On the Road

I just arrived at the event site after an 11 hour drive.  Beautiful country to drive through, always fascinating.

The River

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Travel: Ranchi to Ekangar Sarai

We had a long drive today from Ranchi to Ekangar Sarai.  It was estimated to be 6 hours but turned out to be more like 8.  A long day, driving through the picturesque countryside of Jharkhand and Bihar.  These states feel like ancient India where people are farming like they must have thousands of years ago. 

A simple wooden plow is pulled by two cows or buffalo. The farmer presses down on a wooden handle that pushes the plow into the earth.

Water is drawn from wells using the same system that is shown in Egyptian hieroglyphs.

People in rural areas live without electricity for the most part, lighting up the night with simple oil lamps.

On the road, we saw many jeeps loaded to the hilt with people.  Our estimate was that 40 or more people could crowd in and on to one of these vehicles.  We were told that this is how people get around, by paying a few rupees for a ride.  A new definition for mini bus.   

When we arrived at the event site, people were hard at work preparing for what is anticipated to be the largest event on this tour. 

Event Locations so far...

A lot is happening!

In the past 11 days Maharaji has addressed around 225,000 people at events in Ballabhgarh, Jabalpur, Waidhan and Gorakhpur. 

He was interviewed on national television and the event in Delhi is almost ready - it starts today!!

Traveling to Gorakhpur

The plan was to drive from Waidhan to Varanasi then take a night train to Gorakhpur. Just as we were about to leave Waidhan, we heard there was a bombing somewhere along the route and the local citizens had shut down the highways leading to Varanasi. All kind of vague. As we were preparing to leave, a thunderstorm hit the event site.

Fortunately the event had finished and we were mostly packed up, so no damage. In the middle of the storm we set out for Varanasi and got there without problems. At the train station I saw a part of the station that had been hit by a bomb some hours before. I don’t know the details of who was bombing who and for what reason. We finally boarded a late train to Gorakhpur at 1:30am. The rest of the journey was smooth.

Gorakhpur is an old Indian city in the state of Uttar Pradesh near the border of Nepal. Around 170 million people live in this densly populated state in northern India. The event is expected to draw around 100,000 people. There are predictions of rain during the event even though it is un-seasonable for rain.

Jabalpur Location

Here is a picture of Jabalpur from Google Earth.

If you have Google Earth, you can virtually fly to this location from where ever you are in the world.

Download Jabalpur-India Coordinates

to Jabalpur

I Arrived in Jabalpur this morning on a 6 am flight from Delhi

It seems like a nice place. I'm looking forward to the event.

Jabalpur is a small city in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

It's known for Marble and the main tourist attraction is a waterfall.

The event here will be a village event. i.e. it is being held in a location that is surrounded by villages and a fair distance from the city. About 40,000 people are expected.

Fun

Hello

My name is Michael Wood and after reading the web log of the Fort Lauderdale event, it inspired me to post a log of my visit to India this winter.  Traveling around India to Maharaji’s events is both fun and challenging - there are lots of stories to be told.

I have been taking photos of Maharaji for many years and feel privileged to be involved in his work.  The idea of posting pictures of my travels to his events seems like fun to me so I will give it a go.

It looks like there will be around a million people seeing Maharaji “live” during the next month.  Many of the events will be taking place in remote locations.  At least 9 locations will host events in addition to the three day Holi event in Delhi. 

It sounds like fun to me! 

I hope you enjoy my web log.

Huge Potential

The potential is incredible.

Many events are planned in India.

People can hear about the possibility of being fulfilled.

That is truly beautiful.

During Maharaji's last visit to India, over 1.3 million people came to hear him speak, to hear his message of peace and the possibility of connecting to the fulfillment within.

I am awestruck that the message of one person, one human being ~ Maharaji's message ~ can appeal to so many people, so many hearts, all over the world, listening and being touched by the most  AMAZING  possibility.

A chance for fulfillment.