Vipassana Experience : 2010
I attended another 10-day Vipassana Course (my 4th one over a period of 9 years!) from April 21 through May 2 2010 at Gorai, Mumbai.
The reason behind choosing this center was to visit Global Vipassana Pagoda that has been recently constructed next to "Essel world" amusement park in Mumbai.
There is a Vipassana center right next to the pagoda. It is also pretty new and a lot of construction is still going on. The occupancy of the center is around 110 students (60 male and 40+ female studentsplus serving staff, teachers, managers etc.).
This time around I had registered to serve the course.
I reached the center at around 12 pm on Day 0. Travelling from Pune by bus upto Borivali, then by auto rickshaw upto Gorai Jetty (ferry boat)dock and then by the ferry boat upto the island was an experience in itself.
The entrance to Esselworld and Global pagoda is the same and I (along with other Essel World visitors) was greeted with some music on live band right at the entrance! First thing that came to my mind was: The course is going to be a different experience this time! In the middle of all the hustle and bustle of Mumbai, I was impressed to learn that so much land was donated for the global pagoda and a meditation center! But I knew that this center may not be as calm and quiet as other centers (e.g. Igatpuri, Markal near Pune etc.)
I had lunch, registered myself as a server and helped other students to fill their forms and register. The course started on time at 7 pm on Day 0.
Even though the center is supposed to conduct "Executive courses" only, men and women from all walks of life were present and I did not find the course structure and schedule any different than other 10-day courses. The only difference is the meditation hall and all residential quarters (rooms) are air conditioned.
It being summer time and the center being on an island, the air conditioning is a must.
The center is 2-storeyed. The registration counter, manager's office, kitchen, dining hall and some rooms are at the ground floor. Rest of the rooms are spread across 1st and 2nd floor. The Dhamma Hall is on the second floor.
Within next 11 days, I would have climbed the flights of stairs on an average 4 times a day! It was the only exercise I got during those 11 days! :)
The course started smoothly. Out of 43 students, 23 were old students! So I expected that none of the serving staff or teachers would have to monitor much during the day. The students would pretty much follow the rules and routine. Most of them did.
Serving a course in India is an interesting experience. There are old women with a bunch of ailments taking lots of medicines, used to a lot of rites and rituals throughout their lives, used to a certain kind of food, some of them used to having servants at home; a lot of variety!
Then there are young girls either compelled by their parents to attend or who look at the course as an experiment or novelty. There are pregnant women who look at the course as a way to relax and stay away from household chores!
So, in effect, there is a lot of anxiety, lot of questions to the assistent teachers and serving staff and some special favours asked off the servers for first 2-3 days.
In my course, almost all the women wanted to have a chair or "chowki" to sit or wanted to lean against the wall and so asked for a change of seat right from day 1! It was very difficult to convince some of them to stay put and try to sit at the alloted place for the rest of the time!
I found the Gorai center quite lineant in terms of schedule. We were not asked to wake everyone up at 4 am for first 10 days! So, old students used to sit for the morning sessions quite religiously. But there were not many new students getting up and sitting for the 4.30 to 6.30 am session.
The assistent teachers were a couple from Kolhapur district: a very calm, composed and inspiring couple! Just looking at them sitting on the "Dhamma seat" inspired me to meditate as much as I could.
The female assistent teacher was very sweet and accomodative. She talked to all the students very compassionately, answered all their queries, gave special attention to elderly and pregnant students and performed her duties really well. Even though she could not speak English, she answered all the queries of foreign students, explained various means to concentrate and to overcome pain and anxiety and showed a lot of concern if any of the students faced problems. It was a lot of pleasure to work as an interpreter for the students with her!
I had taken up hall duty as a part of serving the course. I was responsible for ringing bell for all group sittings, gathering all students in time for the sittings, making sure the ACs were switched on 15 minutes before the sittings, and also to be switched off after the hall was empty. For all 10 days, I kept on experimenting with the ACs because no matter how many of them I switched on, a group of the students used to feel either too cold or too hot. I got a nice chance to test my "equanimity" in this process! I could not get upset because of the AC arrangement or because of the students' demands.
Also, every evening I had to gather English speaking students to another hall and start the evening discourse. I had to attend English discourses, but they used to get over earlier than Hindi ones. So, I used to listen to part of the Hindi discourses also.
Even though this was my 4th course, I enjoyed the Hindi as well as English discourses as much as last time.
The highlight of the course was an opportunity to meet Mr. S.N. Goenka in person on the 4th day! He is indeed a very simple, happy and divine personality as we see him in videos! I was quite overwhelmed with emotions when I paid respect to him. My assistent teacher introduced me to him saying that I was there to serve the course. His word were: "Seva dogi to meva milegahi!" (If you serve well, you will definitely get good returns!)
Those words really inspired me to serve the course to my best level.
I used most of the opportunities and time slots for my own meditation during the course. I did not miss any group sittings, I sat for at least an hour in the early morning sessions and also sat in between group sittings and breaks. In fact the sittings gave me motivation to perform my duties as server and serving motivated me to sit for meditation at a stretch. So, I think, what they say about serving a course is right. It pushes you to your limits mentally and physically.
For every 2 to 3 10-day courses that a person sits, he/she should serve a 10-day course.
Like all other courses, this course taught me the same set if things:
1. There is no substitute to daily practice - I am still not able to incorporate it into my routine.
2. Every serious meditator should serve at least 1 course. It teaches you a lot of subtle things that cannot be explained in words.
3. The success of a course is as dependent on an assistent teacher as your own determination and willingness.
On the 10th day in the afternoon all of us were taken to the Pagoda. When you stand in the middle of the huge structure, you realize that it is really a modern day construction wonder. Although a lot of construction is still going on at the site, the inside is very serene and calm.
The pagoda already accomodates 1-day courses on every Sunday and big national level conferences.
In future, the center is going to be dedicated only for long duration courses (30-day, 60-day etc.). So I find myself really fortunate to have attended a 10-day course there.
The reason behind choosing this center was to visit Global Vipassana Pagoda that has been recently constructed next to "Essel world" amusement park in Mumbai.
There is a Vipassana center right next to the pagoda. It is also pretty new and a lot of construction is still going on. The occupancy of the center is around 110 students (60 male and 40+ female studentsplus serving staff, teachers, managers etc.).
This time around I had registered to serve the course.
I reached the center at around 12 pm on Day 0. Travelling from Pune by bus upto Borivali, then by auto rickshaw upto Gorai Jetty (ferry boat)dock and then by the ferry boat upto the island was an experience in itself.
The entrance to Esselworld and Global pagoda is the same and I (along with other Essel World visitors) was greeted with some music on live band right at the entrance! First thing that came to my mind was: The course is going to be a different experience this time! In the middle of all the hustle and bustle of Mumbai, I was impressed to learn that so much land was donated for the global pagoda and a meditation center! But I knew that this center may not be as calm and quiet as other centers (e.g. Igatpuri, Markal near Pune etc.)
I had lunch, registered myself as a server and helped other students to fill their forms and register. The course started on time at 7 pm on Day 0.
Even though the center is supposed to conduct "Executive courses" only, men and women from all walks of life were present and I did not find the course structure and schedule any different than other 10-day courses. The only difference is the meditation hall and all residential quarters (rooms) are air conditioned.
It being summer time and the center being on an island, the air conditioning is a must.
The center is 2-storeyed. The registration counter, manager's office, kitchen, dining hall and some rooms are at the ground floor. Rest of the rooms are spread across 1st and 2nd floor. The Dhamma Hall is on the second floor.
Within next 11 days, I would have climbed the flights of stairs on an average 4 times a day! It was the only exercise I got during those 11 days! :)
The course started smoothly. Out of 43 students, 23 were old students! So I expected that none of the serving staff or teachers would have to monitor much during the day. The students would pretty much follow the rules and routine. Most of them did.
Serving a course in India is an interesting experience. There are old women with a bunch of ailments taking lots of medicines, used to a lot of rites and rituals throughout their lives, used to a certain kind of food, some of them used to having servants at home; a lot of variety!
Then there are young girls either compelled by their parents to attend or who look at the course as an experiment or novelty. There are pregnant women who look at the course as a way to relax and stay away from household chores!
So, in effect, there is a lot of anxiety, lot of questions to the assistent teachers and serving staff and some special favours asked off the servers for first 2-3 days.
In my course, almost all the women wanted to have a chair or "chowki" to sit or wanted to lean against the wall and so asked for a change of seat right from day 1! It was very difficult to convince some of them to stay put and try to sit at the alloted place for the rest of the time!
I found the Gorai center quite lineant in terms of schedule. We were not asked to wake everyone up at 4 am for first 10 days! So, old students used to sit for the morning sessions quite religiously. But there were not many new students getting up and sitting for the 4.30 to 6.30 am session.
The assistent teachers were a couple from Kolhapur district: a very calm, composed and inspiring couple! Just looking at them sitting on the "Dhamma seat" inspired me to meditate as much as I could.
The female assistent teacher was very sweet and accomodative. She talked to all the students very compassionately, answered all their queries, gave special attention to elderly and pregnant students and performed her duties really well. Even though she could not speak English, she answered all the queries of foreign students, explained various means to concentrate and to overcome pain and anxiety and showed a lot of concern if any of the students faced problems. It was a lot of pleasure to work as an interpreter for the students with her!
I had taken up hall duty as a part of serving the course. I was responsible for ringing bell for all group sittings, gathering all students in time for the sittings, making sure the ACs were switched on 15 minutes before the sittings, and also to be switched off after the hall was empty. For all 10 days, I kept on experimenting with the ACs because no matter how many of them I switched on, a group of the students used to feel either too cold or too hot. I got a nice chance to test my "equanimity" in this process! I could not get upset because of the AC arrangement or because of the students' demands.
Also, every evening I had to gather English speaking students to another hall and start the evening discourse. I had to attend English discourses, but they used to get over earlier than Hindi ones. So, I used to listen to part of the Hindi discourses also.
Even though this was my 4th course, I enjoyed the Hindi as well as English discourses as much as last time.
The highlight of the course was an opportunity to meet Mr. S.N. Goenka in person on the 4th day! He is indeed a very simple, happy and divine personality as we see him in videos! I was quite overwhelmed with emotions when I paid respect to him. My assistent teacher introduced me to him saying that I was there to serve the course. His word were: "Seva dogi to meva milegahi!" (If you serve well, you will definitely get good returns!)
Those words really inspired me to serve the course to my best level.
I used most of the opportunities and time slots for my own meditation during the course. I did not miss any group sittings, I sat for at least an hour in the early morning sessions and also sat in between group sittings and breaks. In fact the sittings gave me motivation to perform my duties as server and serving motivated me to sit for meditation at a stretch. So, I think, what they say about serving a course is right. It pushes you to your limits mentally and physically.
For every 2 to 3 10-day courses that a person sits, he/she should serve a 10-day course.
Like all other courses, this course taught me the same set if things:
1. There is no substitute to daily practice - I am still not able to incorporate it into my routine.
2. Every serious meditator should serve at least 1 course. It teaches you a lot of subtle things that cannot be explained in words.
3. The success of a course is as dependent on an assistent teacher as your own determination and willingness.
On the 10th day in the afternoon all of us were taken to the Pagoda. When you stand in the middle of the huge structure, you realize that it is really a modern day construction wonder. Although a lot of construction is still going on at the site, the inside is very serene and calm.
The pagoda already accomodates 1-day courses on every Sunday and big national level conferences.
In future, the center is going to be dedicated only for long duration courses (30-day, 60-day etc.). So I find myself really fortunate to have attended a 10-day course there.
posted by Pratima | 2:38 AM
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