Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without,? Buddha is believed to have said. In the tumultous times we are living in, peace is the only way to survival.
The Global Vipassana Pagoda will be inaugurated today by President Pratibha Patil in Gorai, Mumbai. This man-made engineering marvel of pink stone (Jodhpur sandstone) is said to house the sacred relics of the Buddha, and will introduce the Buddha?s teachings of self-psychotherapy, which is the teaching of Vipassana.
Vipassana is an ancient Indian meditation technique that was lost and was brought back to India from Myanmar 40 years ago by SN Goenka, former businessman and later, founder and principal teacher of Vipassana. It has since been followed by lakhs of people in India and in abroad. There are 170 Vipassana centres in India.
Located cheek-by-jowl to the amusement park Esselworld, it is a place for quiet introspection. One can reach the Pagoda by road or a 20-minute boat ride from Gorai jetty. From a distance, the Pagoda just looks like a giant bell. It is only after you step into it that you can?t help but be charmed by its grandeur. Measuring 325 feet by 280 feet, it can seat upto 8,000 meditators ?The relics of the Buddha are enshrined at the centre of the pagoda, which has the Wheel of Life?, says Prakash Saraogi, trustee, Global Vipassana Foundation. Several Burma teakwood carvings have come from practitioners of Vipassana in Myanmar. At the centre lies the world?s largest stone dome (90 feet high) without any supporting pillars and on either side of the global pagoda are the two small pagodas of 60 feet height. It is more than three times the size of the previously built largest masonry structure ? the Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur which is 90 feet in diameter. The Pagoda combines ancient Indian architecture and modern methods of construction with inputs from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. Saraogi explains, ?It has been constructed on the principle of interlocking stones as demonstrated by architect Chandubhai Sompura. Built on a 17 acre site donated by a student?s family and cash contributions aggregating to Rs 80 crore by students from around the world, the monument has stone blocks weighing up to 2.5 million tonnes.? The Pagoda is modelled on the Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Yangon, as a symbol of gratitude to the country of Myanmar and its little-known chain of teachers who preserved the technique of Vipassana in its purity for over 2000 years after it was lost in the country of its birth, India. ?Vipassana is taught free of cost for 10 or more days in residential courses. All the centres have been built and maintained by the contributions of students,? adds Vallabh Bhansali, spokesperson of the Foundation.