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Celebrating the gift of Ezemvelo Nature Reserve to the Maharishi Invincibility Institute in South Africa The celebration was held at the Maharishi Institute in downtown Johannesburg where there are 150 students, the core of a group that is being organized to create invincibility for South Africa. During his presentation on Maharishi Global Family Chat on 3 September, Raja Bob LoPinto, Raja of South Africa for the Global Country of World Peace, explained that a grand celebration was held in appreciation for the wonderful gift donated by Nicky and Strilli Oppenheimer to the Maharishi Institute in Johannesburg, of a 4,500 hectare nature reserve about one and a half hours from the city. Mr Oppenheimer is Chairman one of the largest diamond mining companies in the world, and the Oppenheimers are world-class environmental conservationists. Raja LoPinto explained that the Oppenheimers had created 'The Diamond Route', an umbrella organization that supports and promotes ecology, heritage, and eco-tourism on properties surrounding the diamond mines and properties owned by the Oppenheimers. The Oppenheimers also created the 'Diamond Birding Route', and the 'Diamond Insect Route', to foster research into conservation, all about birds and insects, and all aspects of ecology, the environment, and plant and animal life. In their education projects the Oppenheimers feel that students need to be brought back to Nature, and that is why they felt this gift is so appropriate for the Maharishi Invincibility Institute in Johannesburg. Raja LoPinto showed slides of the celebration, with the students surrounding Nicky and Strilli Oppenheimer. Raja LoPinto said the students are very bright and love the knowledge they are receiving during their Consciousness-Based Education. The students made many presentations and MC'd the event, ‘honouring the Oppenheimers in a very royal and loving way’. The students made maps and drawings of the Oppenheimers properties and expressed very articulately what this gift meant to them. ‘It was a very beautiful and moving celebration,’ Raja LoPinto said. The students sang songs and performed traditional dance; they read poetry they had written expressing deep principles about their own consciousness, and how Nature is inside and Nature is outside. The students spoke about the value of the Institute, of His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and the Transcendental Meditation Technique, again appreciating the Oppenheimers for this wonderful gift. 'When the students danced and sang, it was like unity moving, complete unison, and immense heart value. It was really something,' said Raja LoPinto. Everyone danced with the students, 'some having more rhythm than others!' he said. During his Global Family Chat presentation, Raja LoPinto said that Maharishi had thought of Ezemvelo as a place of great pilgrimage. He really appreciated the Oppenheimers and wanted us to celebrate them in a significant way. Raja LoPinto showed slides of Ezemvelo, and expressed his feelings about what Maharishi had said about Ezemvelo as a place of pilgrimage. Raja LoPinto had not understood this at first, but when he visited the nature reserve during his recent trip to South Africa, he found that he had never been to a place where the Transcendent was so lively. 'Anywhere I have ever been has been nothing compared to the experience I had in this nature reserve,' he said. 'It was stunning. There is something very precious and very special about Ezemvelo, so it became very clear to me what Maharishi was saying.’ Raja LoPinto said that there will be a Maharishi Spa there, courses in the Transcendental Meditation Programme, and already a TM Sidhi course was recently held there for 35 of the students from the Maharishi Institute. There is a beautiful reservoir and a swimming pool. It has wonderful amenities, and they plan to create a dining area on the deck of the main building, serving organic food. The building is already rented out for conferences, and Ezemvelo is a place of eco-tourism. ‘That will continue,’ said Raja LoPinto. ‘People will come here to train in all Maharishi's programmes and come to this place of pilgrimage to have the liveliness of Nature inside and out.’ There are about 2,000 animals on the site, with 250 different species, including zebras, rhinoceros, zebras, and giraffes. The very beautiful park can be seen on horseback. Raja LoPinto then said that a large eight-storey building in the middle of Johannesburg has also been donated to the Maharishi Institute, where the invincibility group for the country with 1,000 students will be established. The building faces perfect east, in a very nice neighbourhood, where leading businesses and companies and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange are all situated. Raja LoPinto showed slides of different areas inside the building, which the students have been renovating and decorating. After the Oppenheimer celebration, press articles came out, which the students were very excited about. ‘The students love being at the Institute and speak so glowingly about it,’ Raja LoPinto said. At a meeting with Raja LoPinto after the celebration, one student stood up, reflecting the feeling of everyone there, and said 'Whatever we do on the academic side, we absolutely must make sure that we never lose the meditation, we never lose Maharishi's knowledge.' A number of press releases were issued, one on the handing over of the gift of the Ezemvelo Nature Reserve to the Maharishi Institute, and the other was a bold charge to everyone to take on Maharishi's programmes to eliminate crime in Johannesburg and in South Africa. ‘We came forward with Maharishi's bold solution to create invincibility by establishing these invincibility groups in the country,’ Raja LoPinto said. Five press articles came out, and in response to the press articles, Raja LoPinto did three radio interviews. One reporter came to the Maharishi Institute with some skepticism and concerns, but then she saw the students in action; she attended the meeting with Raja LoPinto and the students, who did not know she was there, and they spoke so openly and so articulately about how to expand the numbers of students—about having their parents come and tell the story to the press, and many other suggestions. This reporter then wrote an exceptional article saying that establishing a group of 1,000 students to create invincibility might seem far-fetched, but she appropriately compared it to a time when people thought the earth was flat, and round was also thought to be far-fetched. Raja LoPinto said that she incorporated the points given to her very brilliantly in her article, and that it was an important article because it reaches some of the top businesses and people in the country. Her article opened and softened the press and radio stations to want to hear more about Maharishi’s programmes. Raja LoPinto said that this has continued even after he returned to the United States.
© Copyright 2008 Global Good News®
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