Last week, when the IPL Semifinals were being held, I was in Goa, attending a conference organized by CRN, belonging to the worldwide UMB media. For most of the delegates, though the conference had lots of takeaways, the IPL matches were also top on their mind. So the organizers made arrangements by showing the match on the big screen.
My good friend Girish Madhavan, CEO of M/s. Quadsel Chennai, naturally was a Chennai Super Kings fan. However CSK lost in the semifinals, not able to build up a big score when it batted first. The match had the presence of Mr. Vijay Mallya, the owner of the opposing team Royal Challengers on the ground. The TV was showing him often and seeing it Girish disappointedly quipped that the match looks to be fixed by Mallya We all had a sympathetic laugh as a response. He said at this rate, only Royal Challengers would win the finals and nobody opposed him.
I was at home in Cochin when the final of IPL II took place. The Royal Challengers did a good job restricting Deccan Chargers to a modest score of 143 runs in 20 overs. Everyone saw the bowlers led by the legendary Anil Kumble doing a fantastic job and thought that Royal Challengers would win as it required only 7.2 runs per over to win the match and knowing that it is a Twenty20 tournament, it was not impossible to score the required run. I too was in the same frame of mind though I had my sympathies on Deccan Chargers.
The second inning was about to begin. Disappointment was writ all over the face of most of the players of the Deccan Chargers. Just before the beginning, I saw Adam Gilchrist, the captain of Deccan Chargers, calling all the team members together and speaking to them. One did know what words he spoke but it was evident that it was a motivating one. His face, body language and the delivery of the words had this display of positivity around it. To me that scene looked divine. It was then I knew Deccan Chargers are going to win. And win they did, splendidly.
You may know that winning such a match was not an easy one. With very minimal runs to defend, it all depended on how the captain marshalled his bowling resources well to restrict the opposing team. And the way the players listened to and responded to captain Gilchrist's call was superb.
The realization is very clear. What makes you a winner is the positivity that you hold. And the confidence you exude. To top it, winning requires motivating leadership. With such attitude, nobody can hold a candle on any team.
Thank you Deccan Chargers and Adam Gilchrist for giving such a wonderful learning!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
THE END OF PRABHAKARAN (and LTTE, of course)
The news broke out in 18th May 2009 that the LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran is dead, killed by the Sri Lankan Army while he was fleeing the war zone in an ambulance. Nobody would believe the news at first. Prabhakaran was like that. He looked invincible and several times in the past, he had escaped from being captured, just by the breadth of hair. On the 19th Of May the Sri Lankan army sent out pictures of his dead body. By the look of it, it resembled Prabhakaran. The eyes, the forehead, the furrows, all matched. There were flies around the body and it looked like almost the rear of his head was blown away. The Sri Lankan President announced that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) is completely finished off and all its leadership fully annihilated. Prabhakaran’s son Charles Antony, his closest aide Pottu Amman, and the head of Sea Tigers; Soosai, all had been killed. The TVs showed the Sri Lankan public out in the open, dancing and celebrating the end of LTTE and its dreaded chief.
Truly speaking, a dark era had come to the end in Sri Lanka and to some extent, in South Asia. It ran for close to four decades. Something that got started as a legitimate movement to protect the aspirations of a suppressed minority, had grown so big and assumed demonic proportions. LTTE started as a resistance movement, it became a terrorist outfit and then it grew into a big army that controlled close to one fourth of the Island nation. It made deep inroads into India (particularly the south) and even today, it has huge sympathizers there. The cause had lots of sympathizers in India and across the globe. However, the way it was run was ruthless. LTTE controlled the entire Tamils of Sri Lanka by sheer fear psychosis. It finished off (‘butchered’ is the right word) anyone in the community in Sri Lanka who spoke a word against it. Prabhakaran ran it with an iron hand. He has assumed megalomaniac proportions in the control of the Organization. The law was that of the bullet. Anyone didn’t accept it, bites dust. LTTE and Prabhakaran were very intolerant indeed.
LTTE was a complete military outfit. It had Army, Naval units and after Charles Antony had come back from studies, an Air force unit. Until the arrival of the present incumbent, Mr. Rajapaksa to power as the President of Sri Lanka, LTTE maintained its supremacy in the north and East of the country. With Rajapaksa in, things started getting difficult for LTTE. It started becoming weak. The departure of Col. Karuna (earlier the head of LTTE in east Lanka, currently a Lankan cabinet minister) started the dent and the erosion was steady thereafter. From the earlier sympathy of hapless Tamil’s protector, the world started viewing LTTE as a terror organization and many countries started banning it. LTTE came to be blacklisted in the UN and Prabhakaran started losing friends. Many of his close aides also died and left (some others, he killed, thinking that they had grown up to being a threat to him; e.g. Mahatiya). In the last year, the world heard of him as closeted in his bunker and there were reports about him going senile. The last six months or so, LTTE existed with great difficulty and that too by using the hapless Tamils as human shield. The writing was very much on the wall for Prabhakaran. Finally the end was to come. He bit dust by the bullet.
Looking back at the growth and times of Prabhakaran and LTTE, one would see many wrong decisions made by it. The signing of Indo Sri Lankan agreement and the IPKF days led to the killing of Rajiv Gandhi and Prabhakaran lost Indian support with that. LTTE went on killing President Premadasa, Minister Lakshman kadirgamar, Army chief, host of Monks and religious leaders, Lankan Tamil Politicians and the Tamil intelligentsia (e.g. Amrutha Lingam). It made several attempts on the life of President Chandrika Kumarathunge. It became dreaded to its own people. LTTE also annihilated other Tamil organizations built for similar causes (TELO, PLOT, EPRLF etc). It never believed in sharing any platform.
LTTE and Prabhakaran never thought of settlement through discussions. It only believed in then power of gun. Unlike the IRAand PLO, it never built up a political party or political base to go into negotiations. It only negotiated ceasefires, to prepare and start the war all over again. Where do such organizations go?
The Himalayan blunder that LTTE committed was of boycotting the 2005 presidential pole of Sri Lanka. LTTE thought that by keeping away, it could again create a situation to portray the Sri Lankan state as an aggressor against a minority community. But it boomeranged. The Tamil sympathizer Mr. Ranil Wickramesinghe lost the election and Mahinda Rajapaksa came to power. The bad days of LTTE and Prabhakaran began with that. Now it is all over. A man who terrorized the country and the world, a man whose very name used to send chill down the spine of many, A man whose utterings shook the powers that be, lies dead with half his head blown away, surrounded by flies and creatures, with no one to claim the body.
What does it all say? ANYONE WHO TAKES THE SWORD, ENDS BY IT...................
Truly speaking, a dark era had come to the end in Sri Lanka and to some extent, in South Asia. It ran for close to four decades. Something that got started as a legitimate movement to protect the aspirations of a suppressed minority, had grown so big and assumed demonic proportions. LTTE started as a resistance movement, it became a terrorist outfit and then it grew into a big army that controlled close to one fourth of the Island nation. It made deep inroads into India (particularly the south) and even today, it has huge sympathizers there. The cause had lots of sympathizers in India and across the globe. However, the way it was run was ruthless. LTTE controlled the entire Tamils of Sri Lanka by sheer fear psychosis. It finished off (‘butchered’ is the right word) anyone in the community in Sri Lanka who spoke a word against it. Prabhakaran ran it with an iron hand. He has assumed megalomaniac proportions in the control of the Organization. The law was that of the bullet. Anyone didn’t accept it, bites dust. LTTE and Prabhakaran were very intolerant indeed.
LTTE was a complete military outfit. It had Army, Naval units and after Charles Antony had come back from studies, an Air force unit. Until the arrival of the present incumbent, Mr. Rajapaksa to power as the President of Sri Lanka, LTTE maintained its supremacy in the north and East of the country. With Rajapaksa in, things started getting difficult for LTTE. It started becoming weak. The departure of Col. Karuna (earlier the head of LTTE in east Lanka, currently a Lankan cabinet minister) started the dent and the erosion was steady thereafter. From the earlier sympathy of hapless Tamil’s protector, the world started viewing LTTE as a terror organization and many countries started banning it. LTTE came to be blacklisted in the UN and Prabhakaran started losing friends. Many of his close aides also died and left (some others, he killed, thinking that they had grown up to being a threat to him; e.g. Mahatiya). In the last year, the world heard of him as closeted in his bunker and there were reports about him going senile. The last six months or so, LTTE existed with great difficulty and that too by using the hapless Tamils as human shield. The writing was very much on the wall for Prabhakaran. Finally the end was to come. He bit dust by the bullet.
Looking back at the growth and times of Prabhakaran and LTTE, one would see many wrong decisions made by it. The signing of Indo Sri Lankan agreement and the IPKF days led to the killing of Rajiv Gandhi and Prabhakaran lost Indian support with that. LTTE went on killing President Premadasa, Minister Lakshman kadirgamar, Army chief, host of Monks and religious leaders, Lankan Tamil Politicians and the Tamil intelligentsia (e.g. Amrutha Lingam). It made several attempts on the life of President Chandrika Kumarathunge. It became dreaded to its own people. LTTE also annihilated other Tamil organizations built for similar causes (TELO, PLOT, EPRLF etc). It never believed in sharing any platform.
LTTE and Prabhakaran never thought of settlement through discussions. It only believed in then power of gun. Unlike the IRAand PLO, it never built up a political party or political base to go into negotiations. It only negotiated ceasefires, to prepare and start the war all over again. Where do such organizations go?
The Himalayan blunder that LTTE committed was of boycotting the 2005 presidential pole of Sri Lanka. LTTE thought that by keeping away, it could again create a situation to portray the Sri Lankan state as an aggressor against a minority community. But it boomeranged. The Tamil sympathizer Mr. Ranil Wickramesinghe lost the election and Mahinda Rajapaksa came to power. The bad days of LTTE and Prabhakaran began with that. Now it is all over. A man who terrorized the country and the world, a man whose very name used to send chill down the spine of many, A man whose utterings shook the powers that be, lies dead with half his head blown away, surrounded by flies and creatures, with no one to claim the body.
What does it all say? ANYONE WHO TAKES THE SWORD, ENDS BY IT...................
INDIAN ELECTIONS 2009
After a month long election process, finally the results of elections conducted for Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian parliament was out on 16th May 2009. The result put to shame all the exit polls conducted by various print and electronic media organizations. In fact none of their predictions ever came near to the actual results. The Congress Party did well. It has got 200 plus individual seats and the alliance which it led got 260 plus seats. Though the present opposition group - the NDA headed by Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) expected more seats, it fared very poorly in the elections. There was the last minute hurriedly formed third front headed by the left parties of India led by CPI (M) which also came to a cropper. The regional parties, the JDU did very well in Bihar state and the so too Biju Janta Dal (BJD) of Orissa. Lately, we have been seeing the trend of the opposing parties alternating the ruling in both central parliament and state assemblies. But this time, all such logic was defied and Congress party had come back to power with higher seats. Good for them!
It is said that the reason for BJP not doing well was its strategy of personally attacking the incumbent Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh, as a weak leader. The strategy really flopped. In Bihar state, the humorous Lalu Yadav & opportunistic Ram Vilas Paswan combined to eject out Congress from the poll alliance, only to be routed. Both had publicly admitted that not forming alliance with Congress party in the state was a big mistake. Everyone is now lauding the risk taken by Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and the campaign chief Digvijay Singh to go alone in UP and Bihar, as a clever move which paid rich dividends. The left parties and its third front was rudder less and clue less and they lost heavily including their strong states, Kerala and West Bengal. The left went into all sorts of funny alliances, with the AIADK at Tamil Nadu, BSP in UP, the PDP in Kerala, the BJD in Orissa but none of its strategies worked and it has truly lost face. The political commentators say that Prakash Karat, the CPI (M) supremo is totally unconnected with the people and sits in ivory tower with his huge ego of a super intelligent being. They site this as the reason for all impractical alliances made by him.
While the group led by Congress will rule the country for the next five years, it is a fact that no group has a clear cut majority. Many itsy bitsy parties had come forward to support the Congress alliance, hoping for ministerial berths. We shall see some horse trading happening now (what was expected was high. thanks to the results, horse trading would be minimal). I feel it is indeed good that no group has any majority. Whatever alliance that will rule now will not hijack the country with its monolithic practices. It has to be democratic, consensus oriented approach and the alliance should adhere to a common minimum program that is set between the constituents. It is a practical (and definitely better) way for India.
So, Dr. Man Mohan Singh is going to rule India for a second term. Surely, he would be back seat driven by Madam Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Chief. Will Rahul Gandhi join his ministry? I don’t think so. He would spend more time in party matters and even if he joins the cabinet, it would be later. Everyone in the Congress expects him to be India’s Prime Minister after the next elections!
What about the State of Kerala? Here the UDF headed by Congress did exceedingly well and defeated CPI (M) in its bastions. Kerala is expected to get good representation in the central cabinet. AK Antony, Vayalar Ravi, E Ahamed, Sashi Taroor, KV Thomas are all aspirants. Let us see what happens!
The State Chief Minister V S Achtanandan is very happy indeed. His own party man, the chief of State CPI (M), Pinarayi Vijayan, whom he hates to the core, had been humbled in the election and therefore it is an indirect victory for VS. He could expect less intimidation from Vijayan and his cronies for some time. Probably that gives him a firm hand in ruling the state without much hindrance. However, his policies are not in tune with the time and therefore one is not very hopeful of any major development happening in the Kerala for the next two years. He would be mostly trying to play to the gallery, that’s all.
Even Obama, the President of US had praised the Indian democratic system and our election process. I believe the election result it is a victory for Indian democracy. As usual, the janta janardan had the last say and as expected, it has leveled out Indian polity.
It is said that the reason for BJP not doing well was its strategy of personally attacking the incumbent Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh, as a weak leader. The strategy really flopped. In Bihar state, the humorous Lalu Yadav & opportunistic Ram Vilas Paswan combined to eject out Congress from the poll alliance, only to be routed. Both had publicly admitted that not forming alliance with Congress party in the state was a big mistake. Everyone is now lauding the risk taken by Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and the campaign chief Digvijay Singh to go alone in UP and Bihar, as a clever move which paid rich dividends. The left parties and its third front was rudder less and clue less and they lost heavily including their strong states, Kerala and West Bengal. The left went into all sorts of funny alliances, with the AIADK at Tamil Nadu, BSP in UP, the PDP in Kerala, the BJD in Orissa but none of its strategies worked and it has truly lost face. The political commentators say that Prakash Karat, the CPI (M) supremo is totally unconnected with the people and sits in ivory tower with his huge ego of a super intelligent being. They site this as the reason for all impractical alliances made by him.
While the group led by Congress will rule the country for the next five years, it is a fact that no group has a clear cut majority. Many itsy bitsy parties had come forward to support the Congress alliance, hoping for ministerial berths. We shall see some horse trading happening now (what was expected was high. thanks to the results, horse trading would be minimal). I feel it is indeed good that no group has any majority. Whatever alliance that will rule now will not hijack the country with its monolithic practices. It has to be democratic, consensus oriented approach and the alliance should adhere to a common minimum program that is set between the constituents. It is a practical (and definitely better) way for India.
So, Dr. Man Mohan Singh is going to rule India for a second term. Surely, he would be back seat driven by Madam Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Chief. Will Rahul Gandhi join his ministry? I don’t think so. He would spend more time in party matters and even if he joins the cabinet, it would be later. Everyone in the Congress expects him to be India’s Prime Minister after the next elections!
What about the State of Kerala? Here the UDF headed by Congress did exceedingly well and defeated CPI (M) in its bastions. Kerala is expected to get good representation in the central cabinet. AK Antony, Vayalar Ravi, E Ahamed, Sashi Taroor, KV Thomas are all aspirants. Let us see what happens!
The State Chief Minister V S Achtanandan is very happy indeed. His own party man, the chief of State CPI (M), Pinarayi Vijayan, whom he hates to the core, had been humbled in the election and therefore it is an indirect victory for VS. He could expect less intimidation from Vijayan and his cronies for some time. Probably that gives him a firm hand in ruling the state without much hindrance. However, his policies are not in tune with the time and therefore one is not very hopeful of any major development happening in the Kerala for the next two years. He would be mostly trying to play to the gallery, that’s all.
Even Obama, the President of US had praised the Indian democratic system and our election process. I believe the election result it is a victory for Indian democracy. As usual, the janta janardan had the last say and as expected, it has leveled out Indian polity.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
VIPASSANA MEDITATION- A LANDMARK EXPERIENCE IN MY LIFE
I had been reading and researching on Vipassana Meditation for more than about five years. And, I was wanting to attend a session of the meditation for quiet some time. But the fact that it takes eleven days to be totally dedicated for the same and one needs to be completely cut off, made me postpone my decision so long. My entrepreneurial, social and professional commitments will not allow me to spend these many days away from them, I thought. Earlier there was no Vipassana centre in Kerala and one had to go outside the State to attend it. Over the last two years, a centre had come up in Cheriyanadu @ Chengannur by name Dhamma Ketana. This had again kindled my urge. Finally I made up my mind to take off and attend the session beginning 18th April 2009 at Dhamma Ketana.
Dhamma Ketana is located in a small farming village at Mambra, Cheriyanadu. It has very limited facilities and whatever things are there, are of very primitive nature. The men’s dormitory (two of them) is practically an open shed with tin sheets above and has cots made of coconut wood with a thin mattress on it. The bathroom/toilet facilities (sharable) are there but again, limited and just the working type. The women’s quarters are in the main old building which was originally there when the land was bought for the centre. The Dhamma Hall, the main meditation centre, though newly built, is again just basic and essential in nature with scope for real improvement. The dining hall is small and the rules were that of self service and self wash. Incidentally the course is conducted for free and if any participant wants to pay, he/she could donate the money at the end of it. Lack of finance in running the centre was evident in its appearance.
But the axiom that quality needs no facility was evident from the number of participants who had turned out to attend the course. There were forty of us. From the age group between seventy five at the higher end and seventeen at the lower! It had twelve women and twenty eight men in it. Five of them were foreigners (Two from Switzerland, one each from France, Italy and Germany – two women and three men in all). There were students, house holders, home makers, professionals, entrepreneurs, artists – the guy from France was a sculptor and the man from Trichur, a Malayalam play back singer-, NRIs (three of them working in the Middle East, one flew in just to attend the course!), five Christian priests of different denominations, two Muslim men- one a Hajji, but who left after five days of meditation - and a swami (Swamy Gynodayan, a Hindu Sanyasin who has changed to become Christian evangelist – author of three books on spirituality but a little controversial because of his ardent belief that Jesus Holy Christ is the son of Shiva, the Hindu God-). Indeed a heterogeneous crowd; all pulled in from distant parts of the world by the need to undergo the meditation. I was genuinely impressed, to say the least.
Fundamentally, Vipassana Meditation was invented and taught by Gautama – the Buddha. Born in 624 BC, this Prince turned ascetic attained Nirvana at the age of thirty five after 6 years of wandering, learning, penance and meditation and lived up to the ripe age of eighty to teach the world Dharma, Sangha and of Liberation through enlightenment (Buddha). Vipassana differs from other forms of meditation (there are plenty; from different schools of thought and religions) from the point of view of its conduct. It conditions the mind through meditational awareness and equanimity (on equal strength), relying mainly on normal breathing practice. The principle is that by being aware with an equanimous mind, one can identify and recognize the sensations happening in the body, well before one actually commits a mental act from which the vocal act and the physical act further germinate. Thus by understanding the fact that the sensations and the reactions to it (samkharas) are very ephemeral and momentary – it just arises and withers away-, one realizes the impermanent nature of the same (ANICCA- anitya) and of the life that follows the act (karma). This will further strengthen the equanimity of the mind and allow it to reach the stage of wisdom (PANNA – Prgya – Prajna). With this wisdom, one can see things as it is and not as what one wants it to be. The trueness of anything gets revealed without one applying any thought or emotion on it and that stage of wisdom liberates the mind and one attains bliss and tranquility, full of love and compassion. By doing Vipassana not only one can stop generating fresh defilements to the mind but also remove the impurities that were stored in it the form of the thoughts/actions of the past. The universality of Vipassana lies in the fact that it does not want the meditator to believe in any God, person, dogma, religion or sectarianism to practice the same. Just breath in and breath out and later, be aware of the sensations happening in the body with an un-affected mind.
For the last forty nine years of my existence, I do not remember being silent for more than half an hour. It is generally felt by friends and acquaintances that I am an adhika prassangi (one who speaks in excess). Imagine how difficult it is for a person like me to be in silence for more than 10 days! But this is what I did during the whole of Vipassana practice. Yes, it requires the meditator to enter into noble silence for the first 10 days and he is not allowed to communicate with co-meditiators and others even by body language or gestures. So for close to eleven days, I did not exist to the outside world. My mobile phone went dead and I became inaccessible even to my dear wife and children. (Over the twenty plus years of our married life, there had not been one instance of me not talking to my wife every day, barring this!)
All comfort zones were taken away during this meditation period. Firstly, it was a hot weather and throughout, one felt the intense heat and the resulting sweat making it worse further. One needed to get up @ four AM (the bell would ring sharp every time) to get ready and to start the meditation by four thirty AM. Meditation is done by sitting cross legged (Padmasana, or ardha padmasana for those who can not sit in padmasana) for hours together. There is eleven hours of meditation and one and half hour of discourse (again being seated) every day. The breakfast is at six thirty AM and lunch by eleven. Both are vegetarian and basically frugal. There is no Dinner at all. At five in the evening there is tea for new meditators (the old meditators if any – we had seven of them – take nothing but water). There is totally about four hours of rest per day around breakfast, lunch and tea. The day ends at nine thirty PM and one hits the bed, again to start the whole process the next day, all over. On the tenth day by noon one breaks the silence. Even if one does, the silence actually lingers on because the meditations continue for that day and for the next.
Having known Vipassana for long, initially I wanted to do it @ Igat Puri, Nashik, Maharashtra which is the head quarters of Vipassana Research Institute started by Sayagi S N Goenka. Goenka was born and brought up in Burma (now Myanmar) and belonged to a rich Hindu business family. He came across Vipassana by chance but took it like fish in water. His teacher Sayagi U Ba Khin advised him to go to India to reinstate the practice in the country where it all began, twenty five centuries ago. Today Vipassana movement set up by Sayagi SN Goenka had spread across the Globe with about hundred plus centers located in most of the leading nations. Having read his writings and heard his speeches, I was very highly impressed and actually wanted to be taught by him. Having selected Dahmma Ketana @ Cheriynadu I knew I would not get this privilege. But lo and behold, which ever centre you undergo the Vipassana training, it is taught by Sayagi SN Goenka only, through his voice over audio and video tapes. Actually you never miss him and feel his complete presence throughout the days.
What was my experience? My objective of the undergoing the training was to manage and control my emotions (which I had plenty and my expressions of negative emotions are nothing to write home about) and to become a better person. I never looked for miracles to happen while doing the practice. As per S N Goenka, if one does it with full dedication and attention, by the tenth day, she/he will feel the vibrations in her/his kalapas, the smallest sub atomic denomination of the body. This stage is called Bhang gyan, the height of Vipassana learning. Obviously this did not happen to me. But my mind has become very sharp and so too my concentration. I could continue being in thoughtless state just listening to the sensations in the body for a good period of time (a great achievement considering the fact that my mind was always full of thoughts and emotions and that was continually on the increase). I could recognize the pleasurable and painful sensations without going under it. I could realize the changing nature of my sensations (its impermanence of arising and withering away). During the in between periods of rest, I could look at so many actions of my past and find the incorrectness of the same (and to understand the folly in those actions). My views on many of my so called detractors and enemies had mellowed tremendously. I am able to chart out positive thoughts on my future.
And more than anything else, now I know what could I do, when I start going under my intense negative emotions.
Summing up, I must confess that Vipassana meditation training was a milestone experience of my life. The goodness that I got from it, I must continue to consolidate for the rest of my life and for that, I must continue to meditate everyday. Will be it be a tall order? Only time can tell.
Dhamma Ketana is located in a small farming village at Mambra, Cheriyanadu. It has very limited facilities and whatever things are there, are of very primitive nature. The men’s dormitory (two of them) is practically an open shed with tin sheets above and has cots made of coconut wood with a thin mattress on it. The bathroom/toilet facilities (sharable) are there but again, limited and just the working type. The women’s quarters are in the main old building which was originally there when the land was bought for the centre. The Dhamma Hall, the main meditation centre, though newly built, is again just basic and essential in nature with scope for real improvement. The dining hall is small and the rules were that of self service and self wash. Incidentally the course is conducted for free and if any participant wants to pay, he/she could donate the money at the end of it. Lack of finance in running the centre was evident in its appearance.
But the axiom that quality needs no facility was evident from the number of participants who had turned out to attend the course. There were forty of us. From the age group between seventy five at the higher end and seventeen at the lower! It had twelve women and twenty eight men in it. Five of them were foreigners (Two from Switzerland, one each from France, Italy and Germany – two women and three men in all). There were students, house holders, home makers, professionals, entrepreneurs, artists – the guy from France was a sculptor and the man from Trichur, a Malayalam play back singer-, NRIs (three of them working in the Middle East, one flew in just to attend the course!), five Christian priests of different denominations, two Muslim men- one a Hajji, but who left after five days of meditation - and a swami (Swamy Gynodayan, a Hindu Sanyasin who has changed to become Christian evangelist – author of three books on spirituality but a little controversial because of his ardent belief that Jesus Holy Christ is the son of Shiva, the Hindu God-). Indeed a heterogeneous crowd; all pulled in from distant parts of the world by the need to undergo the meditation. I was genuinely impressed, to say the least.
Fundamentally, Vipassana Meditation was invented and taught by Gautama – the Buddha. Born in 624 BC, this Prince turned ascetic attained Nirvana at the age of thirty five after 6 years of wandering, learning, penance and meditation and lived up to the ripe age of eighty to teach the world Dharma, Sangha and of Liberation through enlightenment (Buddha). Vipassana differs from other forms of meditation (there are plenty; from different schools of thought and religions) from the point of view of its conduct. It conditions the mind through meditational awareness and equanimity (on equal strength), relying mainly on normal breathing practice. The principle is that by being aware with an equanimous mind, one can identify and recognize the sensations happening in the body, well before one actually commits a mental act from which the vocal act and the physical act further germinate. Thus by understanding the fact that the sensations and the reactions to it (samkharas) are very ephemeral and momentary – it just arises and withers away-, one realizes the impermanent nature of the same (ANICCA- anitya) and of the life that follows the act (karma). This will further strengthen the equanimity of the mind and allow it to reach the stage of wisdom (PANNA – Prgya – Prajna). With this wisdom, one can see things as it is and not as what one wants it to be. The trueness of anything gets revealed without one applying any thought or emotion on it and that stage of wisdom liberates the mind and one attains bliss and tranquility, full of love and compassion. By doing Vipassana not only one can stop generating fresh defilements to the mind but also remove the impurities that were stored in it the form of the thoughts/actions of the past. The universality of Vipassana lies in the fact that it does not want the meditator to believe in any God, person, dogma, religion or sectarianism to practice the same. Just breath in and breath out and later, be aware of the sensations happening in the body with an un-affected mind.
For the last forty nine years of my existence, I do not remember being silent for more than half an hour. It is generally felt by friends and acquaintances that I am an adhika prassangi (one who speaks in excess). Imagine how difficult it is for a person like me to be in silence for more than 10 days! But this is what I did during the whole of Vipassana practice. Yes, it requires the meditator to enter into noble silence for the first 10 days and he is not allowed to communicate with co-meditiators and others even by body language or gestures. So for close to eleven days, I did not exist to the outside world. My mobile phone went dead and I became inaccessible even to my dear wife and children. (Over the twenty plus years of our married life, there had not been one instance of me not talking to my wife every day, barring this!)
All comfort zones were taken away during this meditation period. Firstly, it was a hot weather and throughout, one felt the intense heat and the resulting sweat making it worse further. One needed to get up @ four AM (the bell would ring sharp every time) to get ready and to start the meditation by four thirty AM. Meditation is done by sitting cross legged (Padmasana, or ardha padmasana for those who can not sit in padmasana) for hours together. There is eleven hours of meditation and one and half hour of discourse (again being seated) every day. The breakfast is at six thirty AM and lunch by eleven. Both are vegetarian and basically frugal. There is no Dinner at all. At five in the evening there is tea for new meditators (the old meditators if any – we had seven of them – take nothing but water). There is totally about four hours of rest per day around breakfast, lunch and tea. The day ends at nine thirty PM and one hits the bed, again to start the whole process the next day, all over. On the tenth day by noon one breaks the silence. Even if one does, the silence actually lingers on because the meditations continue for that day and for the next.
Having known Vipassana for long, initially I wanted to do it @ Igat Puri, Nashik, Maharashtra which is the head quarters of Vipassana Research Institute started by Sayagi S N Goenka. Goenka was born and brought up in Burma (now Myanmar) and belonged to a rich Hindu business family. He came across Vipassana by chance but took it like fish in water. His teacher Sayagi U Ba Khin advised him to go to India to reinstate the practice in the country where it all began, twenty five centuries ago. Today Vipassana movement set up by Sayagi SN Goenka had spread across the Globe with about hundred plus centers located in most of the leading nations. Having read his writings and heard his speeches, I was very highly impressed and actually wanted to be taught by him. Having selected Dahmma Ketana @ Cheriynadu I knew I would not get this privilege. But lo and behold, which ever centre you undergo the Vipassana training, it is taught by Sayagi SN Goenka only, through his voice over audio and video tapes. Actually you never miss him and feel his complete presence throughout the days.
What was my experience? My objective of the undergoing the training was to manage and control my emotions (which I had plenty and my expressions of negative emotions are nothing to write home about) and to become a better person. I never looked for miracles to happen while doing the practice. As per S N Goenka, if one does it with full dedication and attention, by the tenth day, she/he will feel the vibrations in her/his kalapas, the smallest sub atomic denomination of the body. This stage is called Bhang gyan, the height of Vipassana learning. Obviously this did not happen to me. But my mind has become very sharp and so too my concentration. I could continue being in thoughtless state just listening to the sensations in the body for a good period of time (a great achievement considering the fact that my mind was always full of thoughts and emotions and that was continually on the increase). I could recognize the pleasurable and painful sensations without going under it. I could realize the changing nature of my sensations (its impermanence of arising and withering away). During the in between periods of rest, I could look at so many actions of my past and find the incorrectness of the same (and to understand the folly in those actions). My views on many of my so called detractors and enemies had mellowed tremendously. I am able to chart out positive thoughts on my future.
And more than anything else, now I know what could I do, when I start going under my intense negative emotions.
Summing up, I must confess that Vipassana meditation training was a milestone experience of my life. The goodness that I got from it, I must continue to consolidate for the rest of my life and for that, I must continue to meditate everyday. Will be it be a tall order? Only time can tell.
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