You must become the change that you seek in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi
The primary aim of this multi-method research study was the assessment and analysis of the impact of Vipassana (a scientific, non-sectarian meditation technique) in Government.
The secondary objective was to obtain the opinions of government officials about the introduction of Vipassana Meditation in government administration.
The main focus of the study was on Central and State Government officials. However, executives, managers, etc. in Public Sector Undertakings and professors, lecturers, etc. in Government Institutes of Higher & Technical Education were also included to make the study more comprehensive.
A large number of personnel including high-ranking officials from these sectors have been attending Vipassana courses. Also, some state governments, public sector undertakings and local bodies have been encouraging their officials and other staff to attend Vipassana courses, by granting leave, etc. Therefore, a wide coverage was undertaken throughout the country to better assess the overall impact of Vipassana in government organizations.
The subjects include:
Administrators and officials in various services
(from Section Officers to Principal Secretaries)
Officials from Revenue, Customs & Central Excise, Sales Tax etc.
Professors and Lecturers in Government institutes
Officials dealing with Local bodies
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Judges
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Police officials
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Army officials
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Forest officials
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Jail Officers
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Engineers
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Doctors
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Scientists
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Executives
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Managers
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Auditors
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Analysts
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Investigators etc.
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Services / Cadres of the subjects include:
Indian Administrative Service (I.A.S)
Indian Police Service (I.P.S.)
Indian Forest Service (I.F.S)
Indian Revenue Service (I.R.S.)
Indian Railway Traffic Service (I.R.T.S.)
Indian Audit and Account Service (I. A. & A. S.)
Indian Custom & Central Excise Service (I.C.&C.E.S.)
Many Civil Services of Group A and B
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Indian Foreign Service
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Indian Railway Service
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Judiciary Services
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Medical Services
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Engineering Services
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Education Services
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Defense Services
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Secretariat Services
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Telecom Services
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Administrative and Technical Services of various Public Sector Undertakings
Teaching Services in Govt. Institutes of Higher & Technical Education etc.
Nature of the duties of the subjects include:
Implementation of various welfare and development schemes
Technical (Medical Engineering and other Technical Fields)
Maintaining law and order
Crime prevention and detection
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Judiciary
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Administration
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Vigilance
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Quasi judiciary
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Monitory
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Supervisory
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Inspection
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Management
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Planning
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Auditing
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Accounting
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Assessment
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Budgeting
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Teaching
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Research
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Human Resource Development etc.
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Hypotheses:
The following hypotheses were formulated:
1. Vipassana will have a significant positive effect on the Subjective Well Being (SWB) of Central and State Government officials.
2. The Occupational Stress (OS) of these subjects will decrease significantly by practicing Vipassana.
3. The Subjective Well Being of the experimental (Vipassana) group will be significantly higher than that of the control (Non-Vipassana) group.
4. The Occupational Stress of the experimental (Vipassana) group will be significantly lower than that of the control (Non-Vipassana) group.
5. There will be a significant difference in the Subjective Well Being of the subjects before the course and one month and six months after the course; the Subjective Well Being of the experimental (Vipassana) group will significantly increase after the course.
6. There will be a significant difference in the Occupational Stress of the subjects before the course and one month and six months after the course; the Occupational Stress of the experimental (Vipassana) group will significantly decrease after the course.
7. The potential benefits derived from Vipassana will be significantly greater with regular post-course practice.
8. The impact of Vipassana will indicate benefits in the personal and professional lives of the subjects.
9. The impact of Vipassana will demonstrate an increase in efficiency and productivity as well as an increase in harmonious relations among seniors, colleagues and subordinates.
Methodology and Results
The following four studies were conducted in the year 2001 and 2002.
Study I: Comparison of Vipassana Group with Non-Vipassana Group.
Study II: Pre-course and Post-course Feedback:
Study III: Anecdotal Evidences
Study IV: Analysis of Vipassana course forms of Government officials:
Study I: Comparison of Vipassana Group with Non-Vipassana Group
This study was conducted using ‘Control Group’ experimental design. The randomly selected subjects were assessed using two scientifically valid psychological instruments. The independent variable was Vipassana meditation. The dependent variables were Subjective Well Being and Occupational Stress.
The objectives of this study were:
1. To determine if there is any difference in the Subjective Well Being and Occupational Stress scores of government officials who had prior exposure to Vipassana and those who had not attended a course. Both the experimental and control groups were tested with the same questionnaires.
2. To investigate the changes felt by the subjects due to Vipassana and the benefits derived by Vipassana in their personal and professional lives (through the Impact of Vipassana Meditation Index).
The subjects of the Vipassana group in this study were government officials (selected at random) who had completed at least one ten-day Vipassana course. The feedback was kept completely anonymous so as to encourage the subjects to give factual feedback.
The sample consisted of 607 personnel.
In spite of extremely busy schedule of the subjects, exhaustive questionnaires, changes in addresses because of transfers, etc., out of 1103 personnel, 653 (about 60%) responded to the requests, which was considered to be a very high response. 607 responses were found to be valid.
Instruments used for data collection
Impact of Vipassana Meditation Index (Vipassana Research Institute, 2001)
Subjective Well Being Inventory (Nagpal and Sell, 1985) and
Occupational Stress Index (Srivastav and Singh, 1984).
1 (i). Impact of Vipassana Meditation Index was used to assess the impact of Vipassana on the professional and personal lives of government officials. This instrument was specially developed by Vipassana Research Institute (VRI) for both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The higher the score, the more the benefits derived from Vipassana (‘Unsure’ responses were categorized as non-beneficiaries).
Results: Majority of the subjects (98%) benefited by practicing Vipassana. The results also show that Vipassana has helped to bring about a positive change in the mental attitude and effectiveness of the subjects.
These results support the eighth and ninth hypotheses.
In addition:
97% of the subjects reported that Vipassana is a scientific technique.
97% reported that Vipassana has the capacity to reform human mind and character.
About 95% reported that: Vipassana has a direct role to play in improving public administration;
Vipassana should be used as a tool for Human Resource Development, and it would be in the interest of governments and organizations for their employees to take Vipassana courses at regular intervals.
1 (ii). Impact of Vipassana, on various aspects of the lives of the subjects, with reference to regularity of post-course meditation practice was analysed using the One Way Anova statistical method.
Results: The potential benefits derived from Vipassana are significantly greater with regular post course practice. These results support the seventh hypothesis.
1 (iii). Impact of Vipassana on various aspects of the lives of the subjects, with reference to years of meditation practice was analysed using Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient (r).
Results: The Correlation Coefficient between the Impact of Vipassana Meditation Index and years of Vipassana meditation practice was found to be as high as +0.86. This indicates that the positive impact of Vipassana on the personal and professional lives of the subjects has increased significantly with duration of meditation practice. These results support the seventh hypothesis.
2 (i). Subjective Well Being of Vipassana group was compared with the Subjective Well Being of Non-Vipassana group through statistical analysis. Student’s ‘t’ test was used for data analysis.
Results: Subjective Well Being of the Experimental (Vipassana) group was found to be significantly higher than that of the Control (Non-Vipassana) group at 0.01 level. These results support the first and third hypotheses. These results are in line with the results obtained through the assessment of Subjective Well Being related responses in Impact of Vipassana Meditation Index.
2 (ii). Impact of Vipassana on Subjective Well Being with reference to regularity of post-course meditation practice was analysed using One Way Anova statistical method.
Results: The potential benefits derived from Vipassana on Subjective Well Being is significantly greater with regular post-course practice. These results support the seventh hypothesis.
2 (iii). Impact of Vipassana on Subjective Well Being with reference to years of meditation practice was analysed using Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient (r).
Results: The Correlation Coefficient between Subjective Well Being Inventory and number of years of Vipassana meditation practice was found to be +0.54 (Longer the practice, higher the Subjective Well Being). This indicates that the Subjective Well Being of the meditators has increased significantly with the duration of meditation practice. These results support the seventh hypothesis.
3 (i). Occupational Stress of Vipassana group was compared with the Occupational Stress of Non-Vipassana group through statistical analysis. Student’s ‘t’ test was used for this analysis.
Results: Occupational Stress of the experimental (Vipassana) group was found to be significantly lower than that of the control (Non-Vipassana) group at 0.01 level. These results are consistent with those obtained through assessment of Occupational Stress related responses in Impact of Vipassana Meditation Index. These results support the second and fourth hypotheses.
3 (ii). Impact of Vipassana on Occupational Stress with reference to regularity of post-course meditation practice was studied using One Way Anova statistical method.
Results: Although the stress of the subjects was reduced with regular practice, the potential benefits derived from Vipassana on Occupational Stress were not significant at 0.05 level.
3 (iii). Impact of Vipassana on Occupational Stress with reference to years of meditation practice was studied using Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient (r).
Results: The Correlation Coefficient between Occupational Stress and number of years of Vipassana meditation practice was found to be -0.52 (The longer the practice, the lower the stress). This indicates that the Occupational Stress of the meditators reduced significantly with the years of meditation practice. The results of this analysis support the seventh hypothesis.
Study II: Pre-course and Post-course Feedback:
This study was carried out using a ‘Before-and-After’ experimental design. The subjects were assessed using scientifically valid psychological instruments. Again, the independent variable was Vipassana meditation and the dependent variables were Subjective Well Being and Occupational Stress. The objective of this study was to investigate whether there was any positive change in subjects as a result of practising Vipassana.
The subjects were administered the Subjective Well Being Inventory and the Occupational Stress Index before the start of their first ten-day course and Impact of Vipassana Meditation Index, Subjective Well Being Inventory, and Occupational Stress Index after one month and six months of their course.
Post-course feedback was not obtained immediately after the course. Instead, this was obtained after one month and six months of their course. This was to avoid any chance of exaggeration due to over-enthusiasm immediately after the course. Also, this helped the investigator to assess the help that Vipassana gives when the subjects are facing the vicissitudes of life.
The subjects selected for this study were of three categories: senior personnel of Government, Public Sector Undertakings and Government Institutes of Higher & Technical Education. Participation in this study was purely voluntary. Even then, average 63% responded to the questionaires.
The sample consisted of 147 personnel in case of one-month post-course feedback and 119 personnel in case of six-month post-course feedback.
Instruments used for data collection
Impact of Vipassana Meditation Index,
Subjective Well Being Inventory and
Occupational Stress Index.
1. Impact of Vipassana Meditation Index was used to assess the impact of Vipassana on the professional and personal lives of government officials. The higher the score, the more the benefits derived from Vipassana. ‘Unsure’ responses were categorized as non-beneficiaries.
Results: Majority of the subjects (average 98%) benefited in their personal and professional life by practicing Vipassana. There was a positive change in their mental attitude and effectiveness. The above results support the eighth and ninth hypotheses.
In addition:
97% of the subjects in case of both, post-course one month and six months report that Vipassana is a scientific technique.
95% in case of post-course (one month) and 97% subjects in case of post-course (six months) report that Vipassana has the capacity to reform human mind and character.
On the average, 92% in the case of post-course (one month) and 95% in the case of post-course (six months) report that:
Vipassana has a direct role to play in improving public administration;
Vipassana should be used as an tool for Human Resource Development; and
it would be in the interest of governments and organizations for their employees to take Vipassana courses at regular intervals.
99% want their spouse to take a Vipassana course.
2. Subjective Well Being of the subjects before their exposure to Vipassana was compared with the Subjective Well Being after their first course (one month and six/five/four/three months after the course) through statistical analysis. Student’s ‘t’ test was used to analyse the data.
Results: Subjective Well Being of the subjects increased significantly one month and six months after the Vipassana course. The difference was significant at 0.01 level in both cases. These results support the first and third hypotheses.
3. Occupational Stress of the subjects before their exposure to Vipassana was compared with the Occupational Stress after the course (one month and six/five/four/three months after the course) through statistical analysis. Student’s ‘t’ test was used to analyse the data.
Results: Occupational Stress of the subjects decreased significantly one month and six months after the Vipassana course. The difference was found to be significant at 0.05 level in both cases. The above results support the second and fourth hypotheses.
The results in Study II are consistent with those obtained in Study I.
Study III: Anecdotal Evidences
The randomly selected subjects were requested to send a narrative of their experiences about the impact of Vipassana on their professional work and personal lives. They were also requested to comment whether the government should take steps to implement Vipassana in various Government organizations.
304 subjects were contacted by post/courier, out of which 212 (about 70%) responded and sent their anecdotal reports, which is an unusually high response.
The randomly selected subjects for this study were of three categories: Senior personnel of Government, Public Sector Undertakings and Government Institutes of Higher & Technical Education.
Most of the respondents reported that Vipassana had benefited them in all aspects of their personal and professional lives. The experience notes/anecdotal reports include the following points:
Improving the system:
Nearly all respondents reported that by practicing Vipassana they are able to contribute significantly, directly or indirectly, in the improvement of the system of their organizations. The positive change within is manifested as a positive impact on the work environment.
Reducing corrupt practices:
Many report that Vipassana helped them to develop the strength of mind to abstain from all corrupt practices.
Increasing efficiency and productivity:
Majority of the respondents report that Vipassana increased their productivity. Many wrote that Vipassana increased their concentration, which in turn, contributed to better efficiency. In addition, many respondents report that Vipassana helped them to enhance the efficiency of their subordinates as well.
Creating healthy work environment:
Majority of the subjects wrote that Vipassana enabled them to generate loving kindness and goodwill. They are now able to maintain inner peace and harmony, which is helping them to create a healthier work environment.
Imbibing moral values:
Majority reported that Vipassana has the capacity to reform the human mind and character. Many respondents narrated that Vipassana has a significant positive impact on their moral values and this positive change had a tremendous impact on reducing corrupt practices. Many stated that they realized that they themselves were the first victims of any immoral act.
Reducing stress and strain:
Almost all respondents revealed that Vipassana has reduced the stress and strain in their lives. Many narrated that Vipassana has helped them to keep the equilibrium of their mind even in the face of adverse conditions. Many report that the practice of Vipassana had reduced their anger, intolerance, and irritation, which in turn, increased their efficiency. All these contributed in reducing their stress and strain.
Increasing mutual cooperation and harmony among colleagues;
Improving relations with seniors and subordinates:
Many wrote that the practice of Vipassana resulted in significant reduction in ill will, hatred, animosity, anger, and egoism, which helped them to maintain good relations with their colleagues and others.
Reducing physical and mental health problems:
Many gains were reported in various aspects of mental health.
Vipassana reduced tension, anxiety, anger, agitation, restlessness, ego, irritation, fear, impatience, insecurity, shyness, rudeness, laziness, frustration, inferiority complex, nervousness and other psychological problems.
Vipassana helped many respondents to increase positive qualities like forgiveness, brotherly feelings, positive thinking, hopefulness, self-control, and self-confidence.
A few found the strength to face physical health problems. Some reported reduction in their physical ailments and improvement in their physical health.
A few revealed that Vipassana gave them the mental strength to give up unwholesome habits like smoking and drinking alcohol.
In brief, the respondents reported that Vipassana helped them, directly or indirectly, in almost all the above mentioned aspects. They stated that all these aspects are so interlinked and interdependent that it is difficult to isolate a particular benefit in a particular aspect because any improvement in one area is bound to create a significant positive impact in other areas as well.
They also said that, as Vipassana eradicates mental defilements, better results are bound to come and that these benefits are in fact, natural products of a pure mind achieved through the practice of Vipassana.
Recommendations of the respondents to incorporate Vipassana in Government:
There was a general consensus that some sort of special leave should be granted for employees to attend Vipassana courses. The respondents felt that the Government should encourage its employees to attend Vipassana courses.
A majority felt that it would be in the best interest of the Government and other organizations to ensure that their employees take Vipassana courses at regular intervals. Some remarked that the effort to introduce Vipassana to its employees would provide significant positive results.
Many respondents recommended that Vipassana courses should be compulsory for all Government employees, particularly senior officers.
However, others felt that it should not be compulsory, as it may become counterproductive. They noted that attending Vipassana courses with “inner urge” can bring a greater positive change and reform. Most respondents recommended that Vipassana should be implemented as a tool of Human Resource Development.
Study IV: Analysis of Vipassana course forms of Government officials:
These randomly selected subjects had already attended one or more Vipassana courses (called ‘old students’ of Vipassana) and furnished information in their introduction forms voluntarily after coming to the Vipassana centre for their next course. These forms were scrutinized and the data analysed to determine whether they were deriving any benefits from the practice of Vipassana. The subjects of this study were other than those covered in Study I, II and III.
Sample size: 1232 personnel.
Results: The subjects reported improvements in physical illness and/or mental temperament and in maintaining harmonious relations with others.
Many reported the following benefits of Vipassana:
Increase in positive qualities such as self-discipline, self-control, positive thinking, mutual trust, cooperation and understanding among colleagues, punctuality, brotherhood, forgiveness, self-realization, honesty, etc.
Reduction of stress and strain, irritation, anxiety, tension, anger, restlessness, laziness, jealousy, ego, depression, frustration, fear, greed, arrogance, impatience, aversion, craving, animosity, mental fatigue, agitation, insecurity, nervousness, inferiority complex, shyness, confused state of mind, etc.
Increase in concentration of mind, enthusiasm, efficiency and productivity.
Development of the mental strength to face the vicissitudes of life.
Happy and peaceful life because of Vipassana.