Mental Conditioning and Psychic Pathways

Functioning with a lot of mental conditioning is more like a programmed computer. One experiences inner peace and the spontaneous functioning, when one rests in the emptiness or lives in the NOW.

If you are battling with the thoughts of past and future, know that you are not living in the present. If you want to experience deep inner peace and just flow with life, working with your psychic pathway becomes necessary.

If you observe your breath, you shall find that the air flows through either the left or the right nostril. It keeps on shifting between both the nostrils. For a very brief period, it may flow through both the nostrils around the shifting phase. There are three major psychic pathways (Nadis) which are part of your subtler body. When the prana (energy) flows through the ida (left channel), the breath flows through the left nostril. When it flows through pingala (right channel), the breath flows through the right nostril. When the breath flows through both the nostrils, then the prana is moving through the central channel or sushumna. Sushumna is called the highway to heaven.

The goal of each and every yogi and yogini is to make the breath flow through the central channel. It is the true state of meditation. You cannot meditate. You have to fall into the state of meditation. As long as you try, it is not meditation. When meditation happens, you experience it. Staying in a meditative state, is being an observer and flow with life! To flow with life, you have to make the prana move through sushumna!

How to achieve that state? Working with your subtler body is the only way to go!! No shortcuts!!

Observing the breath will make the mind subtle.. When the mind becomes subtle, you can experience your own subtler body and be able to work with your psychic pathways.

  

Working Nature of Vipassana

If you have attended a 10 day vipassana programme, you would have observed S.N.Goenka telling on how different people understand how vipassana works. I have my own understanding of how vipassana works with the Eastern philosophy as the background.

A human being has three bodies: physical, astral and causal. The physical body is the gross aspect which is visible to the physical eyes. The astral body is subtler and the causal body is still more subtle compared to the physical body.

After death, the astral body is also dissolved. It is only the causal body that remains the same (with +/- karmic debts). This causal body is said to be the store house of the karmic imprints. If the causal body is cleared of all the imprints and dissolved, liberation is achieved.


In Vipassana, what we do is observing the sensations. When a strong sensation pops up and gets dissolved, it takes along with it the deep karmic impressions thus relieving us of its impact on our life.

As said by the teacher S.N.Goenka, the sensations are directly related with the unconscious mind. The causal body is also related with the unconscious mind. In my opinion, as we go subtler and subtler observing the sensations, we start directly working on the causal body. When these imprints start coming up and gets cleared, the deep impressions come up to the surface and gets worked on thus paving the way to liberation.

One more great advantage of vipassana is that, when we are consciously aware of the sensations we prevent a new action from leaving a deep impression, as karma, which will have its impact.

Secrets of Vipassana

Vipassana is one of the ancient Buddhist ways of meditation. It is very well known for its efficiency and immediate results. Vipassana is being taught by different masters with slight variations. Some go completely with the body sensations and some go with only breath. In this article, by Vipassana, I mean the practice that gives more importance to body sensations, Vedana. Mr.S.N.Goenka spreads the practice of Vipassana which gives the entire stress on body sensations.   

There is another famous master Eckhart Tolle who speaks of a similar practice in a different manner. Eckhart Tolle refers to a practice in which the inner body is observed with its vibrations and sensations. Though both of the practices are very similar, they have been described in a different manner.

What is the practice?

To simplify meditation and make it easily understandable for everyone, it is a way to move from gross to subtler aspect of the individual, one’s own self. In Vipassana, one starts by observing the body from top to bottom. Once the mind gets sharp enough, it starts feeling the subtler sensations of the body. At times, it may not be even true to say that it is the mind that perceives the sensations, as the mind goes absent when going very subtle. When one becomes aware of the subtler sensations or the higher frequency of vibrations in the body and around the body, a great deal of work starts happening, expressing and dissolving the stores of energy blocks and karma. These could be felt as pain, heat and other sensations that appear and fly away.

The great secrets

As claimed by Reiki and many energy healers, the fact is, a physical disease could easily be identified in the energy body before it gets itself manifested as a disease in the physical body. In the same manner, a manifested disease could easily be healed on the energy body which would have its immediate impact on the physical body.

I have taken this example of a disease to show the relation between the physical body and the energy body. It not only applies to a disease or any mental situation. It applies to the whole life and the way we live it!! In East, the word Karma is very common and understood. It is the result of the action we do, be it physical or mental. This karma creates our future or the destiny, which may not be acceptable for a questioning mind. But, it is true that we create our life and we are responsible for what we are, whether we accept it or not. So, to transform and dissolve the past implications of our action, which are not yet expressed, it is very necessary to do a great deal of work in the energy body.

Just imagine how good it would be to burn a seed instead of watering it and trying to cut it once it becomes a big tree. In the same way, we would be really lucky to know a way to burn the unexpressed karmic implications before its manifestation happens, that would complicate our life. It is possible by working in the energy body with the technique of Vipassana.

Every thought pattern could be felt as a sensation in the energy body before it actually becomes a thought coming into the field of the mind. This is a great fact and possibility that could be exploited to avoid the accumulation of future karma. Once we become sensitive to the energy body, we could dissolve the karma of our present action, before it enters the store house, now and then. Thus, dissolving the past karma and by avoiding the accumulation of further karma, one gets freed from the cycle of birth and death and attains liberation.


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Wonders of Vipassana

Vipassana is one of the meditative techniques given by The Buddha. Some 2500 years back, the technique of vipassana was followed and spread over many parts of India. It was then taken to Burma and kept in its pristine purity. The technique was written and also spread in a oral tradition. In the due course of time, the technique lost its purity in India and was lost. It has now come back to India in its own purity through a well known lineage from Burma and is getting rooted. It is not only getting rooted in India, but also in many parts of the world because of its simplicity and effectiveness.


To learn this technique of meditation, one is required to attend a ten day residential programme offered by the current master, Mr.S.N.Goenka or one of his assistant teachers in any of the centers.

The specialty

In general, if one gets interested in meditation and takes to some practice, there are many claimed benefits of each meditative technique, one is promised to attain. With that belief in mind, one keeps on practicing and may attain a little benefit. But, in the case of Vipassana, one would certainly feel the difference in physical and mental health, immediately during the 10 day programme if the instructions are followed and practiced perfectly.

During the programme it is stressed again and again not to mix the technique with any other practice or ritual to give a sincere try to realize the potential of the technique. After the period of ten days, one could decide if that technique has some worth or not to be continued for life.

The lost link

Whatever be the meditative practice, it speaks of mind, its transformation and betterment of life. If there are mental blocks, it takes a physical form as disease and if there is any physical ailment, it shows its impact on the mental ability. Many practices speak of clearing these blockages. But to perceive the working nature of the technique and its effectiveness (in a live manner.. ha ha!!) would not be possible. But, in the case of Vipassana, the working nature of the technique could be felt, through different sensations on body, which makes this technique so special. These subtle sensations on the body is said to be the missing link, the link between the mind and the body which is not given importance in many of the meditative practices. When we work with the subtler body sensations, we directly work with the unconscious mind which is the main cause of misery and suffering in the life of an individual. If the unconscious mind is cleared and made perfect, the life becomes simple and comes under our control and the peace results. The improvement in the mental health and the physical health are just the side effects. The main goal of this practice is liberation.

The technique

During the 10 day programme, the mind is conditioned to realize the subtler realities of body. Whatever looks gross to our eyes is only some set of vibrations at a subtler level. Subtler the level of our perception deeper would be our level of understanding of the truth. When the mind is capable of realizing the subtler realities, the rest of the process becomes easy. A block could be a resultant of a trauma in ones life or a disease or any other cause that had left a deep impact. One would directly feel during the practice, different sensations coming up which represents these blocks and getting worked up for the relief.
To know more about the practice and learn the technique, you may visit www.dhamma.org

A change in life

If we are mentally hurt, which is so common in this money centered world, there is an impact on our mind and our mental output which may continue even for a long time. Even if we would want to get rid of such mental blocks, it would be tough to achieve at the practical level. But, with this technique, it becomes very easy. When one becomes aware of the subtler realities, one could easily feel the sensations as the thought arises and could immediately neutralize its effects before it takes form to bring about an expression. So, it transforms the whole life and the way we perceive and act.

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