How to Reach Global Vipassana Pagoda

All are most welcome to visit the Global Vipassana Pagoda, to benefit immensely and infinitely from practicing Vipassana Meditation - and realize the true work and purpose of human life.

Vipassana is for all. Gotama the Buddha, who re-discovered Vipassana, was not founder of any religion (*1).

Visiting the Global Pagoda is free of charge. No entry fee. No charges for the tour guide.
Timings: 9.00 am to 7.00 pm.
Open all days, including Sunday.
(Ferry Timings: Every 15 minutes from Gorai Jetty. Last ferry to Global Pagoda leaves at 5.25 pm)

* Drinking water and clean wash-room facilities available.
* The Food Plaza in the Global Pagoda premises serves quality vegetarian food at economical prices.
* Non-commercial photography is permitted - with the understanding that there can be no copyright to any image of the Global Vipassana Pagoda. Visuals are to be made freely available to all for non-commercial use. (* For any clarification, please contact Global Vipassana Foundation, Mumbai, India, Telephone: 91 - 22 - 33747501; Email: pr@globalpagoda.org)

Global Vipassana Pagoda

The Global Pagoda can be reached by car or ferry. Pre-paid taxi services are available at the Mumbai domestic and international airports. Ask for "Esselworld" or"Global Vipassana Pagoda". The Global Pagoda is adjacent to Esselworld Park.

Inside the Global Pagoda dome. An architectural wonder as the world's largest stone structure without supporting pillars. This unique Dhamma hall can seat over 8,000 Vipassana students, in group meditation sittings and one-day refresher courses.

* Vipassana students - those having completed a 10-day Vipassana course in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin - are welcome to meditate in the Dhamma Hall of the Global Pagoda.

Reaching Global Vipassana Pagoda by Road from Mumbai City / Domestic Airport / International Airport / Railway Stations in Mumbai

1. Reach Western Express Highway and go North towards Dahisar/Borivali/Ahmedabad.
2. Cross the Dahisar Toll Booth and keep going straight.
3. When you reach the Mira-Bhayandar crossing, turn Left towards Mira-Bhayandar. The crossing has a Shivaji statue positioned at the centre.
4. Keep going straight till you reach Golden Nest Circle. At the Golden Nest Circle, take a left turn and stay on the main road.
5. Keep going straight till you take a hard right turn at the end of the road. This point will come after Maxus Mall, which comes on your right. After the hard right turn, take a left at the T point junction.
6. Keep following directions to Esselworld or Global Vipassana Pagoda from this point forward.
7. When you reach the Esselworld Parking Lot, go ahead a few metres and take a right turn towards Esselworld. Tell the guard at the security post that you want to go to the Pagoda.
8. Keep going straight till you reach the Helipad. At the Helipad, take a right turn to the Global Pagoda Road through the Sanchi Arch.

The Pagoda is about 42 km from the Domestic Airport Terminal.

* Please click here for more detailed directions and maps

* Google Map Road directions to Global Vipassana Pagoda, from your location in Mumbai 

Hiring a car for airport pick-up to Global Vipassana Pagoda:

Private taxis and vehicles can also be hired from many car rentals in Mumbai, besides the airport pre-paid taxi service. Rates may vary. Many Vipassana students use the services of private taxi operator Mr Jagdish Maniyar. Contact : Tel (Res): 91-22-26391010 / cell phone 09869255079. Mr Maniyar charges Rs 1,550 (US$ 28, 22 Euros) for airport pickup to Global Pagoda (road taxes and parking charges extra). From Mumbai to Dhamma Giri Vipassana centre, Igatpuri, he charges Rs 2,550 (approx US$ 47, € 36).

From Borivali Railway station:
From Borivali Station (Western Railway, Mumbai) please exit from the western side of the station (from Churchgate, the exit is on the left). Take Bus number 294 or an auto rickshaw (tuk-tuk) to Gorai Creek. The shared auto-rickshaw fare is Rs 10 (with three other passengers), and can be about three times that amount for single hire.
 Take auto-rickshaws heading to your right, after crossing the road from the western exit of the railway station. The Gorai jetty for ferry to Global Pagoda is about five-ten minutes ride from Borivili station.
The return fare for the Esselworld ferry is Rs. 50/- per person.
Using public transport from Churchgate (South Mumbai), the total return fare cost for train, shared auto-rickshaw / bus and ferry would be around Rs 100 (less than US$ 1.85).

Other Bus Numbers to Gorai: From Kurla railway station (West) - 309 L; From Mulund station (West) - 460 L;From Ghatkopar Bus Depot - 488 L (please re-confirm before boarding bus)

Have a happy, most beneficial visit to the Global Pagoda.

For more details, assistance:
Global Vipassana Pagoda
Telephone: 91 22 33747501 (30 lines)
Email: pr@globalpagoda.org

Pagoda Address:
Global Vipassana Pagoda
Next to Esselworld, Gorai Village,
Borivali (West), Mumbai 400091

Postal address:
Head Office Global Vipassana Foundation
2nd Floor, Green House, Green Street, Fort
Mumbai – 400 023
Telephone: +91 22 22665926 / 22664039; Fax: +91 22 22664607
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Dhamma Pattana Vipassana Centre
Inside Global Vipassana Pagoda Campus
Next to Esselworld, Gorai Village,
Borivali (West), Mumbai 400091
Tel: [91] (22) 3374 7519; Fax: [91] (22) 3374 7518
Email: info@pattana.dhamma.org
* Online application for 10-day Vipassana courses
* Dhamma reasons why no fees are charged for Vipassana courses - including for boarding and lodging

 * Rare opportunities to earn and share merits participating in Global Vipassana Pagoda projects

*(1) Buddha: Super Scientist of Peace. Part-1 of Sayagyi U Goenka's address to the United Nations in New York in 2002.

Vipassana in New York

The Global Pagoda, Mumbai, India, serves as the Dhamma lighthouse for the universal sharing of Vipassana. The Global Pagoda was born with voluntary Dhamma service, donations and good wishes from people worldwide (JP Morgan Chase Bank in New York and Bank of India in Mumbai are bankers for the Global Vipassana Foundation that built the Global Pagoda).

Global Vipassana Pagoda: The Mumbai Monument of Liberty

Mumbai and New York are spiritually sister cities - vast, vibrant immigrant metropolises and rewarding cosmopolitan cultural melting pots. They are busy financial capitals of the world's two biggest democracies, but generously give time and resources for the greater good. With the largest number of Vipassana meditators living in one city (*1), Mumbai has six Vipassana centres in its suburbs (*2). Principal Vipassana teacher Sayagyi U S.N.Goenka lives in Mumbai. In 1969, Mumbai hosted the first Vipassana course in India after 2,000 years.

"Following is an article about the new Dhamma house in one of the world’s great cities, New York. It is a place where impermanence is unmistakable as the city endlessly destroys and re-creates itself, and as successive waves of immigrants come to make their home there. It’s also not a place normally associated with calm and meditation. But that did not deter the local old students.
(from International Vipassana Newsletter  Vol 39,2012, No.4)

NY ♥ Vipassana

Five years ago, a small group of meditators decided to take on the goal of establishing a Dhamma house in New York City. We had previously had a facility in a beautiful neighborhood, but financially it had stopped being feasible. And in any case, it had not been easily reachable from some other parts of the city.

The first focus was to accumulate seed money. Donations gradually came in and by late 2011 we had over $10,000. We were ready for the next step: forming a search committee that would develop a strategic plan to scour the city for a suitable space.

We targeted Manhattan first because it is the most central and accessible area. But Manhattan rents are really high, so we decided to start there but be prepared to expand the search to other boroughs.

Two of us pored over a Manhattan street map to select areas with possible affordable rents for commercial spaces. We thought we’d have a better chance with older buildings. Our plan was to completely search one area and then move on to the next. We began with two people—“field walkers”—who went up and down the streets of the designated area, copying down telephone numbers from rental and management signs. We then passed the numbers to our “callers,” who contacted realtors. If anything came of a phone call, the “walkers” would go view the space.

After about a month and a half we had around 10 people walking and doing Internet research. (Web searchers were our third category of volunteers.) In fact, one great discovery was a New York City Public Library database of all the commercial properties in the city, area by area. It was a great find. But we never got the chance to use it because our simple relay system worked faster than we had expected.

A caller spoke to a realtor and passed on the information to a walker. Two people went to see the space, and another two. Then a local assistant teacher took a look. We all agreed that it was for us. Next we held a “trial” group sitting in the space. When it was over, the decision was unanimous: We had found a new home for our Dhamma House.

It stands on West 38th Street, very near all the major subway lines as well as out-of-town bus and railroad stations. It is about as typical of New York as you could want. The space is in an older, modest building, on the 10th floor. There is room for 50 meditators, and maybe a few more if needed. And the rent is well within the range we set for ourselves.

West 38th Street, NY (Google Map)

 In February we signed the lease, which was supposed to start from March 1. In the end, repainting and basic repairs took longer than expected. But from March 10 the place was ours and we were ready to start the real work. About two months after we had started our search, we were holding group sittings in our Dhamma House.

The first one-day sitting was on March 31, with two teachers coming from the Massachusetts center, Dhamma Dhara. A truck was bringing their seats from Philadelphia, but it got lost in Brooklyn. Once it arrived, we could begin the course inaugurating the New York Dhamma House.

We now hold group sittings all five weekday evenings, beginning at 6:00 pm. Every month, we have two teacher-led one-day courses, alternating between Burmese-English and Chinese-English. We’re planning to add a Hindi-English course. We are also planning a pilot children’s course and are discussing a potluck get-together in the spring.

All along, we have benefited greatly from our connection with the Massachusetts center, the closest one to New York. In fact, we literally have pieces of the center in our Dhamma House. Boards once used in platforms for the women’s tents in Massachusetts now support coat hooks on our walls; they are weathered to a beautiful dark brown. Other boards have become bookshelves for our small lending library. The center also supplied materials for shoe racks and shelves where meditators can leave their bags and backpacks. Other material was donated by old students.

We feel like a mini version of Dhamma Dhara, with the same aim: to reach as many people as possible and to create a welcoming, attractive space for practicing Vipassana meditation.

Dhamma Dhara, Shelburne Falls, nearest Vipassana centre to New York

Most arrangements for the new facility fell into place surprisingly easily, but naturally there were some kinks that had to be ironed out. For example, we had assumed that our rental agreement gave us the use of a third bathroom on our floor, but it took considerable negotiation to open that door. Then, during our first one-day course, a neighbor complained about the wet boots and shoes left in the hallway. That just spurred us to build adequate shoe shelves inside our own space.

Under the Massachusetts trust, we established a formal structure so that we can make collective decisions more efficiently. Right now we’re looking to expand our pool of weeknight servers. These people are responsible for running the group sitting, from opening the door to playing the CD and closing up after everyone leaves. We have teams of people who take turns handling this task, but we are looking for more people who may not be able to make an ongoing commitment but can provide backup if needed.

On a typical evening, anywhere from five to 25 meditators sit together in the Dhamma House for one to three hours. Our one-day courses average about 30 people, more when a teacher comes from Dhamma Dhara. And the red donation box that stands on the table inside the entrance seems to be making up the difference between pledges and the actual amount of monthly rent.

If we continue to grow, we may yet get to use that Public Library database for city-wide commercial real estate!

For more information, email ny-info@dhara.dhamma.org
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* Part-1 of Sayagyi U Goenka's address to the United Nations in New York in 2002. 
Buddha: Super Scientist of Peace. Part-11.
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(*1) Of over 1,000 students participating in twice monthly 10-day Vipassana courses in Dhamma Giri, more than 30% of students in each course are from Mumbai.

(*2) Vipassana centres in and within commuting distance of Mumbai: Dhamma Pattana (within Global Pagoda premises), Dhamma Giri, Dhamma Tapovana, Dhamma Vahini, Dhamma Sarita, Dhamma Vipula

* Vipassana Group Sitting locations in Mumbai, and elsewhere in India (Please call / confirm for current status)
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* Online application for Vipassana courses worldwide
* Dhamma reasons why no fees are charged for Vipassana courses 

* Earn immense merits participating in Global Vipassana Pagoda projects

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Across countless aeons and endless time, may every moment of purity from Vipassana practice go for the benefit, happiness and liberation of all beings.