I spent the first night in Chennai then booked a bus to Madurai, which was unsurprisingly delayed by a few hours and we arrived in the city with nightfall. Rickshaw drivers were eagerly waiting outside the bus so I followed the first one to his vehicle and he loaded in my 50lbs of luggage and I climbed in the back with my over-sized & ripping backpack. He assured me he knew where the ashram was, as he used to work there. I knew it was over 20 km out of the city so it would be a bit of a ride... as we drove on and on, darkness quickly entrenched the road and we could only see a few meters ahead where the single light from his motorcycle dimly lit our path. We finally stopped at a dark, nondescript gate and the driver motioned me to get out.. feeling totally sure this was wrong I asked him if he could find someone for me, he shouted out something in Tamil and pretty soon an old man appeared and explained we were at the old ashram and would have to continue driving a bit further. We drove on and finally arrived at the correct location! After such an eventful journey, I was so happy when I finally arrived at the reception office!!
My Teachers' Training Course (TTC) had 58 students, with about half of them being Indian. We were initiated with a beautiful puja fire ceremony where we set the intentions for the month and invoked Ganesha to remove all obstacles from our path. We each made an offering of flowers & ghee (purified butter) to the fire as the priest performed the ancient ceremony.
No time was wasted and our schedule made sure that we had our full attention devoted to the studies at hand. We were only allowed internet access for 1 hour per day, and in addition to the daily schedule we were also expected to write summaries of the lectures as well as a page of personal reflection on our experience which were handed in to Swami Satchidananda daily. My swamiji was a very intelligent and interesting Indian who would use a lot of stories from his own life, American scientific discovery, as well as from the Hindu tradition to illustrate his lectures. He made it clear that he was there to serve us in any and every way possible and he gave us written feedback on all of our papers and offered to meet with us anytime that we needed help, support, guidance, or more explanation about the lectures. He also offered an optional week long meditation course which I found to be extremely helpful as we explored the depth of the practice, techniques and shared our experiences within the small group.
Daily Schedule:
5:30 am Wake Up Bell
6:00 am Satsang (silent meditation, kirtan/chanting, short lesson)
7:30 am Tea Time
8:00 am Asana Teaching
10:00 am Brunch
11:00 am Karma Yoga (selfless service)
1:00 pm Vedanta Lecture
3:00 pm Asana Coaching
3:30 pm Tea Time
4:00 pm Asana Practice
6:00 pm Dinner
8:00 pm Satsang
Every Thursday night we had a concert, we were given Friday's off, and Saturday nights were "Talent Show" night! This gave us a chance to get to know each other and enjoy ourselves a bit between studying and running from class to class!
Here is a video of an amazing family that came to perform at the ashram ~ amazing the way the energy builds through the song!
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