ЁЯМ╖My Vipassana Experience: Peace Within a Prison.
(Kelvin Thompson is an inmate of Yerwada Central Jail, Pune. A 32-year old chemist from London, Kelvin sat his first Vipassana course in March 97 the second Vipassana course conducted in Yerwada prison. This interview was on Day 10, the Mett─Б Day).
"I left London in September 1993. I reached India and this problem started (alleged possesion of drugs). I was in Arthur Road Jail, Mumbai, until my case came up for hearing in July 1995. Then I was put in Yerwada here.
The DIG (Deputy Inspector General, Mr. D. N. Dawne) here told me about this Vipassana course. 'Do this course and you will get peace of mind,' he said.
I am looking for peace of mind.The situation here is getting desperate, real bad. I'm here stuck inside this prison. I may be here for how long, who knows. I want to see my parents, my wife Adeline, my daughter. I can't do that.
I took the 10-day Vipassana course. I thought a miracle will happen. But now I know what happens is according to the laws of nature. This is a wonderful technique. I am more happy now. But miracles have nothing to do with it. It's hard work.
At first I thought, 'What have these sensations got to do with my problems? What's it got to do with my miseries, to being locked up inside this prison?'
Then I began realizing how what was happening.
Any sensation that arose in my body with my thoughts - pain, heat, itching - I would just observe it without reacting. It would arise, it would pass away.
Why should I be reacting to something that was so impermanent? No sensation lasts forever.Now when thoughts of anger arise, I could see what was happening to my body - my breath became hot, for instance.
Earlier I used to hit out, rage for hours. Now I become calm in about 20 minutes. I am becoming calmer.Now I can see that my problems are not caused by other people.
The problems are within me.
Vipassana is a very different technique, you know. It strikes at the root of our problems and cuts it out. It's very practical.
My friends and I first thought, 'What's this? No God? No religion?.' We suspected we were being converted to Buddhism.
Then we realized it was nothing of that kind.
My brother, this is essence of all the goodness in all the religions. And this is not just preaching or blind belief. This is a technique anyone can practice.I could understand Vipassana much more easily because of my scientific background.
In the lab, we purify chemicals from its impure state to a refined, ultra pure state. I think this is what I have been through. I have been through a mental purification.
I don't think all my problems have gone. It cannot happen in just ten days. But what has gone has left me feeling much lighter. I am not the same person I was ten days ago. I am at peace."
(At a press conference, a few hours later, Kelvin Thompson and fellow inmates again spoke about their experience with their first Vipassana course. The Inspector General of prisons, Mr. Narawane, announced that Yerwada Jail will have regular Vipassana courses from now. The Maharashtra Government has already ordered that every prison in the state organize Vipassana courses for its inmates).
Vipassana Research Institute - http://www.vridhamma.org/en1997-02
