Short visit with Swamiji

Thursday (16th) I helped out with a number of network related issues as well as testing Vonage (Voice over IP) connections. In the afternoon, Suzanne and I went out to run a few errands. We stopped by the Metropolitan mall to check out the Ananda store called "The Wishing Tree". It's a beatifully designed store with spiritual books, CDs, mini statues, incense, water fountains, etc. The mall itself is very western, with all the top brands you'd see in the American malls. Inside there you feel like you might be in any mall in America. There is a Barista cafe there where we enjoyed cappuccinos, it has the feel of Starbucks.

After our little outing, we stopped at Swami's house where I was going to pick up the Vonage unit to test in the evening. Suzanne also came along so that she could see the house. As we were about to leave Swamiji saw us and we had a chance to visit with him. We talked about his latest book, "The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita", and his ideas about the upcoming projects. I had given Lakshman a copy of the Fast Company magazine which had an article about a new solar power system developed by a company called Stirling, because I had heard that Swamiji was very interested in building solar power systems in India in large scale. Appearently he had already heard about that company. He also mentioned that Ananda's upcoming Yoga Institute of Living Wisdom in India was invited to be a part of an international online university called "The World Wisdom Academy", which will be an adjunct to the Club of Budapest, founded by Ervin Laszlo. The curriculum of this university includes ecological sustainability, inner growth and personal development, development of corporate culture and social and political transformation all based on peace, harmony, individual and shared well-being. He asked me to work with Jemal and help out with the technical parts of this project, because it involves online teaching. This would be a great way to get the universal teachings of Yogananda out to the world.

The first picture you see is the Barista at the Metropolitan Mall. The second one is Suzanne with Jasbir, who taylored a couple of outfits for Suzanne.