The first time I ever heard about Vipassana was in 2002 from a Marwari guy by name Anand Gangwal from Pune. Actually he was my room mate when we did Art of Living advance meditation course at Rishikesh. He had told me that the course was a difficult one with 10 days silence and long hours of meditation throughout the day. He also said that they keep monitoring and any violation of any of their code of conduct (Particularly no eye to eye contact or any attempt to communicate through sign language or talking) will be asked to leave the course. I was excited to hear this and wanted to do the course at the earliest. Recently, I was surfing the net and chanced to see that it was taught in Chennai as well. I think those days it was only in Maharashtra. So I registered for it!
On July 16th afternoon I left for Thirumudivakkam, where the Chennai center is located) from Porur. Since no direct bus service was available, I went to Pallavaram and from there to Thirumidivakkam. The place is slightly more than half KM from the bus stop. The branch road in which the Meditation center is located is yet to get 'tar topping'. It was a very rough pathway. After registering at the desk and handing over my wallet for safe custody, I went to my allotted room (twin sharing). My room mate was from Erode - a 'Only Tamil' guy who can't communicate in English. I told him very clearly that I will not consider him to be existing for the next 10 days and he too should behave in the same way with me. Also I asked him to use the bathroom no sooner I just brush my teeth. In case he took more than 15 minutes, I would be the fist to use the bathroom from the next day onward. He was a perfect gentleman and usually came out earlier than his allotted 15 minutes! We had dinner at 6 pm on the day zero and assembled at the entrance of the meditation hall, known as Dhamma Hall. We were called one by one and were allocated seats ( cushion mat on the floor!). We were to use the allotted seat for the entire course. An introduction lecture (by Goenka, founder of the meditation centers) on video and then 1 hour of "Observing and feeling of touch in the nose and the triangular area till uppper lip, the incoming and outgoing breath" known as 'aanaa paaanaa meditation' method was instructed. We did that for an hour. Our silence started at 7 pm itself on the day zero. I went to bed wondering how I would wake up when I hear (if at all) 8 gongs from a bell that was in front of the office building, located at about 70 meters away from my room!
On Day-1, I was pleasantly surprised to note that a person was walking alongside the rooms with a small bell in hand, continuously ringing it. Woke up fresh and was at the meditation hall before 4.30 am.
The schedule for the 1st 9 days was as below:
4.00 am Wake up bell
4.30 am to 6.30 am Meditation in the hall
6.30 am to 8.00 am Break fast & rest
8.00 am to 9.00 am Group meditation
9.00 am to 11.00 am Meditation in the hall
11.00 am to 1.00 pm Lunch & rest
12 noon to 12.30 pm Q & A
1.00 pm to 2.15 pm Meditation in the hall
2..30 pm to 3.30 pm Group Meditation
3.30 pm to 5.00 pm Meditation in the hall
5.00 pm to 6.00 pm 'Dinner'
6.00 pm to 7.00 pm Group Meditation
7.00 pm to 8.30 pm Discourse - Video
8.30 pm to 9.00 pm Meditation in the hall
9.00 pm to 9.30 pm Q & A
(Group meditation was also in the hall only but you can't go out of the hall during the 1 hour Group meditation and should not change your posture of meditation, that is the only difference)
From Day-1 to Day-4 till 6 pm we were to do only "aanaa paaanaa meditation".
Day+4 at 6 pm - Vipassana meditation was taught.Basically it is to observe consciously each and every part of your body for gross sensations such as sweat, pain, heat or cold, pain, tickling, itching or even feelings you can't label (don't bother to label them). you need to attentively observe these sensations without any liking or attachment with equanimity of mind.The major gross sensation for me for most days was 'sweating, sweating and sweating in addition to pain at times'. My place was between 2 fans that did not really bother about someone sitting exactly midway between them. This continued till 6th day and suddenly Goenka started asking us to observe the 'Subtle sensations'. He was talking about a pleasant sensation which may at times be tickling as if some very small insects are crawling on the skin! He kept on asking to focus on the subtle sensation. I was really amused because I was not yet fully out of my sweating sensation in addition to the wonderful pains that shift their location from time to time. Though the sweat used to get dry for a short while, I could not master the technique of focusing on subtle sensation at a very short time when the skin is dry.
All the same, finally it happened! On Day-9 I had subtle sensation on my head and when I focused on my face, I was caught unawares by the insect crawling (actually circling very fast) all over the face and then you feel as if there are several dots of electrical currents on the face and the head. I did not get any such subtle sensation in any other part of the body. I felt my cloths were the real hindrance in addition to the lack of air.
To my disappointment Day-10 at 9.00 am they broke the silence! Anyways that hardly made any difference to many of those men who resided in my wing. They had been talking on all days and at times loudly. I don't know about other centers but Chennai for sure is hopeless because nobody ever went on rounds to ensure compliance and reprimand when rules were violated. On Day-10 the schedule was slightly different, from 4 to 5 pm shop was open where we could buy meditation CDs, books etc. and the day was over after the Discourse ended at 8.30 pm. On the 10th night few guys, friends of my room mate, came to our room and kept chatting on and on till 11.30 pm.
"Dinner", usually was served at 5.00 pm itself and the content was Puffed rice (பொரி) with either 1 banana or a slice of Papaya plus a tumbler of milk or tea. I used to feel hungry by 9.30 pm and so drank more water before I went to bed.. Still could not sleep for couple of hours. This happened for about 6 nights. The best part was that I always woke up fresh at 4.00 am. So having to sleep with an empty stomach, particularly when you are practicing meditation for the whole day, is not an issue at all.
During the meditation, they play the instructions from Goenka but something I could never digest was the way Goenka 'sings' totally out of tune and it is more like someone who had 90% burn injuries is giving a dying declaration! Music lovers will suffer. But I was to maintain equanimity of mind. I really did not have any issue bearing the body pain or itching or other prickling sensation but this was the biggest challenge to deal with.
On Day-11 morning there was video show - discourse by Goenka and then "Metta Bhavana", a post meditation sankalpa was taught. At 6.30 am we were free to have our breakfast and then leave. After breakfast I waited for my room mate as he too was to travel via Pallavaram. But having waited till 7.15 am and realizing that he got stuck with his friends, I informed him that I was leaving and then walked towards the bus stop. I was then lucky to get a lift from a lady who had done the course and was returning with her husband and daughter who had come to pick her up. Reached home at 8.40 am with subtle sensations!
How the technique works:
According to Buddha, however hard one may learn, practice and reach a Samadhi stage, the person is not devoid of all the sanskaras as some are still buried in the root, causing re-birth. I feel he may be to an extent right because we have seen many those who achieved a great level through yoga slip from that getting caught in scandals or at least some of their uttering display lack of enlightenment. Main hurdle is the sense and sense objects that the senses cling on to. So one needs to start with senses at body level with total awareness. To be able to sense the subtle sensation, initial preparation of "aanaa paanaa meditation" which is a training to be with the present moment so that the mind can focus well on the senses. Then you feel the gross senses easily and subsequently the subtler senses. Subtle senses are the ones that carry the past sanskaras (impressions of past life - in Pali they call it Sankaras). When you maintain equanimity of mind as you observe these sensations they subside and more and more of the past sanskaras appear and subside. This way sanskaras of several births are to be nullified. If we do not maintain equanimity of mind we will be generating new sanskaras which should be avoided. It seems Buddha could see thousands of this past lives and in some of his past lives he had seen himself asking many wise men the way to get rid of the cycle of birth and death. In his earlier birth someone said that he should find the method on his own. Finally he did it. When he came out of the meditative state after getting enlightenment, he said this and also said that he has no more births and he is free.
I would really love to do this course after a year or so but I really need to get thoroughly established in equanimity of mind because when it comes to music, something that can keep me going even without food at times, the effort is great to maintain equanimity when someone goes totally off-tune.
Pros: Meditation technique
Cons: Goenka tries to sing!
