Everyone wants peace and harmony, everyone wants happiness. The twentieth century has witnessed tremendous advances in science and technology. Immense avenues have opened up for material comforts and ease. Yet we find man s mind is not at ease.
High tension is the hallmark of modern man.
As we stand at the threshold of the dawn of the twenty-first century, the stark reality is that humanity is facing a grave crisis. The deep erosion of moral values, the paradox of affluence and abject poverty coexisting, pervasive violence and crime, ethnic, racial and religious conflicts, and deep antagonism between man and man all thwart the very existence of human civilization. We see conflicts everywhere between individuals, families, communities and nations and no one seems to be at peace. Confronted with an almost similar situation about 26 centuries ago, Prince Siddhartha Gautama made a supreme effort, unparalleled in the annals of human history, in the quest for a solution to the all-pervading phenomenon of misery. In that process he rediscovered the ancient technique of vipassana , the most sublime and noblest heritage of India.