now, which is such a relief! This is how the application of the fruits of meditation to daily life, works. What a Blessing!

Improved efficiency

The after effect of meditation lasts longer the longer you meditate. Sometimes you feel lazy and tend to postpone things that need to be done. Even if you attend to some work it would take a long time to finish. The after effect of meditation helps you to be more alert and focus better on the task you are engaged in. Thus you‘ll be able to finish it sooner and more successfully than before. If your mind gets distracted while being occupied in the task, you become aware of it before long and Observation will bring your attention back. This way you‘ll realize that a job that you took one hour to finish earlier takes only a fraction of that time now. You will be surprised at your own improvement. This means that one can do an increased number of tasks in a given time than before. Also increased alertness will not allow you to waste time.  If you are doing nothing and wasting time it will make you aware of it so that you can think of doing something worthwhile. This is when you feel how much time you would have lost earlier just by wasting it. So Observation improves your time management skills too. The result is that you are a more efficient and therefore a happier person now. How wonderful!

Some days there are a number of things to attend to. You start the day engaging in one of these which has a deadline. Now the rest of the things come into mind. “Oh, I have to do those jobs also.” Or someone will disturb you reminding of these. Then in the middle of all these you may get a telephone call regarding still some other work you have to do. Now you get disturbed. So many things to do and yet some more coming in. You get confused. Lose your calmness. A real headache!  Stress catalysts created! At this point if somebody talks to you, you are likely to get angry. No soothing utterance could be expected from you.  Observation helps you to act with a cool head in such a situation. It‘ll tell you to choose only those tasks that you could tackle in the available time in that day. Then it will guide you to prioritize what was chosen and then attend to the first priority. If thoughts of other jobs come to mind it will ‘let go’ of them. If there is some other external disturbance it guides you to respond calmly. If you get confused or angry by these, it will remind you that you are emotionally disturbed. So back on to the right track! This is how Observation will help you to attend to your daily tasks smoothly and efficiently with no stress so that you can be satisfied at the end of the day.   

A happy life   

Everything in this world is in a dynamic state of change. We fail to understand this and try to see a permanent entity in constantly changing phenomena. This is the biggest illusion that we are doped with. We are conditioned with it from our childhood by our parents and elders who inculcate this into our thinking. And because of this we tend to get attached to worldly things in life, which results in suffering. So rather than crave for things, you should learn to live with them – associate with them, make use of them – all the time observing them without getting attached to them. You do this perhaps like an alien watching the happenings in this world. This is a whole new experience. You begin to see this existence in its real perspective. So relaxing! So pleasing! Because you are no longer involved with or immersed in the scourge of existence of this world. The burden is being taken away and the suffering minimized. This is when you see the others who are possessed with this illusion, suffering because of the attachment to it and realize how fortunate and happy you are. Just do this once and see what a wonderful experience it is.

With understanding derived from logical argument you can minimize pain and thus suffering. Mind and body are two different entities. It is the mind that bears suffering. Suppose you have a wound. The body has the injury but the mind suffers with pain. Not fair! You can easily experience this. When you feel the pain of the wound and if the mind is distracted to something else there is no more pain. It vanishes. So if only the mind feels the pain why should you let it hurt and suffer? The body has the wound. Let it bear the pain. What do you care?  

Coping with emotions

It is difficult for most of us to control our emotions. Many unhappy, unpleasant or violent situations could be avoided if one knows how to cope with one’s emotions. The most difficult place to cope with your emotions is unquestionably your home. This is where you live ‘with yourself’: the way you want. This is where your beloved ones are; those that care for you and whom you care and love most. Then why is it difficult to cope with emotions when living with them? It is once again due to this curse - the attachment; the root cause of the problem. Your attachment is the greatest at home. As such, you expect the other family members to love you and care for you in the same way that you do for them. But if you feel that they don’t respond in kind you become hurt. Just a single word uttered by mistake would be enough to start ‘fireworks’. Parents and elders expect the children to obey them, respect them at all times. The higher the attachment the greater is the hurt, the pain; that is the suffering. When the younger are teenagers the parent/child relationship in most families are at the lowest; sour and unpleasant. Most of them live like strangers under the same roof. Since the attachment is the highest the parents think that their children also should think and behave in the same way as them. This is when attachment is blind to reason. They are your children alright, yet they are different individuals with different mind sets. Be less attached to your loved ones and property and attend to your commitments and obligations dutifully. The lesser the attachment the more sensible, and reasonable you will be and it would be easier to control emotions.

Another remarkable achievement of the meditation practice is the slowing down of sudden reaction to emotional disturbances. This means though the natural quick reflexes are there, you don’t react as fast as before. But you become aware of the situation and think before reacting. This way you avoid the situation getting tense or unpleasant.

Realizing these facts make home a pleasant place for the whole family to live in.  

Of the defilements special consideration should be given to anger, hatred, jealousy and vengeance as these are fundamentally associated with the ego factor “I”. These result in unpleasantness, unhappiness and could lead to physical harm to oneself and others. When you position or status is challenged, when a subordinate disobeys you, when your spouse or the romantically involved partner or a dear friend disagrees with you or worse, try to quit, you get angry, lost, and insecure and feel that life is hopeless. When you are falsely accused of, insulted or scolded you get angry. Who gets affected by these is the ‘self’ known as ‘I’. But there is no permanent self as ‘I’: only a constantly changing phenomenon. Thus it is understood that whoever that got affected is changed; gone; no more, and a new ‘I’ has emerged; born. As such, why should the new person get hurt over something that happened to another person? This truthful fact gives you strength to face and overcome anger and other defilements. 

The Observation plays a major role in calming down such a situation. If you have developed your Observation you become aware of it once you are emotionally disturbed. And instead of reacting at once as a mundane person would have done, the Observation will help pass over the initial shock and the disturbance and guide you to settle down thus making it easy to solve the causative problem. The same goes for situations when you are overjoyed. If uncontrolled you could become arrogant or overconfident and be tempted to try something impossible by which means you would hurt not only others but yourself as well. Whatever happened to the hardly achieved joy? The Observation could easily have prevented this unfortunate happening. With right understanding of these facts you can stay calm without getting agitated, overexcited when faced with an emotionally disturbing situation.

Life in its true sense and fear of death  

Mind is the forerunner of our life. Like all other worldly things mind is also in a state of constant change. It is a continuous process of flux of thoughts arising, existing and passing away. This happens so fast, probably in a millionth of second that we don’t realize it. This process takes place throughout our life. This means that birth, living and death of the mind occur at every moment of life. This same process takes place at the time of death but with the difference that the physical body ceases its physiological role and immediately starts to decompose. In other words the thought process of the mind, from one thought to another continues even at the time of death. That is as the last thought of life dies away the mind has already chosen and conceived in another form of existence. The mind exits from the physical body leaving it behind, lifeless. Thus it is clear that there is no point in being sad or fearful of death, because it doesn’t kill our mind. Mind is indestructible. So it continues to exist, of course in another form, human or other. In other words, it is clear that the physical body which we cared for so much and were attached to so much is not the dominant and the essential component of life’s existence. The body is principally a medium made of physical elements of the universe for the mind to experience the sensual pleasures and other feelings brought in by the sense organs. And what causes the sadness and the fear of death? It is the attachment; the attachment to property acquired, beloved ones etc. - that you don’t want to leave behind - a cause of suffering. Therefore, with a clear understanding of their true nature and with the Observation guiding, you can face both life and death meaningfully with no fear.

One should also realize how fragile the life is. We all have great expectations in life. Young hope to study well and get a sound employment, marry, build a house, have children, own a vehicle and so forth. Those who have grown and have fixed jobs want to rise up in the employment, get promotions, higher status a higher salary etc. What about engaging in something spiritual; something religious; something meritorious? “Oh! Those can wait until we are old.” So these deeds are postponed to the old age. Will you live up to the old age? Are you sure you can? Yes, you believe you can. You think it is unlikely that you will be passing away before reaching the old age. Of course people are so occupied and busy with their jobs, commitments and obligations that they have less time left for such wholesome acts. But even any time available is not used for these purposes. Because people don’t understand the uncertainty of life and they expect to live until old. No one can predict when one will die. Death has no particular time or place to occur. You may drop dead on the road; in the vehicle while driving; in a hall while delivering a lecture; while taking your meal; in the most unexpected time and place. This is what death is. This is what reality is. So then how can you possibly believe that you can live till you are old; till your children are grown up, educated and well employed, till they are married and have children so that you can enjoy the company of your grand children? Little we realize this and that is why we keep hopes for the future and become attached to them. Once the unpredictability and fragility of life is realized we will still have hopes but will not be attached to them. The realization of the fact that death may come at any moment in life helps you prepare to face it anytime. Also you see the vanity of having expectations and aspirations for the future. Once you are enlightened on the uncertainty of life you will not delay entering into the path to achieve Nirvana. Whenever you have a leisure time you would try to make it fruitful by engaging in the Eightfold Path to reach a higher mental status. One must make a concerted effort, without postponing it, to achieve Nirvana.

Engaging in the Eightfold Path is an immense benefit at the time of death. You live a life guided by the Path and the resulting mindset will surface when all the signals coming in from the five sense organs cease just prior to death. Your last thought will be a positive one guided by the Observation when you can exit peacefully with full consciousness.

Past, present and future

The nature of the mind is such that it cannot stay fixed to the same thought for long. It always wants to wander here and there. When you attend to some work, initially you focus on it well but after a few minutes you find that various other thoughts completely irrelevant to what you are doing come into being. This means that the mind has started roaming. When you are engaged in some daily routine task like brushing teeth, taking a shower, taking meals, cooking or some other, such as ironing, cleaning the household, washing the  vehicle, writing, preparing a presentation, studying, resting etc. most of the time you’ll be day dreaming. In other words rather than concentrating on what you are performing your mind would be wandering all over uncontrollably. This is the time that the mind gets filled with mostly unwholesome thoughts and you will get emotionally disturbed and waste valuable time as well. You would take twice or more of the time you should have taken to finish a task. These thoughts could be anything, like thinking about some embarrassment you had to face, insult, and large amount of money you had lost, some jewellery you had lost and so on. Sometimes you would, instead of focusing on the task you do, try to react to some of these unnecessary matters going on in the mind and by mistake harm yourself or even cause a serious accident. This is why it is important to have the presence of mind when you are attending to some work. Since living is a momentary thing you must try to live in every moment of life. Day dreaming is a great sin. It pollutes your mind. New and even forgotten defilements such as hatred, jealousy, craving, grief, vengeance, anger etc. would quietly creep into the mind causing hurt and suffering.

In these situations your attention is mainly either on the past or on the future. The present is given only minute consideration. A universal truth is that everything happens only once. It is never repeated in exactly the same way. So it is of no use lamenting on what you lost or what you couldn’t get because you’ll not see or get the exact thing again. It is useless crying for spilled milk. Thus contemplating on what happened in the past is not a fruitful thing. It is just a waste of time. This could be applied to strong emotional disturbances as well. If someone’s bad remark makes you angry, you’ve to understand that once the words were uttered and over they were gone; added to the past. If a sad- news makes you grief stricken, as soon as you’ve heard it, it is gone; it is history. This is the truth. And it is of no use being angry or sad over something of the past. With this kind of logical argument you must learn to tackle your emotions and be happy all the time. Regretting over the past brings you unhappiness and thus suffering.

What about the future? No one can predict what will happen in the future. No fortune teller, crystal ball or horoscope reader could tell what the future is going to be. If so why do you want to worry about something that you don’t know will happen? This again is a useless exercise. The present is there for you to see and experience. So live in the present moment. When you try to live in every moment of life these negative thoughts will get no access to the mind and even if they do Observation which is active in the alert mind will let them pass off. If you don’t live in the present you’ll either be in the past or be in the future both of which are in hopeless and useless arenas which will bring nothing but suffering. A mind living in the past or in the future can use only a fraction of its potential. It is a dead mind. A mind living in the present is live and thus is sharp, focused and powerful. It can work with its full potential. This is what happens in meditation. You try to live in the present throughout the procedure and wisdom begins to dawn. You must try to live in the present at times even when you are not engaged in meditation. Because then you can ‘let go’ of defilements. “Letting go” is the essence of the meditation based on the Eight Fold Path. It relieves you of burdens that you carry in your mind. Imagine how many of these impurities you can get rid of in a day; thus purifying the mind; making it powerful; making you an efficient and a wise person. See how simple, light and relaxed the life becomes. You have been filling your mind with such garbage over all these years; all in vain. A purified mind only will lead to Nirvana.

Greatest contribution 

The foregoing are some of the benefits that could be harvested by those who practice the meditation technique based on the Noble Eightfold Path. But perhaps the single greatest contribution to the society as a whole from this practice is the provision of persons with Higher Mental Status. Individuals who have achieved even the lowest rank of these states abstain from engaging in the basic five unskillful acts. In other words they observe the Five Precepts. To lead a life observing these precepts is no problem for them. There is no conflict in their minds, as whether to commit these acts or not.  This is because, the thoughts to commit such deeds, mostly do not arise in their minds. Even if these do arise, the Observation which is well developed, will promptly brush them out. So these unwholesome thoughts are never put into action. What a Blessing!

Today a majority in the society believe that one cannot live without breaking the Five Precepts. The educated, the wealthy, the influential and worst the very people who preach the lay man to safeguard the Five Precepts do not lead a life observing these. This has been taken for granted in the society. Some educated people say that you cannot survive without breaking them. Some say, “Nobody abstain from breaking them. So how could we?” But surely it has to start somewhere; by someone.

Perhaps the worst sin of all the Five Precepts is lying. It is said that Bodhisatva from the day he vowed to achieve the Buddha Hood, was born in so many millions of lives but never told a lie. Sometimes he happened to break the third precept that is, sexual misconduct, yet he admitted in committing it. That is the beauty of it. And that is what a great sin, lying is. Yet if you consider the society today, how many do observe this precept?

Introduction of people of Super Mental Status to the society is a Great Blessing. Imagine a society where a majority observes the Five Precepts. What a peaceful, happy and a prosperous society it would be?                             

A different man 

The practice the meditation technique based on the Noble Eightfold Path helped me to be a different person from what I was in a matter of just one year. This transformation was a new experience. The change I feel is remarkable. It made me happier, more efficient, more relaxed, and calmer than before and a person ever ready to face death. Now I see almost all the people around me suffering and living in fear of death as I was then. This is when I feel that it would have been better had I learnt the practice earlier. I feel sorry for those unfortunate ones for not being able to see suffering as suffering and thus not making an effort to enter the Path to end suffering. The only way for the eternal cease of suffering is the passage through the Noble Eightfold Path. Once in, the results are instantaneous. This is the truth. It is with no cost at all. I like to share this newly found happiness and experience with you. Therefore, I plead you to come and see it, make an effort, experience it by yourself, realize it by yourself and yourself alone and enjoy its fruits by following this Practice.