My Vipassana experience !!

Vipassana is a meditation technique taught over a period of 10 days at the Dhamma centre’s present all over the world today.

Anyone can enroll irrespective of sex, religion, beliefs/ non-beliefs

No fee charged either for food & lodging or for the teaching

Conditions

Give 10 days time to be there

Complete silence to be observed

No electronics of any kind

No books to read

No pen/paper to write

No eye contact with inmates

No touch

Before signing up I did not read up about the technique per say but knew the conditions. What worried me the most was the silence part – I am a non-stop chatterbox ;)

Below is an account of my personal experience

I attended the Vipassana course at the Bangalore Centre - Dhamma Paphulla

On Day zero the volunteers present welcomed me there & I was asked to fill up forms after checking on my confirmation number. The courses always run full & needs to be booked atleast 3 months ahead (depending on location the booking time could be less or more). By 4.30 in the evening all gadgets, writing reading material is asked to be handed over & kept under lock & key to be collected on day 10.

Accommodation was basic neat & clean 2-bedded rooms with attached washrooms. Me & my roommate worked out the details of who will do which part of the cleaning of the room. Once the noble silence starts at 6pm we cannot talk or do gestures or eye contact with any of the inmates.

At 5pm we were given khichdi, tea, ragi malt & papaya. That’s dinner for the day. Khichdi is only for day zero

At 6pm we are ushered into the mediation hall where women & men sit separately. There is a male teacher for the men & a lady teacher for the women for guidance through the 10days. Depending on our comfort you can sit on floor, stool or a chair. I choose to sit on the floor.

We get our first round of instructions from Goenka ji on recorded voice.

I will not speak too much on the technique because its something that one should experience first hand.

At 7.15pm there is a discourse session on the projector screen by Goenka ji. He mixes beautiful stories with loads of humor & explains science behind Vipassana & why its an effective method of meditation without condemning others techniques of meditation or religious beliefs & rituals.

From day 1 to day 10 our timetable is like this

4.00am – Wake up time

4.15am – Start moving to meditation hall

4.30am – Meditation

6.30am – Breakfast

7.00am – Shower time

8.00am – Meditation

9.00am – Break

9.15am – Meditation

10.15am – Break

11.00am – Lunch

1.00pm – Meditation

2.00pm – Break

2.15pm – Meditation

3.15pm – Break

3.30pm – Meditation

5.00pm – Tea & fruit

6.00pm – Meditation

7.00pm – Break

7.15pm – Discourse

8.30pm – Meditation

9.30pm – Lights off

Breakfast was idly, upma or poha with tea & ragi malt

Lunch was the only full meal. Amazing roti’s with curry, salad, ragi mudda, sambhar, rice, pickle & masala buttermilk.

Tea was served with ragi malt & a fruit either papaya or banana

The food menu is different for different locations

No dinner – they do make exemptions if there is pre-existing medical condition

We are not allowed to carry any food item with us. A few dry fruits maybe allowed

Except the zero day all days I hardly slept 2-3hrs. The number of thoughts I had hidden within me was amazing – if I had my head wired for my thoughts I would have written minimum 18 novels. Inspite of less hrs of sleep I never dozed off during the meditation hours. Good idea to carry an alarm clock with you. I never heard either the 4am or the 4.15 bell. I had an awesome roommate who would make all kinds of noises for me to get up. Everyone may not be so lucky.

Every day the instructions would be different & how my mind & body reacted to meditation was different. No dinner concept was fine first 2 days. On the third day I felt exhausted & hungry. But by 4^th day I settled down well. I could see how the technique was working for me. There onwards I just followed the technique & schedule without questioning my sanity or insanity for taking up Vipassana.

Different emotions & pains accompanied each day. Day 3 I just cried & cried. I couldn’t hold myself. I wanted a shoulder to cry but there wasn’t any. On day 4 I couldn’t stop giggling. I was either giggling or grinning from ear to ear. Wanted to hug someone & share my happiness but there wasn’t any. Day 5 & 6 I had immense pain in my middle section of the spine. I just sat through it one hour at a time. Day 7 the pain disappeared. Just when I thought its gone the pain shot back on day 8. Each participant had very different mood swings & pains.But we sat through all of that.

The most awaited part of the day for me would be the discourse at 7.15pm by Goenka Ji. The man who called himself only a teacher & not a guru. His outlook so down to earth. What I thought was the voice of a constipated man turned sweeter & soul filling as each day passed.

On day 6 I had my eureka moment. From then on life looked a lot simpler.

Like Goenka Ji himself says if you survive there between day 2 & day 6 then chances of running away is minimal.

YES – I did survive :)

On Day 10 after 11am we are handed over our mobiles & the noble silence ends. Day 10 is designed to work as a cushioning to enter the regular life the next day.

Next 1hr it felt weird to talk but once I started talking I couldn’t stop ;)

Yes I got back to being my normal self

I did not give up on life or think of running away to Himalayas

I understand myself a lot better today

My understanding of relationships & people around me is a lot better

I find myself lot more capable of dealing with unplanned events that may walk into my life

It was like detox of my soul & mind

Vipassana makes you self-sufficient in true sense

So go find those 10 days & experience Vipassana 

Irrespective of age, sex, religion or social strata

Irrespective of what situation your life is in right now

Vipassana meditation is a way of self-transformation through self-observation !!