QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (Goenkaji speaks to prisoners in Nasik Jail, India, February 16, 1996) QUESTION: Will these jails ever become empty? ANSWER: Yes, definitely they will become empty someday. About 20 years ago, I had gone to Switzerland and was on a tourist bus. The bus stopped in front of a large building and the guide started explaining: This is a large building which can accommodate about 500 people. But there have been no residents here for the last 10 years. What was that building? It was the local jail. Someday this will happen in India also. When Vipassana arises in this country, all these jails will become empty. QUESTION: If we all become saints, what will happen to the government? ANSWER: It will be very happy. If everyone becomes a saint, what can be better than that? A saint is always welcome inside or outside. That is all? QUESTION: Whatever is happening in this life is it the will of God, or is it our own doing? ANSWER: Every man is his own god, his own master. But you have to win this mastery over yourself and become a god and then everything will happen as per your wish. But if you are not your own master, instead you are a slave of the mind, then you will blame others for your actions. You will think: God did like this or like that, that is why I am in jail. Oh no. You did something wrong, that is why you are here. Then you should change your behaviour. So if there is a God then he will only be pleased with you. He will be happy with you. QUESTION: I am so caught up in the problems of this world, that I am perplexed. Please tell me how I can concentrate. ANSWER: That is what you will learn to do in the course. That despite all the problems in the world, how we can learn to control our mind. When you do this course, you will learn how to control your mind and also how to purify it. QUESTION: I have been imprisoned here for the murder of so-and-so person. But I did not commit the crime. Am I a criminal? ANSWER: If really you were not involved in any murder, but still you have been imprisoned, then to prove yourself innocent, you need to keep your mind calm, only then you can convince. If you keep getting upset and getting angry with someone, then you will be in state of confusion. Then how can you convince others of your innocence. When you do this course then your mind will calm down and then you can tackle the problem better and try to convince others of your innocence. Even otherwise, if it is so that your are innocent and yet you are being punished now, it may be due to some crime committed in some other lifetime. You are experiencing the fruits of your past actions. Learn to accept these fruits with a smile: I will not defile my mind now. I will change my life this way. Then only you will be happy and find peace. QUESTION: This world will not exist in the year 2000. ANSWER: Oh no, nothing will happen like that, who told you this? Dont believe such things. Dhamma will still be around. QUESTION: Can I take part in this Vipassana course? ANSWER: Yes, of course you can. This government has been very kind enough to make the arrangement for the course in the jail. Everybody wants to change the criminal with the help of sticks, but how can you do that? Nobody will change that way. Fortunately this government has realized that and is now trying to change you with Vipassana. That is very good. Make best use of this opportunity. QUESTION: How can a man understand himself? ANSWER: This is the way to understand oneself. Look within yourself: What is happening within me at this moment? What is my mind doing? Some defilement is arising in my mind and I am becoming tense or it is going away and I am feeling peaceful? Thus you will learn about yourself. QUESTION: I saw my mind full of defilements and tried reading many sacred books, but to no use; I could not know myself, nor I could find peace. Can you help me? ANSWER: I have already explained that just by listening to discourses, it is not beneficial. You heard my talk now, has it bought you any peace? Maybe so, for a few moments, it felt good. There were thoughts of Dhamma in the mind for some time and it felt good. But inside that, tension was still there. We just diverted our minds for sometime, but inside it was still the same. This technique will help you to change from within. Vipassana will answer all your questions. QUESTION: Our body is a chariot, the defilements are its horses, the mind is the reins and desire its charioteer. Is this true? ANSWER: We are slaves of our minds, this is true. But we should be masters of our mind. This is the technique to achieve this. As you learn to do this for ten days and then practise daily morning and evening, you will become the master of your mind. This is in your hands, not somebody else’s. QUESTION: To find peace of mind, I tried chanting the name of R±m, but it was of no use. ANSWER: There is some little benefit from this. When a person is extremely upset and does not know what to do, it helps to keep the mind occupied with such activity but this helps only at the surface of the mind—about 5%. But the remaining 95% of the mind does not get diverted. This part of the mind is always with the body sensations and reacting with craving and aversion, thus making you tense. You have to cure that part of the mind. Vipassana does that. QUESTION: Seven years are over, my case is yet to be heard. ANSWER: This is very unfortunate, but what to do? This suffering that you are going through, waiting for the last seven years for your case to begin. One does not know whether one is a criminal or not, yet one has to suffer a jail sentence. Now this situation, one can undergo with a smile or by lamenting. This technique of Vipassana teaches you to go through it with a smile. Then you will see the situation change by itself. One has to rectify oneself first before trying to change outside things. QUESTION: A meditation course has been held here before and we got some peace, but we still cannot control our mind. ANSWER: Which means something was missing. It is one thing to keep the mind occupied in some activity and quite another thing to go deep within the mind and remove its defilements by the roots. Once this is done, peace comes by itself. QUESTION: It is said that whatever is written in our fate will happen. ANSWER: Who makes our fate? We ourselves by our actions and past deeds. If we do good deeds, then our fate will be good; if our deeds are bad, so will our fate be. Become master of your mind and make your own fate. QUESTION: How to control our intellectual desires? ANSWER: This technique can help you. You will understand, that deep inside there is a root cause of your misery. This desire at the deep level of your mind makes you miserable. The desire at the surface level of the mind can be fulfilled somehow, but this deep inside there is a constant desire which keeps you agitated and this technique will help you come out of it. QUESTION: God gave us life to live, then why did he give us death? If death is certain then what is the purpose of life? ANSWER: We have to live our lives with a smile and when the time of death comes we have to accept is with a smile. This is the art of living. Then if there is a God he will be very happy with us: Look, I gave this man life; he leads a good life with a smile. I gave him death; he accepted that also with a smile. If we learn to live, then we also learn to die. This technique teaches us the art of living and the art of dying. A Vipassana meditator will never die in an unconscious state, he will never die in a state of tension and misery. He will always die smiling. Thus you learn to live peacefully and die peacefully. This is the greatest art one can learn in this life. QUESTION: I want to change myself completely. ANSWER: That is what this technique is all about. You will totally change, I guarantee it. But you will have to work for it. You cannot hope to change just by getting the blessings of some guru. You have to work yourself. QUESTION: I want to lead a peaceful life. Sometimes in the night, all alone, I feel like I am choking. ANSWER: I can understand your problem very well. This technique will help you remove such suffering. Now when we suffer, we tend to ascribe it to external reasons: He did like this or like that, that is why I am miserable. When you learn to look within, you will realize: I have defiled my mind and that is why I am unhappy. Remove the defilement and see, the misery goes away. QUESTION: While doing our official duties, we sometimes have to use harsh words and actions. We have to criticize others for their bad deeds and we tend to feel disgust for these people. ANSWER: That is the mistake you are making, giving rise to disgust in the mind. Sometimes it so happens that we cannot convince a person using soft language. Then in that case we may have to use harsh words to do our duty. We may have to take harsh action, but we need not have harsh thoughts in our mind to do this. Before you use any harsh words, look within yourself: Is there love and compassion within me for this fellow? Poor man, he does not understand soft words, so for his own benefit I have to use harsh words. If you are having feelings of love and compassion within you, then you are performing your duty in the correct manner. This is why we have both prisoners and jail officials doing courses together. Both are suffering from the same problems, so both can find the solution. QUESTION: There is corruption all around us. We cannot change this, no party can change this. ANSWER: The individual has to change first, only then the society can change. First you try to change yourself, forget about others. Even if one man changes for the better, there is that one flicker [sugg: glimmer] of light in a world of darkness. This flicker [sugg: glimmer] will slowly grow and soon you will have light everywhere. All corruption will get removed. So first the individual has to change. That is what this technique does. QUESTION: We sit everyday and concentrate our mind, yet we are full of tension. ANSWER: That is why you should learn this technique, and learn how to control your mind and purify it, only then you will find peace. QUESTION: You have quoted Guru Nanak and his words about the will of Almighty. If everything is the will of Almighty, then should we consider our crimes as his will? ANSWER: There is only one will of the Almighty. That if you defile your mind, then you should be punished; if you purify your mind then you should be rewarded with peace. Such a simple fact. Learn this and you will be on the path to progress. QUESTION: People call me a thief. Am I not human? ANSWER: Let people call you by any name. I told you the about this man in Burma who committed 17 murders. He too was called a murderer. But he changed himself and now no one calls him that. He has become a saint, people bow to him. You also become a saint and people will bow to you. That is in your hands, to become a saint. Purify your mind and you become a saint. QUESTION: I want to stay away from anger, yet it does not leave me. ANSWER: That is the whole problem. No one wants to generate anger, but what to do, it happens. This technique will help you come out of that habit. This habit of generating anger, it is like a jail. You can come out of this jail. QUESTION: I try to think good of everyone all the time. Still I am miserable and bad things keep happening to me. ANSWER: You think good of others, that is very nice. But that is only at the surface level of the mind. What about the rest of the mind? That is full of defilement. There is craving and aversion in this mind which is making you miserable. So if you try to improve things at the surface level, it does not work for long. Until the roots are cured you cannot find real peace. QUESTION: Where can I find pacification? ANSWER: Within oneself. QUESTION: Sometimes my breath stops and starts by itself. What does this mean? ANSWER: When you keep observing your breath, you may feel it has stopped for a moment. This happens when the mind becomes peaceful and concentrated. May all be happy. May all get the opportunity to do a course and find peace. May all be happy. ........ vridhamma.org/Printversion/Goenkaji-speaks-to-prisoners-in-Nasik-Jail
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 11:29:20 +0000
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