The Humor and Honesty of S.N. Goenka
It was such a chance meeting that Senior Vipassana Teacher Daniel Mayer passed through Yangon and contacted me requesting to stay at the monastery I furnish near my home for foreign meditators. And I was so grateful that he accepted my request to sit for an interview! This has been the most listened-to episode overall so far, and it’s not hard to figure out why. Daniel describing the early days meditating under S.N. Goenka in India was informative, inspiring, and well, just awesome.
“Goenkaji, he couldn’t care less. He already looked at you as somebody who was an orphan, and that’s what we were.”
“The voice of SN Goenka, the honesty of SN Goenka and the total commitment was enough.
For instance, in those days, I remember we had to pay for 30 Indian rupees per course. And I went and there were people who didn't have that money. And they went around and asked for the money and when I got my money out of my room to give to them, they already had enough and they were already inscribing themselves for the course. And I go and pay my 30 rupees. And I peek at the names of the people whose, as I was also very curious. And I see the name 'SN Goenka, 30 rupees.' So he paid, for though he was a teacher, as a student, to contribute to everything. I thought it was so special.
Then there was a special humor. He has a sense of humor that really felt so close. Charlie Chaplin once said that you have to be also very humble, if you're humorous, but it's not only humble humility, but also to catch you with surprise, not repeat what you already know. And we laughed so much at his discourses because they were so vivid, so true, so real. So it was not just his voice. It was not just the fact that we were looking for something or that I was looking for something. But it's also what we saw in him.
In the early days, you could go to his house in Juhu Beach at six o'clock in the evening, and meditate at his house with him. You didn't have to do anything, you just walked in, you sat down and that was it, and then you left. That's why we also all lived, including Ruth Dennison, very near to the beach home.
I think, other teachers, although I don't know because I really wasn't so interested… but they really wanted to praise you. If you were somebody that could could help them and Goenkaji, he couldn't care less. He already looked at you as somebody who was an orphan, and that's what we were.”