Editor Aparigraha Jain
Editor Carla Geerdes
The Russian delegation was comprised of 23 members from all parts of the Russian Federation and the Baltic states. Two of them came from Germany, as their families had moved from Germany to Russia some generations ago, and they moved back to Germany after the decline of the Iron Curtain.
The trip was organised by Evgeni Lugov (photo above) from Moscow who had visited JVBI Ladnun in 1993 in the course of his first trip to India with his first passport, as during the Soviet regime citizens of the Soviet Union were not allowed to travel for personal purposes. Speaking fluently Hindi, he stayed longer than planned to study Preksha Meditation. Back to Moscow, he met Emil Bagirov, owner of an institute for cosmo-energetic healing.
Emil Bagirov (photo above), practitioner of meditation since his younger days, was for a longer period searching after a meditation system supporting spiritual development as well as purification of the soul. In 2002 he participated together with some of his students in the first International Preksha Meditation Camp (IPMC). Since then Evgeni Lugov organises trips for Emil Bagirov and his students to India, including participation of IPMC.
The Russian, former Soviet education system does only rarely, formerly did not include the teaching of English language. Therefore the Russian group followed separate sessions,
assisted by two interpreters, translating from Hindi into Russian.
The Russian delegation was accommodated in the Sumero guesthouse on the campus of Jain Vishva Bharati Ladnun, a location with large, bright rooms of unexpected comfort, as they put it themselves.
Due to some travel problems, the first part of the group arrived on 17th January,
whereas the rest of the group arrived on 18th January.
All participants of 3rd IPMC met for the meals,
and shared the evening sessions after dinner.
Muni Kishanlal introduced the newcomers to the system of Preksha Meditation (PM) and advised them spiritually, like during the former camps.
For better concentration during the meditation session, they were provided with pyramid formed paper hats, printed with photos of 9. Acharya Tulsi, Acharya Mahaprajna and Yuvacharya Mahashraman, as well as auspicious spiritual symbols.
As we were told, the paper hats really had fulfilled the purpose.
The initiators of the IPMCs, Muni Kumar Shraman and Muni Jaykumar were caring a lot for the welfare of the Russian delegation, keeping in mind that they should teach PM in their home countries.
Samani Akshay Pragya gave regular meditation sessions.
During her visit to Moscow in December 2003 she had demonstrated how to withstand the cold by applying ancient methods to produce heat and energy in the body:
Reciting of Arham together with ‘Hum’ and slightly touching the navel, the psychic centre of bio-electricity.
The conditions for individual spiritual upliftment were excellent for the Russian group of 25.
They had a lot of fun when they went on a camel curricle trip into the desert Thar. Unto nowadays most of the goods are transported this way inside of Rajasthan.
Souvenir photo under the Rajasthani Khechari tree, needing water only once a year, whose branches are used for heating and cooking, some early practice of renewable energy.
The Russian delegation’s stay at Ladnun was elongated for one day because of their arrival delay.
Video:
PrekshaYoga_with_MuniKishanlal.avi
320x240: 6.7 MB