Spiritual Impact

"I can not travel by the boat. I will be very, very sick. Let's return", cried one of our friend. We were standing at the Gorai Jetty but she did not allow us to buy the boat-tickets. We returned satisfying ourselves, with just the glimpse of the majestic Global Vipassana Pagoda. The impact of that golden glimpse was so strong that I vowed to visit it at the earliest.

That was exactly an year ago, 1st January 2015. Since then, I was craving to visit that grand Golden Pagoda. We were at my sister's home in Borivali to celebrate the new year. My sister suggested, "Let's go to Ganpati Mandir and begin our new year auspiciously with God's blessings". I added, "Yes, let's go to Global Vipassana Pagoda and pray". My nephew finalized with "You both want God's blessings. I and Aditai want boat-ride, Mamma and Papa want all of us to be happy. So let's go to the Global Pagoda by boat". That's Indian Family's Single Kid-Impact , which finally decided our destination.

January 1st, 2016, We reached the Gorai jetty by car. Purchased the tickets and sat in a boat to reach the other shore, where the pagoda shines in it's golden glory. The Global Vipassana Pagoda is a Meditation Center near Borivli-Gorai in Mumbai. It was inaugurated by the President of India Pratibhatai Patil  in 2009. The pagoda serves as a monument of peace and harmony. The shape of the pagoda is a copy of the Shwedagon Pagoda ( Golden Pagoda ) in Yangon, Myanmar. It is built with combination of both ancient  and modern Indian technology to maintain it in mint condition.

The swaying coconut trees greeted us at the entrance of Global Vipassana Pagoda. At the shore, most of the picnickers took right turn( towards Essel World ), while our family turned to left on the High-way to spirituality, towards the serenity. The very first visual impact of Global Pagoda is spectacularly mind-blowing. All of us elders folded our hands, in reverence for the 'Namaskaar'. The children imitated us and rushed towards the Nagara-sqaure.

Global Vipassana Pagoda's center  comprises of the world's largest stone dome built without any supporting pillars. A very large meditation hall is located inside the pagoda. It has a capacity to accommodate over 8000 people  for the  Vipassana meditation. Here 10-day vipassana meditation courses are held free of charge at the meditation center situated at the Global Vipassana Pagoda complex.

The pagoda has in all three sub-domes. The first and largest dome is the world's largest structure containing relics of the Buddha. The Global Vipassana Pagoda complex has, Pagoda dome containing relics of Gautam Buddha, Vipassana meditation centre Dhamma Pattana ,Two smaller pagodas on the north and south side, Library, study rooms and Administration building. 

The south pagoda contains 108 meditation cells for use by Vipassana students taking a meditation course at the adjoining meditation center.
The lovely garden full of assorted trees adds to the scenic beauty of Global Pagoda. The spacious restaurant serves delicious snacks / meals at reasonable rates. Our new year began with peaceful meditation at the Global Vipassana Pagoda and the children were greatly impacted with our prosperous culture, tradition and spirituality.

#TataZicaMarathon 

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can  apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.