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The first prison course in the Central
Prison, Yerawada, Pune (one of the biggest prisons in India)
was held in February 1997, in which Goenkaji taught the ‘metta’
session to about 100 male inmates. In the same year there were
six more ten-day courses, with about 250 participant inmates.
One of these courses was exclusively for non-Indian prisoners
and one for the female inmates of this jail. |
| The present IG and DIG -Prisons and
the Superintendent of this prison have all sat Vipassana courses.
In November 1998, a spacious ward setup was earmarked for regular
Vipassana courses. Termed the Vipassana ward, 10-day retreats
have restarted here. Meditator inmates who have volunteered
to stay here and serve on courses have been accommodated in
this ward. |
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Two courses were held
here from Nov 25 – Dec 6 and Dec 14 – 25, 1998
with about 45 inmate participants in each course. Besides,
the prison films - "Doing Time Doing Vipassana"
(Kiran Bedi’s pilot experiment of a Vipassana centre
in Tihar Central prison) & "Changilg From Inside"
(Vipassana in a prison in USA) were screened here
as part of an awareness drive in front of about 100 foreign
& educated Indian inmates. |
| The ninth Vipassana course was held
in the Vipassana ward from February 12-23, 1999, in which 14
inmates participated. The old student inmates who have opted
to live in the Vipassana ward meditate daily even when there
are no courses going on. |
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| The 10th course was held from June
21 to July 2, 1999, in which 42 inmates participated. The 11th
course was conducted from July 14-25 with 48 participants |
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The first Satipatthana course (for
meditators who have done atleast three 10-day courses)
in this prison was held from August 4 to 12, 1999, in
which 19 inmates from this prison participated. This is
only the third prison in India after Tihar and Nasik prisons
to have regular ten-day courses & a Satipatthana course.
For inmate feedback please refer to the ‘Opinions’
section. |
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| BLIND
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A ten-day Vipassana course was held for forty
seven visually impaired students- 28 male and 19
female- at the Pune Vipassana centre, from 20 April to
1 May, 1998.
This is the third Vipassana for the benefit of these students,
the previous two being held in Mumbai in 1997. All the
students completed the course successfully. |
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| CHRISTIAN
CLERGY |
| A Vipassana course was conducted
from Nov 12 – 23, 1998 at the Pune centre for about 40
Christian priests and nuns. Most of them were from the National
Vocational Service Centre (NVSC), but there were also a few
sisters from the Convent of Jesus and Mary (CJM) order. |
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| TALKS |
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Much awareness about Vipassana was generated
in Pune during Goenkaji’s visit in February - March
1997, during which he gave many public talks. Among the
many talks, he delivered one to the members of the state
social welfare department and the institute of chartered
accountants. Guruji's talk photo.
In 1998 about 25 talks or interactions of Vipassana
teachers with specific groups have been held in Pune.
These groups included many Rotary clubs, |
| social organizations, doctors,
religious groups and professional student groups. Some of these
individuals have attended a ten-day Vipassana course thereafter. |
In December 98 a 2 hour talk –
interaction session on Vipassana was held for trade union leaders
of Maharashtra in Pune as part of a seminar organized by the
CII (Confederation of Indian Industry).
Talks on Vipassana were given to the Rotary Downtown Club members,
medical students and doctors of D.Y. Patil Medical college and
residents of the Bibwewadi area.
Recently talks were also given at the Marathwada college of
architecture, Telco school, police trainees, Catholic priests
and nuns and the inmates of the Anand Ashram Leprosy Home.
In November 99 talks were arranged at Pund Municipal Corporation
and Police Commissioner Office for government employees. |
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| Back to top |
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| FILM
SCREENINGS |
| In 1998 itself so far 10 public screenings
of the award winning film "Doing Time, Doing Vipassana"
have been held in Pune, besides many home screenings. |
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| For
more details about the film click on the picture |
In November and December 98 the film
was shown in separate screenings to the students of 2 reputed
colleges of Pune, Fergusson college and IMDR; about 25 HRD managers
of the Thermax group of industries and to about 200 members
of the city’s most prestigious club, the Poona Club.
Two major screenings of the film were held for the executives
of the Human Resource Development (HRD) network, Pune chapter
and for the members of the Kalyani Nagar Womens Forum. A brief
question answer session followed both the presentations. |
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| SEMINARS
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The Courses
