Hope
you enjoy...kind of relaxing and slow...not too much excitement just yet!
First Week at Sri Sri University
It’s
been exactly one week that I’ve been on campus here at Sri Sri
University. It’s been a very relaxing induction into student life.
The Masters program got delayed by one month so I’ve been just helping out and
studying in my free time. I’m enjoying the seva activities and meeting
all of the students.
The
amazing thing is how nice everyone is. The students here are so kind and
sweet. The students seem very innocent. The MBA students appear to
be having a blast, which is fun to see. I’ve been playing ping pong with
the boys just about every evening. I bought the students new paddles and
balls…secret seva is a lot of fun J
The
campus here is just getting started. The campus reminds me of old photos
of the Bangalore Ashram 20 or 25 years ago. The 180 acre campus here is
mostly bare land along the river. We have about 7 or 8 buildings on
campus including two good sized hostels (dorms) that each have about 80 rooms
among 5 or 6 floors. The students seem very happy with the campus setup.
I have been getting used to the heat and rain. I think my body actually
likes that I’m not constantly in A/C. My room does not have A/C, so I
have the ceiling fan on full blast! I have been learning lessons like not
to keep food in my room as ants love food! I’ve also been drinking 2 to 4
liters of water per day to account for all of the sweating! I’ve been
taking 3 to 4 showers / day which takes up most of my day ;-) I now love
the cold water baths. We don’t have hot water in the boys hostel. I
use a bucket and a cup to take my baths…this must sound very foreign to most
Americans. At first, over the first few days, I missed the creature
comforts of the US like my Central A/C and heat in the house and car. I
missed the comfort of driving everywhere with my main exercise coming from Pure
Austin, our local Austin gym. Here, I’m actually setting up the gym on
the top floor of our hostel. We currently only have two dumb-bells and a
very basic bench press. I’m hoping to setup a whole new wing of the
hostel with sweet gym equipment; and really get folks in shape! I’ve been
running every other day or so and like to get in a good sweat at night. I
feel great walking around campus and really enjoy the natural beauty. I
can just see our university looking like the Bangalore Ashram in 10
years. Many buildings will hopefully come up including an engineering
school and a medical school. We’ll hopefully have a café and a bookstore,
paved roads, and recycling to name a few things. I have heard we’ve had a
ton of progress over the past 4 years, so am excited to see what the next few
years entail.
I
feel so lucky to spend time with Bawa and Dinesh Ji here at Sri Sri
University. They seem so accessible. I just walk in to their office
/ usually just see them walking around campus. They are so humble and
accessible. One night, I just stopped running and started talking to both
of them while they were walking. I didn’t even think to ask if they were
busy / if I could speak with them. They are so chill and laid back it’s
nice to be around them. They both seem very busy though, so it’s not
always easy to catch them.
My
current seva projects include managing the remodel of the Yoga Hostel and
classrooms, getting our gym setup, and getting some materials together to
potentially teach Pricing and Financial Independence. We’ll see what
opportunities come up. I would love to teach our BBA & MBA students
financial independence via Rich Dad Poor Dad and Cash Flow 101. I think
the business students should also know pricing strategy, so I’ll teach if asked.
I
was feeling a little home sick and missed the comforts of living in the US
until I shared a rickshaw with a new faculty member here. We headed into
town and I fell in love with all of the life that’s found in India. With
1.2B people, you feel like every town center’s NYC. There are people
everywhere. A traffic jam in India doesn’t just involve cars; it includes
pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, trucks, cars, and cows.
There’s also a plethora of horn honking and scents. It’s quite a festival
of sorts. I fall in love with India every time I get in a rickshaw.
It’s like the country comes alive with so many people everywhere.
Regarding
nature, I’ve had my fair share of life just about everywhere including my
bed! I’ve seen many ants, mosquitos, lizards, dogs, and cows. While
walking to my yoga hostel, I ended up walking through a large group of
something…sheep / goats…the shepherd was this wiry old guy that looked like someone
out of a novel.
I’ve
been studying Sanskrit every day and am mostly just getting the near 50 letters
down for now. I’m about half way through the alphabet. Talk about a
night and day difference vs. English. English seems like a cake walk
compared to Sanskrit.
I’m
also loving The Supreme Yoga - Yoga Vasistha. I’m reading and re-reading
every day…so much meaning exists even in one page.
Well,
I’m hoping to get in amazing shape by the time class starts on September 9th.
I’m doing Padma Sadhana two to three times / day and will hopefully start Sri
Sri Yoga as soon as I get a yoga mat. I’m doing my Padma Sadhana on the
mattress on my floor.
On
the subject of food, to keep my Mom happy, I’ll write about it…it’s been ok…a lot
of carbs! On many mornings, I’ll have roti / chapatti & breakfast
rice with pickle (chutney). For lunch we get a nice vegetable dish, rice,
chapatti, and daal (lentil soup). I’ve been skipping dinner as it’s
served at 8:30pm. If I eat 3 meals / day, my stomach gets upset…Gurudev
says that by age 40, one meal / day is enough. I think eating 3 meals /
day is just too taxing on the system, though I’m a little hungry right now, but
I’d rather have no food in my room than ants! I bought a ton of fruits
yesterday while we were on the rickshaw ride and found a ton of new
roommates! I had to kill my new roommates, the ants, by the grace of
Indian Windex…potent stuff. I know, I know…didn’t feel great killing the
ants, but it’s either their death, of my swollen body with ant bites!
So
that’s it so far…I’m loving my unstructured days, my near full sadhana each
day, studying Sanskrit and yoga, exploring the 180 acre campus by foot, and
playing ping pong with the MBA students. I’m looking forward to spending
more time with our local Swami Ji and doing more Guru Poojas’. Gurudev
will be here September 3rd for the inauguration speech!
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