The Ushering In of a New Era

MAMATA VENKAT shares her experience of attending an extraordinary event near Hyderabad, India – the inauguration of a vast new meditation center in honor of 75 years of Heartfulness.

- MAMATA VENKAT

On a cool, windy morning on Tuesday, January 28, the Hyderabadi sun slowly cast its light over 40,000 Heartfulness practitioners quietly sitting together in meditation at Kanha Shanti Vanam Ashram. Heartfulness was celebrating the 75th anniversary of its first organization, Shri Ram Chandra Mission, with the inauguration of the world’s largest meditation center. This was to be the first of three separate seminars – the first from January 28th to 30th, the second from February 1st to 3rd, and the third from February 7th to 9th. All in all, 100,000 people attended the three seminars. Seekers from around the world had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of this momentous occasion. In the days prior, they came in waves, filling up the newly-constructed dormitories with suitcases, laughter, and a readiness to absorb the subtle meditative condition that was pervading the dusty Indian air.