The views expressed by S.N. Goenka opponent, Dr. Jamanadas, and the Budhist moderator, V.T. Rajshekar, are startling. For want of better characterization, I have used the words ‘opponent’ and ‘moderator’ and I hope they will forgive me for my limitations.
I am stunned by their comments. What a great attack, what fire power the arsenal in their armory has. I promptly surrender. I am no soldier in any battle of wits. I have no scholarship, no intellectual acumen to face the Goenka opponent or participate usefully in the Debate that the Dalit Voice is conducting on Budhism and meditation.
Hindu background: I try to journey into my own self, mostly in silence, following Goenka instructions, identifying defilements one by one, deconditioning myself of the vedic beliefs and all other dogmas that have been plaguing me because of my Indian, predominantly Hindu traditions. Besides these common traditions, I have also been suffering from the vestiges of my past involvement in Indian politics with my hatred of the British (! was beaten up and jailed by the British in our freedom movement) and my erstwhile profession as an economist with low tolerance of capitalist economy. But how exulted I was when I came to see things as they were, see through the inside of my inside, free of all defilements, through the Vipassana. How enlightening, how inspiring.
Same wave length: I am prompted to think that | and leaders like V.T. Rajshekar and Dr. Jamanadas are presently on different modes (or planes or levels if you prefer to call them) of investigation. For that reason, we cannot truly communicate. To bring home the point that | am trying to make, let me tell them that when I read messages from meditation practitioners like Shiv Shankar (sshankar@cmi.ac.in) and Ms. Roopali Rokade (rokaderoopali@hotmail.com), I feel that I am on the same wave length with them but it is disconcerting and derailing when Dr. Jamanadas and V.T. Rajshekar I try to interact with some of us who are trained in Goenka’s method of insight meditation.
I was indeed a subscriber of Dalit Voice for several years in the past but no more. If, as Rajshekar says, most of the participants in the DV Debate numbering about a hundred, are opponents of Goenka | suppose I should expect at least some of them get on to the ‘internet as the Editor himself is doing now. There is a common language among all Vipassana practitioners, whether they are opponents or supporters of Goenka. But it is hard to believe that there are so many opponents of Goenka. May be the Editor is right and I am wrong. It would indeed be a worthwhile investigation to find out the truth.
I am sorry I must labor so much to make my points clear. I am an octogenarian with age-related weaknesses and health problems. How I wish that sooner or later Dr. Jamanadas and the Editor in their wisdom decide to try the Goenka method of insight meditation and see for themselves that it can do for them. It will lead to personal betterment, no doubt. But it leads to much more in the case of individuals in leadership like our Editor and Dr. Jamanadas. They will continue to serve their constituencies as they are doing now but doing it better.
