| Unlike her contemporaries who started 2007 with either revelry or work, TV actress Priya Arya (Lolita Sen of Left Right Left) began the New Year in a quiet note.
The actress left for Igatpuri to undergo a 10-day course at the Vipassana Research Institute.
It's a course of 15 days where the participants are cut off from the rest of the world.
There are no papers, no music, no telephone and no conversation either. Meditation and introspection is what Vipassana is all about.
Liar, liar
This will be Priya's second attempt at the same institute. Seven months ago, she had joined the same course but had given up and returned after just three days. "I lied to them saying a family member was not well and they should let me go.
I was not able to handle it beyond two days. I had even sneaked in my cell phone and used it very often. In short, I was not observing the silence one is required to. It is very tough out there, but this time, I am determined to make it happen," says Priya candidly.
The actress further informs, "Meditation has always intrigued me and I have learnt a lot of techniques which I practise on and off — with successful and unsuccessful results. Now I am looking for something else. So I decided to give Vipassana another shot and I filled up the form."
Is guilt the reason behind her second visit? Pat comes the reply, "I underwent a lot of suffering when I returned from there last time. I knew I had done a wrong thing.
I went into a 15-day deep meditation to cleanse that guilt. I am going back not in repentance, but with the aim of discovering myself in me, which comes only by observing complete silence and being just with yourself."
Cleansing act
Elaborating on the need of Vipassana, Priya says, "There's so much of unnecessary chattering over here. The wandering of the mind, even in the negative direction, happens frequently.
So why not have 10 days in your life when you completely surrender your materialistic wants? Add the intake of healthy food and the strict regime of getting up at 4 am and going off to sleep by 9.30 pm, makes all the more sense.
Over and above, I have become a bit aggressive and hot-tempered, which I think would be eliminated by Vipassana."
Priya will be in Igatpuri from January 4 to 13. "My track in LRL is not happening these days. So I might as well go now. I have informed the production officials and taken their permission," she concludes. |
| About Vipassana
Vipassana meditation is a technique, which was taught by Gautam Buddha about 2,500 years ago. It was Vipassana that led him on the path of Nirvana or salvation, the ultimate aim of humankind.
After Buddha, S N Goenka, an Indian industrialist residing in Myanmar, rediscovered the technique. He came across it accidentally. In 1969, he began a mission to spread Vipassana along with his 11 disciples.
Today, there are over 30 established centres and many more in the making around the world. Thousands of people have benefitted from the technique | |
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