In the late 1970s, amid the ongoing construction at Dhamma Giri, Goenkaji decided to step aside from his business affairs and gradually hand them over to his six sons. When not conducting courses, he ordinarily remained in Mumbai to guide them, but from time to time he came by train to Igatpuri on weekends, arriving alone late on Saturday afternoons and returning to the city on Monday mornings.
In those days there was no reliable local transportation within the town, so after getting down from the train Guruji handed his suitcase to a station coolie to bring to the meditation centre, then took a shortcut across the railway tracks near the Ram Mandir. If the train happened to come several minutes early, he would reach Dhamma Giri at about the same time that we arrived at the station to pick him up. Sometimes he met us in the street wearing a Nehru shirt and dhoti, with one end of it held in his hand. Once we were back together at the centre, we would discuss the ongoing work and then attend the 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. group sitting. Afterwards, the Pali-language class would start.
Goenkaji's morning chanting contained many Pali verses from the Dhammapada, and we Indians found it difficult to understand the meaning. How much more so for the foreigners. As we increasingly questioned him about the verses, Guruji came up with the idea of Pali-language lessons.
Eventually, the first class began during the 1977 monsoon. In the men's dormitory B, Guruji sat on a chair with a chalkboard next to him. We gathered around on the floor with our notebooks and pencils. Guruji wrote the first line of the Dhammapada, manōpubbangamā dhammā (Mind is the forerunner of all phenomena.), on the chalkboard and we duly copied it. Then Guruji began to explain the meaning by drawing on stories from the time of the Buddha and various incidents in the life of Sayagyi U Ba Khin. We became so engrossed that no one realised how much time had elapsed until it was well past 10 p.m. On the chalkboard was that single line, the same one that was written in our notebooks, but our understanding of Pali had increased manyfold.
The lessons typically started like this with a line or two from the Dhammapada and then Guruji would narrate stories to elaborate. Graham Gambie, Bill Hart, Floh Lehmann, Steve Smith, Shantiben Shah, Alka Kulkarni and I, and others, all centre residents or local Dhamma workers, attended. On those occasions when Guruji was present, he had breakfast at the centre on Monday morning and then walked back to the railway station, usually with some of us accompanying him. If possible, we reserved a seat for him on the train.
When Guruji couldn't come, Shantiben, who was a Sanskrit teacher, conducted the classes on his behalf and ultimately took over responsibility. Lessons were then held almost every day. The hour immediately following the evening group sitting was devoted to Pali, and we also spent a good bit of time studying on the weekends.
Those Pali lessons increased our knowledge of the language and helped foreign students learn the Indian Devanagari script. And while absorbing Pali, we paid more attention to the words of the morning chanting. Eventually, after the establishment of the Vipassana Research Institute in 1985, structured Pali-language lessons began under the guidance of certified teachers.
As well as learning Pali, those original classes filled us with the energy to work hard and to face the daily challenges that arose at the centre. They also increased our motivation to proceed further on the path of Dhamma. Today, looking back, I realise how fortunate we were to have taken those first lessons and heard those stories directly from Goenkaji.
Editor’s Note: This post is the tenth in an ongoing series, A Dhamma Giri Diary, comprised of remembrances that together offer a first-hand account of the initial few years that followed the 1974 purchase of the barren hilltop that became the first Indian Vipassana center, Dhamma Giri, in Igatpuri, Maharashtra. Narayan Dasarwar, who was there from day one, reflects on his association with S.N. Goenka, the principal teacher, the development of the center, and some of the individuals who helped make it possible. The Pariyatti Journal is grateful to Narayan for sharing his personal account of life at Dhamma Giri.