After my first night in Chennai I understood Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari was travelling to Hyderabad with many of those staying in the ashram and that too was my intent. Parthasarthi is the President of the Sri Ram Chandra Mission and our meditation guide. (I baulked at the need for a guide initially but later realized that just as in any field where we are looking to perfect a skill, meditation requires someone to lead us on that journey. )
We all travelled to the airport in the little bus in which I had arrived on the previous night and our journey had begun! At the airport we had some time to wait for the plane so all crowded around Parasarathi and carefully listened to fascinating stories, always with heaps of meaning and words of wisdom that he very lovingly and casually shared with us.
On arrival in Hyderabad we went straight to the Sahaj Marg ashram where our first meditation began virtually immediately. There were hundreds of meditators present and I found myself sitting on the floor with no back rest, a very uncomfortable situation for me normally however somehow it was OK and following the meditation there were a number of talks given by people who had been practising the system for many years. Although the talks were interesting I found myself 'dozing' off constantly and infact that whole visit passed in rather a haze, a haze of wonder, contentment and somehow a total surrender to all that was happening.
The small, very inexpensive hotel in which I was staying with a number of the others was a long distance from the ashram and I have no sense of direction and no command of the local languages. Frequently I set out to go back to the hotel in an auto-rickshaw, was unable to direct the driver but somehow we always arrived safely! A mystery I only fully contemplated some time after this visit.
