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December
1998
An
Afternoon on Heavenly Mountain
by
Robert Roth
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The helicopter slips over treetops that line mountain ridges which
undulate like lazy ocean swells. Above, the sky is a brilliant blue,
cloudless; below the earth is like a Claude Monet painting, soft and
ethereal foliage with splashes of fiery red, burnt orange, and warm
violets.
These are the Blue Ridge Mountains of northwestern North Carolina, and
today is another spectacular day. David Kaplan is heading north from the
town of Lenoir towards Boone and the home of The Maharishi Spiritual
Center of America, the magnificent site he has helped to create and build.
He points out his window to the left. A mile north and two thousand feet
below is a massive new building development that has been sliced neatly
into the top of a mountain ridge.
"The Mother Divine program campus," David says, pointing off in
the distance. This is home for 200 single ladies, members of the Mother
Divine program, who are dedicated to attaining that most noble and sublime
goal of life as soon as possible: full enlightenment through their
practice of the TM and TM-Sidhi programs. And it is here also that women
from all over the world travel to spend a few days or a few weeks in the
presence of the Mother Divine program to meditate and, if they are Sidhas,
to fly, and soak up the extraordinary silence, purity, and bliss that
these Mother Divine program ladies have created.
The helicopter churns up another ridge and arcs over another development.
"The Purusha program campus," David nods to his left again. The
Purusha program. Three hundred and fifty single men from 30 countries with
the same goal as the Mother Divine program. Full enlightenment as soon as
possible while creating an indomitable spiritual influence of coherence
for America and the world. The Purusha program men live in residential
houses and condominium suites that crown the mountain ridges. In the
center is a magnificent flying hall with a stepped roof and grand
entrance.
The pilot swings the helicopter back south and in 30 seconds he’s
settling down onto a concrete landing slab. Three hundred yards up a steep
hill is the destination. The Heavenly Mountain Guest House.
Five years ago, Maharishi asked David Kaplan, a member of the Purusha
program since 1986, to head up a project to build what Maharishi called
"The Spiritual Center of America"—a permanent, dignified home
for the Purusha and Mother Divine programs—a spiritual lighthouse for
all times for America and the world.
The first step was to locate land. In March 1993, David, along with a team
of six other Purusha program members found 1,000 acres in this corner of
the Blue Ridge. The next step was to find money and build. Up here, where
the air is clean and clear and you can see for a hundred miles, even huge
projects become simple. David pooled together some of his own money along
with very generous donations from a few other strong supporters, and with
the first of many bank loans in hand and architectural plans complete,
construction on the Purusha site was begun.
Three years later, the work largely complete, 200 Purusha from the U.S.
and Canada moved in. Another 6,500 acres of land adjoining the original
1,000 acres was purchased—sixty percent of it will remain
undeveloped—and work began on the Mother Divine site. At the same time,
plans were drawn up for Heavenly Mountain Resort, a separate for-profit
residential community that would sit between the Purusha program and
Mother Divine program sites.
And today? Seventy million dollars have been raised for The Maharishi
Spiritual Center of America, 675 rooms built, with 325 more to be
completed by spring. One of the buildings has been reserved for 121 Vedic
pandits from India. In addition, Heavenly Mountain Resort has sold 60
lots. Fifteen homes are finished, plus trails, tennis courts, a pool. Next
will come the small village with shops, and a golf course.
David is sitting on a porch chair on the deck of the Guest House. A few
wispy clouds are scattered across the early afternoon horizon. David also
serves as the National Administrator in the U.S. for the Maharishi Global
Administration through Natural Law, the non-profit organization bringing
Maharishi’s programs to America. He has recently returned from a visit
to Vlodrop, Holland, where he participated in several planning meetings
with Maharishi about Maharishi Open University.
"Maharishi has an ocean of knowledge that he is ready to pour out to
the world," David says. "For the past several months he has been
speaking every day on the Maharishi Channel, which broadcasts 24 hours a
day to India and neighboring countries. The response has been phenomenal.
People say they feel that Maharishi is having a personal conversation with
them in their own living room.
"Maharishi now wants to give out the total, polished, lucid, complete
conclusion of the development of the supreme knowledge of Natural Law over
the past 40 years. He has all kinds of new knowledge to unfold—knowledge
that everyone in America must have. He wants to give this knowledge in the
form of a systematic course to the largest number of people possible
through Maharishi Open University."
These days, with development of The Maharishi Spiritual Center of America
and Heavenly Mountain in the capable hands of teams of supervisors, David
is free to work on other pivotal projects. He is heading up a group which
is inspiring thousands of people in the U.S. to enroll in Maharishi Open
University as soon as possible.
David is also working with three other successful business leaders, Warren
Berman, Jeffrey Abramson, and Bob Markowitz, on the Israeli Peace Project.
Their plan is to create a permanent group of 500 Yogic Flyers in Israel as
soon as possible. The group’s daily practice of the TM-Sidhi program
will help reduce the dangerously high levels of stress and tension in the
region and promote real, lasting peace—something, David says, that paper
peace treaties have never been able to achieve.
And finally, David is directing a comprehensive new national public
awareness campaign that will promote the Transcendental Meditation
program, Maharishi Sthapatya Veda design, and the Maharishi Yagya program
throughout America. He, along with a team of Purusha program members, has
been holding strategy sessions with experts in the fields of advertising
and marketing to develop the national campaign. He says that a series of
radio spots, print ads, infomercials and TV ads will be tested soon in
several cities.
"The emphasis of the entire public awareness campaign will be to
bring out the fundamental reality that the individual is, in fact,
cosmic," David says. "That the Veda—the totality of all the
Laws of Nature that structure the entire universe—is also found within
the human physiology. When people realize the truth that they are cosmic,
both intellectually and experientially through the TM technique, living in
a proper Vastu, and Maharishi Yagya performances, then the whole world
will be transformed—then the aspirations of the wise throughout the ages
to create heavenly life on earth, an era of perfect health, happiness,
prosperity, and lasting peace, will be achieved. This is the knowledge
that can create Heaven on Earth, an age already dawning where everyone
will enjoy, in Maharishi’s words: ‘All good everywhere and non-good
nowhere.’" |
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