It was an early start to the day, the first of the couple of weeks of a momentous trip to Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh - one that would go down in history as the successful culmination of the first phase of Ekatma Abhiyan, a lofty initiative to touch one crore hearts in the heartland of India. Daaji arose early and accompanied by his family, arrived early at the airport for the flight. A book signing at the Hyderabad airport preceded an uneventful flight of an hour and a quarter to Raipur.

Upon arrival at Raipur, he proceeded to the ashram where he was warmly welcomed by hundreds of practitioners waiting eagerly at the ashram that had been lovingly bedecked for the Beloved. Daaji offered prasad at the cottage and conducted meditation at the meditation hall from 11:42 am to 12:14 pm. After lunch and a short rest, he met a few children who presented him with a chart with a poem written on him. He was very happy to see it and asked for it to be included in the Heartfulness Magazine. He then proceeded to the meditation hall to conduct the evening group meditation. The meditation session was deep and profoundly blissful, lasting 40 minutes from 5:58 pm to 6:38 pm. He then took a few questions from those present, relating to how young children could be motivated to maintain good habits, relevance of purification of the atmosphere through yagnas and why spiritual practices are required. Daaji went for a walk around the ashram, stopped at the nursery and gave suggestions on improvement of the green cover in the area.

The evening was spent with the ex Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Shri Raman Singh and a few other dignitaries who came to meet him. He conducted a short meditation from 8:17 pm to 8:34 pm and had a discussion with the guests on the Ekatma Abhiyan, bio charcoal, sandalwood plantation and how better farming techniques could be given to the farming community. He presented the guests with copies of The Wisdom Bridge, The Heartfulness Way and the souvenir of the Ekatma Abhiyan. The guests were fascinated with Kanha Shanti Vanam after going through the book on Kanha. Daaji invited them to visit Kanha and then retired for the day.