Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
On 3/25/2014 6:20 AM, Share Long wrote: it took me a while to figure out the map. All those white specks are Utopia Park, the trailer park built for the Taste of Utopia course. Anyone can live in them is my understanding. There must be a hundred modular homes for student housing up there at Utopia Village and I wouldn't be surprised if a number of adjunct faculty live there too. There is probably fifty or more on the pundit campus. A modular home can be a very cozy place to live. We have a company down here that makes and sells them - Palm Harbor Homes. In some cases, the modular homes are of superior construction and better quality control than some site built homes. Go figure. It's very impressive what they have done up there at the MUM campus! We have a TM Ideal Village down here at Radiance - home of the Maharishi Golden Dome out in Hays County just outside Austin. The Maharishi Dome at Radiance is a smaller version of the Patanjali Dome in Fairfield. It has been in continuous use as a meditation facility since 1983. The Maharishi Golden Dome of Pure Knowledge is a 70 foot diameter section of a sphere. Oh look, the swimming pool, the aqua speck! I LOVE maps, must have been a hobbit in previous life (-:
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
Sorry, Richard, it took me a while to figure out the map. All those white specks are Utopia Park, the trailer park built for the Taste of Utopia course. Anyone can live in them is my understanding. Oh look, the swimming pool, the aqua speck! I LOVE maps, must have been a hobbit in previous life (-: On Monday, March 24, 2014 9:22 PM, awoelfleba...@yahoo.com awoelfleba...@yahoo.com wrote: ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : Using Google Earth, It looks like there is some student housing on the MUM campus consisting of modular homes Maybe. Hey anyone who lives in FF, are those residences and for who(m)? On Mon, Mar 24, 2014 at 10:35 AM, awoelflebater@... wrote: ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 3/24/2014 8:54 AM, awoelflebater@... wrote: But it should resemble some configuration that a human being would want to live in. The compound reminded me of some sort of factory farm. It looks very similar to student housing on the MUM campus. I'm not sure it does based on this campus map.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
On 3/23/2014 10:17 PM, awoelfleba...@yahoo.com wrote: The chanting rooms seemed nice enough but c'mon, I really think a greater care should have been made to ensure the rest of the environment was livable. It makes me crazy to think these guys were confined to these types of barracks when at least in India you have the richness of color and all of the other myriad sensory input that is characteristic of a hot climate where the smells of people, pavement, animals and food mingle in a way to let you know you are in the land of the living. I can't think of a place that is more out of keeping with what they must be used to environmentally/aesthetically. Speaking of living conditions in India - has anyone seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire? It's nice to have a fantasy about the mountain scenery in India and living in a picturesque ashram in Rishikesh, but the reality is quite different over there for the vast majority of people. You can can say what you want abut the modular homes the pundits occupy, but it's actually a lot closer to the real world than the Vastu houses that surround the compound up in Vedic City. Compared to the average home in India, one average Vastu house in Vedic City looks like the Taj Mahal. I'm not that familiar with housing costs in Fairfield, but a Vastu house like those I see on Google Earth would go for at least $300,000 around here. Go figure.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 3/23/2014 10:17 PM, awoelflebater@... mailto:awoelflebater@... wrote: Thechanting rooms seemed nice enough but c'mon, I really think a greater care should have been made to ensure the rest of the environment was livable. It makes me crazy to think these guys were confined to these types of barracks when at least in India you have the richness of color and all of the other myriad sensory input that is characteristic of a hot climate where the smells of people, pavement, animals and food mingle in a way to let you know you are in the land of the living. I can't think of a place that is more out of keeping with what they must be used to environmentally/aesthetically. Speaking of living conditions in India - has anyone seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire? It's nice to have a fantasy about the mountain scenery in India and living in a picturesque ashram in Rishikesh, but the reality is quite different over there for the vast majority of people. I'm not talkin' about mountain scenery and picturesque ashrams, I was talking about city streets and crowded neighborhoods if you actually read what I wrote. You can can say what you want abut the modular homes the pundits occupy, but it's actually a lot closer to the real world than the Vastu houses that surround the compound up in Vedic City. Compared to the average home in India, one average Vastu house in Vedic City looks like the Taj Mahal. I'm not that familiar with housing costs in Fairfield, but a Vastu house like those I see on Google Earth would go for at least $300,000 around here. Go figure. Whatever you want to call it where they live it is still reminiscent of an army barracks and my point was it doesn't have to be. Nor does it have to be a Taj Mahal. But it should resemble some configuration that a human being would want to live in. The compound reminded me of some sort of factory farm.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
On 3/24/2014 8:54 AM, awoelfleba...@yahoo.com wrote: But it should resemble some configuration that a human being would want to live in. The compound reminded me of some sort of factory farm. It looks very similar to student housing on the MUM campus.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 3/24/2014 8:54 AM, awoelflebater@... mailto:awoelflebater@... wrote: But it should resemble some configuration that a human being would want to live in. The compound reminded me of some sort of factory farm. It looks very similar to student housing on the MUM campus. I'm not sure it does based on this campus map.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
Using Google Earth, It looks like there is some student housing on the MUM campus consisting of modular homes [image: Inline image 1] On Mon, Mar 24, 2014 at 10:35 AM, awoelfleba...@yahoo.com wrote: ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 3/24/2014 8:54 AM, awoelflebater@... wrote: But it should resemble some configuration that a human being would want to live in. The compound reminded me of some sort of factory farm. It looks very similar to student housing on the MUM campus. I'm not sure it does based on this campus map.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
Richard, that's right. There are some vastu modular dorms for women near the women's Dome and vastu modular dorms for men near the men's Dome. What a system! I'm now going to google earth myself (-: On Monday, March 24, 2014 1:17 PM, Pundit Sir pundits...@gmail.com wrote: Using Google Earth, It looks like there is some student housing on the MUM campus consisting of modular homes On Mon, Mar 24, 2014 at 10:35 AM, awoelfleba...@yahoo.com wrote: ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 3/24/2014 8:54 AM, awoelflebater@... wrote: But it should resemble some configuration that a human being would want to live in. The compound reminded me of some sort of factory farm. It looks very similar to student housing on the MUM campus. I'm not sure it does based on this campus map.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
It kind of looks like a Utopia Village with maybe a hundred modular homes for students. [image: Inline image 1] On Mon, Mar 24, 2014 at 1:31 PM, Share Long sharelon...@yahoo.com wrote: Richard, that's right. There are some vastu modular dorms for women near the women's Dome and vastu modular dorms for men near the men's Dome. What a system! I'm now going to google earth myself (-: On Monday, March 24, 2014 1:17 PM, Pundit Sir pundits...@gmail.com wrote: Using Google Earth, It looks like there is some student housing on the MUM campus consisting of modular homes [image: Inline image 1] On Mon, Mar 24, 2014 at 10:35 AM, awoelfleba...@yahoo.com wrote: ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 3/24/2014 8:54 AM, awoelflebater@... wrote: But it should resemble some configuration that a human being would want to live in. The compound reminded me of some sort of factory farm. It looks very similar to student housing on the MUM campus. I'm not sure it does based on this campus map.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : Using Google Earth, It looks like there is some student housing on the MUM campus consisting of modular homes Maybe. Hey anyone who lives in FF, are those residences and for who(m)? On Mon, Mar 24, 2014 at 10:35 AM, awoelflebater@... mailto:awoelflebater@... wrote: ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 3/24/2014 8:54 AM, awoelflebater@... mailto:awoelflebater@... wrote: But it should resemble some configuration that a human being would want to live in. The compound reminded me of some sort of factory farm. It looks very similar to student housing on the MUM campus. I'm not sure it does based on this campus map.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
On 3/24/2014 9:21 PM, awoelfleba...@yahoo.com wrote: ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : Using Google Earth, It looks like there is some student housing on the MUM campus consisting of modular homes Maybe. Hey anyone who lives in FF, are those residences and for who(m)? Since they are on the MUM campus I am assuming that somebody is living in them, probably students, but it could be the adjunct faculty as well. Whoever is living in them, they are modular homes and lots of them.
[FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
The Des Moines Register goes in the Pundit Compound http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140322/BASU/303220080/Maharishi-Vedic-City-Inside-compound-Rekha-Basu?nclick_check=1
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
I think this is a very balanced article and I'm grateful to the reporter for the compassion, fairness and reasonableness contained in it. On Sunday, March 23, 2014 9:53 AM, Michael Jackson mjackso...@yahoo.com wrote: The Des Moines Register goes in the Pundit Compound http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140322/BASU/303220080/Maharishi-Vedic-City-Inside-compound-Rekha-Basu?nclick_check=1
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
On 3/23/2014 10:52 AM, Share Long wrote: I think this is a very balanced article and I'm grateful to the reporter for the compassion, fairness and reasonableness contained in it. It's not very unusual for students to be on a work-study program at a religious seminary. And, student housing isn't always up to the highest standards. If I was running things up there, I'd get the pundits some of those big expensive houses I see on Google Earth. How much does it cost to build a house like that in Vedic City? $250,000? If I was in charge, I'd limit the pundit program to about a dozen pundits and place each pundit in each of the homes in Vedic City, sitting right in the middle of the middle of the house, right under the umbrella on the roof. When they weren't meditating or praying, I'd seed them on a bus in to town to MUM every school day. That's what I would do. As for pay, he said the university has a similar model for its staff, who get room, board, benefits and a stipend, but forgo more money for the larger cause. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/Maharishi-Vedic-City-Inside-compound/ http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140322/BASU/303220080/Maharishi-Vedic-City-Inside-compound-Rekha-Basu?gcheck=1nclick_check=1
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
I agree with you completely about this article, Share. It's very refreshing in contrast to so much of what we read. Incidentally, the TMO is known for never admitting mistakes--but the administrators of the pandit program have clearly realized (and openly acknowledged) that it was a mistake to try to spirit Mishra away without telling the rest of the pandits and giving them a chance to say goodbye. I think this is a very balanced article and I'm grateful to the reporter for the compassion, fairness and reasonableness contained in it. The Des Moines Register goes in the Pundit Compound http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140322/BASU/303220080/Maharishi-Vedic-City-Inside-compound-Rekha-Basu?nclick_check=1
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend@... wrote : I agree with you completely about this article, Share. It's very refreshing in contrast to so much of what we read. Incidentally, the TMO is known for never admitting mistakes--but the administrators of the pandit program have clearly realized (and openly acknowledged) that it was a mistake to try to spirit Mishra away without telling the rest of the pandits and giving them a chance to say goodbye. Interesting to see the pictures. The place really does look like a compound of sorts. Surely, and this is simply aesthetics I'm talking about, the layout of this place could have been far, far more human friendly. How about a bush, a tree, a garden? How about not putting these dorms in rows that are positively numbing? How about creating an eating area that is not reminiscent of the bowels of some freighter at sea? When you look at the pictures of the other extravagant buildings at MUM it pretty much blows my mind. It doesn't take a lot more money to make something look interesting and less institutional. It takes imagination and someone to give a damn. I think this is a very balanced article and I'm grateful to the reporter for the compassion, fairness and reasonableness contained in it. The Des Moines Register goes in the Pundit Compound http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140322/BASU/303220080/Maharishi-Vedic-City-Inside-compound-Rekha-Basu?nclick_check=1
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
I thought the eating area was like a ship too - I bet the alignment of the huts is vastu ved deal but they sure look like something out of the old WWII stalags On Mon, 3/24/14, awoelfleba...@yahoo.com awoelfleba...@yahoo.com wrote: Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, March 24, 2014, 12:51 AM ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, authfriend@... wrote : I agree with you completely about this article, Share. It's very refreshing in contrast to so much of what we read. Incidentally, the TMO is known for never admitting mistakes--but the administrators of the pandit program have clearly realized (and openly acknowledged) that it was a mistake to try to spirit Mishra away without telling the rest of the pandits and giving them a chance to say goodbye. Interesting to see the pictures. The place really does look like a compound of sorts. Surely, and this is simply aesthetics I'm talking about, the layout of this place could have been far, far more human friendly. How about a bush, a tree, a garden? How about not putting these dorms in rows that are positively numbing? How about creating an eating area that is not reminiscent of the bowels of some freighter at sea? When you look at the pictures of the other extravagant buildings at MUM it pretty much blows my mind. It doesn't take a lot more money to make something look interesting and less institutional. It takes imagination and someone to give a damn. I think this is a very balanced article and I'm grateful to the reporter for the compassion, fairness and reasonableness contained in it. The Des Moines Register goes in the Pundit Compound http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20140322/BASU/303220080/Maharishi-Vedic-City-Inside-compound-Rekha-Basu?nclick_check=1
Re: [FairfieldLife] Reporter in the Pundit Compound
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, mjackson74@... wrote : I thought the eating area was like a ship too - I bet the alignment of the huts is vastu ved deal but they sure look like something out of the old WWII stalags The chanting rooms seemed nice enough but c'mon, I really think a greater care should have been made to ensure the rest of the environment was livable. It makes me crazy to think these guys were confined to these types of barracks when at least in India you have the richness of color and all of the other myriad sensory input that is characteristic of a hot climate where the smells of people, pavement, animals and food mingle in a way to let you know you are in the land of the living. I can't think of a place that is more out of keeping with what they must be used to environmentally/aesthetically.
