On a date or dates to be announced, we will be taking a field trip to Vedic City, IA. We will get a guided tour of the town and its facilities. Please thoroughly review the town's website http://www.maharishivediccity-iowa.gov/. The cost of the tour is $10 per person. I will cover transportation costs. We'll discuss as a class the best day to go. For this blog post you will reflect on your experience and knowledge of Vedic City.
In all honesty I was a bit thrown back at times during our tour. When our guide mentioned the “hopping thing as the first stage to flight with TM I about lost it. The second stage is levitating and the third is actual flight. Fortunately I did not laugh and I think our group as a whole did a great job of being open minded during the tour. The most interesting part I found was the detail on the houses. The entrances all had to face the east and are made up very symmetrical. This is supposed help guide in good qualities and feelings into the home and is supposed to help the residents have more peace inside. I am a bit of a skeptic to these kind of things, but I found it fascinating and enjoyed the overall concept of bringing peace into the home. The house from the outside did not look half that bad either. They varied in sizes and could be made out of different materials, so it was not like they were all cookie cutter houses and the same. The basic similarity was just the layout and that they had to be symmetrical. I found that the time spent touring the women’s dome was interesting as well. I liked that they had an area for visitors, but they could only join them if they also were TM certified. Their overall goal is to get 8,000 people to meditate at the same time and they believe this will help spark and change the world to also live with the same mindset as they do. Our tour guide also mentioned that this is NOT a religion. They have people joining them and living there from all different kinds of religious groups, so it is better to think of it as more of a lifestyle choice. The other part that was fun was when we saw the observatories. It was interesting to see the different models that could tell time along with other things. Our tour guide even mentioned that places in India have even larger scales of these in public places that are as tall as buildings, so I thought that was neat. Overall I was glad to be able to go on this tour and found it very informative about the culture in that area.
I really enjoyed our trip to Vedic City. It was very informative and nice to put pictures to what we have talked about in class of a town that focuses on meditation. The place we started at was a huge (and quite expensive) hotel. We waited here for our tour guide to arrive, and got a little introduction to what the city was like. After the guide arrived, we headed upstairs to watch a video presentation on the history of Vedic City and Maharisi’s development of his idea of the perfect city. Everything was fine until here. This is where we started to learn about “flying”. After flying came into discussion, I thought that the guide lost quite a bit of credibility. People were hopping once they reached a certain point in meditation. The hopping wasn’t bothersome to me and actually looked like it might be fun. What did bother me was that these people meditation thought that if they practice this (flailing) hopping, that eventually they would achieve flight. The explanation of how flying works got even weirder! Apparently once you reach a certain point of meditation, past a threshold (I can’t remember the name of it right now) gravity doesn’t exist. Now let’s just assume that this point existed, that you could get to a point where there was no gravity. In order for that to work you would need to physically move somewhere. But the belief is that within your mind you get to a certain place of mind and then are able to fly. So you don’t physically move anywhere to escape gravity, gravity just apparently doesn’t affect you anymore once you dive deep enough into your mind.
Leaving the idea of flight behind, I did learn a lot from the eco-friendly housing that they had and the sustainable living really peaked my interest. I was also very entertained by the observatory that kept track of time and date using shadows and star placement. It was really cool to think people were very intelligent prior to the use of electricity and were able to map out shadows and star placements in order to tell time and direction. It was also entertaining learning about the strict guidelines for sthapatya veda housing. sthapatya veda housing require that the building be built facing the east so that that the sun would rise facing the house. Each room was specifically laid out to have the sun pointing in at some point in the day and every room had a specific purpose. Each house also had to have a kalashe on top as a sort of relic to the sky.
The final thing that probably caused me the most distress was that of the pendant housing. Basically what we learned is that the pendants were brought to Iowa to live in this camp was to increase the number of people meditation during the day. They are a pawn to the Maharishi goal of having the square root of one percent of people meditation at one time to positively affect the larger population. It was really pretty disturbing and seemingly selfish.
Over all though I’m glad I got to go on the trip and really did learn a lot.
I went on this trip with no expectations. Throughout the semester we have learned a lot about meditation, and although a lot of the information we have learned has been rich with legitimate scientific content, a lot of it has also been shrouded in the oversimplified style of a self-help book, or worse yet, has been mixed in with heinous notions associated with religions that have no basis in reality (i.e. reincarnation, floating, etc.). I have enjoyed the benefits of meditation though, so despite my justified skepticism, I maintain a very positive view of meditation as a practice. When we got to the hotel, I was pretty impressed with how awesome everything looked. It was a very nice place, which I assume they could afford when capitalizing on people’s desires to be enlightened. I looked at some of the informational material on the wall, and most of it simply equated a brain structure with some presumably Indian word and then talked about herbs or meditative practices to allegedly improve that part of your brain. I did not read it all though, so I cannot be overly critical. Eventually the tour guide showed up and presented us with some informational videos. From this point on throughout the day, I remained consistently disappointed with these people, as their beliefs were, in a word, stupid. I was having a blast though, so it was all good, but I couldn’t muster up substantial respect for these people when they were so misguided. In the informational video, a man gave a speech about transcendental meditation where he talked about the concept of the unified field theory. I had heard of the unified field theory numerous times before to refer to string theory. It is called the unified field theory, because it unites the fields of quantum mechanics (which govern how extremely small things work) and general relativity (which governs how much larger things work). Furthermore, they believed that when you meditated you could reach this unified field theory and legitimately fly. The guide said that it was because that you reached a point where gravity does not exist. I was interested that she said this, because it meant that she actually did know what gravity was, but obviously not to the extent that she would be aware she couldn’t fly.
I’m not sure what this Maharishi guy’s original intentions were, but it was obvious that this place had sort of shifted into more of a business than anything. The tour guide seemed almost offended when we said that we had been meditating, but hadn’t been officially TM certified. I’m not sure how much it costs to be certified, but the fact that there is even a certification process seems pretty lame. Also, in the gift shop I was asking the lady about some of the products, and she was telling me about this butter or something that was special because she made it in accordance with the lunar cycle. Of course, that requires that it costs significantly more than it should. Granted, part of the price should be increased to justify taking the time to do whatever in accordance with the lunar cycle, but it is still ridiculous that it was even a thing. The sort of cynicism that I am addressing this with is not exclusive to Vedic city, it is just the same cynicism that approach all commercialism with. I feel like I should re-clarify that I was having a really good time and that I liked the environment that they constructed. We visited the giant dome of meditation that they use as a training grounds for their flying practices. The ceiling was all cool and wooden and the floors were covered in mattresses. It was a really neat place. I tried bouncing around and I can see how they would enjoy it, but by no means would I go on to assume that I would be able to fly. We hit up their outdoor observatory, and that was really cool. It was obvious once again that they placed their emphasis on the wrong things entirely. The study of the stars has contributed a lot to our understanding of our place in the universe, and science in general, so I was happy to see all the various tools that they had for measuring their cosmic location and observing stars. However, the structure that took up the most space was not relevant to anything scientific, but just an indicator of whatever astrological nonsense was important to them. We went to their sustainable building, and that was really cool. I genuinely appreciated all of the efforts that they went through to be sustainable. Although I don’t do anything helpful really, I do recognize environmental problems and I was impressed by some of their solutions. They would angle ceilings to get the optimal amount of sunlight in the room so they would have to use energy for lights. They literally built the building out of dirt and grass, which is the most environmentally friendly way that you could go about it. They even utilized rain water in their drinking fountains. It was just all around awesome. After walking out of that building I decided that I was going to plant a garden when and where the opportunity presents itself. The final part of our journey took us to their meditation concentration camp. It was weird, and it made me feel uncomfortable. They pay these people to come to their city from India, solely for the purpose of increasing the number of people simultaneously meditating at any given time. They were fenced in with people guarding the gate. They also had to wear white uniforms, but only when they meditated. When coupling this information with the fact that they referred to Maharishi as ‘his holiness’, it is hard to shake the feeling that it is just a very happy cult. Despite this, the tour guide went out of her way to emphasize that they were not religious at all. All in all it was a fun visit, even if my sense of logic was combated every sense of the way.
Visiting Vedic City was an interesting experience that I’m really glad I could participate in. However, I left with conflicted feelings. There were parts of the town’s culture that really resonated with me that I could stand behind and other parts that I didn’t agree with or see much merit in. The town itself was very slow-moving and peaceful, which I’m sure makes it conducive for meditation. When we first got there we watched a video about the appearance of the town and the Sthapatya Veda style of architecture. While some might not appreciate the constraints that this style or heavy use of beige puts on originality, I did think it did gave things a pleasant and unique appearance. While the things Maharishi created, with the exception of Transcendental Meditation, weren’t supported by science (like the yogic flying or expensive, lavish treatments at the spa) I do really like the idea of the rooms in a house being arranged to follow sunlight and improve productivity. With studies showing increased productivity during daylight hours and seasonal affective disorder, I think that arranging a house this way makes a lot of sense.
I appreciated visiting Maharishi University of Management. It was neat to see the school that Maharishi created and how it seemed like a legitimate establishment, especially the Earth Science portion that we got to tour. Something I value about Maharishi was his openness for the scientific study of meditation and I feel like the school he created deepens his credibility towards being a more concrete thinker rather than more ethereal and unbelievable.
Visiting the area where the Pundits live was another mixed bag of emotions. Several people were quite upset that the Pundits seemed to represent a pawn in the game of collecting numbers of meditators. On the whole, I wasn’t terribly bothered by it once I understood that money went to their families and that they had willingly agreed to come. Many of the men could have been Buddhist, so the minimal standards of housing could go along with the philosophy of not having attachment to worldly things if they adhere to those principles. An interesting and unexpected part of the trip was finding out how “normal” people were and as the tour guide admitted, they’re all not perfect. Seeing the Pundits out playing a ball game really illustrated this to me and made all the inhabitants of the town much more relatable. Gaining this understanding made me wish that the Pundits could have more experiences during their stay and also that they could take classes. While I don’t necessarily believe we should force every foreign visitor or immigrant in the U.S. to learn and exclusively speak English, I do wish the men could be taught English for their own safety so misunderstandings like the riot could be avoided. Overall, there’s definitely a cloud of ambiguity surrounding the Pundits and outsiders aren’t allowed to know much, which is a bit concerning.
My favorite part of the trip was visiting the women's’ meditation center (although my feminist sensibilities didn’t enjoy the separation from the men’s center). It was cool the center was within a dome building, which gave it such an open feel that I definitely would find suiting to meditate in. I didn’t expect to see that the “regulars” have their own spots with their own personal touches. Seeing how many people could be housed within the building surprised me and made me think that such a large group would definitely change the dynamic of meditation in a very interesting way. When we were in the entry room, I noticed a poster about how if you don’t like your meditation neighbor you can find another spot. To me this showed once again how meditators, while they experience so many great benefits, are often calmer, and may have a larger reserve of patience, they are still prone to conflict within relationships. I really wish we could have watched a meditation session take place, but visiting and knowing that so many people are meditating twice a day just a few hours away was and is still a moving thing. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to be exposed to the culture of Fairfield and Vedic city and truly value the experience. Thank you, Kim for arranging the trip!
Maharishi Vedic City’s description appears to be oriented on obtaining peace which is an excellent goal however through means of perfection and control. I like the general idea that the city is promoting- peace, education, and well-being however, it sounds very strict and almost as though mistakes and failure are not an option.
Maharishi Vedic City contains many aspects that contribute to its goals of peace, education, and well-being. The first aspect, as described on its website is its architecture. Each building is designed facing east (where the sun rises) and contains a central silence space called a Brahmasthan. These aspects to each building are supposedly important to healthiness, happiness, and good fortune. Honestly, if my bedroom windows faced east and the sun shined in my window early in the morning it would probably not promote my happiness. I think I would rather have my house face west where I could watch the sunset. I could see how the central silence space could be beneficial for people to practice meditation however, I’m not sure how they could incorporate every building to have one that is completely silent.
The paragraph describing the city’s healthcare is fairly bold in its statement as one of the healthiest cities in the world. I would need to see some statics and further information on their promotion of health and success rate. I attempted to research its health statistics but was unsuccessful in finding anything worth mentioning. What I did find however was information on their outdoor Vedic Observatory. This consists of ten, six feet tall, white, concrete-and-marble astronomical instruments arranged in a circle. According to Wiki, each instrument is precisely aligned with the sun, moon and stars, and could be used to calculate their actual movements and has the potential to create inner happiness and balance in the physiology. I thought this aspect of Maharishi Vedic City was extremely interesting and sparks my interest in visiting the city. Looking at the universe, stars, and planets can be very fascinating and calming. With this observatory, people may come there not only to learn but to clear their mind and relax thus promoting peace, happiness, and well-being.
One thing I found very odd was that the city has banned the sale of non-organic food within the city. I personally would rather eat organic food however I would think that banning non-organic food could hurt the city’s economy and I also believe that individuals should have the right to choose whatever food they would like. The city’s website additionally describes the construction of over 100 acres of greenhouses for food for their city as well as other cities in Iowa. To me, this sounds a bit like a monopoly which goes against the American dream/way of living. It is not necessarily a bad thing however strange and could potentially cause issues.
I like their idea of education, in promoting that the solution to all problems is proper education-education that develops the total brain potential and cosmic creative intelligence of every student. The only issue I have with their description of education was when they mentioned ideal girls’ school but no ideal boys’ school. This sounds pretty sexist as though girls should be taught a different way. I believe in co-ed schools because students should learn to interact with the opposite sex. It’s not a bad choice to have gender schools but singling out ideal girls’ school sounds pretty ridiculous. Overall Maharishi Vedic City sounds like a very interesting place to visit, but I don’t think I would ever want to live there.
Terms: Meditation, healthiness, happiness, good fortune, Brahmasthan, outdoor Vedic Observatory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharishi_Vedic_City,_Iowa
Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, is a model of ideal city life. Even the town’s name has meaning behind it. The word “Vedic” means “knowledge” and the word “Maharishi” is named after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who is known for bringing light to the science of consciousness. Vedic City is located in Jefferson County, close to Fairfield, Iowa. The 2010 Census found the City to have a population of 259.
Similar to Fairfield, Iowa, every building in Vedic City is designed according to promote health, happiness, and good fortune. Each building faces east and has a central silent space called a Brahmasthan and a golden roof ornament called a kalash.
Vedic City is probably the healthiest city in America. It is the home to the College of Maharishi Vedic Medicine of Maharishi University of Management and The Raj.
The City has banned the sale of all non-organic food from its city and has begun construction on the first of a planned 100 acres of greenhouses at Maharishi Vedic City Organic Farms which will grow organic produce for residents of the City and Midwest.
Recognizing that the solution to all problems is proper education-education that develops the total brain potential and cosmic creative intelligence of every student-the City established Maharishi Vedic University to provide a public university, colleges, and primary and secondary schools for the city's residents. The City and the surrounding area is also home to pioneering Consciousness-Based universities and schools including Maharishi University of Management, Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment, Maharishi Open University, Maharishi Spiritual University, and Ideal Girls School.
Vedic City is a model of prevention-oriented, problem-free administration. To achieve this, the City has adopted as its constitution the Constitution of the Universe, which administers the infinite diversity of the universe with perfect order.
Founded to become a “lighthouse of peace” for America and the world, the City is working to establish a permanent group of peace-creating experts whose daily practice of Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation and Yogic Flying techniques will promote coherent national and world consciousness.
http://www.maharishivediccity-iowa.gov/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharishi_Vedic_City,_Iowa
I was not able to attend the trip to Vedic City but fortunately my fellow peers were able to fill me in on a lot of experiences they had while there. It was really weird listening to their experiences and realizing how little I know about Vedic City. I grew up about 15 minutes from Fairfield and Vedic City and I was often on their college campus. However, I was never made aware or explained to just exactly what it was all about. It really grabbed my attention when we started talking about this because I have always wondered just what these people are up to.
My peers learned a lot about the customs and reasons behind Vedic City and the origin of this form of transcendental meditation. They talked about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who founded this Vedic science of consciousness. It was interesting to learn about their money system which they have but don’t really use. It was also interesting to know that they make almost all of their money off of their agriculture and property taxes. They also only consume and produce organic foods. I was most surprised that they have a lot of rules and regulations that seem odd to us and that they also don’t consider themselves a religion. It made me a little uncomfortable to hear how many pictures they had of Maharishi as well as the shrine. There were certainly some details that left me questioning this place but overall the idea behind it is really cool. Vedic City is known as the center of transcendental meditation in the United States. The fact that celebrities will stay there at times or visit is really cool considering Fairfield isn’t all that interesting of a place.
The most interesting thing that I learned was about yogic flying. I cannot get over this form of meditation. They talked about how there are levels of consciousness and you have to get down to a certain level before you can hop. They have competitions for this and people do it for even an hour at a time. I picture meditation being peaceful and calm but this requires an insane amount of effort if you ask me. I thought it was cool that in their domes they have the walls marked and you meditation or fly wherever you fit in the best. So if you are newer you would go to a shorter meditation spot so that you don’t finish before others or go too long. The domes are huge and you have to have a pass in order to even enter them. I think Vedic City is a very privatized community and also very serious. They have expectations of the people in their communities and everyone follows those expectations. Their crime rates are almost non-existent so they don’t even have a fire station they call on Fairfield’s when they need them.
There is so much to Vedic City and their customs. They are a very unique people and it was cool that they allow people an inside look at what they are really about. I’m a little disappointed I wasn’t able to go but it was great getting to hear from my peers what they experienced while there.
http://www.maharishivediccity-iowa.gov/
I enjoyed our trip to Vedic City. Part of me wants to say that I didn't have much for expectations but I know I wanted to see someone mediate and I had pictured a town mediating together, out side in a town square like center. This was not the case but that is okay, it was still enlightening.
I liked our tour guide. She was nice and a little quirky. It fit. I appreciate that she stared off with some back ground information of the city and Maharishi. You could tell that she was devoted to the city, meditation and liked what she was talking about. I was slightly put off by the need to have a certificate or something similar to be taught and practice TM. But I also understand this is what she does is passionate about and doesn't want others imitating it. I can understand that. When she was talking to us about the city, it seemed very religiony. I specifically was put off when she referenced Maharishi as the Holiest. I can't get over that. Being holy is to set someone apart from anyone else. Putting him above others. That's what we do with God. How is that not religiony. But when we asked her, she said that it was not religion like. That they have all religions practicing TM and living within the city so I wounder if maybe it's like a secondary religion. don't know.
We went into the meditation domes and I loved that. Before we walked in, she showed us a light show of the effects of group meditation and that was thought was thought provoking. And when we walked in, to you see all the place mats. I can't imagine what it would be like to meditate with so many people. I was in while in high school. There was something about singing with a group and creating great music. Everyone was working towards the same goal and the outcome is beautiful. I would assume group meditation would have an even great significance. I like that. The hopping seems odd.
Just like everyone else in the class, I'm very skeptical about what's really going on there. Physical effort has to be expelled for that to happen and that seems to defeat the purpose and be contradictory. Also, I like physics. Gravity is a thing. Explaining the ability to levitate due to a place in the sub conscious where gravity no longer exists reminds me too much of a scary movie called Incideous where a man travels in and out of his dreams. I don't believe that either.
Ultimately, I enjoyed the trip. I was good to see a different living style and a different daily regimen. I would be soo happy if I could spend an excessive amount of money for a meditation spa. I could be wrong but it seemed like you need a lot of money in to be a part of the town. I could be wrong. But if i had an excessive amount of money, I'd consider living there. It's a health conscious town with great intentions. I very much enjoyed the trip and would love to go back.
This week I'm writing my blog about Fairfield because last week I wrote about Vedic City. I wasn't able to go on the trip to Vedic City/Fairfield so I don't have any personal experiences to base this blog off of. I ended up comparing what I learned about Fairfield to cities I am familiar with. Fairfield is located in Jefferson County which is in southeast Iowa. It has a population of around 9,500 people which makes it about the size of Pella, to give myself a reference population. I was unsurprised to learn it is surrounded by farms but I was a bit surprised to read that 10% of families below the poverty line which sounds like a lot to me. One of the things Fairfield is known for is being a good place to start a business. Outside of Silicone Valley, it is one of the best places for start-up companies to be successful.
The town I grew up in is about a fifth of the size of Fairfield but the city government is the same, both having a 7-member city council and a mayor. The Fairfield Community School District consists of around 2,500 students, teachers, administrators and staff, which is more than the population of my hometown. Unsurprisingly more than 90% of the population is white. Fairfield also has a fine arts center, the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center, which is a pretty big deal there. When my town built our fine arts center it was also a pretty big deal. Fairfield is also working to become a sustainable city and has employed forms of renewable energy. My parents moved after I began college and now live in a region of Northern Iowa where there are hundreds of windmills supplying sustainable energy. One of the notable former residents of Fairfield is Harry Harlow, famous psychologist. I also looked at pictures of Fairfield and found some beautiful buildings. In particular, I think the courthouse is a majestic building.
Terms:
Fairfield, FACC, renewable energy, Harry Harlow, Jefferson County
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairfield,_Iowa
http://www.discoverfairfield.org/fairfield/
http://www.travelfairfield.com/this-is-fairfield/
I was not able to go o the trip to Vedic City so I quickly turned to researching some of the aspects of the trip that were discussed in class. Coming from a construction background I was very interested in the Vastu architecture that was mentioned. After doing a little searching online I was able to find a website that helped clarify the ideas behind the Vastu house design and orientation.
Maharishi Vastu architecture and design centers around the concept of Natural Law, that all things have a natural rise and fall and alignment with the sun and stars. For this reason all Vastu style houses face to the East, the direction of the rising sun. Ancient texts of Vedic architecture claim that each of the cardinal directions brings some form of influence. It is only North and East that produce some beneficial quality with an East facing structure influencing enlightenment, affluence and fulfillment. Maharishi texts also claim that the human brain responds most positively when aligned with the rising sun.
Vastu homes also consist of a very specific layout of rooms. This layout provides altered light for the purpose of each room. For example, the energy provided by the light of the sun in the meditation room is supposed to naturally settle the mind onto joy, and in the study give a sense of alertness. This is a continuation of the belief in Natural Law and the different energy provided by nature. When designing a Vastu house measurements are decided upon by using ancient formulas of Vastu Vidya of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda. These formulas produce proper alignment of the home with the sun, stars, and planets to achieve natural resonance.
Vastu buildings often have features that a standard home does not. In most homes you will not find a Brahmasthan, or silent core. It is believed that this central space of the house is the center of intelligence. This idea comes from the structures in the natural world like galaxies, cells, and atoms all of which a center. The most noticeable difference between a Vastu house and regular hous is the Kalash on the roof. This central point is believe to connect the home and its inhabitants to the cosmos.
One aspect of Vastu architecture that I find to have some benefit is the use of natural and nontoxic materials. Vastu buildings strive to achieve a minimal environment footprint. Planning for the homes look at the effects of location on the land and influence on the environment. The buildings are constructed using the least amount of unnatural material possible and do not use potentially toxic materials. The homes often times will take advantage of solar power and geothermal heating and cooling.
While I find the desire to have a minimal footprint important and awesome, I think most of the concepts of Vastu architecture are a bunch of malarkey. I could not find any reliable sources on the improvement of cognitive function based on the direction of the building one lives in. The idea that the sun provides focusing energy due to how it enters a building is an interesting concept. However I do not understand how this can be judged because as the location of the sun in the sky changes so too does the angle of the light. But if this style of housing seems to benefit its inhabitants I see no problem with it, it would appear to be the placebo effect in action.
Terms: Vastu, Maharishi, Natural Law, joy, meditation, alertness, Brahmasthan, Kalash
http://www.maharishivastu.org/
This week the discussion was on Vedic City or Maharishi Vedic City. This is one of the most interesting communities that I have ever heard of and even more so seeing as it’s in Iowa. Everything about this city is interesting they have specific types of architecture that are used to design all the houses in the town. They have also banned the sale of all non-organic food from its city. Another interesting point I read on the cities main website page was that they have their own form of currency even too. This is called the Raam, which is the developmental currency of the Global Country of World Peace. I wasn’t able to go visit Vedic City unfortunately but from listening to the stories that were told there was a large amount that confused the hell out of me. Yogic Flying was one of them along with “the Bubbles”. According to their website the practice of Yogic flying will help to promote a national and world consciousness that will prevent any negativity from arising in America. All the housing in Vedic City is in accordance to Maharishi Vedic Architecture, this means that they are all have certain requirements for what is all in the house and what the house if build out of. I was reading through some of the processes and when you by the house they do different types of ceremonies during certain phases of the build. The final step to these ceremonies is the inauguration of the house, which is based on your Maharishi Jyotish chart. I went to the Maharishi Vastu Architecture site to look at some of the house designs and was amazed at what I found. Some of the houses looked as I would have expected but most of them were amazingly designed and not at all what I was picturing for a house design. There are 5 principles that go into building and designing a Maharishi Vastu House, those are 1.) Right direction of the house to let the suns energy in 2.) Right placement of Rooms so when the sun shines in during the day the right amount of light is let into the rooms to perform daily activities 3.) Right Proportion of the building is said to help strengthen and build ones cosmic intelligence 4.) Natural and Nontoxic Materials the sustainability of the building with natural and nontoxic materials that will be sustainable in the buildings climate conditions. 5.) The last of the five points is actually many points itself such as slope of land, shape of the land, unobstructed rising sun, influences in the environment, and auspicious timing. The architecture was the most interesting part of Vedic City to me because I actually started college as a landscape architect and design major at ISU, so reading about how they build the houses and how the environment plays a huge role in that was interesting to me.
Key terms: Vedic City, Maharishi, organic, Raam, Yogic Flying, Maharishi Vastu, Jyotish chart
http://www.maharishivastu.org/
Unfortunately, I was unable to go on the field trip to Vedic City due to a required meeting with DeLoitte. However, after researching the city and hearing about it from my classmates, I think the city is a decent example of how we can integrate meditation into our society.
I say decent, as opposed to excellent, because it certainly seems as if Vedic City adheres to some of the odder beliefs of those practicing meditation that aren’t necessarily well validated (i.e., the flapping).
As a further example, one can look towards their education system. While I have argued incessantly for integrating meditation into the classroom, I find it odd to have programs for advanced degrees in “Transcendental Vedic Science,” much less a Ph.D. I mean, really, what would one do with a doctorate in that. That being said, the practice of cultivating mindfulness is certainly a solid one. I’d be particularly interested in running a study comparing the well-being of the people in their programs compared to similarly aged students in other, non mindfulness based programs.
Additionally, the website announces Vedic City as a “lighthouse for peace.” They consider themselves so by bringing in peace creating experts to bring peace to Iowa, the United States and the world through meditation. These pandits, if you will, are brought from India for the sole purpose of meditating. After being in Vedic City for a time, they return to India. According to them, if one percent of a given population are meditating, something crazy will happen. I haven’t seen any real research to back this up, so I’m skeptical.
However, the city has been really peaceful and has had a remarkably low level of criminal activity. According to the field trippers, the people seemed exceptionally kind and peaceful. Without research I cannot say for sure, but it certainly seems to be derived from the mindfulness of the community.
Even though I wasn’t there, Vedic City seems to be a model from which other societies (or society in general) should build. While not perfect, the idea behind the city is meritorious and worth of further investigation.
I thought Vedic City was a great experience. I had a lot of fun during the field trip and had no idea what to expect when I went on this trip. The first place we visited was the Raj Hotel. When I first stepped into the hotel, I got the sense that it was not an ordinary hotel. The hotel was beautiful and unique compared to all the other hotels that I have been stayed at. Dr. MaClin spoke to the front desk and told them that we were schedule for a tour. They told us to relax and take a seat in the lobby, the tour guide will be with us shortly. Instead of listening to the front desk, I decided to explore the hotel and find out what makes it so famous.
The first thing that caught my idea was a miniature model of the Maharishi Vedic Observatory. It was really cool and it was constructed very well. It look exactly like the real thing. After looking at the miniature scale model of the Maharishi Vedic Observatory, I sat down and noticed a paper that had the prices for rooms and treatment packages. I am sad to say that I will not be booking a room at the Raj any time soon. The prices were very expensive. It was hard to imagine that these prices were fair. After that our group when to the gift shop. There were some really interesting things for sale. There were unique clothes, interesting book about meditation and its benefits. They also had a bunch of herbal medicine from India for sale. On the wall just outside the gift shop was a very intriguing poster with information about the psychological and physical health benefits for daily meditation. Even though some of the benefits included in the poster seemed far ‘fetched, I thought that it was great that they were willing to provide some evidence supporting meditation.
A few minutes later, our tour guide show up and asks us to follow her upstairs. She was really nice and polite. She began showing us a video that explained the history of Vedic City. She seemed really enthusiastic about meditation and invited us to ask any questions that we might have. I was really confused when she referred to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as “his holiness.” The only time I have heard the phase “his holiness” used is for the Dali Llama. After she said this, I got the idea that Vedic City was a cult. She assured me that they are not a cult and Transcendental Meditation had nothing to do with religion. She said that people ranging from Jewish, Catholic, and Hindu background live in Vedic City and practice Transcendental Meditation. I was still a little skeptical but, thankfully, as the trip progressed I was convinced that it was not a cult related. After we finished the video, the tour guide took us to the university campus.
The university was really cool. We went inside the student center and visited a classroom in the sustainable living building. The student center was really nice. The university book store was really different from UNI’s bookstore. They had so much food and snacks in at their bookstore. They even had other miscellaneous items like clothes, incense, and candles. I thought that it was funny that the food they were selling claimed to be vegan. However, I looked on the back of a package of gummy bear and noticed that it had gelatin in it, which is not vegan. The sustainable living building was amazing. The structure of the building was so unique. They had solar panels surrounding the building. The classroom roofs were built in a way that made light bounce off the ceiling which lighted up the entire room.
My favorite part of the trip was when we went inside the meditation dome. The meditation dome blew my mind away. When we stepped inside the dome, I sensed a strong positive vibe from the surroundings. The tour guide made us take off our shoes before we entered the meditation area. Before we walked into the meditation area, the tour guide showed us this incredible light object that was so mesmerizing. She opened the door and invited us to step inside. The dome was huge and full of mattresses. I really wish that we could have meditated as a group in the dome. I wanted to try the flying meditation technique while I was in the dome. The flying meditation technique consist of hopping up and down in the butterfly position. After we left the dome when went to see the real Maharishi Vedic Observatory. We all took a group picture inside one of the instrument. After that we took the tour guide back to the Raj and headed back to Cedar Falls.
Terms: Vedic City, the Raj Spa and Resort, Maharishi Vedic Observatory, sustainable living building, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, transcendental meditation