Blog # 70 Dated: 09 July 2024: 10 Day Vipassana Meditation Course - My Experiences Part - 2

 Namaskar. I hope you have liked reading Part 1 of my Vipassana experience that I sent yesterday. Here is Part 2 of the experience. It starts with narrating Day 1 of the 10-day meditation activities.

 

I got up on my own at about 5.30 AM, fifteen minutes ahead of my alarm clock setting. My sleep was reasonably okay. I brushed my teeth, washed my face etc. and took my thyroid medication.  At 6.30 AM there was the sound of the bell signaling the start of the breakfast activities. I made my way to the dining hall. More than twenty students were already there. I stood in the line and picked up a plate, a bowl, and cutlery. The first item on the table was a pot of oatmeal. I filled my bowl with it.  As I saw others topping it with a spoon full of curds and prunes. I did it too. Then there were some other seed-type items that I did not recognize. Other students were taking those but I did not. Next, I took a cup and filled it with hot water. I added a tea bag, milk, and brown sugar. With all these items, I went to my spot and finished my breakfast in no time. There was no chit chat with other students or anyone else. After my breakfast, I went back to my room.  

 

At 5 minutes to 8 in the morning, I was seated at my assigned place in the meditation hall. In the next two minutes, all participants were seated in their designated places as well. The teacher came soon after. At 8 AM all was set. The lights were dimmed in the hall. Like everyone, I was sitting cross-legged, mouth and eyes closed. However, I made a change in the manner of sitting. I turned 90 degrees clockwise, sitting against the wall to support my back. The meditation, as was taught on the previous day, was started in complete silence. Shortly after, I was startled by a mild touch on my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see that it was the assistant teacher. I looked at him in a spirit of inquiry. He motioned me to reorient myself because I was supposed to be facing the teacher during the meditation session.

 

I would like to define what I mean by assistant teacher, teacher, and Guru Jee. The assistant teacher is a link between the students and the teacher. He assists the students in all matters. To the students, he represents the administration. He also assists in regulating the meeting between the teacher and the students. He is always present in the meditation hall and can be seen meditating like everyone. The teacher conducts the meditation sessions.  He calls students regularly to assess their progress in meditation and provide guidelines to ensure that students are on the right path. At the end of a meditation session, he directs the students to the next session. He is available for one-to-one meetings with the students to clear any doubts they might have. For women, there is a female teacher in the hall for their guidance. Guru jee is Mr. S.N.Goenka. He was born in Burma in January 1924. When he was growing up, he came across a person named Sayagyi U Ba Khin who was knowledgeable about Vipassana. At that time Mr. Goenka was having severe tension-related ailments. Mr. Sayagyi introduced him to Vipassana meditation and after practicing Vipassana for some time, his ailments were cured. His life changed. As a sign of gratitude to his master, Mr. Goenka made it his life’s mission to bring this knowledge of Vipassana to millions of people all around the world. He started non-commercial Vipassana meditation centres globally. He teaches in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin. His teachings emphasize that Budha’s path to liberation was non-sectarian, universal and scientific in character. His audio recordings are played during meditation sessions. Every evening there is a playback of his discourses. In these discourses, he explains in detail the Vipassana philosophy.   

 

At the start of the meditation course it is defined that in daily life, the following five precepts should be followed.

 

To abstain from killing any living being.

To abstain from stealing.

To abstain from sexual misconduct.

To abstain from wrong speech.

To abstain from all intoxicants.

 

It is stated that Vipassana is a method wherein we explore inside us, clean our minds, and become better people. After we cleanse and better ourselves, we can help in guiding others. The Guru Jee and the teachers guide us in the process. But it is only we, who have to work on ourselves as per the guidelines from them. It is like an operation of the mind. We have to do it ourselves. We must first empty our minds of our existing beliefs and values for the duration of the 10-day course. We have to listen to them and follow their directions. At the end of the course, we would be able to make up our minds about what to follow and how to conduct ourselves.

 

Being born in a Sanatan Dharam family, and having some knowledge of the religion as everybody related to this religion knows, my mind was accordingly stuffed. Although Guru Jee was not dismissive of Sanatan Dharam processes and procedures directly in his discourses, I could understand that he was taking a different path. I felt this to be a type of brain wash leading me onto a path not followed in Sanatan Dharma. I listened to the sermon but my mind was revolting. Guru jee said in the sermon to clean out our minds before undertaking the Vipassana meditation process. My belief was so strong that the thoughts would come back rushing to my mind every moment. Anyway, I decided to continue to keep my eyes closed and meditate as advised but my mind was not getting in control. My mind was still full of beliefs and accepted practices. After about thirty minutes my right leg calf muscle started aching. I found it difficult to continue sitting like this. I had to move my leg and stretch it a little bit. My pain eased. The closing prayer appeared on the loudspeakers. The teacher announced a ten-minute break. I was off to my room. I thought it was over now for the meditation session. The next item on my agenda was to take my morning shower.

 

At about 9.30 AM, as I was about to go for my shower, there was a knock on my room door. I opened the door to find the assistant teacher facing me. I looked at him. He said, “Go to the meditation hall”. I rushed to the hall as directed. I found everyone seated and meditating in the hall. I took my seat and started meditating. Just then I heard the teacher call “Bal”. I got stressed. I thought that the teacher would rebuke me. I got up. Then I heard the teacher call the names of four more students. This released my stress. We went before the teacher. He motioned for us to sit down. He questioned us, one by one, about how we were able to observe the breathing in and breathing out at the nostril area. This is called “Aanapana”. I replied that I was able to observe my breathing without any difficulty. He then asked us to meditate before him for five minutes. We all did that. Then he asked us to go to our own seats and continue the meditation there. At 10.30 AM we were given the option of continuing the meditation there or having it in our own rooms. I went to my room. I took a shower. It was getting close to 11 AM. I heard the bell ring and made my way to the dining hall. For lunch, the menu consisted of some type of vegetable soup and some green leafy vegetables. I served myself some of those with some grated carrots. There were several other items that I did not take. That was my lunch. I was resigned to having lunch that way through the course. 

 

12 PM was the designated time for students to book time with the teacher. This one-to-one meeting with the teacher is meant to clear doubts cropping up in their minds and to ask questions. I still did not know what to ask. My mind was still foggy and overloaded with my previous beliefs.  Although some students went back to the meditation hall at 1 PM, I exercised my option and stayed in my room. At 2.30 PM, I went to the hall for the next meditation session. On my way to the meditation hall, I came across the assistant teacher. I requested him for the back support in the hall. He immediately provided me with the same. It was now more comfortable sitting down cross-legged. The meditation started. My experience was very similar to the one from the morning session. The calf muscles again troubled me. I stretched it the same way to give me some relief. My mind continued to have conflicting thoughts. After the one hour session, we were free to continue meditating in the hall or in our rooms. I took my room option. I did not meditate in my room and the conflicting thoughts in my mind continued. At 5 PM it was tea time. I saw most take an apple and banana and tea. I copied them. The fruit was just out of cold storage. I somehow took both the apple and the banana and topped it with a cup of tea. That was to be the last meal for the day. At 6 PM I was back in the meditation hall. It was a repeat of the post-lunch session. At 7 PM after a short break of ten minutes, the video discourse by Guru Jee started. It was about 70 minutes long. Guru Jee explained the salient features and gains of the Vipassana technique to us, with interesting examples. (If anyone is interested in listening to his day 1 discourse, it is available on YouTube.)

 

At the end of the discourse, it was another half an hour of meditation. At 9 PM, it was over and we were free to go to our rooms. For me, I had somehow completed Day I. At about 9.30 PM, I was in bed. Soon after I slept. Day one was over.

 

Day 2 onwards will be covered in Part 3.