For someone who is known as a chatterbox, I found the idea of not talking for 10 days at Vipasanna – intriguing. Vipassana – the name conjures the image of some person doing some asana, but Vipassana is far removed from any physical actions!
In January 2015, I had been to the Aurobindo Ashram in Puduchery. I found that I quite liked not talking and being alone. So in May I landed up at Igatpuri, a small town near Nasik, which houses Dhammagiri, the main centre in India of Vipassana. This centre was established by RN Goenka, who was Burmese by birth but settled in India to spread the practice of Vipassana.
Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India’s most ancient techniques of meditation. Ironically, the technique became unknown to the very country from where it originated, and for 1500 years we had no knowledge of this technique. One small nation, Myanmar, however, kept this practice alive. Vipassana was taught by one person to another, adhering to the strict discipline laid down by Gautum Buddha.
My journey began on Wednesday, the 20th May, as I started from Pune at 5.30 a.m. and via Nasik reached Igatpuri at 12.30 p.m. At the Dhammagiri gate itself, there is segregation: men and women are separated for the entire duration of the course. At the time of registration you have to hand over your valuables, money and mobiles. These are returned to you on the 10th day. Handing over the mobiles is probably the biggest challenge, for you know that for the next 10 days there will be no contact with family and friends.
On the first day, teachers assign you places in the golden pagoda, where you would be sitting for meditation. There are 3 group meditations. The atmosphere inside is calming. The schedule however is a shock to many. The day begins at 4.00 a.m. and ends at 9.30 p.m. after which you are supposed to switch off the lights. And you are NOT served dinner!!!
There are three steps in this training. The first step is, for the duration of the course, to abstain from killing, stealing, sexual activity, speaking falsely, and consuming intoxicants. This serves to calm the mind, which otherwise would be too agitated to perform the task of self-observation. The next step is to develop some mastery over the mind by learning to fix one’s attention on the natural reality of the ever changing flow of breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. By the fourth day, the mind is calmer and more focused: observing sensations throughout the body, understanding their nature, and developing calmness by learning not to react to them. Finally, on the last day, participants learn the meditation of loving kindness, in which the purity developed is shared with all.
The Igatpuri centre is situated near a hill, and I got a room with a panoramic view of the mountains. Early morning, I would sit outside the room and look at the cattle and the cowherds climbing the mountain. I realised that we are so small compared to the cosmos but our egos and desires are much bigger than the cosmos.
Every evening you listen to a recorded discourse of Mr. Goenka. These discourses talk about anecdotes in the life of Gautam Buddha. To conclude, I narrate one of them:
One day Buddha was walking through a village teaching Dhamma. A rude young man, belonging to another group of believers, came up and began insulting him. “You have no right to teach others,” he shouted. “You are as stupid as everyone else. You are nothing but a fake.”
Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead he asked the young man, “Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?”
The man, surprised at being asked such a strange question, answered, “It would belong to me, because I bought the gift.”
The Buddha smiled and said, “That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself.”
PS: One interesting side-effect of the course. I lost 3 kg by the end of the course and the motivation continues. I have started experiments with the GM diet also.