Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Vipassana meditation centre to be opened

Staff Reporter

Some 120 students can undergo training at a time; intake will increase to 200 shortly

CHENNAI: S.N. Goenka, who has been popularising 2,500-year-old vipassana meditation technique in India and abroad for several decades, will formally inaugurate Dhamma Setu, Tamil Nadu's own vipassana meditation centre, on Friday. It will be the second centre in South India. Andhra Pradesh has five centres.

The centre is complete with a golden pagoda. Some 120 students can undergo training at a time. With more cells for meditation in place by year-end, the intake will be 200. Initially, free 10-day residential courses will be offered. From next year 20-day courses will be given at the 20-acre centre in Tirumudivakkam.

Mr. Goenka, who was recently felicitated by the President and the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, will also address gatherings at the centre on Saturday morning for the city's corporate heads and at the Music Academy on the same day at 6 p.m.

Dhamma Setu will be inaugurated exactly six years after the first course of meditation was held in the city. So far, about 10,000 people had undergone the meditation programme, said Prakash Kumar Sarogi, managing director of Meridian Apparels. The centre will also serve as the Chennai arm of Vipassana Research Institute. Vipassana was the meditation technique practised and preached by the Buddha.

So far 17 children camps, 113 ten-day camps and 11 satipattana courses have been held. The latter is offered only to those who have taken at least one 10-day residential course. The lessons will be given in English, Hindi and Tamil, the recording for which is nearing completion. On the first three days students learn to develop concentration and control of mind. The rest of the course is about practising Vipassana.

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