If you are tired of the high-maintenance lifestyle of metros, you are in need for a spiritual retreat. The addiction to marlboro, reveilo, coke, casinos, discotheques, sex and the likes are likely to peter out if you devote a mere 10 days of your life in practicing Vipassana. There are courses from 2 to 60 days; and it is recommended to take a 10 days course initially to learn the technique in a wholesome way.
Once you feel that you are done with too much communiqué with the outside world, just take a ride from Mumbai to Igatpuri Hills, a mere 130 kilometers. The various ways you can reach there is by leasing a car for $40, or sharing a cool cab for $10, or taking a volvo bus for $5, or a government bus for $2, or the least expensive is a general train ticket for $1 and get down at the haven called Dhamma Giri, Igatpuri Hills.
One is counseled to register 90 days prior the course begins to be on the safe side, as Dhamma Giri is the main centre in India. There are no course fees and you get a taste of a renounced life where you live on the charity of the ashram. All valuable are deposited at the Main Course Office and only a maximum of $5 is allowed to keep for purchase of miscellaneous items.
Under the guidance of Sayagyi SN Goenka for the first three days Anapana, that is, to feel the sensation of breath is taught. Latter on formal request Vipassana is taught where one observes all the gross and subtle sensations in the body, without getting attachments towards the pleasurable ones like feeling of love or receiving any aversion towards gross ones like physical pain. One meditates in the beautiful natural environment in Maun Brata that is noble silence, and spending a sheer 10 days out of 70 years lifespan is a mere drop in the ocean.
On the first day of the course, when you sit with your lips sealed for the initial 12 hours and without any eye contact with fellow mediators you might feel like running away but the last day you feel sorrowful to leave the serenity of Igatpuri Hills. However, Vipassana stays with you until your last breath if you realize the beautiful truth of life that –
“Change is the Only Constant”
