(Retrospective Post)
( Vishalakshi Mandir at the heart of the Ashram )
The convention was largely all talks discourses.... Guruji's, Professional's, Scientists, Doctors, Social Workers... a whole mixed bag. Some of the speakers were mind-blowing...i mean, really really really good! But most of the others were just plain boring, coz they just kept repeating on a common theme.
I had a pretty good time at the Think India convention.... we were a total of 19 from our College- 9 guys, all my classmates save two. (On the whole there were apparently 800 delegates, though i think the organizers fibbed.)
It was a 3-day event held at The Art of Living International Centre, AoL's massive Bangalore Ashram, around 25kms from the city. The campus is HugE, and growing, and has the very impressive Vishalakshi Mandir as it's focal point. (see photos)
It was a 3-day event held at The Art of Living International Centre, AoL's massive Bangalore Ashram, around 25kms from the city. The campus is HugE, and growing, and has the very impressive Vishalakshi Mandir as it's focal point. (see photos)
I was expecting Dorms, but we were assigned rooms in the Ashram's big accomodation facility. There was a hitch in the accomodation the very 1st night - we were given the wrong combination for the lock to our room, and it was 1030pm by the time we got in.
Thankfully, the rooms were pretty nice. (read: clean!)
There's a 11pm curfew in the Ashram, but get this, they don't shut the gates! (that's "freedom" for ya!) We all walked down to the closest village, a kilometer away at 1130, bought some liquor and happily walked back to the room. We didn't exactly abide by Ashram rules after that.
There's a 11pm curfew in the Ashram, but get this, they don't shut the gates! (that's "freedom" for ya!) We all walked down to the closest village, a kilometer away at 1130, bought some liquor and happily walked back to the room. We didn't exactly abide by Ashram rules after that.
Neither did we pay much attention to the instructions from the Think India guys...
That's the good thing about having friends who have the same attention-span as you .......you all get bored at the approximately the same time!
We attended only the interesting lectures...mostly only on the 3rd day. Rest of time, we were generally lolling about through the ashram. The girls, on the other hand, i think, attended almost every lecture... they even attended the Yoga sessions faithfully!!...waking up at 530am!!! Hehehe..
Ancient-scriptures were linked to Scientific advances.
The relevant Shlokas were quoted to prove that the New ideas of today can be found in millenia old texts.
Everything from Business Theory to Rocket Science to General Relativity were ascribed to the Vedas.
By the end of it, many speakers went beyond just linking the old and the new, and were directly attributing ancient-knowledge as the seed for today's developments.
Every time one of these speakers would start off, we'd get up, all 9 of us, and walk out! LOL!!!
Like i mentioned before, a few guys were really fantastic... they were crystal clear about what they wanted to convey. It was awe-inspiring and really an absolute pleasure to sit and listen to these guys talk. That they were true masters of their subject came across to everyone, just by the words they spoke. You could actually see that these guys were going to succeed, just because of the way they thought about life and things. T'was really a treat for my cortex!!!
There was an interactive session at the end of the 3rd day...a kind of closing session. I didn't make it to the session (as usual!), but i later heard that the ABVP-guys, who acted as moderators for each group, kinda hijacked the (every) discussions to voice out their political agenda.
I had been pleasantly surprised at the lack of overt-propaganda in the entire 3 day, but i guess this was it. (read my apprehensions: previous blogpost)
We finally got back into Bangalore at night, in a crowded bus. (3rd day)
It wasn't my usual idea of a 'break'...but we had some very 'different' fun. Besides, college authorities were giving us 3-days-attendance ...and i think we made full use of that.
The relevant Shlokas were quoted to prove that the New ideas of today can be found in millenia old texts.
Everything from Business Theory to Rocket Science to General Relativity were ascribed to the Vedas.
By the end of it, many speakers went beyond just linking the old and the new, and were directly attributing ancient-knowledge as the seed for today's developments.
Every time one of these speakers would start off, we'd get up, all 9 of us, and walk out! LOL!!!
Like i mentioned before, a few guys were really fantastic... they were crystal clear about what they wanted to convey. It was awe-inspiring and really an absolute pleasure to sit and listen to these guys talk. That they were true masters of their subject came across to everyone, just by the words they spoke. You could actually see that these guys were going to succeed, just because of the way they thought about life and things. T'was really a treat for my cortex!!!
There was an interactive session at the end of the 3rd day...a kind of closing session. I didn't make it to the session (as usual!), but i later heard that the ABVP-guys, who acted as moderators for each group, kinda hijacked the (every) discussions to voice out their political agenda.
I had been pleasantly surprised at the lack of overt-propaganda in the entire 3 day, but i guess this was it. (read my apprehensions: previous blogpost)
We finally got back into Bangalore at night, in a crowded bus. (3rd day)
It wasn't my usual idea of a 'break'...but we had some very 'different' fun. Besides, college authorities were giving us 3-days-attendance ...and i think we made full use of that.
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