When I am talking about Nirvana here, I am not referring to any Rock Band known by this term. I have the Buddhist term Nirvana in mind; it means enlightenment , end of suffering etc.
Spiritual literature of the east suggest ways of attaining Nirvana, though the more abstract among them call it pathless. People serious about Nirvana try various methods. Zen Meditation, Vipassana Meditation, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga Gyana Yoga . These are eastern methods. Besides, there are western methods. Lifetime gets spent in pursuing one or the other of these paths. Also, when the search through one path does not bring about much progress, the seekers, more particularly the impatient ones, switch to some other path. After the initial euphoria, the new search too proves elusive. For the overwhelming majority.
How about using the Internet as a tool? I am serious. After all, what do the various systems or paths teach? That life is transient. That what we see as reality is not REAL. That every thing perishes and nothing is permanent. That the time-space dimensions blind us. Ok. Internet gives you more than a glimpse of all these. I do not mean the countless writings on the above subjects. But the experiential understanding that the net imparts. We all use e-mail. We adopt user names. Right? The older among us take names like Newyorker2005, Workaholic, Aries1 etc etc. The younger people call themselves Iam18tillIdie, Lifesucks, CoffeeTeaOrMe etc.etc. With time, we acquire more mail accounts with different websites or service-providers. We adopt different user names. In course of time, the old accounts are forgotten and we use the more recent accounts. We are not stuck with the old names. We move on. Is this not a teacher of 'Life is transient'? Not just the mail accounts or user names. We change our friends. But the process is seamless. We do not do it consciously. Suddenly one day we realize that 90% of the mail friends are not in touch with us. Nor we with them. No fights. No misunderstandings. No violent break-ups. We have just moved on. Effortlessly and without pain. This,sure, is some kind of detachment. People who chat more than mail realize this much faster. Life at the chat sites is lived on the fast lane. Striking a friendship, developing closeness , sharing snapshots, living through stagnation, and peacefully moving on ......all these happen with such rapidity that a few months later one feels that it had been another time, another place. One has reincarnated and is now experiencing another Avatar. If only we could develop in real life the same kind of detachment that we experience in virtual life on the net, we shall be a few steps closer to Nirvana.
Spiritual literature of the east suggest ways of attaining Nirvana, though the more abstract among them call it pathless. People serious about Nirvana try various methods. Zen Meditation, Vipassana Meditation, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga Gyana Yoga . These are eastern methods. Besides, there are western methods. Lifetime gets spent in pursuing one or the other of these paths. Also, when the search through one path does not bring about much progress, the seekers, more particularly the impatient ones, switch to some other path. After the initial euphoria, the new search too proves elusive. For the overwhelming majority.
How about using the Internet as a tool? I am serious. After all, what do the various systems or paths teach? That life is transient. That what we see as reality is not REAL. That every thing perishes and nothing is permanent. That the time-space dimensions blind us. Ok. Internet gives you more than a glimpse of all these. I do not mean the countless writings on the above subjects. But the experiential understanding that the net imparts. We all use e-mail. We adopt user names. Right? The older among us take names like Newyorker2005, Workaholic, Aries1 etc etc. The younger people call themselves Iam18tillIdie, Lifesucks, CoffeeTeaOrMe etc.etc. With time, we acquire more mail accounts with different websites or service-providers. We adopt different user names. In course of time, the old accounts are forgotten and we use the more recent accounts. We are not stuck with the old names. We move on. Is this not a teacher of 'Life is transient'? Not just the mail accounts or user names. We change our friends. But the process is seamless. We do not do it consciously. Suddenly one day we realize that 90% of the mail friends are not in touch with us. Nor we with them. No fights. No misunderstandings. No violent break-ups. We have just moved on. Effortlessly and without pain. This,sure, is some kind of detachment. People who chat more than mail realize this much faster. Life at the chat sites is lived on the fast lane. Striking a friendship, developing closeness , sharing snapshots, living through stagnation, and peacefully moving on ......all these happen with such rapidity that a few months later one feels that it had been another time, another place. One has reincarnated and is now experiencing another Avatar. If only we could develop in real life the same kind of detachment that we experience in virtual life on the net, we shall be a few steps closer to Nirvana.
No comments:
Post a Comment