Preparations and First Few Days in India

We have been in India now for four days and tomorrow we leave early for Kanyakumari, at the southernmost tip of India. We are a coherent group of 28 MUM students, alumni, and continuing education students from all over the globe, moving together to recount the early history of Maharishi's movement in India, visit the modern day achievements of Maharishi in India, and study many aspects of Vedic Science along the way. The first few days illustrate the variety and range of our course.

Orientation in Fairfield.

We had learned from past courses that the best start of a Rotating University course is to have knowledge at the start that prepares people for the culture into which they are moving. So in the first two days on campus, we heard an introduction by President Bevan Morris on the culture and etiquette of India, an introduction and summary of a new retelling of the Ramayana by Linda and Tom Egenes (that we will be reading while in India), a 3-hour presentation by Dr. Paul Morehead summarizing the Vedic Devatas in the human physiology, and a presentation by Shankari Wegman, specifically on temple etiquette (potentially one of the most confusing experiences in India). Each presentation prepared us for an aspect of the course that we will be pursuing while in India.

Travel to India.

The first day of the trip reminded me of many rivers converging as they flow toward the sea. We started in Cedar Rapids on Thursday around noon with thirteen of us: six full-time MA in Vedic Science students, three continuing education students, and four course leaders. We were joined at the airport by Stephen and Dori Rector, to make fifteen traveling by plane to Chicago. In Chicago we were joined by two others, one from Seattle and one from the LA area, making us 17. In Delhi, after a 16 hour plane ride from Chicago, we met by eleven more to make 28 total. The Delhi Airport is much improved from what I remember in previous years, more modern, clean, efficient.

We were greeted at the airport by our travel agent, Rajen Singla, and a comfortable 35-seater bus, to get us to our two hotels. After a couple of miscommunications between traveling couples, we got everyone into the hotel by 2 AM Friday morning.Delhi. The first night in Delhi brought back all of the memories of India from courses and celebrations past, the smell of wood burning mixed with truck and bus fumes; the cacophony of horns, barking dogs, and mechanical generators; the stream of travel at all times of day--mostly motor rikshaws in the day, and trucks at night. One group stayed in the Connaught Palace (the more upscale group), the other in the Swati Deluxe (comfortable student accommodations).

Everyone slept soundly the first night, relieved to be able to sleep lying down. On the first day in Delhi we had a brief orientation to India for those who had not started with us in Fairfield and then broke for an afternoon of shopping: women buying punjabis and sarees, the men kurta pajamas and dhotis. (We were determined not to look like a cultural invasion American dress.)

We happened on the first day to run into Joey Del Ray, Jamie Fritsch, David Averbach, Miriam Daudi, and Clayton ??, MUM graduates who happened to be in Delhi at the same time. We would see David and Miriam again in Thiruvanandapuram. Most everyone came away satisfied from their shopping and feeling well equipped with beautiful, traditional Indian dress, one of the great pleasures of being and traveling in India. The next morning we boarded a flight of Kingfisher airlines for a four-hour flight down to the south-eastern state of Kerala, where Maharishi first began teaching Transcendental Meditation in 1955. The four-hour flight seemed a mere blink of the eye after our 16 hour trip two days before.

Thiruvanandapuram (Trivandrum)

In Thiruvanandapuram we boarded another big blue bus with full AC to travel an hour to the Kovalam Beach, to a resort called Isola Di Coco on the Arabian Sea. We were quite happy to be leaving the big city of Delhi and to be in the fresh air breezes of the southeastern coastal area. This area of Kerala boasts a network of freshwater canals which are world-famous for their unique ecology. At this time of year the area is aflame with beautiful, sweet-smelling flowers, bathed in a constant warm breeze off the ocean. The resort sits on a little lagoon a brief boat-ride from the ocean.

The first morning we relaxed, slept in, and enjoyed the fresh air, beautiful pool, and ocean.That afternoon we held our first class in which we provided an orientation and presentation for those who had not been able to be present for the initial orientation in Fairfield. The Maharishi Vedic Science MA students gave a beautiful recap of the Vedic Devatas in the human physiology from Raja Ram's book, establishing themselves as budding teachers in their own right.

That afternoon we also took a ride in the beautiful backwater area of Kerala. In the evening we heard a beautiful tape by Maharishi on the life of Guru Dev and the early history of the Movement, introducing the next day's travel to the city in which Maharishi first lectured, Thiruvandandapuram. Today, our second day at the resort and fourth day in India, we took a bus into the city of Thiruvanandapuram (literally, the "place of the glorious infinite," ananda being the name of the snake on which Lord Vishnu reclines, symbolic of Vishnu himself).

We were met by a TM-Sidhi administrator by the name of A. K. Rajesh, who explained to us that Thriuvandapuram has always been a city dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It is the political center of the state of Kerala, but it is city governed by Lord Vishnu, as its name indicates. Even the Raja of the city rules in his name. Rajesh showed us the Padmanabaswami Temple that Maharishi used to visit regularly when first in Thiruvanandapuram, the temple to which he was walking when he was first asked "Do you speak?" As westerners we were not allowed into the temple, though we tried to get permission through numerous means, but we took the time instead to visit the library where Maharishi first spoke.

The old library is still there, not as a functional library, but as a small room with bookcases filled with books. The stage on which Maharishi sat to lecture is still there. Where the audience would have sat is a bazaar of dishware for sale. Bizarre but sweet at the same time. After a sumptuous lunch we returned to the beach for more R&R and class in the evening. For this class we began reading the new Egenes' retelling of the Ramyana: a beautiful edition that makes it far easier to connect to Maharishi's knowledge. We had a lively discussion and then turned in early, as tomorrow we board the bus again bound to visit Mr. Nyak, the son of the librarian who first encountered Maharishi on his way to the temple and invited him to speak at the library. Rajesh will be there again, but we are looking forward to the stories of this man who remembers walking with his father behind Maharishi. We will post again in a couple of days...so much in every day to report. We're going to give many people on the course an opportunity to post for you, so that you get many perspectives on what is happening. This will start us off.

Sincerely,

Chris Jones