Ladnun - Jain Vishva Bharati - Trip To Spirituality [03] 3rd IPMC

	The first day of the 3rd International Meditation Camp started not until 8 a.m. for breakfast, different from the seven days to follow. Some participants were still to arrive, while the majority already was there. So breakfast was the first official occasion to meet the other participants. The kitchen was ready to serve everybody to their best.
	After breakfast, an introduction tour of Jain Vishva Bharati’s campus was given by Mr. Sidhraj Bhandari, president of Jain Vishva Bharati.
	All of us were impressed to see the clean, tree-flanked avenues of this park like area at the outskirts of Ladnun and the Thar desert. The beautiful gardens with flowers like bougainvilleas, hibiscus and even green (!) grass, were only meters away from the busy and sandy roads of the little town! But we also realised how cold the past night had been for us, used to cold, but to central heating as well…
	The walkabout started at the administration building of Jain Vishva Bharati Ladnun, just next to the place where meditation sessions, lectures and meals took place.
	The building had about a dozen light office rooms, a kingdom of desktops and computers, with a little areaway in the middle,
	and one big conference hall with facilities for presentations, where the director of the ‘Science of Living’ academy gave an overview on the academy’s work.
	But the timetable had to be fulfilled, as Mr. Bhandari was reminding, and we had to hurry away from this extended lecture ….
	to the Art Gallery where many objects of devotion were exposed: Paintings illustrating the stories of Lord Mahavira’s life and work, portraits of Acharyas and other saints, gifts to the Acharyas for Maryada Mahotsav, and some objects handcrafted by Sadhvishrees, bowls for food and water, meticulously labelled with tiny letters and religious phrases
	This was matched by the library with more than 50.000 books and a rare collection of 1000 years old manuscripts. (The collection of German encyclopaedias was shown later to us.)
	After this, our group was led to the buildings of Jain Vishva Bharati Institute and the college affiliated to the Jain university offering a three years degree course (B.A) to women which will be deepened in an extra article. We had to leave the circuit who was heading to the Primary and Secondary school (separate article in near future) at this time, because our rooms in the ‘Nidam’ (Tulsi Adhyatma Nidam) were ready and we were asked to install immediately. This done, we recovered while taking nutritious lunch.
	Then all us were ready to see His Holiness Acharya Mahaprajna and Yuvacharyashree Mahashramanji for being initiated to the International Preksha Meditation Camp. Acharyashree pointed out how important it is to live in the present for being happy with one’s life. One should regard the whole life as meditation and perform every single action consciously, being conscious of eating while eating, of drinking while drinking, of hearing while hearing, to quote some examples.
	After refreshments, personal work and dinner Samani Charitra Pragya introduced us to aims and effects of Preksha Meditation.
	In the evening session, after Mangal Bhavana (blissfull wishes), the participants were presented to His Holiness Acharya Mahaprajna.
	Then Yuyachryashree Mahashramanji gave a session of meditation which all participants enjoyed highly joining us in the days to come.

Ladnun - Jain Vishva Bharati - Trip To Spirituality [03] 3rd IPMC - 1st Day