Hi girls.
Today’s post is not related to style or fashion, it’s about Vipassana. Now your
next question will be “what is that”? Well some of you might have heard about
it some of you might not. It’s a Buddhist technique of meditation which is
considered to be the most practical form of meditation.
Well due to
stressed and fast metro life, at some point a thought comes in mind like what
is all this running in life about. Where are we running towards, Why is there
unending unhappiness and unsatisfaction. There is unending craving for job,
money, joy, happiness, peace etc. Well I may sound little philosophical here
but I do come across such thoughts and I am sure many people feel the same. So
when I heard about Vipassana from my cousin I instantly got attracted to it.
My cousin
told me that it’s a 10 day course where you have to get cut off from the whole
world for 10 days. No phone, no contact and no talking for 10 days. Yes you
heard it right, complete silence for 10 days (the moment my friends heard this
they said you will come back in 2 days as I am a chatterbox..haha). So, I
applied for the course in Dehradun and my application got accepted.
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| River just behind the ashram |
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| The beautiful greenery in ashram |
When I
reached there, I saw a beautiful place behind a river. There were segregated
areas for men and women. After registration on day 0 (they call first day as
day 0) all the rules were explained to us in the evening and the arya maun
(complete silence) started.
On day 1 we
all woke up at 4.00 a.m. and gathered in the meditation hall and the technique
was explain through audio of the teacher late Shri. S.N .Goenka. For the first
three days breathing technique was practiced for whole day. Now this was the
most difficult part. When you are in a 9.5 hour corporate sitting job, eating
all those burgers and donuts with zero physical exercise and suddenly you have
to sit on the ground doing nothing but meditate for 12 hours, it seems
impossible. So was the case with me.
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| The way to dhamma hall |
I started to
concentrate and a lot of times thoughts used to rush into my mind and suddenly
I used to realize that oh my god half an hour passed and all I was doing was
thinking about job, family, life etc!! But then the beauty of this course is
that they tell you that human mind is like an untrained monkey. It is bound to
wander but you have to keep trying until you succeed. In the end of each day,
the video of Mr. Goenka is shown where he tells you what problems you will face
on that particular day and that used to be very motivating for the next day. I
think the key to attain success in this course is to keep patience.
I observed
that many people lost patience on the second day. They broke their silence and
started chatting. I want to share some funny incidents here. On day 2 when it was
raining I opened my eyes, looked outside and thought “kash adrak ki chai and
pakode ho jate” (“I wish I had ginger tea and snacks)”. Then I told myself
“shut up u foodie megha. You are not here to eat but to meditate”. Then I saw
other people and thought “how this girl is sitting straight for the last half
an hour and I am not able to sit straight for even 10 minutes”. Sometimes I
closed my eyes trying to concentrate and then my mind spoke that “Hey megha you
are going great. You might have concentrated for at least half an hour”. Filled
with joy and pride I used to open my eyes, looked at my watch to discover
“OMG!! Only 10 minutes have passed”!!!. So this course was kind of a test of
patience and self analysis.
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| People meditating. Took this pic last day as it was allowed ! |
There is
logic behind each and every rule of this course. Speaking is prohibited so that
you have fewer thoughts in your mind and you can concentrate effectively. My
mind also gave up several times when I was not able to concentrate but then I
took short breaks of 10 minutes, rejuvenated my mind and then started again. Slowly
this trick worked for me and I was able to concentrate by day 3 very
effectively.
On the 5th
day vipassana was taught. We were asked to observe the sensations in our body.
It was purely magical. I could sense what was happening inside my body. All the
theory behind craving and misery was explained to us and lot of questions which
were in my mind for years got answered. I was still not able to sit with my
back straight but I was feeling very positive. I had intense pain in some areas
of my body but it vanished after some time. We practiced Vipassana for the next
5 days and I was feeling sensations very easily now. My heart was filled with
satisfaction which I hadn’t experienced from years, I had no grudges against
anyone, no expectations, no sorrow. By the end of 9th day I had
complete piece in my mind. I felt like that was another world, there was peace
and purity all around.
On the 10tht
day the silence was broken. Everyone was talking to each other, girls were
chatting non stop with each other and with their family. It was as if there was
a festival. The ashram was filled up with a wave of happiness and joy.
So to
conclude I would say that it was one of those moments of my life which can’t be
explained in words. I would suggest everyone to do this course and learn the
art of living. Bbye for now..Feel beautiful be stylish.
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| Unknown people becoming friends |
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| Groupfie after meditation session on last day |
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| My Asan for 10 days |
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| Finally talking to family !! |
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| Group lunch |