म कुमार थापा मगर, साथीहरुले यो वेबसाईट हेरी सकेपछी तपाईं ले आफ्नो साथीभैहरुलाई पनि हेर्न भनिदिनुहोस् है।
Bikshananda and Manokranti
Conversation with a Philosopher
“We are living in interesting times,” says Yogi Vikashananda when asked what he makes of the current situation of the country. “This is the most beautiful period in Nepalese history.” Maybe a wishful thinking given the current crisis facing the country, but for those who have had the pleasure of attending Vikashananda’s sermons or talking to him in person, this statement of his hardly come as a surprise. He has always been an optimist and always encourages others to be a positive thinker like him.
A philosopher above all, if you think you’ve seen Swami Vikashananda, a bright, very meditative and sage-like man, somewhere, you probably have. If you haven’t seen him then you must have certainly heard of the Manokranti movement he champions or seen the inverted question mark like symbol painted on the walls about the city. When he’s not preaching his mostly young disciples about positive thinking and manokranti darshan (literally meaning psychological revolution, the name he has given to his principles) or enthralling his audiences during his weekly discourse at the Darhara Party Palace in Sundhara, Vikashananda travels around the country giving reiki and yoga classes to thousands (his teaching centers have been established in Pokhara, Butwal, Dang, Dharan, Itahari, Banepa and Nepalgunj), teaches small workshops on how to be a positive thinker, and takes out time to appear on Television and FM radio shows where he delivers rapid fire speeches on almost every aspects of life and other philosophical issues. Besides this, the other means he resorts to in order to get his voice and teachings to the mass is through writing. He has till now authored more than 70 books, mostly on philosophy and art of living; but some are also poetry and autobiographical stories about his own life, and they have all been a complete sell out.
The mission of his philosophy is, in his own words (and which has become the motto of the Manokranti movement he started): “….strive to change the world, but start by changing yourself.” But before delving into his philosophy, lets first start with his life. As if it had all the makings of a Shakespearean tragedy in it, the story of his life began in the year 1962 when a woman called Maili Bajai found a baby lying abandoned near the Ganesh Temple in Chhetrapati, Kathmandu. The baby was Vikashananda and obviously he was deserted by his parents. Feeling sorry for the poor child, Maili Bajai hands him over to a childless couple who readily adopts him. And in this way his eventful life starts from a rather sad note.
As a boy, Vikashananda, or Ekduntaman, as he was then known, never dreamed of the selfless philosophical path he would eventually take. Rather, in Bal Lila, a memoir about his childhood years, Vikashananda writes how when he was young he was one of the most notorious children in his neighborhood. He had a difficult childhood: his father always used to come home drunk (he later died of excessive drinking) and how the regular family quarrels prompted by alcohol made him more reckless and violent as he grew. He started avoiding school and this seriously hampered his studies. When he was 10 his parents divorced. But the most painful part of his childhood years was the feeling of being found in a temple, of the sense that his true parents abandoned him. The question as to who were his real parents used to always ring in his mind and this remained a sore wound for a long time. “But later when I embarked on a journey of philosophy and knowledge, that was when I was 20 years of age, this thing about my childhood greatly encouraged me to pursue my philosophical journey and it proved to be a turning point in my life. It gave me an entirely new perspective to life and things in general. I felt that my birth had infact liberated me from the narrow boundaries of caste, creed and color and that it had purely made me a human being only”.
Vikashananda could have probably made his name as an artist, if not a philosopher. He started to train formally to become an artist under the guidance of legendary painter Chandraman Singh Maskey at the tender age of 12. He immediately started showing the signs of becoming a promising young artist. Later in the year 1979, at the age of 17, his art took him to the former Soviet Union, where he participated in an art conference. There he was exposed to communist philosophy and was greatly impressed by the life and works of Lenin and Marx. He still has leftist leanings.
After Vikashananda returned to Nepal his grim and desperate struggle against poverty and frustration started all over again. To shield himself from this he took to reading the works of great philosophers. First it was Osho, and then J Krishnamurthy greatly impressed him. His reading widened to Nietsche, Kahlil Gibran, Vivekananda and then Buddha. This all helped him to mature and take up the humble philosophical path he would later champion. During the same time he also started writing poetry.
But even as he was intellectually growing, his health greatly suffered due to poverty. He got inflicted with the tedious if not dangerous form of stomach ailment. He consulted many doctors, tried all sorts of medicines and went to many hospitals, but all to no avail. He started feeling that his personal life was slowly crumbling. Eventually he turned to Yoga and it helped him recuperate from both his physical and mental anguish. Through yoga and meditation Vikashananda learned that there is immense power and possibilities inside human beings and he thought if he could bring it out from him then it would not only help him but others as well.
This transformation in him, much like prince Siddhartha 2500 year ago, egged him to run away from home and devote his entire life to yoga and meditation. He was 21 years of age then. He moved alone to Banaras in the Northern part of India where he learnt yoga and different forms of meditation while, at the same time, studied Bachelors of Arts in philosophy and Sanskrit from Sampurananda Sanskrit University.
In 1987, after a six year long sojourn in India, Vikashananda finally returns to Nepal, sets up Ananda Yoga Center, and starts giving yoga classes to mostly foreign enthusiasts. Arogya Ashram, a yoga center run by Swami Kashinath, was already there. But Yoga wasn’t much of a vogue in Nepal during that time and he failed to catch the attention of the people here. Then with the objective to make people healthy, both emotionally and physically, Vikashananda introduced other healing and self-improvement techniques in Nepal like Reiki, super-learning and psycho cybernetics, and they soon caught the public’s imagination here. Ironically, although he started with yoga, it was through western healing and self-improvement techniques that he became more popular in his country.
Fast forward to present, sitting in his Samakushi located Ashram, Vikashananda launches into an opening monologue on his philosophy and how it would one day bring about a change for good in the country. “If you can control your mind then no matter what happens in the world, no matter what disaster strikes the world, it won’t make a least bit difference to you. But if you don’t have any control over your mind and emotions then even if there is peace and tranquility around you, you would still suffer,” he said, adding, “The problem is with the mind of the people here, not the country’s situation. If we start to think positively then it would certainly bring about positive changes.” He paused and again continued: "there is a hint of change in the air. Nepal is going through a phase like the way a mother passes through labor pain to give birth to a baby. And, I think it would definitely usher in something pleasant.” And why altogether snub the idea that this is the most interesting period in the history of Nepal; he may just as well be right!
Source:By Anand Gurung in nepalnews.com
A philosopher above all, if you think you’ve seen Swami Vikashananda, a bright, very meditative and sage-like man, somewhere, you probably have. If you haven’t seen him then you must have certainly heard of the Manokranti movement he champions or seen the inverted question mark like symbol painted on the walls about the city. When he’s not preaching his mostly young disciples about positive thinking and manokranti darshan (literally meaning psychological revolution, the name he has given to his principles) or enthralling his audiences during his weekly discourse at the Darhara Party Palace in Sundhara, Vikashananda travels around the country giving reiki and yoga classes to thousands (his teaching centers have been established in Pokhara, Butwal, Dang, Dharan, Itahari, Banepa and Nepalgunj), teaches small workshops on how to be a positive thinker, and takes out time to appear on Television and FM radio shows where he delivers rapid fire speeches on almost every aspects of life and other philosophical issues. Besides this, the other means he resorts to in order to get his voice and teachings to the mass is through writing. He has till now authored more than 70 books, mostly on philosophy and art of living; but some are also poetry and autobiographical stories about his own life, and they have all been a complete sell out.
The mission of his philosophy is, in his own words (and which has become the motto of the Manokranti movement he started): “….strive to change the world, but start by changing yourself.” But before delving into his philosophy, lets first start with his life. As if it had all the makings of a Shakespearean tragedy in it, the story of his life began in the year 1962 when a woman called Maili Bajai found a baby lying abandoned near the Ganesh Temple in Chhetrapati, Kathmandu. The baby was Vikashananda and obviously he was deserted by his parents. Feeling sorry for the poor child, Maili Bajai hands him over to a childless couple who readily adopts him. And in this way his eventful life starts from a rather sad note.
As a boy, Vikashananda, or Ekduntaman, as he was then known, never dreamed of the selfless philosophical path he would eventually take. Rather, in Bal Lila, a memoir about his childhood years, Vikashananda writes how when he was young he was one of the most notorious children in his neighborhood. He had a difficult childhood: his father always used to come home drunk (he later died of excessive drinking) and how the regular family quarrels prompted by alcohol made him more reckless and violent as he grew. He started avoiding school and this seriously hampered his studies. When he was 10 his parents divorced. But the most painful part of his childhood years was the feeling of being found in a temple, of the sense that his true parents abandoned him. The question as to who were his real parents used to always ring in his mind and this remained a sore wound for a long time. “But later when I embarked on a journey of philosophy and knowledge, that was when I was 20 years of age, this thing about my childhood greatly encouraged me to pursue my philosophical journey and it proved to be a turning point in my life. It gave me an entirely new perspective to life and things in general. I felt that my birth had infact liberated me from the narrow boundaries of caste, creed and color and that it had purely made me a human being only”.
Vikashananda could have probably made his name as an artist, if not a philosopher. He started to train formally to become an artist under the guidance of legendary painter Chandraman Singh Maskey at the tender age of 12. He immediately started showing the signs of becoming a promising young artist. Later in the year 1979, at the age of 17, his art took him to the former Soviet Union, where he participated in an art conference. There he was exposed to communist philosophy and was greatly impressed by the life and works of Lenin and Marx. He still has leftist leanings.
After Vikashananda returned to Nepal his grim and desperate struggle against poverty and frustration started all over again. To shield himself from this he took to reading the works of great philosophers. First it was Osho, and then J Krishnamurthy greatly impressed him. His reading widened to Nietsche, Kahlil Gibran, Vivekananda and then Buddha. This all helped him to mature and take up the humble philosophical path he would later champion. During the same time he also started writing poetry.
But even as he was intellectually growing, his health greatly suffered due to poverty. He got inflicted with the tedious if not dangerous form of stomach ailment. He consulted many doctors, tried all sorts of medicines and went to many hospitals, but all to no avail. He started feeling that his personal life was slowly crumbling. Eventually he turned to Yoga and it helped him recuperate from both his physical and mental anguish. Through yoga and meditation Vikashananda learned that there is immense power and possibilities inside human beings and he thought if he could bring it out from him then it would not only help him but others as well.
This transformation in him, much like prince Siddhartha 2500 year ago, egged him to run away from home and devote his entire life to yoga and meditation. He was 21 years of age then. He moved alone to Banaras in the Northern part of India where he learnt yoga and different forms of meditation while, at the same time, studied Bachelors of Arts in philosophy and Sanskrit from Sampurananda Sanskrit University.
In 1987, after a six year long sojourn in India, Vikashananda finally returns to Nepal, sets up Ananda Yoga Center, and starts giving yoga classes to mostly foreign enthusiasts. Arogya Ashram, a yoga center run by Swami Kashinath, was already there. But Yoga wasn’t much of a vogue in Nepal during that time and he failed to catch the attention of the people here. Then with the objective to make people healthy, both emotionally and physically, Vikashananda introduced other healing and self-improvement techniques in Nepal like Reiki, super-learning and psycho cybernetics, and they soon caught the public’s imagination here. Ironically, although he started with yoga, it was through western healing and self-improvement techniques that he became more popular in his country.
Fast forward to present, sitting in his Samakushi located Ashram, Vikashananda launches into an opening monologue on his philosophy and how it would one day bring about a change for good in the country. “If you can control your mind then no matter what happens in the world, no matter what disaster strikes the world, it won’t make a least bit difference to you. But if you don’t have any control over your mind and emotions then even if there is peace and tranquility around you, you would still suffer,” he said, adding, “The problem is with the mind of the people here, not the country’s situation. If we start to think positively then it would certainly bring about positive changes.” He paused and again continued: "there is a hint of change in the air. Nepal is going through a phase like the way a mother passes through labor pain to give birth to a baby. And, I think it would definitely usher in something pleasant.” And why altogether snub the idea that this is the most interesting period in the history of Nepal; he may just as well be right!
Source:By Anand Gurung in nepalnews.com
No comments:
Post a Comment