Business Prospects in Nepal

Nepal got too crisis all around electricity, water, fuel, communication, inflation. Remember crisis is an opportunity for an entrepreneur, and for us to become a multi-millionaire while serving fellow Nepali and beyond.

Starting a new business, in Nepal, is not for the ones who lack boldness and courage. You will not only face the usual uncertainty about the demand for your products and the competition but you'll also venture into perhaps a completely new world, with its own business and consumer culture, different language and way of life. There are many reasons why you should start your business in Nepal like number of educated people are increasing day by day which has resulted in increase in number of job seekers, people with new innovative ideas, hardworking, enthusiastic people Nepal has capacity in various sectors that helps you to earn billions of dollar. For e.g. electricity, tourism, agro-based industry.

Nepal lies between two of the fastest growing economies of the world, India and China
As a least developed country, Nepal is entitled to preferential treatment in a number of rich markets. Two other advantages, according to investors already in Nepal, are a low-cost and non-hostile workforce and a small and accessible bureaucracy.
The natural as well as cultural assets of Nepal offer very substantial opportunities to investors.
The country has a range of climatic conditions - from the tropical to the sub-arctic - and a terrain that is mountainous in the north, hilly in the middle and near sea level in the south. Many niche agricultural products can thus be grown in Nepal, medicinal herbs and high-quality tea being but two examples.

There is huge potential for hydropower. About 44,000 MW is thought to be economically feasible, which may be contrasted with about 800 MW currently being generated. Nepal has not been able to exploit much of its potentiality and the people in Nepal still face severe power shortages. In order to harness and develop hydropower, the government is encouraging private foreign investment in this sector. In the last several years, the government under competitive basis has been awarding licenses to private sector developers with over 5000MW of hydropower development in various stages of progress where well known international and domestic firms are involved. This priority sector provides great opportunities for contractors, equipment suppliers, and consultants alike.

There is scope for foreign investment in other areas/sectors also. Tourism is another area with enormous potential. Nepal has spectacular natural assets such as Mount Everest - the Top of the world - and seven other peaks of 8,000 meters and higher. It also has a rich cultural heritage and a great diversity of ethnic groups with distinctive traditions: Lumbini in western Nepal is the birthplace of the Buddha, while Bhaktapur in the Kathmandu valley is a perfectly preserved mediaeval town full of Hindu temples. Tremendous opportunities exist in developing tourism / hotel projects and resorts in Nepal.
Other trade opportunities include telecommunications equipment, ICT equipment, water resources equipment, and aircraft parts. The major telecom players are in expansive mode. Other upcoming opportunities also include civil aviation infrastructure, toll fast track roads, and railways.

Other areas like Software Development; Leather and Textile; Pharmaceutical; Electronic and the Service Industries also carry high possibilities of foreign investment. Other sectors such as Medicinal and Aromatic Herbs; Flower and Vegetable Seeds; Floriculture and Sericulture; Processing of Spices, Coffee; Fruits and Dairy Products; Vegetable and Mushroom Farming and Tea, also carry high possibilities of foreign investment. Minerals that includes Stone and Limestone; Talc; Silica; Dolomite; Iron-ore; Oil and Natural Gas needs to be further explored.

There are lots of potential business opportunities in Nepal. Don’t worry about the changing political climate. It is always ups and downs. However, there are many foreign companies working and creating jobs in the country. You can easily establish a business relation with Nepalese entrepreneur who will show you the way how to setup new venture or partnering with existing companies to expand your future business in Nepal.

Some Tips why you got a chance to start business in Nepal:
A.) There are crisis all around (electricity, water, fuel, communication, inflation). Remember crisis is an opportunity for an entrepreneur, and for you to become a multi-millionaire while serving fellow Nepali and beyond.
B )High unemployment rates means you can build a team around motivated youths who are desperately looking to stay employed. Plus, you get their goodwill and hopefully loyalty to build a sustainable company in the long run.
C.) Youths are leaving to work abroad,(1500 a day in 2014), which means less competition for you.
D.) Workers abroad (2.5 million or more) send back more than US $5 Billion a year (2014). Find out how to do a good business catering to them and their families. The market for the poor is huge! Serve these billion dollar customers!

E) Win business from customers by showing your consistently delivering track record and honest intentions! Many of your competitors might be taking the short-cut to success by using corruption.

Take advantage of this unique situation. Learn that they can never compete against you in terms of transparency, honesty (and probably quality also). If your corrupt rivals try to out- maneuver you, challenge them to open their accounts, and get the sensation hungry media on them or the government watchdogs to inspect them!
For example, open a good hygienic ‘gudpak’ or sweets shops to out-compete with corrupt, shady ones that exist today.

Nepal is fast becoming a consumer driven nation. We buy a lot and throw away a lot. From cloths to recycling there is opportunity. Why do you think there are 1000’s of families dedicated to recycling our trash? Why do you think shops after shops are opening in Malls? Serve our consumer driven nation with quality, affordable price and superior customer service!

Industries built right after civil strife or wars can last for a long time as proved by the industries that opened after the Second World War in much of Europe and US. So start now when there is less competition.
High unemployment rates means you can build a team around motivated youths who are desperately looking to stay employed. Plus, you get their goodwill and hopefully loyalty to build a sustainable company in the long run.

Eastern Philosophy and western Mind: Can be a Good Blend of Modern Education.

About 6 month back when i am reading an article in the Nepalese Newspaper, i found a sentences that says" Western education is like a vulture; it teaches us how to rise high. But even when it raises high in the sky, its eyes are always in the dead animals in the earth". I am quiet fascinated with this article and started analyzing and critically reasoning the statement that it has presented. But it never told why and what in return.

Since my very childhood I feel myself lucky to have the mentor ship of such a nice parents who not only teaches and guided me, but also gave me a good insight to see the religion, humanity, life and the people from different dimension. They send me to study sanskrite every saturday in one of the government school. My mother taught me to enchant the mantras and slokas of various gods and goddess. At some moment of time i have thought that, the thing which i was doing is totally useless and of no use. But when i grow up i understood the real meaning of understanding and learning sanskrite education in my childhood. My parents not only taught me but increased my curiosity to learn and know more. During my course of learning i went through a lot of books of various saints and of various religions and still learning. I found a lot of similarities as well as differences in many of the sayings.

Most of the scripts talked about the does and dont's of our life. As well as many heroic actions and insidents to give us message and motivate us to follow the path of the religion. Many saints were born and died. many religion emerged and modified. But behind all the things, what i found is different. my way of learning and understanding religion has become different and i have always followed different Dimension. I always compare, relate and differentiate religion with Science. By doing this i found the Hindu religion more scientific, practical and contemporary. May be some of the religious leader has misinterpreted it in the sake of some self interests. but if we go in details and in-depth study of Hindu religion, we can find it more scientific and life concentric.    

LAW OF 33% (A Life Leading Principle)

Most of the people in this world dwell around nothing. Putting their hand on their heads. Blaming others for not getting chances and opportunities in Life. It is absolutely true and necessary to understand that human being achieves success and achievement by their own efforts. But it is also equally important in any bodies life that what type of group circle or what type of people does he or she is associated with. Human being is a social animals. I can never say that i just want to live in the jungle all alone and without interacting with the people. Societies, peoples, friends, seniors and juniors are the regular routines of our life.

Today i'm gonna share you about how to balance all these relations- Your seniors, Juniors and companions. Or i mean how to balance in between these these three kinds of peoples and why. I love to define this principle as ("Law of 33%). To be very honest most of us spend most of our time with the people of our own age(Companion). From an early good morning call to the late night sms we spend our precious and valuable times with us, that's very fantastic. We have a very less time for the people who are below our age. If my brother will be calling me for help to complete his assignment, then i will be very busy to help him. If my Grands parents or the parents call me for a family meeting then i always have my stomach. 

I am sorry my friend this is not only me, but must of us all who are so much outreached to have a proper and balance way of relationship. But can u guess why i am talking about all these relationships and balancing stuffs? Because i am going to talk about why balancing 33% to each younger, companions and seniors(Mentors) will help to enrich your life. Lets talk about the young minds. We all agree that the new generations are coming with more dynamic thought and IT shabby nature. They are more smarter then us at their age. sooner or later they are the people who are going to get associated in our life professionally or personally. either in the foem of BOSS or the employee workng under you in some part of the world. Understanding those juniors, their perceptions and way of thinking is very important to evaluate yourself as well as in the field of management and other research.

Talking about the people of same age; they are the people who judges you most of the time. With them you can achieve the ultimate fun of life. They come to your life as a best friend of a beloved or a partner with whom you will have a relationships with benefit. They teaches you and indulge you in the ups and downs of the life.

And lastly the senior peoples and most importantly i prefer to say them the mentors.They are the peoples who are minimum of 10-15 years older and had gained alot of experience in their life. They shares you the experiences and hardships they have gone through. They share you the good plans and ways of life and how to treasure the happiness. They teaches you the lessons which can never be found even in the Atlas and the Encyclopedias. They take you to the world where you cant stay awake and even cant dream.

How is Vivekanda's Life and teachings relevant to current generation youths?

This essay is written by Vivek P. S. and was awarded the 1st prize in the Viveka Essay Competition 2013.

For more reasons than one, writing an essay on Vivekananda’s teachings is a challenging task.  One, Swami Vivekananda  taught on both broad and very deep aspects (not restricted to India alone) encompassing Spiritualism, Universal values, Religion, Character building, Education, Spirit of Service and Social issues – it is not possible to cover all these in a small essay. Two, his teachings influenced contemporaries, inspired innumerable followers & started off movements all over India (continuing to do so even to the present day) and, as such, it is difficult to clearly say what he did teach and what he did not teach (Eg., some “Indian Nationalist” organizations that hold him to be their role model practice an intolerant and often violent form of Hindu culture. Would Swami, had he been alive today, have supported such organizations?) – so, one needs to first of all be clear regarding what his core teachings are (In my essay, I have referred to [1]). Three, Vivekananda lived more than a 100 years ago (before the world wars) and a lot has changed with India and the world since then (India is now an independent nation with a Government elected by its own people and Public works departments to take care of all development works); so, some may argue that the concepts like Practical Vedanta, Karma Yoga, Bhakti etc. are “old-fashioned”, “esoteric” or “mere rhetoric” and as such impractical or inefficient for progress of present-day India. Four, one may ask “Vivekananda worked on Religious harmony, Education, Service and Social issues. But this is not new in India. At various times in the country’s past before Vivekananda, Reformers, Philosophers and Saints have attempted to bring about social improvement and even during the times Vivekananda lived, there were others like him. What new contribution did Vivekananda make? Moreover, the society today is much different, much better than it used to be. So how is Vivekananda relevant as of today?”. Finally, Swami is seen by many as a Godly person who taught and lived by the purest and strictest injunctions that ordinary people cannot follow; young people tend to think “Is it possible for me to live and work like Vivekananda? No, I cannot! I’ll just light an Agarbatti stick & pay him my respects and then choose something easier that I can follow” – that is, unless young men are made to follow and practice Vivekananda’s teachings, he will only remain an ideal and his vision for India will remain unfulfilled. In this essay, I propose to take up the above points, one by one, in the following manner: I will begin by giving a summary of the main teachings of Vivekananda so that we are clear as to what he did teach. Next, I will present a brief sketch of his ideas and efforts in tackling the most important problems faced by the Indian masses during his times, namely Education, Poverty and Identity. Finally, in the last section, I will focus on three important areas that are important for development of present-day India – Education, Employment, and Infrastructure – and propose reforms for solving the problems based on Vivekananda’s teachings. We will see if, how & in what way Swami Vivekananda is relevant today and how today’s youth can find solutions to present-day problems in light of his teachings.

Gist of Vivekananda’s teachings.

For over twelve years from 1890-1902, amidst much hardship, suffering and personal humiliation, Swami Vivekananda toured all over India and to several places abroad as itinerant monk, preaching and working on diverse problems. He played a major role in introducing India and her spiritual culture of Vedanta to the Western world and in reviving & refining Hinduism within India. His main teachings may be summarized in terms of his views on Education, Religion, Character building, Womanhood, Hinduism, Spirit of Service and National Integration. A unique feature of Vivekananda’s teachings is that they are, by and large, of universal nature, and hence, his speeches and sayings have been quoted by Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Jawaharlal Nehru & many others.

– Swami Vivekananda said of Education: “Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man”. He said that education which does not enable a person to stand on his own feet, does not teach him self-confidence and self-respect, is useless. Education should be man-making, life giving and character-building. He also said that children should be given “positive education”, i.e they should be encouraged to learn new things till they gain self-confidence and self-respect.

– Of Religion, Vivekananda said “To be good and to do good unto others – that is the essence of Religion”. According to Swami Vivekananda, religion is the idea which raises the brute to man, and man unto God. Swami Vivekananda preached that Truth is the basis of all Religions and hence we must always practice tolerance towards other religions – be it Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam or other Religion.

– On Character. Since a country’s future depends on its people, Vivekananda stressed on character building (he called it “man-making”). According to Vivekananda, Jiva is Shiva (every man is potentially Divine). To become divine (or great), man must give up suspicion, jealousy, conceit and learn to work unitedly for the common good. Courage, faith (in oneself & in God), patience and steady work, according to Swami Vivekananda, is the way to success. He told that purity, patience and perseverance overcome all obstacles.

– Womanhood. Swami Vivekananda said that since the atman (soul) has neither sex nor caste, it is wrong to discriminate between sexes. He suggested not to think of people as men and women, but as human beings. According to Vivekananda, there is no chance for welfare in the world unless the condition of woman is improved. He felt that it was impossible to get back India’s lost pride and honor unless the condition of women was improved. According to Vivekananda, the ideal of womanhood in India is motherhood and that Sita was the ideal of Indian womanhood.

– Hinduism. Vivekananda strives to give to Hinduism a clear-cut identity, both nationally and internationally. At the end of the 19th century, the Western world knew very little about India. The British masters and Christian missionaries had conveyed to them the picture of a barbaric, backward race of people practicing evil and inhuman Hindu customs. Moreover, the Hindus in India were practicing many different customs and traditions and were a loose confederation of many different sects. Swami approached the problem in two parts. Within India, he preached about the common bases of Hinduism, the common ground of all its different sects and brought about its overall unification. He also toured the Western countries in an effort to convey Hinduism’s liberal and universal values to Westerners and raising his voice in its defense. He also worked among the masses fighting social evils and superstitions and trying to integrate the best elements of Western culture into Hindu culture.

– Regarding Spirit of Service, Vivekananda said “Do not stand on a high pedestal and take five cents in your hand and say, ‘ Here, my poor man’ but be grateful that the poor man is there so that by making a gift to him, you are able to help yourself. It is not the receiver that is blessed, but it is the giver“. Another saying: “Believe in the omnipotent power of love. Who cares for these tinsel puffs of name? Have you love? – You are omnipotent. Are you perfectly unselfish? If so, you are irresistible. It is character that pays everywhere. Give up jealousy and conceit. Learn to work unitedly for others. That is the great need of our country.”

– National Integration. Swami said that in spite of innumerable linguistic, ethnic, historical and regional diversities; India has always had a strong sense of cultural unity and has been one nation. Swami strives to instill in Indians, a greater understanding of their country’s profound spiritual heritage and pride in their past. He undertook tours to different parts of India and gave public speeches to rouse religious consciousness and to focus the attention of educated people on the plight of the downtrodden masses. He urged them to work for their emancipation, saying: “So long as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them”.

Patanjali's 8 Limbs of Yoga

Patanjali Yoga: The purpose of Yoga is not just achieving good health. Yoga means to link oneself with God (Krishna) by concentrating the mind on Him and controlling the ever-disturbing senses. By the practice of yoga one gradually becomes free from materialistic attachments. This is the primary characteristic of the yoga process. When one is free of materialistic attachments one loses interest in the body and becomes interested in spiritual perfection.


By the perfect practice of yoga one becomes completely happy in this life and, after death, one reaches the state of eternal happiness called liberation. In the perfect stage of yoga one is liberated from the cycle of material suffering (see Karma and Reincarnation) and goes to the spiritual world to serve God in perfect purity.

Yoga includes different practices depending on ones level of spiritual advancement, and can be compared to a ladder for attaining the topmost spiritual realization. The complete ladder is called yoga and may be divided into 3 main parts. 1) Karma, 2) Jnana, and 3) Bhakti.


1) Karma-yoga When a person knows the goal of life is Krishna (God), but is attached to working to get material comforts, then he is acting in karma-yoga.


2) Jnana-yoga When he knows the goal is Krishna, but takes pleasure in mental speculation, he is acting in jnana-yoga.


3) Bhakti-yoga When he knows the goal is Krishna and is not attached to any material thing, either gross or subtle, but simply desires to work for the pleasure of Krishna, then he is acting in bhakti-yoga. This is the highest perfection of the yoga system

Vipassana Meditation: A deep Insight and Purification process

Vipassana is a word in the Pali language, one of the ancient languages of Nepal along with Sanskrit. Sometimes Vipassana is translated as 'insight meditation' because one of the main effects of the practice is that you get deep understandings about deep universal issues such as how it is that pain turns into suffering, how it is that pleasure either becomes satisfaction or becomes neediness, and how it is that the sense of self arises.


Today I am going to share you about my first experience of Vipassana Meditation and how I fell and understand the situation being a youth. I will also like to share some of my learning's, Understandings and Wisdoms during my Meditation Period for 10 days in Dhamma Kirti (Kirtipur, Nepal).


Vipassana meditation is also called 'mindfulness meditation' because we are very attentive. The main technique is to become extraordinarily attentive to ordinary experience. Unfortunately the word mindfulness can be a bit misleading if you interpret mindfulness to mean that you are constantly thinking about what you're doing. Mindful in the proper sense of the word simply means to be attentive and conscious about what's happening.


The word 'insight' can be a little misleading too because it's not only a word from Buddhism, but also is a word used in psychotherapy. When you do psychotherapy you get insights. Of course those insights are very important, but they are typically insights into your own personality, and the specific issues of your life. The insights that come as a result of Vipassana are deeper and more general than those that are ordinarily encountered in psychotherapy. They deal with very broad issues that are multiply rather than singularly applicable. In science, a deep theory augers many specific applications. Out of a single fundamental breakthrough in science you may have dozens—or even thousands—of specific applications. So in the same way, the insights that come from Vipassana practice let us understand the very nature of personality itself, not just things about our own personality. So Vipassana is "insight" in the sense of deep insight and it is "mindfulness" in the sense of extraordinary attentiveness.


The basic premise of this practice can be stated rather simply. Whenever one brings an extraordinary degree of mindfulness and equanimity to ordinary experience this produces insight. And it also produces something called purification. Now, every word I just used is a technical term in Buddhism. Buddhism is a kind of inner science. The West developed an outer science with a technical vocabulary to describe, in a way that no other culture did, the external physical reality. In the East they have an analogously precise and technical vocabulary, but it is applied to the inner world. That is to say, the world of subjective experience: hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, the feeling body and the thinking mind. They developed a science of these six senses and it's called Vipassana.


I find in science a very appropriate metaphor for this particular kind of meditation. When you study science you know that you are going to encounter technical terms. When you encounter a technical term you should not project your own meanings onto it. You have to listen very carefully to the exact words that the teacher uses in defining that term. For example, in ordinary colloquial English, force, power, and energy are often used as synonyms, but for a physicist they are defined in specific—and very different—ways. (Force is proportional to acceleration and mass; energy is force applied over a distance; and power is the rate of which energy is being generated or consumed.) In a similar way, I'm going to give you some technical vocabulary from the Vipassana tradition.


One such term is 'equanimity.' It does not mean a cooled out, passive or indifferent attitude. Rather, it means an attitude of not interfering with the operation of the six senses. If you have a sensation in your knee and it's painful and it wants to spread, you let it spread. Why? Because you discover that it is precisely the interference with that sensation that causes suffering, not the sensation itself. Equanimity literally means "balance." (Sthitaa-Pragya) It means not to push and pull the flow of the senses. It does not for a moment imply that one would fail to take action with respect to external circumstance, nor does it imply passivity, apathy or anything like that. Equanimity is radical permission to feel. Equanimity is a dropping of internal friction with respect to the flow of these six senses: hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, the feeling body and the thinking mind. As a state of radical openness, equanimity is equivalent to love.


Whenever one brings mindfulness and equanimity to ordinary experience, an evolutionary process takes place, consisting of two aspects. One aspect is insight and the other is purification. Let's talk first about what I mean by purification. We all have within us sources of unhappiness. I notice while meditating that very quickly when I sit down to meditate. I'll feel just fine and then there will be something that will make my world less than perfect. I feel sleepy, or my mind wanders, or this or that emotion comes up, negative tapes start to come up, traumatic memories appear, I feel angry, I want to jump out of your skin, I am running all sorts of fantasies, doing things to divert myself, We are chock full of sources of unhappiness which are completely foreign to our being. It is not in the nature of consciousness to suffer. However, we have acquired certain limiting forces: cravings and aversions, painful memories, inappropriate yet habitual behavior patterns, and so forth.


When we sit down and do this practice that's all going to come up. So you don't always feel good while doing Vipassana meditation. thought meditation is supposed to make a person feel great." Yes, in the long run, but an important aspect of meditation is to sit down and start working through the sources of not feeling great, whatever they may be. You literally eat your way through them, one after another, after another, after another. How? By just being mindful and having equanimity, that's all. Whatever comes up, you'll observe it and you'll do nothing. You'll be very aware and that's all.


Now that may seem stupid at worst. But it is actually quite powerful. Let's say that one of these blockages to happiness comes up as we meditate—a negative tape, a craving, an aversion, an inner conflict, a congealing. If we reject it and say "I don't want you," we're pushing it away. But in order to reject it we have to "touch" it, by pushing on it. If on the other hand we identify with it, buy into it and let it pull us away, then again we've "touched" it.


This process of "watching negativity to death" is called purification. As we work through the blockages to happiness, our intrinsic happiness—the nature of our consciousness which is effortless effulgent joy—becomes evident. If the dirt is cleaned away from the window, the sun that was always there is able to shine through. The spiritual reality which is the nature of ordinary experience is able to shine forth.








Most people would affirm such a spiritual reality, but they don't directly experience it. They experience only their own projections, wishful thinking, or beliefs about it, without ever being able to see it directly. Yet everyone has the ability to come into direct contact with the Source. Through the continued practice of attention (mindfulness) and openness (equanimity), one can work through what's in the way. It takes time, but the time is going to pass anyway, so why not live it to the max?


At the beginning stages of meditation one is very concerned with overcoming the wandering thoughts in order to develop enough calm and concentration to be able to practice mindfulness. But when you get further along in the process there will be no necessity whatsoever to have a still mind because the ordinary flow of thought will be experienced as not different from the activity of the Source.


So to do Vipassana practice means simply to be very precise and accepting moment by moment with regard to what is happening in your sense door. That may seem like a trivial practice. One might think, "What's the big deal. I'm sitting here, so now I'm clearly aware of an itch in my tush, or now I know that the sound is calling my attention. So what?" But when all the components of experience become distinct enough, when there's crystal clarity about exactly what's happening moment by moment, then the senses become literally transparent, i.e., insubstantial. And a reality that is beyond time and space can shine through. One is able to contact the Source as a pure "doing" continuously molding time, space, self and world moment by moment. Technically, this is referred to as "insight into impermanence." Well, once you've reached that point you'll never be bored again, I promise you.


Now let's talk a little more about this technical term: insight. In Vipassana you get insights and understandings into the most fundamental aspects of our being. Here we have another analogy from science.


When people observe under a microscope they start to discover things they could never see with the naked eye. There's no way to know that our bodies are made up of trillions of little cells. No matter how hard you look at your body with the naked eye, you'll never see them. But if you look under a microscope you will, and you will understand something deep and fundamental about the nature of all organisms: it's called the cell theory of life. This is the basis of modern biology and modern medicine. A microscope is an awareness extending tool that allows us to see something that is always there but not evident to the naked eye. The mindfulness practice is to the exploration of your internal world what the microscope is to the exploration of the external world. It allows you to see finer levels of structure that are absolutely invisible to people otherwise, but are very important.


For example, as you are observing, you'll be able to see that pain is one thing, and resistance to the pain is something else, and when the two come together you have an experience of suffering. You will get an insight into the nature of suffering (S = P x R), 'suffering equals pain multiplied by resistance.' You'll be able to see that's true not only for physical pain, but also for emotional pain and its true not only for little pains but also for big pains. It's true for every kind of pain no matter how big, how small, or what causes it. Whenever there is resistance there is suffering. As soon as you can see that, you gain an understanding of what makes pain a problem, and as soon as you gain that insight, you'll begin to have some freedom. You come to realize that as long as we are alive we can't avoid pain. It's built into our nervous system. But we can certainly learn to experience pain without it being a problem.


If you've never meditated you may be completely lost as to what I'm talking about. You may even think I'm talking nonsense. And there's a good reason for that. For most people, by the time they are conscious of a physical or emotional pain they have already turned it into suffering by resisting it. The resistance begins at the preconscious processing level of each moment of experience. So the idea that you can experience discomfort without it being a problem doesn't make sense to most people because for them every time there's discomfort there's suffering. The distinction between pain and suffering and their relationship is invisible to the average person because you have to look with a sort of 'microscope'—an awareness extending tool—to observe the pain over and over again with high states of concentration until you can begin to see that the pain is one thing and the resistance is something else and when the two come together you suffer, but when there's just pain you don't suffer. Pain is just part of nature. It's just as effortless as ripples spreading on a pond, or as the wind blowing through the trees. It is possible to actually 'go on vacation' inside your pain. You don't have to go to the mountains or the seashore. Of course you can also go on vacation inside your pleasure or inside your neutral sensations. This is an example of insight. It's something that you cannot see with the naked eye. I can tell you about it and you'll either believe me or not believe me. On the other hand, if you observe long enough and hard enough, you'll see for yourself that it is actually true. And will that be important? Just wait until the next time you suffer in some way and you'll know!


So, with this practice we bring mindfulness (specificity of awareness) and equanimity (non-interfering with awareness) to ordinary experience. As a result, we get purification, which is a release of the blockages to happiness, and we get insight which is a deep, many-faceted understanding into the nature of our experience. As a result of this what happens? We become empowered, we become free. We have a sense of freedom that is not dependent on circumstances, we have a sense of happiness that is not dependent on conditions.


This process of developing a sense of happiness independent of circumstances is quite challenging but actually this is only half of the spiritual path. The other half of the path involves what you 'put out' into the world. In addition to Vipassana mindfulness, one also cultivates habitual states of Loving Kindness and Compassion, and translates these subjective states into objective actions that are of benefit to others.


One might say that through mindfulness meditation the old dirty paint is scraped off the walls of the soul and through daily loving kindness meditation a new beautiful coat is put on one layer at a time. But the first step is always yours.