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Planning the perfect vacation? You might want to include gourmet food, personal masseurs, elegant hotel accomodations, friendly staff, satellite TV, indoor swimming, tennis, golf, paddle boating, a health spa, and unusual tourist attractions--all that leave you totally energized.
That would be surprising to most people who are used to coming back from vacation more exhausted then when they left. They will be even more surprised and delighted with the latest construction project booming in Fairfield, Iowa. The Maharishi Center for Perfect Health and World Peace is a new concept in community development that combines conference facilities, a health spa, and even doubles as a vacation spot.
Three of the ten lots, or mandalas, are already open to the public. Developers at the fourth lot plan to be ready by the year's end. The newest hotel, The Mansion at Mandala Two, opened its doors on May 30 and has been buzzing with activity ever since.
Most mansions typically take at least a century before they have accumulated an intriguing story, with generation after generation adding chapters of adventures. Yet Fairfield's newest 23-room mansion, only a few months old, already bears quite a tale.
Beginning with its grand opening ceremony, The Mansion hotel and resort quickly achieved success. In just three months 15 rooms were sold out and most of the rooms in the building, including the meeting rooms, were rented on a long-term basis.
A wedding and reception christened the cream-colored brick building on its opening day, and since then it has hosted a university graduation ball and alumni Banquet, two Bar Mitzvahs, a Fourth of July picnic and political rally, business conferences and luncheons, consultations for close to 100 people with Dr. B.D. Triguna, the world's leading diagnostician in natural medicine, and numerous birthday and anniversary parties. Many of the events for Maharishi University of Management's Silver Jubilee Celebration also took place at The Mansion, including a gala banquet for over 450 government and business leaders from Fairfield and University faculty, guests from Norway, the Phillipines, India, and Vlodrop, including Vedic Pundits or scholars of the ancient Vedic Literature, a press conference, and a magnificant fireworks display to over 2000 people. Fifteen of the 30 lots for building homes were also sold in that time.
Why has this small hotel so done so well? It may be partly the decor. It has stately columns at the front of the building, marble entryway and baths. It also has a combination of satellite TV, digital telephone system, and three gourmet meals a day through the Apple Blossom Restaurant, an organic, vegetarian non genetically-engineered foods restaurant.
But developer Robert Wynne has his own theory. "The building makes people happy. When people come they don't want to leave. This, of course, is very good for marketing!" Wynne attributes his overnight success of filling the Mansion to Maharishi Sthapatya Veda® construction principles, ancient knowledge of architectural design dedicated to creating buildings in tune with natural law.
"These are very precise technologies that produce very predictable results," says Wynne. Maharishi Sthapatya Veda, also called Vastu Vidya or the knowledge of the site of the intelligence of the building, produces a positive influence on the individuals that utilize it.
"If one doesn't live in a Maharishi Sthapatya Vedic building, then one doesn't know what the influences of the building are. The value of living in a Maharishi Sthapatya Veda building is that the life-supporting influences for the residents are predictable, whether the building is in Iowa, Kenya, Sidney or London, just like laws of nature such as gravity are the same and predictable in any location," says Wynne.
Maharishi Sthapatya Veda prescribes building in such a way that the buildings have the maximum influence on the success, health, and powerful thinking of the individuals in them. Principles include attention to the location of particular rooms--kitchen, bedrooms, and library, what the height and thickness of the walls should be and the orientation of the building on the property. In Maharishi Sthapaya Veda buildings should face east.
The Mansion has attracted considerable interest from people around the state. Residents from Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Oskaloosa and Waterloo have made the trek to Fairfield, scoping out business opportunities. People who spend the night at The Mansion report that their thinking and planning is more powerful, that their sleep is more restful, and that they seem to be happier and to have greater luck.
One local overnight guest, Chris Hartnett, founder of USA Global Link, enjoyed his stay so much he bought a suite permanently and moved in his whole family. "My life has become extremely orderly as a result of being here," says Hartnett, "and the building seems to do a lot of the work for me."
Some celebrities have also come to enjoy the serene yet productive environment. World-famous magician Doug Henning has moved part of his Veda Land theme park operation from Canada to Fairfield for two reasons. The first is The Mansion, where he says, "I can think most creatively." The second reason is because of the Golden Domes at Maharishi University of Management where he can practice Yogic Flying in a group. Also, Fairfield is a very dynamic and creative community he can draw upon for technical and artistic skills.
The Mansion hotel and resort is actually only one of ten development projects under way at the 1000-acre Maharishi Center for Perfect Health and World Peace, a commercial subdivision of Jefferson County.
The original plan for building The Maharishi Center for Perfect Health and World Peace was to offer programs to create healthy individuals using programs that rejuvenate the physiology. The second goal is to generate enough coherence in the thinking and behavior of individuals through a large group of Yogic Flyers that would reduce negative trends and tendencies, thereby promoting peace in the world. The Center aims to accommodate about 5000 people. Guests visiting the Center three or four times a year during their vacation time could take advantage of the Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health program, which include prevention-oriented techniques, or attend conferences and enjoy the different resort amenities.
Mandala project number nine has been up and running for three years. It features The Raj, another stately hotel with 28 rooms, and has hosted guests, from every continent and many countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, the Caribbean, Germany, Holland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Mozambique, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, and Tahiti. The Raj, recently featured on NBC TV Dateline News, is acknowledged in the field of alternative health care as the leading Ayur Vedic health facility in the country. It specializes in offering a natural approach to preventive health using the ancient system of Maharishi Ayur-VedaSM.
An increasing demand for these programs has led to a wave of expansion at The Raj, including the soon-to-be-finished construction of another 18 room hotel. Plans are underway for subdividing some land in preparation for creating select housing sites. And according to Candace Badgett, co-developer of Mandala Nine, the health clinic and hotel facilities will ultimately expand to accommodate 500 guests.
A third development project partially completed at The Maharishi Center for Perfect Health and World Peace is Mandala Six. Developers Chris and Dee Johnson have been completely booked for months at their Chalets on the Lake, which are 30 rental units with about 80 bedrooms. But future construction plans are in the works, including a large hotel with just under 300 rooms, and two smaller hotels with 20-30 rooms that are scheduled to be built next year.
Johnson has also purchased another 150 acres that have been annexed on to Mandala Six to be used as an upscale housing development that will be divided into about 30 lots. Plans are under development for homes ranging from $50-150,000 so that people in different income levels can enjoy the benefits of living in a Maharishi Sthapatya Vedic planned community.
Probably one of the biggest future tourist attractions at The Maharishi Center for Perfect Health and World Peace will be the Maharishi Vedic ObservatoryTM and other features at Mandala One. The Vedic Observatory is already three-fourths completed and developer Tim Fitz-Randolph hopes to be finished by the end of the year.
"Building a Vedic Observatory is a very precise process," says Fitz-Randolph. "It has never been made before as complete as this. There is no recipe book." A team of experts were commissioned to figure out the technical aspects of constructing each instrument properly. Fitz-Randolph and associates have traveled around the world and have conducted extensive research into building this type of observatory. During his research, Fitz-Randolph found that this type of observatory is actually present in many cultures, either in ancient ruins or in legends.
Perhaps the most famous landmark similar to this kind of observatory is in Stonehenge, England. But Vedic Observatories have also been located in Chichen Itza, Mexico, Maachu Pichu, Peru, and in many states in India. The most recently built Vedic Observatory was built in India in the 1720s.
One thing that is noticeable to any casual observer is that the instruments in the Maharishi Vedic Observatory are not little. And the unique shapes are fascinating to look at. But what is the advantage of looking at these huge instruments when there are simpler ways of locating stars or figuring out the path of the sun or the time of day?
Carl Stone, President of Maharishi Global Vedic Observatory, a company that produces tabletop versions of the Maharishi Vedic Observatory, explains that just looking at the instruments has a balancing influence on the physiology. "Simply by observing the forms, shapes, and markings of the Vedic Observatory through the sense of sight, the inner intelligence of the body is spontaneously brought into alliance with the cosmic structure of the universe," says Stone.
He points out that the universe is always evolving and changing. This constant change has an influence on the individual. The most noticable effect one can see is the effects on the individual due to the time of day, which corresponds to the cosmic changes in the solar system. These cycles are structured into the physiology.
"If there was a way for the individual to become aligned with the same laws of nature that are guiding the maintenance of the cosmos," says Stone, "than the rhythms and cycles of one's life would be more in tune with the rhythms and cycles of nature." In a pamphlet for the Vedic Observatory it states that the Vedic Observatory is an ancient Vedic technology which expands the awareness, trains the vision and mind to focus on the mathematical precision and order that regulates the universe without problems.
The Maharishi Vedic Observatory derives its structure from the movement of the sun and planets in the solar system. These movements are the expressions of the laws of nature that are also part of the human physiology. "Everyone is already influenced by the different laws of nature," says Stone. "The Maharishi Vedic Observatory enlivens the relationship between the individual and the cosmos so that the life of the individual moves in the direction of greater balance."
The observatory will be in the center or courtyard of a large hotel. Plans are being drawn for a 300-room string of buildings, connected by greenhouses where organic vegetables and exotic flowers will grow.
According to Fitz-Randolph, since Mandala One is representative of the first mandala of Rig Veda, ancient Vedic Literature that contains the seed form of all the other expressions of Vedic Literature, his goal is to include all the different branches of Vedic knowledge in his hotel structure. "We want to have a Maharishi Jyotish planetarium to not only observe the stars but to offer jyotish consultations, and a building for Maharishi Gandharva Veda concerts and lessons," says Fitz-Randolph.
Another attraction at Mandala One sure to draw crowds from around the nation is a Veda Vision Theater designed by world-famous magician Doug Henning. Also included in Mandala One plans is the building of a performing arts theater.
The most rapid construction is currently taking place at Mandala Two. Robert Wynne has plans for building Mansion Villas, or homes, which are approximately 2200 square feet, with three bedrooms and two baths, a kitchen, living room and dining room, and will have the same gold roof and white brick as The Mansion. They can be purchased in advance and are expected to be complete within five months, so people will be able to move in right away.
The Grand Hotel, another design for Mandala Two will comprise two buildings, each 330 feet in length, two stories high with about 100 rooms each and they will be on the eastern side of the circle of the property, facing east. "These we anticipate building very soon to accommodate this great need both for people who need hotel reservations and people who want short and long-term living situations in Maharishi Sthapatya Vedic housing," says Wynne. He anticipates that they would be available to move in some time in late spring of '97.
Perhaps part of Wynne's enthusiasm stems from his experience of building quickly only to be sold out quickly. "We were building a house for ourselves next door to The Mansion and a company offered to buy it while it was still under construction," said Wynne. He sold it because the building was going to be available for use in just one month which meant that the company would not have to spend time designing and building. Since Wynne's goal is to produce 500 rooms on Mandala Two, selling that house created one more set of rooms being used.
Wynne states that it is also very beneficial for a company to work in a Maharishi Sthapatya Vedic building because the employees who work there will get the maximum benefit of more powerful thinking and decision making and planning. Hartnett, owner of the newly built home-turned-office building agrees. "Meetings always have a more positive outcome in this new building and are more productive," says Hartnett. "It's as though the intelligence in the building is helping to solve the business challenges."
Wynne is also reserving space for The Mansion homes, The Grand Hotel, condominiums, patio homes and townhouses, and a conference center.
"If you have 5000 people, you will need people to take care of them. This increases the job situation quite a bit," says Wynne. There may be 3000 people needed to take care of 5000 people or so, plus all the construction. It will produce and is producing quite a booming economy just developing and operating this resort of 5000. "We are enthusiastic for other developers to come forward and buy the other six Mandala land sites," says Wynne.
The 1,000 acre Maharishi Center for Perfect Health and World Peace is the largest holistic health and resort center in Iowa. Isn't it time you came here for a vacation? You may want to bring all your belongings with you, just to save a trip back home!
©1996 by Jennine Fellmer. ®Maharishi Sthapatya Veda is a service mark registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, licensed to Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation and used under sublicense. The following service marks and trade names are licensed to Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation and used under sublicense: Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health, Maharishi Ayur-Veda and Maharishi University of Management. Patents Pending. TM Maharishi Vedic Observatory & Vedic Observatory are trademarks of M.G.V.O. Corporation.
