Blog # 69 Dated: 08 July 2024: 10-Day Vipassana Meditation Course - My Experience Part 1

Subject: A Blog on my participation in a 10-Day Vipassana Meditation Course at Ontario Vipassana Foundation Centre from June 19, 2024, to June 30, 2024.

I returned home on June 30, 2024 forenoon after attending the 10-Day Vipassana Meditation Course. This course was held at Ontario Vipassana Centre, about 50 kms from our residences at Josley Drive as well as Richmond Hill in Toronto. Dear Narinder Jee came to pick me up from the centre. He was accompanied by my daughter Ambika Jee, my wife Veena Jee, and Narinder Jee’s sister Madhu Jee. Before we could leave, Ambika Jee took the two ladies around to show them the centre and the Women’s portion of the complex. She was probably preparing them to attend the course on their own later.  

As soon as we boarded the vehicle, everyone wanted my feedback on my experience. I did tell them a few titbits but promised them a detailed blog on the subject in a few days. The present attempt is to honour my promise.   

The Blog Starts:

1. Why did I decide to go for the course? Last year around this time of the year, Narinder Jee had attended a similar course at the centre. On his return, he was all praise for the course and the experience therein. He gave some details that appeared novel to most of us. He suggested that we should also attend this course. Ambika jee was a little reluctant to take up the idea but eventually said a feeble yes. In due course when it was time to apply on-line for a spot, she did it. She was offered admission for a ten-day course starting in November 2023. When she returned, she also expressed satisfaction and appeared to have enjoyed the course. She suggested to me that I should also apply for the course. She felt that I would love it. 

I did not readily agree to apply for the course. There was a conflict in my mind. I did not know what I could achieve by doing it. But my daughter persisted. I had to keep her happy. I said yes without exactly knowing what it would mean for me. I had plans to visit India for three months – January to March end of this year. I, therefore, planned to apply for the course in March as soon as the booking opened for the intended course in the second half of June this year. With the active help of Narinder Jee here in Toronto, and myself in India, we coordinated and successfully submitted the online application. In due course, I received the confirmation email for the course.

2. What is the course about? The course is about teaching the technique of meditation through Vipassana, an ancient practice. The process of meditation through this method is reported to have been mentioned in the Rigveda. Over centuries, it got forgotten. It was revived by Gautam, the prince who renounced the world in search of enlightenment. He practiced it and with its help, attained Nirvana enlightenment at the age of 35 years. For the next 45 years, he taught the process to many people for the benefit of individuals and society. In another 500 years, this process of meditation became extinct. Mr. S.N.Goenka (hereon referred to as Guru jee), an Industrialist in Burma, learned it from an obscure saint. He made it a mission of his life to revive the process for the benefit of humanity. He had been tirelessly spreading it for almost sixty to seventy years, before his death in 2013. The Centre located in Toronto and elsewhere around the world, follows the process detailed by him.

3. A week before the start of the course. I got a detailed email from the Centre. All details about what to bring along and what to expect at the centre were provided. I was to report at the centre on 19 June between 2.30 PM to 4.30 PM for registration. The email offered help in case I needed a ride to reach the centre. There was a unit coordinating and facilitating the travel to the centre for those participants who could not have their own arrangements with participants who had their vehicles or rides. 

4. My Registration details at the Centre on 19 June. I reached the centre at 3.30 PM. Narinder Jee was kind enough to help me with transportation. To ease my tension, Ambika Jee and my brother-in-law, Vinod Jee, who had arrived in Toronto only about a week earlier, came with me to drop me off at the centre. As soon as we entered the area gate, the staff gave me a room allotment letter. I was allotted room number 104 in the men’s residential area. I was directed to drop off my carry-on in my designated room and then proceed to the dining hall which was designated as the “Registration Centre” for the day. We went to the room, which was on the ground floor of a two floor building (Men’s Residence). This residence was big enough and ready to accommodate about 50-60 people. The room was a small one – about 14 feet by 8 feet with a small enclosed washroom, about 7 feet by 4 feet. It had a single bed with a mattress, a blanket, and a chair. There were two utility shelves for storing my opened-out items for daily use. Ambika Jee organized the room in no time. I was happy with the accommodation. Younger students were offered rooms but they had to share the bathroom between two individuals.   

5. A little more information about the place would be in order. The entire Vipassana Centre is located in a wooded area of about 260 acres. The centre comprises four main areas. The Men’s Residential Area consists of one two-floor building and a few small huts. The Women's Residential Area consists of three buildings and a few small huts. A Meditation Hall, used during the day by all participants. The last one being the Dining Complex consisting of a spacious Dining Hall Area to serve at least 150 people at one time. The kitchen, for the preparation and management of meals, is attached to the Dining Hall. The men’s and women’s residential areas are completely segregated with “Restriction Boundary Limit” signposts erected all over the place. The Dining Hall is also separated with a curtain to serve as men’s and women’s spaces. The Meditation Hall is spacious enough to accommodate more than 100 students with ample spacing in between each one. The hall seats men on one side and the women on the other side. There are some more rooms bordering the Meditation Hall for meditation-related requirements. There are about 72 rooms called cells, each about three and a half feet to two and a half feet. These rooms are used for meditation in solitude. 

The buildings are located in proximity. It would take about two to three minutes from the residential area to the meditation centre or to the dining hall. 

We are to leave our shoes in the foyer before entering the dining hall. We could keep a dedicated slipper in the foyer and use it inside the dining area. There is similarly a foyer ahead of the corridors in the residential area. All shoes are left in the foyer. We would have the option of using a slipper for going into the corridors and rooms. The shoes have to be taken off in the foyer of the meditation hall. No slippers or shoes are allowed into the meditation hall. 

6. Now coming back to the Registration Centre. I was asked to fill in the forms to complete the registration process. There was a counter where we had to deposit phones, purses, car keys, and other valuables for safe custody for the duration of the course. At that stage, when all formalities were completed, Narinder Jee and the rest of the party left. Before leaving I was told by them that in case I would not adjust to the course or find it difficult to stay there for the full course, I should inform the Manager. He would call them and I would be picked up.  The schedule for the programme that evening was displayed on the wallboard. It read: Dinner: 6-7 PM. Information and instruction gathering: 7-8 PM. Meditation; 8-9 PM. 

7. Left by myself at the centre, I arrived at the Dining Hall on schedule. The Dinner items were neatly placed. I had to pick up the items and then go to my assigned seat in the hall. Not used to eating outside the boundaries of my home all my life, I found it difficult even to understand what was available for eating. There was some type of soup (potato and leek soup), salad with some small-sized green leaves, some cabbage-type leaves, and some other things that I was seeing for the first time in my life. Anyway, I took a little of some of the items available and seated myself at the assigned seat. I cannot find words to describe how I was eating leaves with the fork. Somehow, I finished and retired to my room to think over the situation that I had landed myself in. Soon it was time to go for the Information Session. There, a nice older lady of European descent, gave us all a presentation. The main points of her presentation were that for the entire course, we would remain silent, not to talk to each other, not to even have eye contact with each other. There was to be no TV, no video, no audio, no radio. No books to read, no notebooks to write and take notes.  There were to be one-hour compulsory group meditation sessions every day at 8 AM, 2.30 PM, and 6 PM. In between there were four more one-hour to two-hour meditation slots during the day. We were to meditate in the hall or at our residence or as advised by the teacher. Additionally, every evening at 7.15 PM, there would be a discourse by Guru Jee, through pre-recorded Video/Audio on a screen or TV monitor.  Breakfast would be available at 6.30 AM, lunch at 11.00 AM, and evening tea at 5.00 PM. There was to be no dinner. We were also told that we should always maintain complete punctuality for all events during the day. While seated for the presentation, I observed that there were about 50 of us in the men’s group and another 40 in the women’s group. Most of the men were middle-aged and four to five of them appeared older than me in the 80-90 year range. Among the women, most of them appeared to be around 30 to 40 years old. Overall only about 30 to 40 percent of the participants, some old (repeat) students and some new students, were of South East Asian origin.  Rest looked “Angrez” 

At exactly 8 PM we all made our way to the Meditation Hall foyer. Meditation spots for each student had been earmarked in the hall by the volunteers while we were attending the information session. The Assistant teacher in the foyer called out names one by one to go inside the hall and a volunteer inside the hall would direct the student to his seat. I was allotted a seat in the third row by the side wall. Most of the seats in the hall were at floor level duly padded with foam cushions. My seat was a chair with padded cushions as I had requested a back support in advance. I however did not like to meditate sitting on a chair. I therefore sat down on the floor cross-legged with the empty chair as my back support. The arrangement was not comfortable. As soon as everyone was seated the lights dimmed and the teacher came in. He sat at his appointed place on a raised seat facing all of us students. We were directed to sit straight and steady with our mouths and eyes closed. Next, the Guru Jee’s audio tape was played. He gave a brief description of the vipassana meditation method. There was some reference to alternate meditation techniques being observed. He did not criticize these methods. He tried to explain why Vipassana was an alternate method, which in his view was a good alternative. He asked us to observe the Vipassana method and to forget and ignore any alternate meditation or yoga methods for the next ten days. This created some doubts in my mind. I thought that it was a type of brainwashing. I thought that we were asked to disregard our beliefs and to adhere to his beliefs. I will come to this subject later in detail. 

To start with, we were directed to breathe normally and to concentrate on observing the breathing at the nostril level through our mind. We were told to constantly feel the movement of incoming and outgoing air inside the nostrils. As this was being done, there was pin-drop silence in the hall. At 9 PM, the session came to an end. The teacher announced the end of the session by recitation of a prayer. Some stayed back and meditated till 10 PM in the hall itself.  The rest of us went to our rooms. We could also have continued our meditation in our rooms till 10 PM. I did not continue. I changed into my pajamas (night suit) and by 9.30 PM was in bed. It took me quite some time to think about where I had landed myself. Soon I was asleep and had a reasonably good sleep. 

Day Zero was over.

Part 2 will follow tomorrow.