Within a few months of the purchase of the land in early 1974, two foreign meditators arrived—Geo Poland, a Canadian, and Graham Gambie, an Australian. After thoroughly cleaning one of the two old bungalows on the property, they each took up residence in rooms at either end and used the central room for meditation. The only other buildings on the property were a spacious but neglected godown (warehouse), the home of spiders and centipedes, and a small shed. At that time, I was a one-course student working and renting in Igatpuri, but I came to the new centre almost daily.
Goenkaji soon made it clear that meditation was to be our principal occupation. We decided to preserve the usual group-sitting schedule at 8 a.m., and at 2:30 and 6:00 p.m. As well, Guruji recommended that every Sunday starting at noon we meditate for an hour while playing an audiotape of Sayagyi U Ba Khin’s tikapatthana (conditional relations). Four Indian meditators who lived in town often joined us. Guruji also asked that I send him photos of us meditating, so we summoned Agnelo Pereira, a local photographer, who took pictures of Graham and me sitting side by side on a chatai (woven bamboo mat) outside the bungalow.
1974 Dhamma Giri. Narayan Dasarwar, Graham Gambie.Of course, Guruji was keen to arrange an inaugural course at the centre, but finding a space in his busy schedule was problematic. During the 16-month period between December 1973 when he first inspected the land, and the middle of April 1975, he taught 26 courses and sat two self-courses. When not conducting or travelling, he was directing his family's business affairs in Mumbai. However, an opening finally appeared.
On relatively short notice, the first course at Dhamma Giri, for old students only, was scheduled for April 12 to 16, 1975. The new centre's minimal amenities meant substantial preparations had to be made within a brief period. Much of the work setting up the course was undertaken by hired contractors and labourers, but the students who arrived pitched in as needed. In those days there were no designated course managers or other Dhamma servers, so before as well as during the course everyone helped wherever necessary.
Both bungalows were repaired and readied as accommodation, although subsequently most students were assigned to the various rooms in the godown. There were hardly any beds, but we rented mattresses, sheets and pillows.
Guruji stayed in the other, smaller bungalow, which had the only suitable indoor room for bathing. A temporary outside toilet was built for his use and enclosed with chatai. Elsewhere on site, students made use of pits that they themselves had dug and similarly surrounded with bamboo screens.
A tube well, drilled by a contractor as a source of water, ultimately did not produce any. Three massive concrete culverts, each standing on end, became temporary storage reservoirs, and water for the course had to be hauled in by tanker truck.
A stone hearth, in which wood was burned, was constructed for cooking. Goenkaji made arrangements for Mahavir Sharma, an experienced Rajasthani cook, to come with some assistants to prepare and serve the food—the beginning of his decades-long association with Dhamma Giri. Water for washing up and bathing was heated in drums. Temporary wires and bulbs were strung where light was needed.
For a meditation hall, Bhojraj Chandak, a local shop owner and meditator, engaged a crew to erect a pandal (makeshift pavilion) next to the godown. Made of corrugated iron sheets on a framework of steel poles, it became, beneath the insistent April sun, a veritable tandoori oven.
Throughout the course, Goenkaji meditated in this hall along with the students, but during break periods he took time to inspect every feature of the land and select possible sites for the first new buildings that had been designed—four student residences, and a kitchen-dining complex with a large hall initially to be used for meditation, but later as an expanded dining hall. Construction of these buildings began soon after the course.
During the first mettā session, Goenkaji remembered, with particular compassion and loving-kindness, all the various beings living on the land, and announced that from then on no creature at the centre was to be harmed, including the many snakes. Despite the numerous difficulties and discomforts, especially the severe heat, 76 old students completed the course. Afterwards, many more old students began to arrive at Dhamma Giri for short visits, as well as to sit self-courses.
Narayan Dasarwar
Editor’s Note: This post is the fifth 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.