Satya Narayan Goenka's was the path to happiness, free from sectarianism

Vipassana meditation master Satya Narayan Goenka, who passed away on Sunday, gave a new direction to the world trapped in trials and tribulations by his teachings of pure Dhamma, totally free from sectarianism.

“One is oneself responsible for one’s happiness and suffering, and the way to one’s happiness lies within oneself; one can become really happy and autonomous by treading this path,” he believed.

Vipassana is a meditation technique that originated from Gautama Buddha’s teachings, one that was lost to the world for the last 2,000 years until it was brought to India by late Mr Goenka who managed to revive it globally in a span of just four decades.

Today, Vipassana is taught worldwide in more than 94 countries in over 59 different languages at more than 170 Vipassana centres.

Late Mr Goenka believed that the solution to an individual’s problems lay within him or her and taught Vipassana as a means to achieving happiness and serenity, first internally, then externally.

Late Mr Goenka had said, “While struggling with the various trials and tribulations in one’s pursuit of wealth and other complexities of the world, everyone tends to take the easy way out by becoming dependent on other persons and beliefs but does not gain real happiness. One continues to be totally oblivious to one’s personal happiness and suffering in spite of attaining much knowledge about the external world.”

Born on January 30, 1924, in Burma (now Myanmar), late Mr Goenka learnt Vipassana there from Sayagyi U Ba Khin, an acclaimed teacher and administrator. He later moved to India and made the technique popular worldwide through a non-sectarian movement.

He started teaching Vipassana meditation in 1969 and followed it up with a meditation centre in Igatpuri, near Nashik, in 1976. In 1982, he became a Vipassanacharya and started training teachers worldwide and later established the Vipassana Research Institute in Igatpuri in 1985.

Mr Subhash Chandra, Chairman of Essel Group, who donated land for the Global Vipassana Pagoda at Gorai beach, said Mr Goenka’s death is a ‘personal’ loss for him. “I had met many teachers but Goenkaji inspired me with his simplicity. I was attracted to his Vipassana as it does not follow any rites or rituals and is scientific.”

The Global Vipassana Pagoda near Esselworld, which was inaugurated in 2009, serves a practical function of enabling thousands of students of Vipassana to meditate together, under the enshrined corporeal relics of the Buddha. Built on nearly 11 acres of land, donated by Mr Subhash Chandra, it features a meditation hall, where 8,000 people can meditate together.

Vipassana centres under late Mr Goenka’s watch have come up in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Japan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar and Thailand.