Hi folks,

      I had  taken a break from the sound and fury of everyday life to be with myself ; to attend a vipassana meditation course of which I had written earlier , this  time, at the centre near Mcleodganj, Dharamshala. There were three of us from Delhi and after reaching  Pathankot by train,  we arrived at the centre after travelling for around 5 hours by bus, through the beautiful Kangra valley.

     The centre is surrounded by very tall pine trees on all sides and the serenity of the place envelops oneself almost at once, on arriving there. In winter, the extreme cold and snow makes it impossible for courses to be conducted at this centre and so remains closed. This was the first course being held this year after Winter and so the number enrolled for the course was comparatively very small; thirteen males and four females, mostly foreigners from various parts of the world.. In Summer, one was told, all courses are booked well in advance.

      In the block where I was allotted a room along with a young girl from France, the bathroom and toilets were outside, a little away from the rooms.  That first night after we got there,  I had to get up in the middle of the night to use the toilet and who do you think accosted me on my way?...a beady eyed furry creature with a long bushy tail! It looked like a mongoose, but was much bigger than the smaller versions one had seen elsewhere. The lights outside the toilet were kept switched on. However ,the silence and shadows and the darkness beyond the arc of the lights, can begin to prey on the fear in one’s mind and make you stand petrified at the sight of a creature much smaller in size than you are. Well, thankfully, it slipped away after staring unblinkingly into my eyes for a couple of minutes. For a few days after that, till the fear wore off, I wouldn’t drink any water after sundown, just in case the pressure in my bladder, built up during the night.

    During the day, groups of monkeys could be seen scampering around the place, on the roof tops and swinging from the trees. Whole families of them would be frolicking around in the sun , in the afternoons. It was fun to watch their antics , from a safe distance, of course, especially the little ones, who would be tumbling around together or smacking each other in mock aggression.

    Starting  from 4.30 in the morning , the course schedule required us to put in around ten and half hours of meditation each day, silence being maintained throughout. It isn’t easy, because as one progresses, a lot of what has been buried in the deepest recesses of one’s mind, is dredged up and is manifested as physical sensations in the body; sometimes gross and unpleasant and at other times subtle and pleasant. This method of meditation is about developing constant awareness of  the contents of our mind and of the sensations they give rise to at the physical level, the primary emphasis being on not reacting to them, but observing them with equanimity. As I said, that is not in the least bit easy, as we tend to be swept away  when the sensations are pleasant and when the sensations are unpleasant , our habit pattern makes us roll in the pain or discomfort. If one is able to observe with equanimity, the realization does make itself evident that nothing is permanent and that whatever arises will eventually pass away. We learn  at a very experiential level, within the universe of our individual physical being, that our attachment to what is pleasant and aversion to what is unpleasant is eventually pointless, as nothing is forever.

   I am not still not sure how it works, but the more one meditates, one feels lighter, with lesser and lesser of residue inside the mind. It is not that one remains always calm, but the periods of unrest definitely does not linger on and on and one certainly feels more in control of one’s life, instead of being overcome by the habit of  reacting to the externalities , all the time.

    I guess I’ve bored you stiff by nowJ Well, let me share with you some glimpses of the beauty surrounding Mcleodganj. Do have a look at the following link:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/nadirafromkannur/

     Most of the photographs were taken on a hike  to a place called Triund, which offered a good view of the Dauladhar ranges. The mountain slopes were covered with rhododendron trees in bloom. At many places along the track, it was as if they had laid out red carpets for us to walk on.

     We did visit the monastery of the Dalai Lama. I so wanted to see him, if he did give a public audience, but he was away.

     There were posters all along the road to the monastery. Just inside the gates of the monastery, there were a group of young people stationed there, expressing their protest against the aggressive stance being taken by China against Tibetans. On the day we arrived, we had witnessed a rally of little schoolchildren. On the evening we went around Mcleodganj, after finishing the course, there was again a candle-light procession of Buddhist monks and other supporters of the Tibetan cause. There were quite a few foreign nationals in the crowd.

     There is something in the faces of Tibetans and particularly in the ex-pressions of Buddhist monks that says that their nature is predominantly that of peace and harmonious living; an inner glow,  that is hard to come by in the so called spiritual gurus of all denominations , who seem to sprout by the dozens these days. Sad that they cannot be left at peace, to pursue their way of life , in their own land.