Vipassana

My 10 day Vipassana impressions.

Though I had been toying with the  Dammagiri's 10 day course for almost 20 years it's only now in 2017 that I finally got to doing it.

I had heard a lot about how people lost weight in ten days,  and became totally​ better people' after the ten days.

My prime worry was not as much about the the solitary cell,  ten day vow of silence,  the lack of dinner, or the 9.30 pm lights off, as much as the  pain in the knees and shoulders, which had been a constant companion for quite some years now, and my sleep needs which is a cool anything between 7 to 9 hours daily.

I had also read Ashwin s note about how the first three days were tough. In that sense I was fortified. I was pre warned that I had to survive only the first three days and the rest would be easy.

Day one 1 wake up call at 4 am was  the most difficult, so much so, that I woke up, and fell asleep right back on the bed, till I was discovered sleeping,  by a wide  eyed young sevika (helper), who asked me in a serious voice  if I had any dikat( problem) going to the common meditation hall, like the others.

Bit my tongue on that one!

Day one was all about watching my natural breath, eyes closed, for almost ten hours.As expected, the shoulder blades the upper  back and the knees gave away within 15 minutes, and I was mostly shifting my posture, to least painful positions, for the whole day.

Best part for me was the one hour 'Damma' talks, discourse given by the Indian  founder Shri Goenka, because it gave almost all clarifications regarding doubts  that had been in my head.

Day two about watching the incoming and outgoing breathe, which is basically an extension of the first day meditation.
By now I had started noticing small small things about the others who were taking the course

. Like there was this bunch of young student girls, from Darjeeling, who had decided that the wow of silence was not for them. They were like little  restless monkeys all over the space, much to the annoyance of many. Their youthfulness however  made me grin. 

Then there was the lady by my side room, who seemed to an OCDer, and cleaning her room loudly at 2 in the night for at least 20 minutes at a stretch. She even sobbed the second day.

And then  there was this another woman, who somehow threatened my space, when she tried to make naughty eye contact with me on the first day, let's break rules kind, which had offended me terribly then. ( Later transpires, she had issues, she could not sit still for more than ten minutes ever, and kept running away from the meditation hall always)

By day three for the first time, I started  felling that  most women in the course,  were odd nuts, and a wee bit crazy in the  head, and it almost made me wonder whether I was in a totally wrong place.

Third night however was the oddest. I woke up at 11.30 pm ( the terrible back pain made me settle in bed immediately at 9 pm sharp)   to the loud blaring chanting of Shri Goeinka, and when I looked across the room, I kept seeing 'sabja' kind bubbles.

This time ,I got scared..what kind of racket have I got myself into? And I am not allowed to talk about it too... I wondered as I shut my eyes,  forcing myself to sleep over the din.

Fourth day meditation, for me, hit a plateau as I kept seeing colours the minute I shut my eyes..blues and yellows and whites smoothly effortlessly flowing blending Into each other in a continious stream)
For the first time, the finger pointed back and I wondered if I wasnt the stark raving mad person here esp after the previous night thingy.

However, the lady teacher didn't make much of it. She  told to open my eyes if it happened again.

Immediately after that, though I started seeing Nalanda Ruins in it's full glory ( I didn't tell the teacher that though). As I knew the solution..
open the eyes!

By the fifth day a wonder started happening. My back no longer hurt as much; neither my knees, and surprisingly,  it was an almost a 90 percent improvement. And then I realised what Goeinka kept chanting..

Anicha anicha. (Everything is impermanent) and the pain suddenly became something interesting thing to watch.

After that I went from strength to strength, and the whole thing started making sense.

My lasting impressions?

Meditation works for me too... ( I always thot I was not the meditative kind), I hoped it had unknowingly made some personality changes in me for the better.

Most of all I was convinced of the selfless ness of the organisation.

And not to mention the interesting people I interacted with on the 10 day, which included a sweet yoga teacher, Vanessa from Switzerland( she was kind enough to teach me how to braid my hair in a particular fashion) a sweet French woman also named Vanessa, who again was more an Indian by heart, than I was..she was living in Puri for seven months now, could speak Hindi well enough, and wore salwar kameezes like a native.

And those sweet naughty girls from Siliguri, one girl Rinci in particular with her Gundi like walk and steady stare back in the eye, when I had stared at her one day.

And Pepsi girl Madhura and the Vietnamese nuns who smiled for communication.

Most of all, among the good parts are those  wonderful memories of those 10 Bodh Gaya days....

Would I want to do it again? Sure.

Would I want to become a sevika? Yes I think.