After painful leave from Mumbai and hostel I m here In DhammaGiri to learn Pali Language; to understand the language; the words of the Buddha; and to understand PatiPatti (practice) wIth Pariyatti(theory) and abt DhammaGiri. It Is 1st Vipassana meditation centre in India in the tradition of Sayagi U BA Khin and after him, Mr. S.N Goenka. And abt Vipassana I Can say try it and get benefits from it. It doesn’t belong to any caste or religion. I met some catholic priest n nun, sadhu n sanyasi, jain muni etc :) . I came here on 1st June and on 5th June I got valuable B’day gIft. GoenkajI came for public talk In Dhammagiri after many years, only for 3 days. When he was here I walked with him, I could see him every day and in his presence I felt happier. They were wonderful days. Now I am 90% sure that Marathi comes from pali well I don’t research on that but many words are similar which spoke in different part of Maharashtra.
Learning Pali along with Vipassana is a great experience. Most of the words of the suttas can be understood by practice only. Like our teacher Mr. A. Chaudariji said “Satima (awareness) and Sampajano (thorough understanding)” can be understood perfectly by practicing vipassana and its 100% true. The schedule of Pali class is very intensive. In my engg life I never experienced such an Intensive schedule b’coz I could bunk the lectures and go to sleep. But here I could not. It was my wish to learn these things. But now I have to do that. And abt the schedule, it’s very intensive with only one day off. And the timings are 8-9am 1Hr Group sit, 9:30-11:30am lecture, and from 2:15-4:15pm another lecture and evening Group Sitting from 6-7pm. After every 1hour, we had 10minute break. U could say a chocolate break. And our Chocó jar never went empty. Everyday 1 Santa arose and filled it.
I want to mention one funny experience how this Intensive course affected me. Once when I had nap and nearly abt 1:30pm I got call and It was unknown no. I woke up immediately I thought that Its Sean no (teacher from U.S.) because I missed morning lecture due to sickness. So without attending the call I ran towards the classroom. When I reached the class nobody was there. When I again looked at the watch it was only 1:30pm not 2:30pm. I laughed at myself, and when It happened again after a few days, I felt that how different was my hostel life (:-:)
Oh I forgot to mention abt my class and classmates Justine, William, Mark, Mike, Me, Sanjay, Adrien, Samual, Bettina, Andria, Olga, Chitra, n Jhansi and Teacher Dr. Sanghavi madam, Sean Kerr and A. Chaudhari. When I came here it was not new for me but yes my classmates were new. But I felt safe b’coz I already knew Robson and Sean and Dr. Sanghavi. My new Classmates were very good. William (U.S) he is my current health doctor :), he offers me Ghee everyday to put on weight. All are very good; they called me Small Gentlemen (bcoz once I had worn a formal dress), Naughty Boy, and MahaSudassana. I am very much enjoying here.
Sometimes discussion come about the Tipitakas and the stories in that, and everybody talked about this loka (world like heaven, hell etc) and that loka, and Nibbana, psychic powers, dhyan, etc. That time I felt “Oh My GOD” actually we are discussing about the things which are above science, Nibbana, and, this and that stage which can only be experienced by one’s own effort and cannot be proved by anyone else. Now I know many thing from this discussion. When it came to reading Pali words, a few classmates pronounced very differently. It made me laugh especially, when Bettina (German) pronounced the pali words. That time I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. Once our mam told us the story about the Uposath {fasting days (ashtami (8th day), amvassya (new moon) and pournima (full moon)}. From that time, everybody is serious to observe uposath and didn’t take dinner. But before the uposath day and on the uposath day William would make tea for all of us. I can’t say Its tea because It is prepared from masala (without tea powder n sugar) which we all Indians use in preparing nonveg food. I am great full to these guyes b’coz of them i learn to drink tea without sugar :). These type of experiences which I m sharing with my classmates which I did not have in the past 23 years :), but I m enjoying it. That’s important.
Now only few days are left for the completion of the course. But I feel like I just came yesterday. Life is very fast. It’s very strange, the movement we want to hold or want to live in for long time couldn’t stop and passes very quickly and I m learning through vipassana that don’t crave but ultimately I was victim of craving!!!!!!!!.
Ok then, I will come back new exp. but don’t know when
Until then with metta (loving kindness)
Sudarshan
