Editor Aparigraha Jain
Editor Carla Geerdes
13th November 2006, 23:30
Warm welcome by Swami Dharmanandji (m), director of Adhyatma Sadhana Kendra, Merauli, for editors Karuna (r) and Aparigraha Jain from Berlin, Germany, on 13.11.2006, about 23:30h.On 13th November 2006, we arrived at New Delhi Airport at 23:30 with slight delay of 30 minutes. Early in the morning, we had left home in Berlin; outside it was still dark, as it was 5:00. With our luggage, we left the airport after having passed the customs. It was amazingly warm (22°C), after having left Berlin with high temperature of 11°C! Outside the airport, a noisy crowd was awaiting the passengers with the usual taxi and accommodation offers.
Then we immediately felt at home, when we detected Swami Dharmanandji in the crowd! He was like an island in the ocean and gave us a warm welcome with girdles of flowers and all his amity and affection. We went straight to the Adhyatma Sadhana Kendra in Merauli, which he is directing since nearly 20 years.
He was our first Jain teacher, and we are continuously in contact since 7 years. Adhyatma Sadhana Kendra is the Jain Ashram where Karuna had stayed in 2000, when she was on her first trip to spiritual India. Now the two of us realised that our trip to living Jainism had started.
Visitors and participants of the regular Meditation Camps held in the Kendra are received here.The Kendra had developed amazingly in the last seven years. Not only that fortnightly meditation camps on heart disease reversal and diabetes are held regularly, also workshops and conferences are organised. Last year, H.H. Acharya Mahaprajna had his Chaturmas here, where the President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and other dignitaries had visited him.
In 2005, H.H. Acharya Mahapragya stayed here during his Delhi Chaturmas, the four months of the year, when Jain monks and nuns are staying at one place in the raining season.To accommodate the saints and the visitors awaited for this occasion, huge construction works had been started. One storey was added to the octagonal main building, the inner courtyard was canopied, and the construction work of two new buildings was started, where among others, social events like marriages will be celebrated.
We were tired, but very happy and a bit curious, what our experiences in spiritual India would be like this time. Mostly, we wondered if it would be possible to realise our tour according to the straight schedule.
Swami Dharmanandji had organised and booked all transportation facilities in India, he had bought the train tickets for us and arranged that car and driver stayed with us during our whole trip in Rajasthan up to Jaipur. We had a lively exchange of emails (Delhi-Berlin), culminating in his saying, ‘I want to make your trip to spiritual India a comfortable and unforgettable one.’ This was 100% fulfilled! Not only that we reached all our destinations according to the schedule, we also met so many wonderful people who showered their love and amity on us in a quantity, we had never experienced before.
14.11.2006
Like every morning in the Kendra, the day started at 5:15h with about one hour of Preksha Meditation, guided by Swami Dharmanandji. This helped a lot to adjust with the Indian time, being 4 and half hours in advance of European wintertime. Before breakfast at 8:00h, we took some rest and bath.
Swami Dharmanandji (in front of the group) gives a session of Preksha Meditation to participants of a camp, where instructions are given, how to influence waterworks and bladder to work propperly with the help of meditation.During our stay in the Kendra, a camp lying stress on the influence of meditation on the urinary system took place. This camp is the first realisation of Dharmanandji’s new project. Up to then, the camps in the Kendra were on reversal of heart disease and diabetes. Since about six months, Dharmanandji received many requests how to support proper function of the urinary system with the help of meditation. This had made him work out a camp on this subject, including how to meditate on the waterworks, Yoga Asanas and change of lifestyle. Later on, when feedback on this and the camps to follow will be available, a publication on this subject is planned, where most frequent questions are answered and feedback of participants will be documented.
Swami Dharmanandji understands all the many hindrances people like to express when they are asked to sit down and meditate, fearing not being able to sit still for one second. He encourages everyone to contact the Self and gives easy to follow instructions how to do this.Swami Dharmanandji proofed to the 28 participants of this first camp, that meditation has an impact on the waterworks and helps to withstand all kinds of side effects coming with the disease. Many of them regained hope and energy to be able to adjust with the situation, as the majority of them suffer from severe depressions, when they get to know their diagnosis.
Under Swami Dharmanandji's guidance everyone is able to concentrate deeply.Even when people are confronted with the necessity to undergo regularly medical care for the functioning of their kidneys, they better match with it when they meditate.
Swami Dharmanandji has been awarded with the title of Swami by Acharya Tulsi, the 9. Acharya of Jain Swetambara Terapanth sect.We were very touched how brave these people started to change their lifestyle and how Dharmanandji and his dedicated team of yoga teachers and instructors had motivated them.
Swami Dharmanandji is a gifted lecturer who understands to attract the attention to the subjtcs he is dealing with.