“ What could be the best Gurudakshina to Guru like S.N. Goeka ji?” that was one of the questions I thought when I had completed my first Vipassana meditation course at Dhammagiri, Igatpuri. Now, when Guruji is no more with us, this questions become more relevant – How I can do my bit for the mission which our Guruji started? What could best be considered as Gurudakshina?

Here in India, Guru or the teacher is placed in the ranks of God and we have this idea of ‘ Gurudakshina’ – a token to Guru – a token of appreciation, respect, devotion. In ancient Indian education system a pupil used to spend years together with Guru to acquire knowledge and at the end of educational tenure he used to offer something as token to Guru.

I thought of few things as of now and I would be adding some things to this plan.

More devotion to practice: Although I have been practicing more or less regularly, I want more determination in my practice so that I can make myself capable to do the things I am aiming for. Somehow that sounds self centered but making myself capable to make the difference is the first step for any initiative.

Integration of Vipassana with Business world: I want to integrate Vipassana meditation with Business. I am already working on research paper which would help us establishing at least a basic correlation of effect of Vipassana in developing self awareness, self regulation and empathy. With this initiative, I intend to spread awareness about Vipassana in a language that business people understand. A simple practice such as starting each meeting with 5 minutes of Ana-pana would be one of the first initiatives that I want to start at my workplace and when people see the difference, when they will experience the difference they would be drawn to practice. I am thinking of more ways how the practice can be integrated with business. I believe business is important pillar because we spend 10 hours or so in office, that too prime time – perhaps most important time of the day in office. So it is of utmost importance to make Vipassana as a part of workplace.

Practicing metta : Again more devotion and more consistency in practicing metta. I want more focus in making metta meditation as a part of my daily schedule.

As of now, I thought about these 3 things which I considered to be small part of Gurudakshina. Please let me know your thoughts what more we can do together, what we can do individually.