The first part of today’s schedule was the trip to the “Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Guruji Ashram “ an international center for the “Art of Living” organization which was founded in 1981 by a spiritual leader of the same name. So after a rich, but for the most of us rather short breakfast at the hotel, our bus driver fired up his engine to take us to what would be a very strange, yet interesting experience in many ways.
The foundation’s premises which are situated close to Bangalore’s city limits are generously framed by it’s large perimeter containing a diverse amount of plantations, trees and ponds. People from all over the world pilgrimage to this location in order to meditate and to find their peace of mind.
Correspondingly irritating was the fact that we were welcomed by a traditionally dressed indian employee sporting two BlackBerry smartphones who seemed to be pretty busy hammering out messages at that time.
However, eventually we took the tour to the site’s several spiritual monuments.
After learning about the backgrounds of the “Art of Living” concept and their Guruji it was time for some lunch. The lunch turned out to be not everyone’s idea of culinary excellence so the events at the organization’s canteen have inflicted mixed feelings within the tour’s participants.
Fully rested we approached the last part of this journey to our innermost thoughts.
One of the most important men in the foundation’s circles is a Swiss guy who patiently shared his comprehensive knowledge about meditation and also about his organization from a business perspective.
It was indeed a very enlightening discussion with critical as well as curious questions about his way of life and his decision to dedicate his life and his passion to the “Art of Living”.
Subsequently we had the honor to enjoy a short but strengthening meditative session which, as I’m guessing, was a rather new experience for most of us.
To finalize our journey we went on a little ride around the beautiful area where we were informed about the community’s self-sustaining setup.
All in all it was a very pleasant day with many new impressions which was perfect to top with a few cold drinks at our Hotel’s own poolside bar.