Pyramid Valley, Bangalore

Pyramid valley is located on Kanakpura Road in Bangalore and houses India’s first and largest meditation pyramid. The plan to visit pyramid valley had been lingering in my mind for a very long time (a few years) due to my sheer fascination by pyramidal structures. I kept delaying the visit as I am not drawn towards meditation. I am at my most curious and restless self when I try to meditate. Hence, ‘No, thank you – not my cup of tea’ is what my mind always came up with at the initial thought of visiting this place.     

On a Sunday morning, I and my cousin who was visiting me in Bangalore finally decided to visit this place on his choice. It’s distanced 43 Km from Bangalore inside a village in Ramnagar district. We decided to opt for two bikes as none of us were interested in riding pillion. We chose the NICE road route as it was closest from our house and also because I always end up choosing NICE road over any alternative routes in Bangalore. After roughly 20 km from the NICE road junction, we came across a board directing us to the Pyramid. It was a rather small lane off Kanakpura road which would have been easy to miss if we weren’t looking for signs with utmost concentration. It took us roughly an hour to reach there. We reached there half an hour earlier than the designated opening time which is 9 AM- 6 PM. There were a few other people waiting for the place to open even before we reached. The security guard was a bit cranky as he was required to manage a crowd. I wasn’t at my most tolerant self with that until I reminded myself how having to work on a Sunday morning is like. Mr Cranky seemed just fine then.

The outsides of the pyramid are lush green on all sides. It was serene and peaceful with absolutely no cacophony of vehicles city life. The entire premise is surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens. The rules mandate people to remove their footwear outside the stairs leading to the meditation zone. Many signs on the way remind people to be quiet which already is a departure from the regular life we know.

I was amazed after looking at the pyramid from the inside. I could imagine the precision that would have been put into building something as massive. The inside was mostly bare except for chairs on all ends for people to sit and meditate. This part of the pyramid was for visitors with absolute zero focus on meditation; AKA Me. So, I and my cousin occupied a chair each. All I could notice was the stark silence and a few more wandering souls trying their best to talk but in a lower register. The last thing I was focused on was meditation. All I was really doing was ‘Checking out’ the place. My cousin did meditate very seriously. I wanted to talk and tell him that I was done checking out the place but looking at him made me stay quiet.

The center of the pyramid has a structure in the middle called ‘King’s Chamber’ which is built from the bottom to 1/3^rd of the height of pyramid. The energy at this spot is at the peak. A spiral staircase leads people to the meditation zone. A sign warns people to go up only if they are prepared to meditate for 30 minutes or more. I was neither sure nor prepared, but we went up anyway. One really has to go there to experience it- meditation or no meditation. After about 5 minutes, I felt exactly the same way as the childhood game where a pencil is placed in front of the forehead and it makes the head feel really heavy. It was enormously relaxing after a while. The place made me want to give meditation a serious thought. Just focus on breathing, they say; cannot be that hard! J