{"id":"s-n-goenka","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/s-n-goenka","language":"en","name":"S. N. Goenka","name_en":"S. N. Goenka","name_ne":null,"description":"Burmese teacher of vipassanā meditation (1924–2013)","headline":"Burmese teacher of vipassanā meditation (1924–2013)","also_known_as":[],"summary":"Satya Narayana Goenka was an Indian teacher of vipassanā meditation. Born in Burma to an Indian family, he learnt Vipassana from Sayagyi U Ba Khin, retired from business in 1962 during business nationalization by military government in Burma, and moved to India in 1969 to start teaching Vipassana meditation. His teachings stay away from rites and rituals and emphasize that Buddha's path to liberation was non-sectarian, universal, and scientific in character, leading to Vipassana meditation appealing to people of all religions as well as no religion, from all parts of the world. He became an influential teacher and played an important role in establishing non-commercial Vipassana meditation centers globally where Vipassana Meditation is taught as a 10 Day residential program with no charges for food, stay as well as for teaching meditation, with centers funded by willful donations from past meditators. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2012, an award given for distinguished service of high order.","summary_more":[],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"30 January 1924","date":"1924-01-30"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q539048#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Mandalay","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q185518"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q539048#P19"}},{"key":"died","label":"Died","values":[{"text":"29 September 2013","date":"2013-09-29"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q539048#P570"}},{"key":"deathplace","label":"Place of death","values":[{"text":"Mumbai","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1156"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q539048#P20"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"India","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q668","start":"1979"},{"text":"British Raj","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q129286","start":"1924-01-29","end":"1937"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q539048#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"writer","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q36180"},{"text":"Vipassana meditation teacher","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q96184681"},{"text":"businessperson","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q43845"},{"text":"teacher","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q37226"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q539048#P106"}},{"key":"spouse","label":"Spouse","values":[{"text":"IIlaichidevi Goenka","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q136656999","start":"1942-01-21","end":"2013-09-29"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q539048#P26"}},{"key":"awards","label":"Awards","values":[{"text":"Padma Bhushan","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q932650"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q539048#P166"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._N._Goenka","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q539048"],"faq":[{"q":"When was S. N. Goenka born?","a":"S. N. Goenka was born on 30 January 1924 in Mandalay."}],"related":[{"name":"Mukesh Ambani","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/mukesh-ambani"},{"name":"Sushmita Sen","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/sushmita-sen"},{"name":"Ajay Devgn","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/ajay-devgn"},{"name":"Lakshmi Mittal","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/lakshmi-mittal"},{"name":"Ratan Tata","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/ratan-tata"},{"name":"Indra Nooyi","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/indra-nooyi"},{"name":"Priyanka Gandhi","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/priyanka-gandhi"},{"name":"Gautam Adani","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/gautam-adani"},{"name":"Azim Premji","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/azim-premji"},{"name":"N. R. Narayana Murthy","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/n-r-narayana-murthy"},{"name":"Vijay Mallya","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/vijay-mallya"},{"name":"Ajay Banga","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/ajay-banga"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/s-n-goenka-14a5e39ce0.jpg","width":500,"height":292,"license":"GODL-India","credit":"Government of India","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Kalyanmitra_Satyanarayan_Goenka_who_brought_Vipassana_Meditation_technique_to_India_after_2500_years_is_seen_with_his_wife_while_speaking_at_a_talk_on_%22Values_in_Education_-_Good_Governance_through_Vipassana_Meditation%22_in.jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): S. N. Goenka","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._N._Goenka","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q539048","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q539048","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: The Kalyanmitra Satyanarayan Goenka who brought Vipassana Meditation technique to India after 2500 years is seen with his wife while speaking at a talk on \"Values in Education - Good Governance through Vipassana Meditation\" in.jpg by Government of India (GODL-India)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Kalyanmitra_Satyanarayan_Goenka_who_brought_Vipassana_Meditation_technique_to_India_after_2500_years_is_seen_with_his_wife_while_speaking_at_a_talk_on_%22Values_in_Education_-_Good_Governance_through_Vipassana_Meditation%22_in.jpg","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article S. N. Goenka, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: The Kalyanmitra Satyanarayan Goenka who brought Vipassana Meditation technique to India after 2500 years is seen with his wife while speaking at a talk on \"Values in Education - Good Governance through Vipassana Meditation\" in.jpg — Government of India, GODL-India.","cite":"\"S. N. Goenka\". DigiNepal. Last updated 7 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/s-n-goenka. Retrieved 7 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-10-07T11:48:10Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-07","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/s-n-goenka","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/s-n-goenka","ne":"https://diginpl.com/people/s-n-goenka?lang=ne"}}