The illusion of free will in the Cult: Vipassana meditation taught by SN Goenka

I have written about my experience at the Vipassana meditation centre (administered by SN Goenka), how I left the 10-day course in 5 days, and how I disagree with most things about the course.

You can find that post here.

This is my take at exploring if Vipassana meditation as taught by SN Goenka has a cult-like characteristic or if it is a cult.

There have been various responses to the post and some of the prominent ones are:

1. But Goenka says in the discoures that you can accept or reject these ideas, so you are free to do whatever you want.
2. The pseudo-science is just examples used to explain people who don’t understand science and atoms. He doesn’t mean that literally.
3. Everything is debatable. Even science is debatable. The theories of science have their limitations.

Let me digress a bit from Vipassana by Goenka and explain to you two terms:

1. Cults (Wikipedia definition: The term cult has come to usually refer to a social group defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or its common interest in a particular personality, object or goal.)
2. Cognitive dissonance: (Wikipedia definition: In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort (psychological stress) experienced by a person who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values. This discomfort is triggered by a situation in which a person’s belief clashes with new evidence perceived by the person. When confronted with facts that contradict beliefs, ideals, and values, people will try to find a way to resolve the contradiction to reduce their discomfort.)

Even I wasn’t familiar with the idea and characteristics of a cult but I read it in this post about a meditator who had a very similar experience. There are a lot of ‘Babas’ in India who have a cult following. There have been cults in the west and examples can be found around the world.

Some of the commonalities I found in their workings are (Deriving from Reference 1, 2, 3, 4 Note they are not all scientific papers):

1. Easy and readymade answers (along with recipes for a change) to life’s biggest and complex questions which are very appealing especially when you are emotionally vulnerable.
2. High level of commitment towards a leader or an ideology.
3. Us versus them. Right and wrong. ‘This is the only right way, they are wrong’.
4. Strict hierarchy where the common person is separated from the inner workings of the organisation.
5. Complete obedience and no tolerance towards reason, rational thought and critical thinking.
6. The pyramid scheme: earlier members recruit new ones.
7. The guilt coercion: “Your life sucks”, “All of the life is a misery, and I have the answer. You need to improve. We are here to help you.”
8. Struggling with what you are doing will totally transform you.

One’s experience at the 10-day Vipassana meditation course taught by SN Goenka has strikingly similar characteristics.

1. Liberation is the answers to life’s miseries and this is how you get liberated. Follow these steps and you will.
2. The time table of the program doesn’t give a choice or flexibility in deciding how much you want to invest in these 10 days. If one has signed a paper and read the time table (but has never experienced it), you are in it. You are specifically told in the induction that you can leave now if you want but if you have chosen to stay, you’ll need to stay for the whole 10 days. Essentially: You have bought a product without trying it, you think it might be good for you, but now since you’ve bought it, you have to use it.
3. Goenka mentions in the discourse that he doesn’t condemn any other belief, but once one has done this course, they will (not may)know this is the truth. The program asks the meditators to only follow this technique post the 10-day period and any other technique will affect this technique and do one harm.
4. The discussions with the support staff rarely go beyond a few words. And since you can’t even talk among yourselves, you have no channel for your thoughts. There is no one to turn to and ask: Is this right? Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
5. No talking, no knowledge, no internet, no connectivity with the outside world, no free will, stress, pressure, pain. It’s just you and your mind. You are very likely to give in and just say one of two things: 1. Maybe he’s right and I’m wrong and go down that path 2. I just came here to meditate I can ignore all this. You are lucky if you are in category number 2.
6. I was recommended the program by a close relative. I know others who got into it in a similar manner.
7. Never in your life, you’ll hear the word misery so many times in a span of a few days, irrespective of whether you are going through hardships in life or not. They create the notion that life is a misery and they also give you the answer.
8. Do this no matter how hard you find it, this will lead to liberation.

It’s a place where you tell yourself that you are shit, everything is misery and craving; you believe it over the stay. I, fortunately, left it before that.

It is up to you to decide if it is a cult.

Point 2 of the first list got refuted when I found the teachers actually believe that what’s being told in the discourses is an actual science.

To point 3: Yes, there are grey areas everywhere. But the rigorousness of scientific studies and their definition of grey areas are nowhere comparable to someone who just reads and recites 2,500-year-old texts selectively without the chance for a reasonable argument.

When I was in Berlin, I signed into a tour of a nearby concentration camp turned into a museum. This (in the image)was the sign built into the gate of the camp, and it’s there in gates of many Nazi concentration camps across Europe. It says “Arbeit macht frei” which translates to Work will set you free.

I am not saying that the 10-day program is a concentration camp, or it’ll kill you physically. It’s up to you to decide if you are harming your own mental self, and what makes you; You or actually ‘improving’ yourself by choice.

Arbeit macht frei: Work will set you free

Another argument can be found here.

References:

1. Cults and the Mind-Body Connection (https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-mind-body-connection/201407/cults-and-the-mind-body-connection)
2. Why do people join cults (https://www.ted.com/talks/janja_lalich_why_do_people_join_cults#t-87899)
3. How totalism works (https://aeon.co/essays/how-cult-leaders-brainwash-followers-for-total-control)
4. How cult leaders like Charles Manson exploit a basic psychological need (http://theconversation.com/how-cult-leaders-like-charles-manson-exploit-a-basic-psychological-need-57101)
5. What Awful Marriages & Cults Have in Common (https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-intelligent-divorce/201305/what-awful-marriages-cults-have-in-common)