The morning of 30th July was a great day, I woke up free of the nagging cough and cold.
Akshay’s graduation was scheduled for the second half of the day, so we decided to visit the Isha Foundation in the morning.
Rather than driving we (my father, Revathi & I) took an Uber cab, I think that was the best decision we took and ensured that we had an unstressed trip to and fro the Ashram. The driver was very friendly and helpful. The ride was scenic and the approach to the Ashram was beautiful, a sprawling green campus with the Nilgiris in the background.
We first walked across to the sculpture of the Adi Yogi, impressive and serene, one can visualize the music and dance programs held on the Purnima (full moon) day.
We then had masala dosa and tea for breakfast at the canteen.
The long walk to and fro from the Adi Yogi, tired my father and he decided to rest at the canteen while we explored the rest of the Ashram.
Unfortunately we had to leave behind our mobile, camera and ipod, so we have no pictures for you to visualize the wonderful atmosphere inside. Personally I am very wary of religious righteousness, the “my god is the only god” or “my god is better than yours”, and to be honest I stepped in the campus wearing my “invisible armor”. I was pleasantly surprised, the atmosphere on the campus was friendly and inclusive, more spiritual than religious.
The people on campus represented all classes of people, we saw intermixed with brown skins, skins with hues of white, yellow and black. We even saw hijab clad young women wandering in the campus.
During the tour of the campus, we were led into a large meditation hall, with a 15 minute period for meditation. The atmosphere within the dome was such that it appeared as if we had just sat down cross legged to meditate when the 15 minute gong when off.
There was a Yoga session scheduled after an hour, we had to miss this as this clashed with our return to base to proceed to the graduation ceremony at DJ Academy of Design.
But return I shall later to the Isha Foundation Ashram. I can only hope and wish that this Yoga Course will lower my handicap to equal that of the Sadguru’s.
Walkabout with Anil 