Metta Bhavana

Hi folks !

How have you been?!
I'm - on - the -top - of - the - world !

Hope you all are too !


Afaque - glad about your Vipassana course!
I have not seen the Bada centre yet - but plan to do a nice long course there!
I have heard a lot about it!


Guruji is so right, Truth can only be experienced !

This is the 50th post - and I'm very, very happy it's about Metta Bhavana!
Metta is a Pali word and stands for loving kindness.
Wishing well of others.



One feels loving kindness to all when one is happy, full of good food and cheer, while in the midst of nature and other such occassions.

We are basically good people, all of us, and do want everyone to be happy.
The Metta that is being discussed here is slightly different.

Do you remember the 2 posts on VIPASSANA meditation?
Read them to refresh yourself !


Metta is the third part of VIPASSANA.
A different meditation, exactly opposite to it.
And an extremely beautiful, powerful experience.



Lets understand the concept first.



In the whole of the Indian sub-continent, (the world over too, actually! though the word may be different) there's a word used repeatedly from birth to death, either own or someone elses, and in every religion, caste and community too - it doesn't matter!


That word is - Punya - or the merits one collects to (hopefully)go to heaven after death and get a better birth next time around.


This concept is deeply, deeply embedded in the psyche that Punya or merits are to be collected, squirlled away, tied tightly (metaphorically) and hung on to for dear life because it is the sole criterion for whatever comes (if it does) after death.

Just in case, you know!

So people follow all kinds of rituals strictly, read scriptures and commentaries, fast and feast, do the beads, light candles and lights, visit holy places, donate food, money, medicines, their skills-


Everything they can, ouside of themselves.


The opposite is Paap or the bad deeds which entail hardships and punishments in the afterlife and/or next life.

Thats killing, stealing, hitting, raping, violence in any form.

Many people are delightfully uncertain but trust this concept completely, even if they may not agree openly!

So what happens to ones outlook or behaviour in life?

Good deeds are done with the intention of gathering merits.

Bad deeds are avoided to stay away from demerits.


Here's the catch !

One religion's or caste's good deeds may not be the same as another's!

They may actually clash!

To stick to ones own view of whats right according to their own scripture, god, view or intellect, people actually and vigorously go out and do very bad deeds.

What, then, does one do?

Look at this whole concept of good deeds- bad deeds from an entirely different angle.


The Middle Path.


Whatever harms another in body, speech or thought is a bad deed.

Whatever benifits another in body, speech or mind is a good deed.



In VIPASSANA meditation, all we do for 10 days is to remove the accumulated effects of past bad deeds and learn the correct technique of avoiding repeating them and of doing good deeds.


We work on ourselves and slowly, over a period of time, learn to master the wilful mind little by little.

In 10 days of complete silence, being with oneself, understanding and accepting oneself as one IS, and not what one thinks or wants one to be - its a period of revealations about oneself!


And many 'Ouch' moments!


But one does it - and by the 7th, 8th or the 9th day, one feels good and victorious and happy and all the world's a wonderful place and one bubbles with happy thoughts.



Then comes what was a shocker to me in my first course -



The meditation of MettaBhavana is of giving away all the feelings of peace or, in other words, the accumulated merits!

I had a fit!

Give away all the Punya collected after so much of hard work?


What was I working so hard for, then?


'Let all beings be happy, peaceful and liberated '- Guruji's gentle voice continued. 'Let these subtle vibrations spread outside your body, spread everywhere, encompass everyone.'

May they experience the same peace and harmony that you have.


Oh ! well - okay, this does make me feel good deep inside too.



I trusted him and distributed all the happiness and good feelings that I was experiencing to whoever came to me in those moments.

And understood by experiencing it-

It is not money that we give in charity or food or clothes that adds up our merits.

Or adds up our bad deeds.

It is not rituals either.

It is the vibrations we create while doing, saying or thinking anything.

It is they which are truly powerful.

Usually, the greed of collecting merits becomes worse than outright bad deeds.

In Metta, one goes on distributing the good vibrations one generates after calming the mind and watching the thoughts come and go, without getting swung all over by them.

In the many books that I have read on life after death, be they Vispi's or any other, the stress has always been on the intention behind the deed.

Metta, distributing your own, hard-earned feeling of peace, joy and lightness is the highest in positive intentions that can one do for oneself and offer others at the same time.

Metta empties one.

It is Shunyata.

The Emptiness within.

All the grossness of desires and wants and ill-will and animosity melts.

It liberates.
Elevates.

Gross stones stay on ground, gathering moss and insects.
It is the clouds which rise and liberate because they carry no weight.

Metta brings joy in the heart and a smile on face which stays in tough times too.

Do it!

Whatever your practise, your ritual, give away all the wonderful feelings to all at the end of it- friend or foe, alive or dead, human or non-human.


You will feel good in a quiet way.


Feel more grounded and light and patient and forgiving and strong.




You will start to smile more!



With METTA to all-