My 10 days Vipassana Experience

How and why I took the course:

      I completed my B.Tech in July 2016. After 2 months I started to feel very depressed and just wanted to get rid of people, The reason was everyone was asking me about my campus selection and job. The reason was--> I rejected 2 big MNC's and selected one company from my campus interviews and that company was not giving me early joining, I started to regret why I chose this organization.  They told me to wait for 6 months, and every month was like a year for me. People made my life hell by asking questions. In this situation I met one of my friend who was also selected in the same company and waiting for joining. She completed her 10 days Vipassana course and while returning to her hometown she came to meet me. She introduced me this course and somehow it had lodged itself in my mind.

What is Vipassana course?

10 days of complete silence, No talking, No reading, No writing, No gestures, No entertainment and of course no any other material access. Just 10 days of pure meditation.Pretty much sums up what a Vipassana meditation course is all about.

But spending 10 days in complete silence seemed like a tough challenge but, I love to accept challenges. I decided to test myself and I signed up for the course. At the time of signing up, my only goal was just to get rid of people and relatives. Not only did I survive, I actually learnt lot of valuable lessons to apply  for my lifetime. 

So lets start,

Vipassana quite literally means ‘to see things as they really are’. It is a process of self transformation attained through an intense process of observing oneself. 

The Technique:

For the first 2 days of the course, we are taught to observe our breath — feel the air going in and out of the nostrils. Then, we graduate to observing the subtle sensations on our body — the pricks, the throbs, the pulsations and of course the pain. 

The pain! Nothing had prepared me for the intense pain that I experienced during the course. Sitting cross legged in one place for close to 9-11 hours a day is by far the hardest thing I have ever done. Vipassana says all sensations are ephemeral in nature i.e. they appear and disappear. Like the worries and joys we experience in our lives. What Vipassana aims to teach is the art of observing both the highs and the lows with equanimity. Without reacting to it.

This course has change my life completely. My meditation journey began from this course and it is still going on. I will definitely write some other article about my meditation journey, but for now lets know only about Vipassana.

So below is the time table for a day in Vipassana 10 days course:

4:00 am	Morning wake-up bell
4:30-6:30 am	Meditate in the hall or in your room
6:30-8:00 am	Breakfast break
8:00-9:00 am	Group meditation in the hall
9:00-11:00 am	Meditate in the hall or in your room according to the teacher's instructions
11:00-12:00 noon	Lunch break
12noon-1:00 pm	Rest and interviews with the teacher
1:00-2:30 pm	Meditate in the hall or in your room
2:30-3:30 pm	Group meditation in the hall
3:30-5:00 pm	Meditate in the hall or in your own room according to the teacher's instructions
5:00-6:00 pm	Tea break
6:00-7:00 pm	Group meditation in the hall
7:00-8:15 pm	Discourse in the hall
8:15-9:00 pm	Group meditation in the hall
9:00-9:30 pm	Question time in the hall
9:30 pm	Retire to your own room--Lights out

You can check Vipassana website for more information (Guys this course is Free-->This is a non-profit organization runs on donation)

http://www.pali.dhamma.org/

Everything they offer is free of cost breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, Stay everything. The food is 'Satwik' (which helps you in meditaion) but still very tasty.

My survival:

After first 3 days I started missing my family and friends..As I said the Vipassana starts on the 3rd day which is very painful experience.. I didn't want to stay there anymore..The extreme pain was very difficult to handle..1 second was like 1 year for me till 7th day. It was really really difficult to stay there and meditate for 9-11 hours daily. I was missing the outer world very badly. There was no any option to go out..You can't go..

On 7th day I started enjoying the process, I became more curious about myself and  surprisingly on 10th day when I was free to go home I just wanted to stay there, I wanted to explore more layers of myself, but it was also not possible. Afterwards I took the course once again in following year. 

My Transformation:

After returning from Vipassana, I became more aware, more focused, calmer, more sensitive, I become aware of my every thought, My every action.

I started preparing for my dream company and cracked all the rounds of tests and interviews And coincidentally I received  joining from both the companies on the same date(The one I was waiting for and the current one) but decided to join my dream company.

Friends, achievements or disappointments are not important here but the lifetime learning is.

As I always believe "Everything happens for a reason" , Thanks to all the people and relatives who bothered me and Thanks to that MNC for not offering me immediate joining. 

Steve Jobs Said-->Connect the dots

"You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.