FAQs for Teenagers' Courses

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Vipassana is an objective observation of the functioning of the mind-body phenomenon from moment to moment. It is 'Yathābhūta jñāna darśanam' i.e. wisdom of realisation of the truth as it is. Vipassana Meditation is a technique to observe the reality about oneself objectively, at the experiential level; to observe it "AS IT IS", not just as it appears to be.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: I am teaching a way of life, a code of conduct, an art of living. The goal is to learn how to live peacefully and harmoniously, how to live in morality, how to live with control over the mind, and how to live with the spirit of the mind full of good qualities like love, compassion, goodwill.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Before birth. Meditation should be taught when the child is growing in the womb. The child needs good vibrations while in the womb, so practise Vipassana. Every pregnant mother should practise more Vipassana because then you are helping two beings simultaneously. You are helping yourself, and you are helping the being which has not yet come out. Help them.

After that, when the child grows to five or six you can start teaching Anapana. Just be aware of the respiration for a few minutes; two, three, five minutes, enough. Don’t push too much. A few minutes of awareness of respiration, and then say; "All right, play." After that, again a few minutes of respiration. So it will become like playing for the child. Later on, as he or she grows, increase the time. In this way you start giving the seed of Dhamma, and the child develops in an atmosphere of Dhamma. 

Mr. S. N. Goenka: We have found good results from students who have started practising even the first part of Vipassana, concentration of mind. Their memory has become sharper, their ability to understand a subject has improved, the comprehending part of their mind has gotten better, and their nervousness has decreased. All these are very helpful to them in their studies. And along with those, character-building starts from the very beginning.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Certainly. Vipassana is the practical science of living. The next generation must learn this science at a very young age, so that they can live a very healthy life, a harmonious life. If they understand pure Dhamma, the law of nature, they will live according to the law of nature. When children are taught Vipassana in the schools and colleges, as it is being done now in some cities, there are very good results.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: You have asked a very good question. All of you wish to excel as students. Then you should know the traits of a good student. In ancient India the qualities of a good student were recorded in Sanskrit:

Kakacheshta bakadhyanam, shwananidra tathaiva cha.
Alpahari, brahmachari, vidyaarthi panch lakshanam.

These are the five essential qualities that a student must possess:

Kakacheshta (kaka means crow) - You will find that a crow always remains alert and strives with full effort to do its task. You will never find it lazing around. Acquire this quality from a crow to fulfil one's assigned task ardently and enthusiastically.

Bakadhyanam (baka means crane) - While studying, focus entirely on your books. Similarly, while doing Anapana, do it with full concentration. In developing this quality of concentration, make a crane your inspiration. You may have noticed how a crane stands absolutely still on one leg without moving a single feather as if deep in meditation- with its mind fully concentrated on catching its prey. You should also learn how to meditate with concentration like that of a crane.

Shwananidra (shwana means a dog) - Sleep is essential for everyone. But to fall off into a deep slumber snoring loudly, oblivious of one's surroundings is not the right way of sleeping. The art of sleeping is mastered by a dog who, even though apparently fast asleep, will open his eyes and be wide-awake at the slightest sound. A student should also abandon laziness and unawareness and sleep with inner wakefulness like a dog. With the practice of Anapana and later Vipassana, you will attain the state of complete alertness even while being asleep. Like a dog, you will wake at the slightest movement.

Alpahari (one who eats less) - Eat according to your hunger. After having a satisfying meal, we tend to stuff ourselves with more food even though our stomach is full,. We pamper our tongues even on a full stomach. This will lead to lethargy and laziness. How can you hope to succeed when you will be wasting time sleeping, when you should be studying. A student should always remain alert and sleep only as much as is required; he should not get overpowered by sloth and torpor. For this, it is necessary to eat less.

Brahmachari (one who leads a life of celibacy) - A student who does not practise celibacy cannot afford to study. His or her mind will always remain absorbed in such harmful thoughts and thus will be unable to concentrate in studies. Therefore, as a student, one must observe celibacy. So work with this determination.

These are the five traits of an ideal student.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Actually the entire teaching has only one purpose: One should live peacefully and harmoniously in accordance with the law of nature—not harming oneself or others. Now this art of living is difficult to learn in old age, so the training should start at a young age. In the schools children should learn the art of living a healthy life. Their entire life is ahead of them.

You start by teaching them how to control their minds. Along with this awareness of respiration it is explained that you have to live a moral life, so they understand, "I must not kill, I must not steal, etc. But how can I abstain from that? I must have control over my mind. And look, this helps." The object that is given is universal so a student from any caste, any community, any religion can work on this.

You also tell them that they can develop in this awareness of respiration and then they will live a good life. At further stages they can purify their minds to such an extent that they will live a perfect life, so there is a goal. In school for example, when they learn the alphabet the goal is that they will become very learned people later on. Now they have started with this base of sīla and respiration. 

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Certainly. There is a great need for this. We look towards the new generation to come up in Dhamma. Dhamma is good for everyone, young and old, but I want to give more attention to the young because this will ensure that Dhamma will continue to spread from generation to generation. When I started it was difficult because so few Indian youths participated. But now they are coming to courses in larger numbers. We should have courses with special discourses for them. 

Mr. S. N. Goenka: You are not at fault; your teacher is mistaken. There is a wrong concept in our country that things like meditation should be practiced in the fourth and last period of life. This is wrong. At that time the body becomes very weak, the mind becomes weak, all the sense organs become weak—you cannot practice properly. Actually, yours is the age when one should start practicing meditation because it is an art of living. Then through the rest of one’s life this meditation will be so helpful. So continue to meditate whatever your teacher says. Don’t worry. 

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Vipassana is taught step by step, with a new step added each day to the end of the course. If you leave early, you do not learn the full teaching and do not give the technique a chance to work for you. Also, by meditating intensively, a course participant initiates a process that reaches fulfillment with the completion of the course. Interrupting the process before completion is not advisable.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: I would very much like it if people could just listen to a few words about the technique, which is so simple. In about ten minutes I can explain what the technique is, and people can understand. They can tell you what they understand.

But we have tried this and it doesn’t work. Because from birth, when we first opened our eyes and started looking outside, we have been giving all importance to things out-side. Our whole life we have been extroverted. Now all of a sudden we want to change that habit and experience things inside. Just saying that doesn’t work. We have to practice. One wishing to practice must be under a proper guide, who has himself practiced properly, and who can guide properly. And must be in an environment where there is least disturbance. You can’t learn it in the normal “marketplace” environment with all the disturbances. Once you have learned then, yes, you go to live in the world outside, with all its distractions, and yet you can practice. But for learning the first time, the proper environment is essential.

I know it is so difficult for somebody to find ten days of life free, to leave all one’s other responsibilities and come to learn this technique. But it is essential.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: It has a great significance. All our efforts are towards quietening the mind. We have already experienced how talkative the mind is. Even though we want the mind to observe the breath, it hardly observes a couple of breaths before it indulges in its old habit of thinking and talking endlessly with itself. We want it to quieten down and become involved in the task of observing the breath, but despite all our efforts, it does not calm down. On top of this, if you talk with other meditators, then the mind will get more food for thought. It will think about this conversation while meditating, thus weakening your meditation. You have not only harmed yourself but also done a great deal of harm to the other meditator by talking to someone, who has also come to do Anapana like you. Now that person will also lose their concentration by thinking about the conversation with you and they cannot meditate properly either. We have a habit of wasting our energy by talking uselessly and unceasingly. Our conversation should always be purposeful. But for now, our task is to meditate, which we do while observing complete silence.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: For a person in reasonable physical and mental health who is genuinely interested and willing to make a sincere effort, meditation (including "noble silence") is not difficult. If you are able to follow the instructions patiently and diligently, you can be sure of tangible results. Though it may appear daunting, the day's schedule is neither too severe nor too relaxed. Moreover, the presence of other students practicing conscientiously in a peaceful and conducive atmosphere lends tremendous support to one's efforts.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Obviously someone who is physically too weak to follow the schedule will not be able to benefit from a course. The same is true of someone suffering from psychiatric problems, or someone undergoing emotional upheaval. Through a process of questions and answers, we will be able to help you decide clearly beforehand whether you are in a position to benefit fully from a course. In some cases applicants are asked to get approval from their doctor before they can be accepted.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Certainly. Chairs are provided for those unable to sit comfortably on the floor because of age or a physical problem.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: People from many religions and no religion have found the meditation course helpful and beneficial. Vipassana is an art of living, a way of life. While it is the essence of what the Buddha taught, it is not a religion; rather, it is the cultivation of human values leading to a life which is good for oneself and good for others.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Yes, the entire teaching of Buddha is universal. The teaching is based on the Eight-fold Noble Path, every step of which i.e. Sīla, Samādhi & Paññā (prajñnā) is universal. Anyone belonging to any sect can practise Sīla without any difficulty and so also can practise Samādhi as well as Paññā both with the objects of the truth experienced by oneself i.e. the breath and the sensations. Anyone can practise this without any difficulty as both the objects of meditation are universal; and one will get the same result. This is why Buddha's teaching is doubtlessly universal and it is for this reason that I emphasize that Vipassana is for anyone belonging to any sect.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Meditation as a means to acquiring a healthy mind is not at all selfish. When your body is sick, you enter a hospital to recover health. One doesn't say, 'Oh, I'm being selfish'. One knows that it is not possible to live a proper life with a sick, wounded body. Or one goes to a gymnasium to make one's body stronger. Similarly, one doesn't go to a meditation center for the whole life, but simply to make the mind more healthy. And a healthy mind is most necessary to live one's day to day life in a way that is good for oneself and others.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: It is good if you feel such discomfort during meditation. Do not get disturbed by it. But understand the cause behind it. It is due to this meditation technique. You will observe that as long as your mind remains focused on the breath, it does not generate any craving or aversion. You are only absorbed in the task of observing the breath. There is no craving towards the incoming breath. There is no aversion towards the outgoing breath. So the mind reaches a level of purity without having an iota of craving or aversion, even though it may be for a short period of time. For innumerable births, we have collected a huge stock of defilements, which has corrupted the mind. The moment the mind becomes pure, there is an explosive reaction in the stock of impurities, which appears on the surface of the body in the form of various discomforts. Let us understand this through a simile. Coals are burning in a fire and we sprinkle some water on them. What happens then? The water is cold and the coals are hot. The contact between the hot coals and the cold water will produce a loud hissing sound. The burning coals do not welcome the cold water and thus protest loudly. This reaction is the result of two things coming together with radically opposite characteristics. One has the trait of burning, the other that of cooling. If we continue to sprinkle water on the burning coals, each time there will be a hissing sound but gradually the fire in the coals will be extinguished and they will cool down- now, no amount of water poured on them will produce any sound. Similarly, as the mind gets concentrated, it becomes pure and brings relief. These short moments of purity are like water being sprinkled on the burning coals of negativities. Their contact generates all these physical discomforts like headache, backache, restlessness, nausea, pain in the feet, etc. Do not be disturbed or discouraged by them. Slowly and gradually, these will disappear. Just as continued sprinkling of water on hot coals cools them down, similarly these discomforts will also be cured. You will not come to any harm. So do not get disturbed at all.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Why indulge in a sense of humour which prompts you to break your sila? There can be numerous jokes that do not require you to behave immorally. If you break your sila once, even as a joke, you will be tempted to do it again and again. Today you are breaking it as a joke and tomorrow it will become a permanent habit for you. You will find justification in doing it. Immorality under all circumstances is wrong, and so try not to ever indulge in it, even jokingly.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Just as you protect others by protecting your sila, similarly protect yourself without breaking your sila. On one hand, you may wish to protect yourself and on the other, you may speak of breaking your sila. By breaking sila, you act immorally, and your action will produce the fruit of misery for you in the future. So how can you claim to have protected yourself? How can you claim to have saved yourself? In fact, you have ruined your own security by not following the right code of conduct. You must strengthen your mind. If the mind is weak, it will give a hundred excuses for breaking any moral principle. It will say that a small lie is excusable if it saves me or someone else. If the mind is strong, it will not listen to such lame excuses and so it will protect the morality of the body and speech. This will be your real protection. Gradually, people will begin to know you as a truthful person and you will experience the sweet fruit of good behaviour.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: If you happen to break your sila, then admit it before someone older. Do not hide your mistakes. If you conceal your mistake, then you are liable to repeat it. It will start an endless process. If you confess to someone older and respectable that you have made a mistake, and also promise not to repeat the same mistake under any circumstance, you will see that your mind will gain strength. When you don't conceal any of your bad actions, you are not tempted to repeat them. Moreover, if you are determined not to commit the same mistake again, you will start gaining strength of mind. This is the right way. There is no other way to make amends.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: The question you ask yourself should be, "Why can't we drive away mosquitoes when they bite us? Why do you wish to kill mosquitoes?" If they bite you, then get rid of them without killing them. Mosquito coils and repellant can be used to send the mosquitoes away without harming them. Apply these when you meditate or at other times, and the mosquitoes will not come near you. Obviously you don't like it when somebody hurts you. A mosquito is a living being as you are, and it is born with the natural instinct of sucking blood for its food. If you do not wish your blood to be sucked, then adopt methods to keep the mosquitoes away. Do not kill them, only keep them away. You will be breaking a moral precept if you kill them, but not if you just drive them away.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: An unwholesome action is an unwholesome action under all circumstances. As I have said before, we get into the habit of justifying a lie even though it is not morally justifiable. First of all, how are you certain that the reason for which you lied is reasonable? Everyone has one's own limitations when it comes to analysing and understanding things, and so do you. It is difficult to become perfect in knowing clearly whether the lie is told for a reasonable cause. And even if you claim to be certain that you lied for a good reason, then you are bound to lie again for some other reason which also appears to be good. If you lie repeatedly, you will not only get into the habit of lying, but you will also justify your habit with the excuse that telling a small lie does not matter. Don't ever get into the habit of doing this. Do not be tempted to lie for any reason, however good it may appear to be. Speak only the truth.

Sometimes, you may feel reluctant to speak the truth because it may appear to harm someone. For example, your teacher asks you to tell the name of your classmate who has misbehaved. You know that your friend is the trouble-maker, but you hesitate to tell the truth because you know that your friend will get a punishment from the teacher and you do not want anybody to punish your friend. So in order to save your friend from the punishment, you will tell a downright lie by saying that he is innocent. Understand what has happened because of this. The teacher has not punished your friend, and you think that you have saved your friend. On the surface it appears that speaking a small lie has saved your friend from being punished. But in reality, a great harm has been done to him. You have in fact helped him to misbehave. Since he has not been corrected at the time he committed a mistake, he will feel encouraged to repeat the same mistake time and again. So your one lie has opened the doors of misbehaviour and misery for your friend. If the truth had come out, the teacher would have given him the appropriate punishment, thus preventing him from going astray in the future.

There is no harm in maintaining silence if at some stage you do not wish to make any comment. If you feel that your statement may be incorrect or misleading, then instead of saying something incorrect deliberately, with humility and firmness, you may refuse to give any reply. You have not done anything wrong in telling the truth, which is that you do not wish to speak. Otherwise, if you try to save someone by making a false statement, you may do him more harm than good. Not only can you harm your friend, but you may harm yourself too by acquiring the habit of telling lies due to one reason or another.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Someone might entice you into smoking or taking drugs by arguing that a little bit is not harmful; that it gives pleasure; that only those who drink too much land into trouble and we won't consume too much; that there is no harm in sampling a small amount, etc. You might weaken and start with small quantities. Gradually, you may become addicted. It will be like an incurable disease. It will be impossible for you to come out of it. So why invite such a disease in the first place, which can only cause harm and nothing else? Do not agree even to a close friend who asks you to drink, smoke or take drugs, etc. If you give in easily to his request so that you will make him happy or to maintain friendship with him, you will be the sufferer. You might ask how you can continue to be friends with those who drink if you don't drink. If you are intelligent enough, then you will remain friends. Understand how this happens. First of all, why be friends with such people? And, if for some reason you have to be in their company while they are drinking, then use your intelligence and judgment. If you refuse to drink by saying that now you are a Dhamma person doing Anapana, then this will generate animosity towards you. So firmly decline the offer to drink by saying politely that it does not suit you. This will be a true statement for it can never suit a person to drink if he is walking on the path of Dhamma and is doing Anapana. Consider an example. A man suffering from diabetes goes out with some friends one evening. The friends coax him to eat sweets arguing that one piece will do him no harm. If he eats the sweets, it will only make his condition worse, but if he is a sensible person, he will not yield to their persuasions and therefore not increase his own suffering. He will turn down their offer by politely saying that he has diabetes and therefore cannot eat sweets. He will say that it does not suit him to eat sweets, whereas the others are free to eat them. Similarly, exercise your willpower and firmly but politely decline any offer to smoke or drink, giving the simple but true reason that these do not suit you. You may feel that if you do not join your friends in smoking, drinking, etc., they will shun your company and make you feel like an outcaste. I have just explained to you that this will not happen. Firstly, what will you gain by unnecessarily being part of a group with such bad habits? It is better to stay away from such people. In case you are unable to avoid them, then act as advised above and protect yourself. You might feel that instead of leaving their company, you could try to reform them. Do not attempt to mend their ways. You are not qualified to do that till you have reformed yourself. Suppose you have an injured leg, how can you hope to help another one-legged person? A lame person cannot afford to help another lame person. A blind man cannot show the path to another blind man. So you have to first reform yourself. On seeing the transformation in your conduct, your friends will be attracted to you. Seeking your example, they will follow the path of Dhamma and be benefited by it. Otherwise, what can you hope to reform? Yours is a vulnerable age. In correcting others, you may go on the wrong path yourself. Therefore, at your age, spend as much time as possible in strengthening yourself and establishing yourself in Dhamma. Leave the task of reforming others to someone else.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: The essence of leading a virtuous life is that one does not look for excuses to act wrongly. Now, you may have found a reason to justify your wrong actions. You think that you must adopt dishonest methods to succeed in this world because everybody around you is doing so, and progressing at a very fast pace. And, if we who practise Anapana or Vipassana do not do the same, we will lag behind.

Understand that such thinking is the result of weakness of the mind. This meditation will make your mind so strong that you will not even remotely consider doing any sinful act, or breaking your sila, or adopting any wrong ways; and you will find success at your doorstep. On the contrary, if you fear failure because you are not adopting underhand methods to succeed, then this fear will become the cause of your failure, whereas the strength of the mind will bring you success. So you must strengthen the mind and not weaken it on some pretext or the other.
As you grow, you will understand further that those people who have acquired name, fame, position and wealth through dishonest means, and are apparently leading very successful lives, remain agitated and full of misery. When you progress on this path, then you will realize that such a person neither sleeps restfully at night nor is his mind at peace during the day. What has he gained by becoming a successful person? The wealth, position, fame and name are all futile if these cannot generate happiness and peace.

On the other hand, a person who is not so wealthy or famous but who has a contented and compassionate heart is a real noble soul and leads a truly happy life. Thus, in order to compete in the world and attain worldly success, we should not take the wrong path. This is why you are learning to meditate at this young age, so that you do not take a wrong path at any cost. Even for the sake of the right goal, do not walk on the wrong path. Always take the right course for a righteous aim.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: The mind is what thinks! The entire thought process is due to the mind. It is the mind that is constantly involved in the various actions of thinking, reading and pondering over what has been read, etc. During its course of thinking, the mind may act beneficially or harmfully. If it adopts the wrong habit pattern, then it will generate feelings of ill will and animosity for others. If instead, the mind reforms itself, then although it will still have thoughts they will now be thoughts for the well being of others. If someone has shortcomings, the mind will want that person to overcome his shortcomings because now the mind knows that due to his shortcomings, that person will perform wrong actions which will make him more miserable and unhappy. So the mind will harbour thoughts of goodwill towards that person. It will want the person to refrain from doing bad deeds and thus save himself from burning in the fires of suffering. We observe that it is the nature of the mind to generate thoughts all the time. Therefore, our most important duty is to guide the mind towards a healthy thought process and prevent it from taking the path of unhealthy thinking patterns. Our entire effort is aimed towards understanding this nature of the mind and correcting it if it goes on the wrong path.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: It is the mind that reforms itself. A part of the mind is always observing its own functioning. If there are thoughts in the mind, it will analyse the nature of these thoughts. Whenever negativity or a feeling of animosity arises in the mind, this same part instantly issues a warning that such negative emotions are undesirable and should not occur in the mind. This part may be called intellect or the part of the mind which is always alert regarding the functioning of the mind and is trying to reform it. If the mind can develop the habit of observing the truth as it appears, then this fact will become clear- that the moment the mind is defiled, it is punished with suffering; and if it is purified, the suffering is removed. It is this observing part of the mind which will understand this process and thus change itself. Nobody wants to remain agitated. Everyone wants to lead a happy life without miseries. To attain this state, the observing part of the mind tries to change the nature of the remaining part of the mind.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Purity is the characteristic of a pure mind. By purity we mean the state of mind which is without any defilements like anger, animosity, ill will, craving, clinging, etc. If there is any such negativity in the mind, how can it be called pure? In fact, it will lead to some negative act of the body or speech. An impure mind will lead to some impure action. This way you not only harm yourself but others as well. On the other hand, if the mind is pure, it cannot act in a wrong way. It will benefit itself and others as well. This is the basic characteristic of this technique- that we purify our mind so that we are saved from doing harmful deeds through our speech and body. We try to develop this quality of purity of mind so that all our acts are beneficial. A pure mind will never generate ill will against any one. Instead, it will generate good will, affection and compassion for one and all. These are the qualities by which the purity of the mind is assessed.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: We are here to meditate precisely for that reason. If the mind was already concentrated, then why would you have come here? It is an old habit of the mind to wander. Let it wander. The moment we realize that the mind has wandered, we bring it back to the breath. The mind is distracted because of these innumerable thoughts. The nature of the thoughts varies from time to time, but the important thing is how soon we become conscious of the fact that the mind has wandered. It is not good if the mind remains distracted for a long period of time.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: These are two different questions, and quite relevant as well. It is certainly not wise to live in the present and not think about the future at all. While observing the breath, you are also gaining awareness of the workings of the mind. You have observed that it has become a permanent habit of the mind to always generate thoughts about the past or the future. The mind does not want to focus on its present task of observing the breath. When it is involved in thoughts of future, the mind's energy gets reduced and therefore it is unable to work with full potential on the task at hand. And, when the actual time for taking the right action comes, the mind has exhausted all its energy. So with the mind firmly rooted in the present, think and plan the immediate task at hand. Set your goal and keeping it in sight, walk step by step towards it. Once the goal is set, you should not think about it any more. This way, every step you take will be a step in the present. But remain aware of each and every step you take. This will eliminate all possibilities of making mistakes.

You may wonder how you will be able to lead your life if you do not plan for the future. We have a limited reservoir of energy and therefore it should be utilized with wisdom. We should only use as much as is required for planning the future. We tend to exhaust our energy by unnecessarily tormenting the mind with thoughts of the future. "This may happen or this may not happen. We may do this or we may not do this?" Oh! Indulge in all this thinking only when it is required. Right now, your job is to observe the breath so that you learn to remain in the present. If we adopt the habit of remaining firmly in the present, we will be able to take the next step properly. Thus, to establish this habit pattern of the mind, we emphasize staying with the present.

To be ambitious is not bad at all. We set a definite aim for our life. For instance, we study to fulfil a certain ambition, or we are doing meditation for a certain purpose. But if we get attached to our goal and constantly worry about it while making no efforts to attain it, then it is futile to have any ambition. What is the point in being ambitious about a thing which prevents you from taking the right course of action? Decide about your aim and then strive to achieve it. If you are thirsty, then go and get water. Merely crying for water and worrying about it will not quench your thirst. Make the desired effort to obtain water, drink it and satisfy your thirst. What is wrong with this? Similarly, there is no harm in having a good ambition and making efforts to attain it. But if you get obsessed with it and only worry about its fulfilment without making any efforts in that direction, then you will go off the track and fail- even a good ambition will not be successful. So have the right ambition and strive hard to attain it.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: Not only while studying, but all the time! Lust is lust; it is harmful. Love should be pure love. Pure love is one-way traffic; you don’t expect anything in return. Dharma, Vipassana, will help this lust to turn into pure love—pure love is without a trace of passion. Pure love is full of compassion. 

Goenkaji: Yes—if you don’t work as your guide asks you to work. For ten days you are to leave behind everything else that you are practicing. You come for ten days to learn a very particular technique, a unique technique, which has its own special features. It takes you to the depth of the mind. You start from the surface, and go to the depth—a surgical operation. In the past, you might have been doing some other kind of meditation, where verbalization was involved, or visualization, or some kind of devotional practice, or some intellectual game, or some imagination. If you want to do any or all of these things while doing Vipassana, there will be a conflict inside.

The whole Vipassana technique wants you to go to the depth of the mind and observe the natural vibrations that are happening there, from moment to moment. If you are creating certain vibrations by your intellectual thoughts, or by your emotion, or by some verbalization at the surface level of the mind, and you want to go to the depth, there is a conflict. So without condemning what you were doing in the past, the teacher will say, “Leave that aside, and give this technique a trial for ten days. After ten days, you are your own master—if you don’t like it, throw it away. If you like it, accept it. But don’t mix those two during these ten days.” Very rarely, if somebody mixes things in that way, then there is difficulty.

But otherwise, there is no possibility of getting into difficulty. And there’s no possibility of failure. When you say “failure” it means not getting anything. There is not a single case where somebody has said, “I didn’t get anything.” One may get less or one may get more, according to what effort one has given to the technique. But a definite result is assured, there is no question.

Mr. S. N. Goenka: We know this by seeing whether a transformation is coming in our life or not. If our mind is still generating as much negativity as before, then there is no progress at all. The only criterion is to observe if there is a gradual decrease in our stock of defilements, and if we are developing the virtues that were missing before. If we continue to measure our success by this yardstick, then we will overcome the habit of committing wrong deeds. On the contrary, we will act virtuously. Others will also acknowledge us to be Dhamma people, for Dhamma will become an integral part of our lives.