Vipassana – A Meditation Technique to Detoxify Mind…

Vipassana (विपश्यना) – means to see things as they really are, is one of India’s most ancient techniques of meditation. The entire practice is actually a mental training. Just as we use physical exercises to improve our bodily health, Vipassana can be used to develop a healthy mind. Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation.

On 3rd Oct, a mildly hot afternoon, I got off from Shatabadi at Dehradun Railway Station. After a further drive of an hour in a shared “thuk-thuk” (a locally modified autorickshaw), I reached Dhamma Salila – a meditation center, started by a world-renowned teacher Sh. S.N. Goekna Ji, — surrounded by hills and on the bank of rivulet “Noon”.

Facilities

Dehradun center is spread in 10acres of greenbelt with lots of trees and landscapes. It has two large Meditation halls for group meditation and dining halls and residential hostels for males and females to accommodate 100 students. One can also practice meditation in separate allocated small cells.

 

Vipassana Center at Dehradun

After completing my registration formalities for a 10-day Residential Meditation course and depositing my mobile and wallet, I happily checked in my 12*10 twin sharing hostel Room# M09, furnished modestly with two single beds, mattress with clean bedsheets, blankets, and pillows along with an attached bathroom.

There are no charges for this course – not even to cover the cost of food and accommodation. All the expenses are met by donations from previous students who benefitted enormously by these meditational techniques in their day-to-day life.

Group Meditation Hall at Dhamma Salila, Dehradun

Practice

We all have numerously heard … “Control your mind, Control your World”.

But I never knew how to do so. Never practiced it since my birth. We all talk and agree but No one, in general, knows how to achieve this.

What I experienced in 10days is “Vipassana is a technique to control and purify one’s mind”

Our mind does not want to be in-present. It wanders either in-past or in-future. Either in attachment or in aversion mode. It also requires something to work upon. Some activity, some thought. It never remains quite. Never stays calm. It chatters a lot. Always. So, this hyperactivity makes it restless at times — like a small, obnoxious child.

In this camp, we were 80 students (50 males and 30 females) who practiced these two meditation techniques to make our mind calm, focused, sharpened and purified from deformities.

Anna-Pan — The first three and a half days were devoted on Anna-Pan, a meditational technique to develop some mastery over the mind by learning to fix one’s attention on the flow of breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils – inhalation and exhalation. By the fourth day, my mind started getting calmer and a bit more focused.
Vipassana — From fourth to the tenth day, learning Vipassana technique, we were observing natural sensations happening in our body, understanding that these bodily sensations are not permanent in nature. They appear and disappear in due course of time. We were learning to develop equanimity and not to react to these sensations appear in our body thru our mind.

When someone insults us or makes us angry, it produces an unpleasant sensation in our body. By practicing Vipassana, we deeply train our mind in not reacting to these sensations since they are impermanence in nature. What is produced, will be expensed very soon.

Because of Attachment (राग) (what is of tasteful to our mind) and Aversion (द्वेष) (what is not of our taste), our mind attracts so many deformities (विकार) in the form of Anger, Lust, Greed, Hatred, Illusion which further create impurities in our mind and we helplessly and blindly react to various situation occurring in a day-to-day life.

We can control our mind – its impulsive reactions, its thinking and behavior patterns, by these techniques which strengthen us to take every situation equanimously.

All the students were also required to maintain “Noble Silence” during these 10days which mean No Talking, No Walking-together, No Eye-contact. The idea behind this silence is to turn inwards; to look inwards rather outwards for every answer.

Last day with Co-Meditators at Dehradun

 

 

My Experience

The course requires hard and serious work. Getting up at 4 a.m. and doing meditation practice for 12 hours every day (with breaks in-between) was certainly a big challenge physically and mentally for me (at least). Eating simple meals (Breakfast at 6.30am and Lunch at 11am) and maintaining complete silence was something I never dreamt off. But this expenditure of energy is not without a payoff…

Who should do this Course

Anyone who believes that a relaxed mind can do wonders; can help him/her focus and concentrate effectively on better and productive results. He/She must practice Anna-Pan and Vipassana – the age-old technique practiced by millions over centuries.

Life is to explore new possibilities. One must take this course at least once in a lifetime. It can give great and desired results only through persistent practice.

For more details on this course, please visit  https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/index