The then prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s wish to visit the Dharmashringa Vipassana Centre in Kathmandu could not be fulfilled because of her prior commitments.
Roop Jyoti
KATHMANDU: In 1994, during her official visit to Nepal, the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s wish to visit the Dharmashringa Vipassana Centre in Kathmandu could not be fulfilled because of her prior commitments.
Two years later, the foreign ministry contacted us again. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was going to Pakistan and there was a specific request from Bhutto to bring along a Vipassana teacher.
Our principal teacher Acharya Goenkaji asked me and Nani Maiya Manandhar to go with the delegation. On the last day of the state visit, Maiyaji and I were finally summoned at 3pm, after the rest of the delegation had flown off.
Bhutto had heard much about Vipassana and wanted to learn the technique. We told her it required a 10-day retreat. She did not have such time, and insisted to be taught right away. Acharya Goenkaji had foreseen such a response and had given permission to teach her the Anapana technique.
So, Nani Maiyaji taught her Anapana. Bhutto started practising right away and found it very calming. She said that she had not slept for days and after the session of Anapana, she wanted to take a nap because she felt so tranquil. After a few hours of sleep, she emerged looking refreshed and happy.
We explained to her the salient aspects of Vipassana: a means out of human suffering and misery; not a ritual of an organised religion but an art of living. Vipassana involves no conversion from one religion to another and is open to all and sundry. We also gave her books, tapes and videos. By this time, it was late in the evening and the last flight from Islamabad to Karachi was about to leave. We rushed to the airport.
Upon the prime minister’s order, two seats had been kept for us and the plane took off as soon as we boarded it.
When we landed at Karachi that night, we learnt that there had been a military coup and Benazir Bhutto had been deposed. We were the last visitors she met as prime minister.
Last week, as news of her assassination came in, I was filled with sadness, but took solace in the fact that she had learned Anapana, an important part of the Vipassana technique. May she be happy and peaceful in her heavenly abode.
(Roop Jyoti helps run Vipassana Centres in Nepal and is ex-minister of state for finance)
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