Breaking Down My Vipassana Experience

Ever since I've come back from a ten-day Vipassana course earlier this month, I've been asked often about the experience. Most times, I've gotten away by using words like 'enlightening', 'enriching' etc; but it was much more than that, a world apart from the everyday lives we know of.

The general presumption associated with Vipassana is how tough it would be to remain incommunicado, where one is not allowed to converse with even one's own roommate not even by gestures. But I must say the hardest is not the non-speaking part, it is the part where one has to meditate for hours on end daily without changing posture, ten and half hours to be precise. Yes, I've counted the hours daily hoping it might magically reduce. But sadly, it never worked. When the whole body aches, you are kind of glad that you don't have to follow the social courtesy of speaking to your roommate/s. So, I must say the vow made to not speak is a blessing in disguise.

Of course, there were downsides to the non-speaking vow. Every morning, the bells would toll nonstop exactly at 4am, and then the servers would stand outside the room with chiming bells until the moment we flick the light on. There are a couple of minutes to freshen up before the first two-hour (4:30-6:30am) sitting of the day begins. During this period and other five-minute breaks between sittings, my roommate and I would struggle to take control of the restroom. The first few days were difficult as she had terrible bowel movements and I kept waiting counting the minutes without a clue of her ailment instead of heading to the public toilets. In the nights, I would switch on the fan and she'd turn it off and so on.

Now coming to the food. For a hardcore non-vegetarian like me that needs a piece of meat in every meal, I didn't know I was entering into the realm of saatvik meals. If it weren't for vipassana, I won't for the life of me realize there are so many types of vegetables I haven't tasted yet. Every morsel of food was cherished and valued, maybe because of the fact that you've to make do without dinner every night as they serve only breakfast and lunch. Vipassana is all about observing each and every sensation felt by the body. Hunger was a sensation I felt strongly most of the times and my mind often wandered to juicy KFC pieces. I made many plans to this effect for the time when I'll be back in the real world.

Let's talk about the 'main experience' now. Vipassana is a serious business and I don't mean the commercial packages some Godmen have made it out to be. It is about understanding the inter relationship between mind and matter. I learned the technique in its unadulterated form as was conceived by Buddha. The first three and half days were meant for practice of Aana-Paana meditation to sharpen concentration. That's literally 38 hours of observing respiration, how the touch of the breath feels inside the nostrils and the sensation it generates outside the nostrils. That was a lot of focusing on just one specific activity therefore the mind wandered initially but ultimately, it was conquered. On the evening of the fourth day, introduction to the real Vipassana meditation took place. It is an experience that differs from person to person therefore putting it into words would be quite an injustice to the technique, and more importantly because even if I tried I would not be able to describe all that I felt into mere words. The surrealness generated by subtle vibrations all over the body as the defilement of impurities from the subconscious takes place is an indescribable feeling. Suffice it to say, I've decided to do this every year.

On the tenth day, the vow to not speak is broken and we were encouraged to speak to each other. This day was meant to be a shock-absorber in preparation of the following day when all will be released back to the outside world. Even for an extrovert like me, it was extremely awkward to strike conversation with the people I've been living together for so many days. I found it easier to retreat in a corner and be with my own self. But as they say, the wheels of life does go on. 
Therefore whenever anyone asks me about the experience, I try to make do with single word answers as it is much simpler to do so then explain to them how these ten days were the most remarkable days of my life.