First Vipassana Course In India
- by S. N. Goenka
(The following article by S. N. Goenka appeared in the Hindi Vipashyanā Patrikā in July 1994 to mark the 25th anniversary of Goenkaji”s teaching. This translation has been adapted from the original.)
20 June 1969 was an extremely important day in my life. On that day my revered teacher Sayagyi U Ba Khin appointed me a Vipassana teacher, entrusting me with a great responsibility. In the preceding years he had trained me as his assistant so that I might undertake this responsibility; now the time had come to fulfil it. The next day I was to leave Myanmar (Burma), my birthplace, and set out for India, the land of my ancestors. Vipassana had come to Myanmar from India about 2,500 years before. In its adopted land it had been preserved by an unbroken chain of teachers, down to Sayagyi U Ba Khin. In India, however, the technique had been completely lost and people had even forgotten the name of Vipassana.
Now Sayagyi U Ba Khin wished Vipassana to return to India, its country of origin. This would benefit the people of India and also enable Myanmar to repay its debt to India for this liberating technique. It was his strong Dhamma wish that this priceless spiritual teaching should not only return to India but, after becoming established there, spread throughout the world for the welfare of many. I had assured him that I would do my best to fulfil his noble wish.
Sayagyi U Ba Khin firmly believed that India would readily accept its lost treasure. He often used to say that many people had been born in India at this time endowed with abundant pāramitā (merits), and that their previous meritorious deeds would naturally draw them to Vipassana.
Again and again my teacher”s voice, filled with mettā, would ring in my ears:"The clock of Vipassana has struck. Its revival is bound to come in India and it will happen now." This was the prophecy not only of my teacher but also that of saints thousands of years ago. For me, his blessings and this confident prophecy were like nourishing provisions sustaining me on my journey.
In the first days after coming to India, however, I found myself surrounded by difficulties and began to doubt whether I would succeed. Where should a course be held
How would it be organised
Who would organise it
Who would be prepared to leave family and household to spend ten days with me
How few knew me in this country with such a vast population!
Closest to me were the members of my own family living in India. I had come with high hopes of help from them, but just before my arrival several of them had become followers of another path, Ananda Marg. I had learned of this even while I was in Myanmar. What I hadn”t known was that those family members had become so extreme in their support for Ananda Marg that they would not even listen to explanations about Vipassana. The possibility seemed remote that they would join a Vipassana course and give the technique a try; and I could not see any possibility of their help in organising a course.
At the same time, family members who had earlier come from Myanmar and were Vipassana meditators were feeling dispirited because they had lost everything due to economic changes. I felt sure that none of them could help organise a course. Even more dire was the situation of some other Vipassana meditators who had recently come from Myanmar.
My mother faced her own dilemma. A Vipassana course was to be organised for her benefit, to enable her to free herself from mental distress. It was specifically for this purpose that I had come to India and for which the Burmese government had taken the then-unprecedented step of granting me a passport. After my arrival in India, my mother would frequently sit with me and meditate, and the experi…
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