The following letter from Goenkaji is an edited version of the letter he wrote to his Dhamma Father, Sayagyi U Ba Khin, on July 8th 1969 during the first 10-day Vipassana meditation course which he conducted in India on his teacher’s behalf.– Editor.
[Vipassana Newsletter, Vol. 30, No. 13, 30 November, 2020.]
Goenkaji’s first course report to Sayagyi U Ba Khin
Camp Bombay, dated 8th July, 1969
Most Respected Sayagyi and Mother Sayama,
With deep regret I beg your pardon for not being able to write to you earlier, though my contact with you has been regularly maintained not only during the hours of meditation, but also during disturbances, of which I am having plenty.
The morning I left Burma with the light of Dhamma given by you towards this land of the origin of Dhamma, there was a slight earthquake felt in various parts of Majjhimadesa (the Middle country: Northern India). Similarly on the 3rd of July, last Thursday, when the first course of Vipassana meditation was to start in Bombay, the city was inundated with the heaviest downpour of the season, disrupting traffic in this giant city....
While in Rangoon I had a great dhamma-saṃvega (feeling of urgency) for my elderly parents. I wanted to help them. But when I came here I found myself quite helpless, as they were not at all prepared to change their ways under any circumstances. My younger brother, Shyam Sundar, is much involved in Ananda Marg in Bombay, but I must give him full credit in respect of the fact that he never persuaded my parents to join him, nor was he now creating any obstacle in their joining a Vipassana meditation course if they so desired. Obviously, I could not impose my wishes on them. But it was a positive sign when they agreed to sit with me for morning and evening meditations along with Shyambihari, Vimla and Shiva [who had all learned Vipassana from Sayagyi and had come to India after high school for further studies]. For one week I waited patiently sending metta to my parents, my brothers and nephews. These waves of mettā started having a soothing effect on my parents during my sittings with them every morning and evening. Soon my mother started feeling anicca sensations throughout her body. My father never practised Vipassana in Rangoon and hence his case is different.
Before the week ended Balchand came up with the proposal that I should conduct a course of meditation in Bombay and he was sure that at least 15 candidates old and new would attend. One of my enthusiastic nephews who is employed in my brother’s firm, took the responsibility of arranging for the place, food and all other requisites. I accepted this proposal and the ball started rolling in the right direction, which ultimately brought me down to this Dharamshala, an extremely noisy place in the midst of the city in which one big hall, three rooms and a kitchen are at our disposal. It is not like the Dharamshala in Maymyo (Burma) which we had totally to ourselves. Here we do not have even a full floor exclusively to ourselves. There are families living in the adjoining rooms and in all other rooms of the three storied building. We occupy a portion of the first floor but fortunately there is no structure above the hall; it’s a single room which I am using for various purposes. One end of this large hall has been partitioned with a white cloth sheet and I use this area for my residence and resting. The next adjoining section is used for meditation, and then the major portion of the hall is used as the residence and meditation place for the male meditators.
They are:
(1) my father Gopiram (2) Motilal (3) Kishanlal (4) Basantlal (5) Muralidhar (6) Luxminarayan, a friend from Insein township who arrived 3 days late from Orissa (7) Bharat alias Maung Pho (8) newcomer Vijaya, a grandson of Babu Mangalchand (9) Lunkaran, a local textile broker (10) B.C. Shah, a friend from Rangoon, now a pharmaceutical industrialist in Bombay and (11) K.G. Shah, an old friend from Rangoon, presently working hard to get himself established in Bombay. In a nearby room are (12) my mother Kamla Devi (13) my daughter in law Manju, who has come all the way from Madras to join the course and (14) Munni, the daughter of Balchand.
There is another nearby room that I use for my office, from where I am dictating this letter and where I receive visitors. The room next door is used as the dining room for all of us. The kitchen is on the ground floor. The bathroom area is a common facility for the use of all the guests of the Dharamshala, but we are fortunate to have one bathroom reserved for us. This area I find to be highly congested but it is unavoidable. The other alternative places had other serious defects and this Dharamshala was the best amongst those available. There is a great amount of noise from heavy road traffic below, as well as from the surrounding business shops and godowns (warehouses) and from amplifiers loudly broadcasting film songs and radio programs from various residences in the adjacent buildings. It is only with your Dhamma support that I have ventured to accept such an unsuitable place for meditation purposes and it is the strong feeling of your presence with me which gives me the strength and vigor required to conduct the course. Your mettā on the trunk call inspired me and I felt quite confident of my success.
And it has really proved a success so far and I hope to carry on for the rest of the week with similar success. The fact that my parents willingly joined the course was in itself a great success for me. Father announced that he will immediately leave the camp if he does not get sensations during Vipassana. And it’s good he experienced it with all the others. He was sweeping with anicca this morning and just now he has entered my office room complaining that he has started burning all over and that the heat was simply unbearable for him. Anicca! Anicca! Anicca! Could this all be possible without your gracious support Sayagyi and Sayama?
To all the old students, except my parents, I gave Vipassana quite successfully on Sunday, 6th July, at 2 pm. And then came the auspicious day of Monday the 7th July 1969, when under your immediate guidance, I started giving Vipassana to my parents and all the other new candidates. I started at 7:30 am and carried on until 10 am batch by batch. Every batch received the sparkling illumination of nibb±na-dhatu which this land of the Buddha had lost contact with since the last two millenniums. The meditation hall was fortunate, the Dharamshala was fortunate, the city of Bombay was fortunate, the entire land of Buddha Desa was fortunate in regaining its lost Dhamma Jewel. I felt myself fortunate enough to have been chosen for this meritorious job, to work as your transformer to induct the powerful nibbana-dhatu from your power house and shower it on the candidates in front of me. I felt simply elated. I share my merits with you and Mother Sayama and all the Devas and Brahmas who are protecting the Sasana and who are helping you in re-establishing the same in the land of its origin, repaying Burma's debt to India which is long overdue. I share my merits with U Chit Tin, Babulal and all others who are together with you at the center, especially members of U Chit Tin's family, the Goenka family, U Ba Pho, Dr. Daw Thein Kyi, U Thein Zaw, U San Myint Aung, Daw Lhin Than and all others whom I cannot name individually. Amyat ! Amyat ! Amyat !
It was only on the 3rd of July that I came in contact with the local Mahabodhi society and its head Monk, Bhikkhu Dhammanand. He was very eager to join the course with some of his associates. But they could not get themselves ready in less than three or four days and that was too late for me to accept them for the present course. They have now to wait for the next opportunity.
Shankar has arranged for a second course to be held in Madras. Bhikkhu Nandeshwer is out of station but he has built a new Vihara with suitable meditation facilities and I am told that Shankar is arranging to seek his permission for the use of these for the next course to be held there.
The famous Bhikkhu Kashyap has been writing to me for a long time saying he is very eager to get somebody to come from Burma to teach Vipassana meditation at the Meditation Vihara which he has built at Nalanda. He has spent his life savings earned as the head of the Pali department at Banaras Hindu University and the Banaras Sanskrit University, totaling over thirty-five thousand rupees, on this project. In the meantime he has allowed other types of meditation to be taught at the Centre. His genuine thirst for Vipassana has led him in a wrong direction simply because of his frustration and over-eagerness to get peace of mind one way or another. I have just informed him of my arrival in India and he is now very eagerly requesting me to pay a visit to Nalanda to meet him. In August he will be going to Japan but he will be in Nalanda in September. I shall adjust my program accordingly. But I seek your permission to enable me to conduct a course for him if he so desires and requests. Similarly, Anagarika Munindra has requested me to spare 10 days for him to teach him Dhamma. I think there should be no objection as he is a layman, although an earlier disciple of Mahasi Sayadaw. Bhikkhu Dhammarakhita and Dr. U Rewatadhamma are writing me from Sarnath and Varanasi that they can arrange a local Dharamshala for a 10-day course of meditation. It is not clear whether they also have candidates to attend. Paying my deep respects on your behalf I have already donated a set of robes to Bhikkhu Jinaratana of the Mahabodhi Society while I was in Calcutta for a few hours on my day of arrival in India. I also forwarded one set of the same on your behalf to Bhikkhu Dhammarakhita at Sarnath. The other two sets are still with me. One is for Bhikkhu Nandishwara who is presently out of Madras but will be back soon. The forth set will be kept for some other suitable Bhikkhu.
Sayagyi and Sayama, there is much to write but I have so little time at my disposal. I wanted to keep a diary of my day to day experiences over here, but I find it impossible. There is little time left after spending so many hours in checking the students, guiding them in the right direction, and replying to the inquiries from your students from various parts of the country. It was at 1:30 am that one of the candidates arrived to join the course and I was wide awake until then. It was only a few hours before dawn that I was able to sleep. Of course, I was constantly feeling your presence and the presence of Mother Sayama along with Saya Thetgyi and all the other Devas and Brahmas who look after the Sasana. For the first three days of Anapana some of the students had great upheavals due to the impact of the dhamma-dhatu contacting the forces within them. All that was negative had to come out. Some of them had strong vomiting and purging continuously. But all this subsided as we switched to Vipassana. And now it is smooth sailing. Of course, some are progressing very satisfactorily while there are others who are facing road-blocks. Some are having strong light, a thousand power bulb, some have cool bright light within and without, one has seen a Deva of a slightly higher order and other soothing nimittas, and is experiencing great, internal peace which is actually pīti, passadhi and sukha (zest, tranquillity and ease) which the people here take to be brahmic ±nanda (bliss of brahma). One student became stuck in it, taking it as the highest goal. It took me time to convince him that this was a midway rest-house and not the final goal of liberation. Slowly all the obstacles of divine lights, divine sounds, divine visions and pīti-sukha-ananda are getting eliminated and the students are moving forward with wisdom (pañña). The struggle still goes on between the truth and untruth, between light and darkness, between Dhamma and papa (evil), between positive and negative, between vijjā and avijjā (knowledge and ignorance). With your mettā and guidance "Truth must triumph" ultimately.
Yours respectfully, U Goenka
Picture: Respected Goenkaji and Mataji explaining Dhamma and giving metta to the land at a new centre. If ever he saw even a small fire, he would ask those around to rush and bring it in control as innumerable insects and unseen lives would be lost otherwise.
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WORDS OF DHAMMA
Maggānaṭṭhaṅgiko seṭṭho, saccānaṃ caturo padā; Virāgo seṭṭho dhammānaṃ, dvipadānañca cakkhumā.
Of paths the Eightfold Path is the best;
of truths the Four Noble Truths are the best;
of mental states detachment is the best;
of humans the Seeing One (the Buddha) is the best.
Dhammapadapāl̤ i—273, Maggavaggo.