The messenger of inner peace Satya Narayan Goenka

Shri Satya Narayan Goenka, Jan 30,1924 - Sep 29, 2013
In 2012, Goenkaji named the teachers responsible for centers as his successors. Teachers in each region will continue working together on a collegial basis, cooperating with teachers in other areas. Vipassana courses will continue to be offered exactly as they have been, and the Wheel of Dhamma will keep turning for the good and happiness of many.

The messenger of inner peace: Satya Narayan Goenka

….Continued from last issue….-3-

From India to the world

At the end of the first course in the West, July 1979, Gaillon, France

The time had ripened, Goenkaji felt. The ancient prophecy—that the Dhamma would return from Myanmar to India—had come to pass. But the prophecy also said that the Dhamma would spread from India around the world. The task remained to fulfill those words.

Before he could take up that task, Goenkaji needed to be able to travel to other countries. His passport from Myanmar was valid only for India. He had tried but failed to obtain further endorsements. Reluctantly, he realized he would have to change his citizenship and apply for an Indian passport. It was one more tie snapped with the country he still considered home, but as an emissary of the Dhamma he had to do it.

To his surprise, it was not so easy to become an Indian citizen and get a new passport. Reportedly, undercover agents came to Dhamma Giri to see what Goenkaji was doing. At every step, there were delays. But at the very last minute the roadblocks were removed, and Goenkaji and Mataji boarded the plane for Paris. It was almost exactly 10 years to the day since he had arrived in India from Myanmar.

That year Goenkaji taught two courses in France, followed by one in Canada and two in the U.K. Old students turned out in large numbers but there were also many people who had never before learned Vipassana. The following winter, some of them made the trip to Dhamma Giri. This became a pattern over the next two decades. During that time Goenkaji traveled yearly outside India. He visited not only Europe and North America but also Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Thailand … and eventually Myanmar, making his first return home in 1990. In all these places and more, centers sprang up dedicated to providing opportunities for learning and practicing Vipassana as taught by Goenkaji.

A new focus

Goenkaji’s mission had taken a great leap forward, but now he faced a new problem: How could he serve the large numbers of people wanting to learn Vipassana? He taught alone, and even on a large course there was a limit to the number of students he could personally handle There was only one answer. Starting in late 1981, he began training and appointing assistant teachers to conduct courses as his representatives, using recordings of his teachings. Fittingly, the very first 10-day course led by an assistant teacher took place at the Burmese Vihara in Bodh Gaya, the pilgrims’ guesthouse where Goenkaji himself had spent so much time. Within months, courses were being offered around the world. Today there are hundreds of assistant teachers conducting approximately 2,500 courses yearly for close to 150,000 people, at more than 150 permanent centers as well as in temporary facilities. Beginning in 1994, Goenkaji also appointed the most experienced assistants as full teachers; there are over 300 of them around the world, guiding the program of courses and the centers where they are offered.

The Global Vipassana Pagoda, Mumbai, 2011

The assistant teacher program enabled Goenkaji to focus on other large projects. He devoted more time to public speaking and appeared at many events, including the 2000 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He founded the Vipassana Research Institute, which made the Pali-language Tipitaka—the oldest texts recording the teaching of the Buddha—widely available free of charge in the scripts of many different countries. He oversaw the development of an ongoing program of Vipassana courses for inmates at Delhi’s Tihar Prison and in many other correctional facilities, and he himself led the “Course for a Thousand” at Tihar in April 1994. He initiated a program of children’s courses. He wrote extensively on Vipassana and the teaching of the Buddha. And he inspired the construction of the Global Vipassana Pagoda on the outskirts of Mumbai. This slightly smaller replica of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon is intended to attract many to learn about the teaching of the Buddha. It is also intended to be a lasting symbol of gratitude to Myanmar and to Sayagyi U Ba Khin for returning to India the gift of Vipassana.

Last years

In the last years of his life, Goenkaji’s health was failing. He was confined to a wheelchair; that rich, thrilling voice became weak; speaking at length became difficult. But even as he experienced the sufferings of sickness and old age, he never set aside his task. To the best of his ability, he continued teaching the Dhamma and inspiring others to practice it.

As his fame increased, so did the respect in which he was held, and some began treating him like a traditional Indian guru—a role he had always rejected. When he appeared at the Global Pagoda, people swarmed to touch him as if he had some magic to offer them. This type of behavior dismayed him because it had nothing to do with his job as a Dhamma emissary. “I am just an average person,” he said in 2002 after giving a public talk in New York. In India, any teacher might be called “Guruji,” and some of Goenkaji’s students affectionately used that name for him. But if he had to use a title, he preferred the traditional Pali title of kalya?a-mitta—“friend for one’s own welfare.”

Goenkaji chants as he and Mataji walk on the grounds
of Dhamma Dhara, USA, mid-1980s

He could not stop his students from photographing him, although he teased them as they aimed their cameras. “What,” he would say, “don’t you have enough pictures of me?” Beyond the joking, he refused to allow his photo to be displayed in the meditation hall or any other public place at Vipassana centers. When asked whether he was enlightened, he would reply, “As much as I have freed my mind of anger, hatred or ill will, to that extent I am enlightened.” He never claimed that he had achieved any special stage; at most, he would gently suggest that he was a few steps further along the path than those who had come to learn from him.

Long ago, U Ba Khin said, “The time clock of Vipassana has now struck.” To many around the world, it was Satya Narayan Goenka who brought that message. For them, he was a living embodiment of the Dhamma—of wisdom, humility, compassion, selflessness and equanimity. He often talked about the sweetness of the Dhamma. His own sweetness will long remain, like the sound of his voice as he left the hall chanting, “May all be happy … be happy … be happy.”

The bunch of keys

Following is a story told by Goenkaji in the closing discourse of a 10-day course. It has been lightly edited for publication.

There is a story back in our country. In the last 10 days you have been hearing many stories. Perhaps your teacher is addicted to telling stories, and you are also getting addicted to listening to them. So before we part, one more story:

An old man in our country, a very rich man, became a widower. The old lady passed away. And in our country and perhaps here also, the housewife is the owner of everything—money, jewelry, property, everything. She keeps the bunch of keys. Now the old lady had gone. And it was a joint family. He had four sons and four daughters-in-law. He couldn’t give the bunch of keys to everyone, he had to choose one. So he called them and said, “I will examine you. This bunch of keys will be given to the one who gets the highest mark.”

What would he do to examine them? He gave five grains of corn to each daughter-in-law and said, “I will come after four years. You have to preserve these five grains. If you cannot take care of five grains, how can you take care of all the money, the jewelry, the granary, et cetera? This is your examination.” And the old man went away.

The eldest daughter-in-law thought, “The old man has gone crazy! For four years, why should I worry about those valueless five grains? I’d better throw them away. When he comes back, I’ll take another five grains from the granary and give them to him saying, ‘Take your five grains.’” She threw the grains away.

The second one thought, “Yes, it is not good to worry about these five grains for four years. But who knows, these very five grains may have some wonderful, magical, miraculous powers. And after four years he will say, ‘All right, eat it!’ And when I eat it, I will get this or that supernatural power. I should not throw the grains away. I’d better eat them now. When he comes back, I’ll give him another five grains.” And she ate the grains up.

The third one was very eager to get the bunch of keys. She kept those five grains in her room where she had the statues of her deities. And every day when she went to inspect the statues, she inspected the five grains also. She took care of the five grains all the four years.

The fourth daughter-in-law took the five grains, cleared the land behind the house and planted them. When the time ripened, five plants grew with a hundred grains each. Next season, all those five hundred grains were planted. And the next season, all the grains were planted. In four years, there were tons of grains.

When the old man came back, each daughter-in-law had her own story. When he questioned the fourth one, she said, “They have increased, sir. The storerooms are full. Bring some laborers to take the grains.”

The old man was very happy. This daughter had not only preserved the five grains; she had multiplied them.
This old man has also given you five grains of Dhamma. Not only preserve but multiply them. And I won’t take the bunch of keys away with me; it remains with you. As you keep on multiplying Dhamma, you are able to open the gateway of the kingdom of heaven within, and enjoy. You can open the gateway of the brahmanic plane within, and enjoy. The gateway of nibbanic peace within, and enjoy.

Keep growing in Dhamma, keep growing in Dhamma. Not to oblige anybody else—for your own good, for your own benefit. And also for the good and benefit of so many others, so many others.

( The article "The messenger of inner peace" was prepared by Bill Hart, one of the teachers appointed by S.N. Goenka and author of the book The Art of Living. Its Hindi translation has been done by VRI,Dhamma Giri and it is being published in three parts in Vipassana News Letter with photographs. )

Your Experiences with Respected Guruji

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Namaskāra hai Buddha ko, kaise karunāra;
Duhkha mitāvana patha diyā, sukhikarana sansāra.

Respectful salutation to the Buddha, what a vast abode of compassion he is. He taught us the path to end suffering and to make the people of the world happy.

Namaskāra hai dharama ko, kaisā pāvana pantha;
Isa patha para jo bhi cale,sahaja bana gaye santa

Respectful salutation to the Dhamma, how pure is this path, Whoever walked on this path easily became a saint.

Namaskāra hai sangha ko, kaise srāvaka santa;
Dharmadhāra ujale hue, nirmala huye bhdanta.

Respectful salutation to the Sangha, how great saints are the disciples. They became pure by practicing Dhamma, and becoming free from defilements they reached the highest state of sainthood.

Namaskāra arahanta ko, namaskāra saba santa;
Namaskāra janani janaka, hai upakāra ananta.

Respectful salutation to arhantas and salutation to all saints Respectful salutation to mother and father whose kindness and favours are infinite. ……...

Edited and published by R. P. Yadav for VRI, Igatpuri 422 403 and printed at Akshar Chitra Press, 69B-Road, Satpur, Nashik 422 007

16 January, 2014 Posted at Igatpuri, Dist. Nashik, Posting Day: Purnima of every month
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