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Letters of Thanks
Bombay Hari Om,
"When the flowers bloom, it is not necessary to beckon the bees." (Paramahamsa Niranjanananda)
Perched on top of a hill in the city of Munger in Bihar sits the finest yoga center in the world. Carrying the traditional torch from Swami Sivananda, combining a scientific and a deep spiritual dimension, Bihar School of Yoga has been growing in strength.
Situated as it is, between an electrical sub-station and a gun-manufacturing workshop, I always thought the idea was to arouse the inner source of energy, to channelize it and to fire people's imagination to begin to view their lives in a different fashion.
Even though this is my third visit, to hear of Munger referred to as the city of dacoits causes enough tension before undertaking the journey, but once in Munger surrounded by goats, donkeys and cycle-drawn rickshaws you forget all about this and fill yourself with its fresh air, gorgeous sunsets and amazing slowness of life.
While October 1973 was celebrated as the 50th year of the renunciation of Paramahamsa Satyananda's guru, Swami Sivananda, in the form of an International Yoga Convention, November 1993 was the Tyag Golden Jubilee of Paramahamsa Satyananda himself. The year's convention drew people from all over the world, from more than 30 countries, and more than 4000 people came from all parts of India.
When such a large number of people come together, enormous pressure is put on the use of amenities, dormitories etc., demanding a different kind of living. Collective living becomes the norm, individual differences get blurred, distinctiveness and special privileges are withheld. Community living pressure began to manifest itself even in the line for drying clothes. Progressively one would find one's clothes thrown here and there and in their place a sari or lunghi hung! Sleeping in the same room with others, the snoring in different musical keys, and buzzing and droning of the oversize Bihari mosquitoes are part of the austerities and
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