Guru Purnima – Goa – July 23 to July 27
JAI BABA SWAMI
I had been waiting eagerly for July 23 - co-incidentally my elder brothers’ birthday too – in fact I barely slept on the night of the 22nd, waking up every hour to see whether it was time to leave. I woke up at 4.15 am and got ready for departure. After my bath I sat down for meditation and the cool vibrations emanating from PP Gurudev’s photo augured well for our 600km drive down to Goa. I prayed for our safe journey – we were seven people travelling in two cars – as it was raining very heavily throughout the previous day. At 6.30 am, I left with my mothers’ blessings, along with Raju, picked up two others from Juhu and Andheri West and another sadhika from Andheri East and left for Airoli where Deepak Tandon stayed. We were waiting for another sadhak who came from Thane, and in the meanwhile, we had breakfast at Deepaks house. Deepak’s wife Sharmila told us that she will come by train in the evening, so in effect we became seven travellers from eight. Deepak and his wife are bhakts of Sathya Sai Baba and they took us to the “devghar”. As I closed my eyes and prayed, the cool vibrations felt were amazing, the family is truly blessed to have such divine presence in their house.
At 7.30pm after the last sadhak, Manoj, came we left for Goa via the Mumbai – Bangalore road which is a part of the golden quadrilateral route. We stopped on the expressway for tea and snacks at around 9 am. As we left, I got a call from a friend saying that it had really started pouring in Mumbai and the TV news was showing that the Bombay-Goa road via Ratnagiri was closed. I told him we had planned two months ago that we were going via the Kolhapur road, and we were confident that PP Gurudev would be with us throughout our journey. We stopped for lunch at around 2pm at Tawandi, in Karnataka, and believe me, it was one of the most pleasant drives on a beautiful and smooth road. We did get intermittent rain on the way and one tense moment when a trailer carrying Mahindra tractors went out of control and missed our vehicle as we overtook it by the proverbial whisker. We were confident nothing would happen to us and that faith took us onward on our drive through the Amboli Ghat - one of the most beautiful roads you will come across anywhere in the world. Lush green fields with different hues of green on either side of the winding and twisting road, as we drove up Amboli Ghat the road became misty with fog arriving in gentle swathes across the road, thinning and thickening as we progressed. Rain added to the beauty and the pleasure of the drive as we totally connected with nature with the blessings of PP Gurudev. We stopped for filling petrol and having a cup of tea around 4pm on the upward slope of Amboli Ghat. After filling petrol, we went to a small restaurant for tea and as soon as we entered the restaurant, it started pouring cats and dogs, elephants and rhinos. We could not see a meter ahead of us in the blinding rain. Fog had also started to float across the road, I was confident that the rain would stop as we finished tea – this has been my experience in the last two monsoons after joining the Samarpan meditation movement, it rains every time I get into the car, home or office, and stops when it is time to leave – strange but true. My confidence was proved right, as the rain reduced to a slight drizzle as we finished our tea and got into the car – PP Gurudev had again ensured that we enjoyed the rains but were not affected adversely by it. As we drove up the Ghat we came across numerous waterfalls cascading down from the hillside on our right and a deep valley to the left. The visibility became almost zero for about ten minutes of the drive and with PP Gurudev’s blessings we passed that stretch safely admiring the natural beauty of the ghats as we slowly drove down. Once out of the Ghats we reached Sawantwadi and thence to Porvorim where we went straight to the ground where the Guru Purnima function was to be held. We reached the ground at 6pm in the evening after one of the most wonderful drives on beautiful roads going through the thick of nature and arriving at our destination as fresh as daisies.
We connected with fellow sadhaks from Bangalore and Mumbai who were already there in Goa for the function. Ravikiran and Ananth met us at the ground and showed us the preparations. Ravikiran gave us directions to his Hotel, where we stayed overnight. The function was to start from 4pm on Saturday, so we retired at around 10pm and left for the ground next morning by 8am. We registered for the function and took our ID cards and then we had breakfast at the ground after which we got a request for giving “seva”. The ground had been levelled and the pandal was prepared for taking in 6000 plus sadhaks, a separate dining area connected to the main pandal, from which one could go to the “exhibition” and “sahitya” stall. From the exit to the dining area one could go to the cloak section with separations for ladies and gents. All in all, if one was disciplined and got in early, one did not have to leave the pandal and go into the open ground and get caught in the rain which was incessant, from heavy to very heavy at times. The pandal was so beautifully made by contractors from Gandhinagar, with every care being taken to ensure that water did not enter the pandal. The ground was of red loam with pebbles all over, hence walking on the ground would hurt the feet, for which black soil, most likely from Calangute beach was being put over the red loam. We joined in offering seva in laying the black soil inside the pandal, once that was done, we were asked to do the same outside on the pathway. We started with 8 to 10 sadhaks and in half an hour or so had swelled to 100 plus people working at a frenetic pace to lay the black soil. We worked like a labor gang, picking up “ghamelas” filled with sand and passing it on to the sadhaks at the end to put on the ground and level it, there was a return chain of people to convey the empty ghamelas. It was great fun, and we were singing bhajans and dhuns as the work progressed. By 1pm we had finished laying the sand and a lady sadhak from Rajkot started singing Rambhai’s bhajan “Tame tararey“ and we all started doing garba to the tune and sang along with her. As the song and dance gathered momentum I was experiencing cool vibrations from head to toe in spite of sweating due to the seva. After giving seva on the ground we went into the pandal to help other sevaks in laying the mattresses for the sadhaks to sit. By 2pm we were more or less ready to receive the sadhaks. We were informed that due to heavy rains the railways had cancelled all trains going through the Konkan, the roads were also blocked because of flooding of the Sindhudurg river. Many sadhaks then hired buses and took out their cars to reach Goa by 4pm. Quite a few could not make it on the 24th and sadhaks kept coming even on the 25th till late evening. Deepak informed us that his wife had arrived in time for the function. When we met her she said that when she left in the evening, she asked her aunt for a couple of plastic bags, but her aunt gave her a bagful of plastic bags. These bags came in extremely handy, as the passengers in the bus all suffered from motion sickness and the bags were used for those who were vomiting. It is amazing how the Gurushaktis put their devotees to work in helping others. Sharmila’s purpose for going by bus was in carrying the plastic bags for those affected – no one else had carried these bags! Such are the ways of the Guru!
We went back to the hotel and freshened up and changed into fresh clothes and drove back to the ground. By 4.30pm, the sadhaks had all gathered and the pandal looked like a sea of orange caps! Mrs. Virkar announced that we would begin with meditation, and we all sat down for group meditation in PP Gurudev’s aura. After meditation, the organisers announced how the logistics would be taken care of, as 115 hotels had been booked with 80 buses organised in two batches for the sadhaks to come to the venue and then leave for the hotel. These hotels were all within a radius of 20 km from the venue, hence a delay by any one person would delay the entire batch. The sadhaks were told to have discipline and follow the instructions of volunteers appointed for each bus and hotel so that the arrangements were not disturbed. PP Gurudev and PP Guruma’s arrival was after the logistics announcements for which we closed our eyes and sat down for PP Gurudev’s and PP Guruma’s arrival. Blowing of conch shells announced the arrival of PP Guruma first and then PP Gurudev. We all bowed down and prayed in obeisance on their arrival. We listened in silence to the discourse from PP Gurudev who welcomed us on our arrival and gave us his pearls of wisdom. He told us that many of us faced problems because we were not sure of whether to go to Goa or not and hence arrived in a very unstable condition as a result he could not come for meditation with us. He explained that the human body had ten “dwars” starting with the “mool dwar ” followed by “mutra dwar” the two ears, two eyes, two nostrils, mouth and the tenth and last the “sahastrar” or Guru Dwar . He told us that on Guru Purnima all the Guru Shaktis will be present and we should all ask for the “Dasham Dwar” to be opened for us and this will definitely happen to all in this lifetime. The energy flowing during the discourse could be felt on the body by means of cool vibrations with sandalwood fragrance coming through once in a while. At around 9pm the program ended for the day and we had dinner and left for the hotel allotted to us at Khorlim in Mapusa, ten km away from the venue. We retired for the night as the next day was Guru Purnima and we had to reach the venue by 5.30am.
At Atmaram hotel we were eleven people to a room with a single bathroom. I woke up at 2.30am and finished my morning activities in 15 minutes, after which one by one everyone got ready turn by turn. We left for the venue at around 5am and reached in 15 minutes. We parked the car and walked to the venue with a slight drizzle welcoming us. We settled down in the pandal for the day to begin with morning meditation. At 6am sharp the day’s program started with morning meditation. The vibrations started flowing with the Guru Ahawan and Guru mantra. As PP Gurudev had said Guru Purnima is the one day in a year when all the Guru Shakti’s are present and energy is flowing constantly, all you had to do is be in a position to absorb the energies. This can happen by staying in balance through meditation twice a day - morning in solitude and in the evening in collectivity. The morning meditation was again a great experience and after a few announcements, we dispersed for breakfast. PP Gurudev asked the sadhaks to meditate regularly and this would be his Guru dakshina. At that point an announcement was made for volunteers to give seva in the dining area. Our group of six all volunteered and registered ourselves for seva in the dining area. As the program of diksha progressed and after that the cultural program which we could watch on TV, we were involved in cleaning the dining area and then we were given instructions and explained our roles by the person in charge of dining. This is the first time I was involved in ushering and directing the sadhaks in such large numbers through the lunch program which began at around 12.15 and continued till 3pm. After that an announcement was made that there were only five minutes for paduka darshan, and as I had not done the darshan, I looked for Deepak, who was not visible, then ran for the darshan. I got in just in time and the last paduka was there for darshan - I may have been the last person who took the darshan after which the paduka was removed from display. I returned to the dining area and sat down for the tea break. All the time I could feel the chaitanya flowing with whiffs of sandalwood aroma coming now and then.
It started raining very heavily after lunch and then one of the plastic and cloth roof sections in the dining area collapsed due to the accumulated weight of the water. We then got to work with plates in removing the water and getting the place ready for evening tea and dinner. We managed to clear the water which helped the tea and dinner program to conclude uneventfully. After the program, Deepak realised his sandals were missing, I told him not to worry as I had a brand new pair which I had purchased three weeks ago for just such an eventuality. As luck would have it the pair turned out to be a perfect fit. Just imagine, the fate of the new sandals were decided three weeks earlier, which means PP Gurudev prepares the sadhaks for all eventualities and takes care of all his/her needs with great compassion! We returned to our hotel rooms around 9.30pm and retired for the day as very happy and lucky individuals who had the fortune to offer seva during Guru Purnima. As PP Gurudev says, by doing Guru karya one takes care of the left channel (Chandra nadi) and regular meditation helps take care of the right channel (Surya nadi) thus keeping the sadhak in balance. All one should ensure is that whatever one does is done selflessly without the “I-factor” meaning the ego creeping in to mar spiritual progress.
It was now raining very heavily and the rain continued through the night. I woke up again at 2.30am completely refreshed and got ready followed by my fellow sadhaks. We left at 5 am and reached the venue at around 5.20 am, put on our jackets and pulled out our umbrellas and walked down to the venue. We went straight to the dining area and were not really surprised to see the entire area – both ladies and gents section full of water as 4 sections had collapsed and were in urgent need of repair. As soon as we saw the problem, we obtained plates and crates from the kitchen along with rugs to remove the water and mop up the area. At 6am we sat for meditation and after that there was a question-answer session which was taken up by PP Gurudev. This session extended upto 9.15 am which helped us by giving us enough time to remove all the water and swab the place clean so that the sadhaks could enter the dining area without getting their feet wet. After the breakfast session, the program continued and we sat back to enjoy the cultural program on TV. At 11 am we were called together and told that due to the dampness of the ground we would have to adjust by having lunch in buffet fashion. The plan was made to have eight counters and one counter for repeat diners. The organisers had kept 3 hours for lunch considering that sadhaks were still coming to the program venue due to late arrival of trains and buses. Once the sadhaks were told to go for lunch a strict program was adhered to where the sadhaks were directed to counter one and so on so that no crowding took place. We were running up and down seeing that no counter remained vacant for long and people just moved in a continuous stream. After initial hiccups things started moving like clockwork, the sun was out slightly and the area was now hot and humid with the smoke coming from the kitchen making the eyes burn and I was sweating profusely too. Suddenly in the midst of the lunch program I found myself going cold, I went to Vasant and asked him whether he was feeling cold, he gave me his hand – his fingers had gone ice cold, there was tremendous energy and my body was going cold from head to toe in waves. We continued with our directions to the sadhaks – and you won’t believe at 1.35pm Dharmenbhai informs me that the rush was over – more than 6000 people had finished their lunch in one and a half hours. Subsequently it was announced that PP Gurudev had done the rounds of the dining area in his subtle body – no wonder everything went as clockwork – with Guru energies at work everything just happens smoothly. No wonder I felt tremendous energy at that time! We had our lunch after the sadhak rush was over and waited for the concluding session of the program.
With time on our hands we decided to visit the sahitya stall and made our purchases, then we went to the exhibition where PP Gurudev’s photos were placed and an exhibition which showed the effects of pollution on water was on display. At the exhibition there was tremendous energy flowing as the sadhikas explained the effect of pollution on water with reference to how our minds get polluted. When the water flows down from the Himalayas it is clean and pure and is always flowing, but once it enters the cities it becomes stagnant and starts getting polluted. Similarly man in an open and clean environment is away from thought pollution but when he enters the city there is tremendous thought pollution which affects a person’s balance. The body of a human consists of 70% water, hence it is very important to maintain balance and ensure that one is not affected by such pollution. The exhibition concluded by showing water which was sent for analysis to Germany in bottles after PP Gurudev’s dhyan maha shibir in 2007. Seven bottles were sent covering each chakra and the crystal formation of the vibrated water showed the positive effect of meditation on water, with the crystal formation for the Sahastrar chakra being the most compact and beautiful!
After attending the exhibition, we went back to the dining area, watched the remaining programs on TV and listened to PP Gurudev’s concluding pravachan. PP Gurudev mentioned that he would have loved to do meditation with us, but the sadhaks had come in an unstable condition and would not have been able to take the vibrations emanating from him. He spoke lengthily on the administration of the Samarpan movement and how one should ensure that ego should not develop due to taking up posts in the movement, either as Acharya’s, co-ordinators, Maha Acharyas or Trustees as this hampers the spiritual development. After the pravachan, we paid obeisance to his holy presence and concluded the program with Shanti Paath. Sadhaks were requested to attend the prasad dinner and then disperse after surrendering their registration cards at the registration counter and collecting prasad from there.
We helped in removing and stacking up the mattresses as we were planning to leave the next day. After completing this karya, we went out only to find that Deepaks wife, Sharmila had also lost her slippers – looks like PP Gurudev had cleared a lot of negativity from their lives – as negative energy collects in the footwear.
We then left and went shopping for flipflops for Sharmila and Deepak. In Goa all shops close early, hence we were lucky to get the flipflops, we then left for Mapusa where the rest of the shopping was completed by our fellow sadhaks. As we parked our cars at the hotel, we looked up into the night sky with the full moon coming out – in the silhouette of the moon we saw “Aum” formation coming and going a couple of time. We felt truly blessed at the divine sight. On the return journey on Tuesday, we were three cars fully loaded with 15 people. Ramnath, who was originally to come with us in his car, at the last moment had decided to go by train, which got cancelled due to heavy rains and had to revert to his original plan of driving down was with us on the return trip. With him was Ananth Khamankar and his family, we offered to take two sadhikas from Airoli center as there were two vacant seats on the return trip.
We left Mapusa very reluctantly at around 6.30am on the return trip – it is always difficult getting away from such energy in such sylvan surroundings. We stopped for breakfast at Sawantwadi and then continued on through the Amboli Ghat. We had great fun on the way back, stopping at the top of Amboli Ghat getting into the waterfalls on the way, taking photographs, feeding monkeys with acorn. The return journey was quite uneventful, except that Deepaks car got punctured after Kolhapur. In fact I was expecting this, as before we started out Deepak had stopped at a petrol pump for filling gas and also having air filled in his tyres. When I had called he had said he was filling air in the Stepney too – Deepak is so connected with Guru energies that I was quite confident that his car would get a puncture on the return trip. After that the trip was quite uneventful, we stopped for tea at Lonavla and reached Deepak’s house in Airoli by 7.45am. The trip to Mahim from there took two hours as we got stuck in major traffic at Powai – but all in all it was a wonderful trip, spiritually uplifting and fulfilling.
Jai Baba Swami
I had been waiting eagerly for July 23 - co-incidentally my elder brothers’ birthday too – in fact I barely slept on the night of the 22nd, waking up every hour to see whether it was time to leave. I woke up at 4.15 am and got ready for departure. After my bath I sat down for meditation and the cool vibrations emanating from PP Gurudev’s photo augured well for our 600km drive down to Goa. I prayed for our safe journey – we were seven people travelling in two cars – as it was raining very heavily throughout the previous day. At 6.30 am, I left with my mothers’ blessings, along with Raju, picked up two others from Juhu and Andheri West and another sadhika from Andheri East and left for Airoli where Deepak Tandon stayed. We were waiting for another sadhak who came from Thane, and in the meanwhile, we had breakfast at Deepaks house. Deepak’s wife Sharmila told us that she will come by train in the evening, so in effect we became seven travellers from eight. Deepak and his wife are bhakts of Sathya Sai Baba and they took us to the “devghar”. As I closed my eyes and prayed, the cool vibrations felt were amazing, the family is truly blessed to have such divine presence in their house.
At 7.30pm after the last sadhak, Manoj, came we left for Goa via the Mumbai – Bangalore road which is a part of the golden quadrilateral route. We stopped on the expressway for tea and snacks at around 9 am. As we left, I got a call from a friend saying that it had really started pouring in Mumbai and the TV news was showing that the Bombay-Goa road via Ratnagiri was closed. I told him we had planned two months ago that we were going via the Kolhapur road, and we were confident that PP Gurudev would be with us throughout our journey. We stopped for lunch at around 2pm at Tawandi, in Karnataka, and believe me, it was one of the most pleasant drives on a beautiful and smooth road. We did get intermittent rain on the way and one tense moment when a trailer carrying Mahindra tractors went out of control and missed our vehicle as we overtook it by the proverbial whisker. We were confident nothing would happen to us and that faith took us onward on our drive through the Amboli Ghat - one of the most beautiful roads you will come across anywhere in the world. Lush green fields with different hues of green on either side of the winding and twisting road, as we drove up Amboli Ghat the road became misty with fog arriving in gentle swathes across the road, thinning and thickening as we progressed. Rain added to the beauty and the pleasure of the drive as we totally connected with nature with the blessings of PP Gurudev. We stopped for filling petrol and having a cup of tea around 4pm on the upward slope of Amboli Ghat. After filling petrol, we went to a small restaurant for tea and as soon as we entered the restaurant, it started pouring cats and dogs, elephants and rhinos. We could not see a meter ahead of us in the blinding rain. Fog had also started to float across the road, I was confident that the rain would stop as we finished tea – this has been my experience in the last two monsoons after joining the Samarpan meditation movement, it rains every time I get into the car, home or office, and stops when it is time to leave – strange but true. My confidence was proved right, as the rain reduced to a slight drizzle as we finished our tea and got into the car – PP Gurudev had again ensured that we enjoyed the rains but were not affected adversely by it. As we drove up the Ghat we came across numerous waterfalls cascading down from the hillside on our right and a deep valley to the left. The visibility became almost zero for about ten minutes of the drive and with PP Gurudev’s blessings we passed that stretch safely admiring the natural beauty of the ghats as we slowly drove down. Once out of the Ghats we reached Sawantwadi and thence to Porvorim where we went straight to the ground where the Guru Purnima function was to be held. We reached the ground at 6pm in the evening after one of the most wonderful drives on beautiful roads going through the thick of nature and arriving at our destination as fresh as daisies.
We connected with fellow sadhaks from Bangalore and Mumbai who were already there in Goa for the function. Ravikiran and Ananth met us at the ground and showed us the preparations. Ravikiran gave us directions to his Hotel, where we stayed overnight. The function was to start from 4pm on Saturday, so we retired at around 10pm and left for the ground next morning by 8am. We registered for the function and took our ID cards and then we had breakfast at the ground after which we got a request for giving “seva”. The ground had been levelled and the pandal was prepared for taking in 6000 plus sadhaks, a separate dining area connected to the main pandal, from which one could go to the “exhibition” and “sahitya” stall. From the exit to the dining area one could go to the cloak section with separations for ladies and gents. All in all, if one was disciplined and got in early, one did not have to leave the pandal and go into the open ground and get caught in the rain which was incessant, from heavy to very heavy at times. The pandal was so beautifully made by contractors from Gandhinagar, with every care being taken to ensure that water did not enter the pandal. The ground was of red loam with pebbles all over, hence walking on the ground would hurt the feet, for which black soil, most likely from Calangute beach was being put over the red loam. We joined in offering seva in laying the black soil inside the pandal, once that was done, we were asked to do the same outside on the pathway. We started with 8 to 10 sadhaks and in half an hour or so had swelled to 100 plus people working at a frenetic pace to lay the black soil. We worked like a labor gang, picking up “ghamelas” filled with sand and passing it on to the sadhaks at the end to put on the ground and level it, there was a return chain of people to convey the empty ghamelas. It was great fun, and we were singing bhajans and dhuns as the work progressed. By 1pm we had finished laying the sand and a lady sadhak from Rajkot started singing Rambhai’s bhajan “Tame tararey“ and we all started doing garba to the tune and sang along with her. As the song and dance gathered momentum I was experiencing cool vibrations from head to toe in spite of sweating due to the seva. After giving seva on the ground we went into the pandal to help other sevaks in laying the mattresses for the sadhaks to sit. By 2pm we were more or less ready to receive the sadhaks. We were informed that due to heavy rains the railways had cancelled all trains going through the Konkan, the roads were also blocked because of flooding of the Sindhudurg river. Many sadhaks then hired buses and took out their cars to reach Goa by 4pm. Quite a few could not make it on the 24th and sadhaks kept coming even on the 25th till late evening. Deepak informed us that his wife had arrived in time for the function. When we met her she said that when she left in the evening, she asked her aunt for a couple of plastic bags, but her aunt gave her a bagful of plastic bags. These bags came in extremely handy, as the passengers in the bus all suffered from motion sickness and the bags were used for those who were vomiting. It is amazing how the Gurushaktis put their devotees to work in helping others. Sharmila’s purpose for going by bus was in carrying the plastic bags for those affected – no one else had carried these bags! Such are the ways of the Guru!
We went back to the hotel and freshened up and changed into fresh clothes and drove back to the ground. By 4.30pm, the sadhaks had all gathered and the pandal looked like a sea of orange caps! Mrs. Virkar announced that we would begin with meditation, and we all sat down for group meditation in PP Gurudev’s aura. After meditation, the organisers announced how the logistics would be taken care of, as 115 hotels had been booked with 80 buses organised in two batches for the sadhaks to come to the venue and then leave for the hotel. These hotels were all within a radius of 20 km from the venue, hence a delay by any one person would delay the entire batch. The sadhaks were told to have discipline and follow the instructions of volunteers appointed for each bus and hotel so that the arrangements were not disturbed. PP Gurudev and PP Guruma’s arrival was after the logistics announcements for which we closed our eyes and sat down for PP Gurudev’s and PP Guruma’s arrival. Blowing of conch shells announced the arrival of PP Guruma first and then PP Gurudev. We all bowed down and prayed in obeisance on their arrival. We listened in silence to the discourse from PP Gurudev who welcomed us on our arrival and gave us his pearls of wisdom. He told us that many of us faced problems because we were not sure of whether to go to Goa or not and hence arrived in a very unstable condition as a result he could not come for meditation with us. He explained that the human body had ten “dwars” starting with the “mool dwar ” followed by “mutra dwar” the two ears, two eyes, two nostrils, mouth and the tenth and last the “sahastrar” or Guru Dwar . He told us that on Guru Purnima all the Guru Shaktis will be present and we should all ask for the “Dasham Dwar” to be opened for us and this will definitely happen to all in this lifetime. The energy flowing during the discourse could be felt on the body by means of cool vibrations with sandalwood fragrance coming through once in a while. At around 9pm the program ended for the day and we had dinner and left for the hotel allotted to us at Khorlim in Mapusa, ten km away from the venue. We retired for the night as the next day was Guru Purnima and we had to reach the venue by 5.30am.
At Atmaram hotel we were eleven people to a room with a single bathroom. I woke up at 2.30am and finished my morning activities in 15 minutes, after which one by one everyone got ready turn by turn. We left for the venue at around 5am and reached in 15 minutes. We parked the car and walked to the venue with a slight drizzle welcoming us. We settled down in the pandal for the day to begin with morning meditation. At 6am sharp the day’s program started with morning meditation. The vibrations started flowing with the Guru Ahawan and Guru mantra. As PP Gurudev had said Guru Purnima is the one day in a year when all the Guru Shakti’s are present and energy is flowing constantly, all you had to do is be in a position to absorb the energies. This can happen by staying in balance through meditation twice a day - morning in solitude and in the evening in collectivity. The morning meditation was again a great experience and after a few announcements, we dispersed for breakfast. PP Gurudev asked the sadhaks to meditate regularly and this would be his Guru dakshina. At that point an announcement was made for volunteers to give seva in the dining area. Our group of six all volunteered and registered ourselves for seva in the dining area. As the program of diksha progressed and after that the cultural program which we could watch on TV, we were involved in cleaning the dining area and then we were given instructions and explained our roles by the person in charge of dining. This is the first time I was involved in ushering and directing the sadhaks in such large numbers through the lunch program which began at around 12.15 and continued till 3pm. After that an announcement was made that there were only five minutes for paduka darshan, and as I had not done the darshan, I looked for Deepak, who was not visible, then ran for the darshan. I got in just in time and the last paduka was there for darshan - I may have been the last person who took the darshan after which the paduka was removed from display. I returned to the dining area and sat down for the tea break. All the time I could feel the chaitanya flowing with whiffs of sandalwood aroma coming now and then.
It started raining very heavily after lunch and then one of the plastic and cloth roof sections in the dining area collapsed due to the accumulated weight of the water. We then got to work with plates in removing the water and getting the place ready for evening tea and dinner. We managed to clear the water which helped the tea and dinner program to conclude uneventfully. After the program, Deepak realised his sandals were missing, I told him not to worry as I had a brand new pair which I had purchased three weeks ago for just such an eventuality. As luck would have it the pair turned out to be a perfect fit. Just imagine, the fate of the new sandals were decided three weeks earlier, which means PP Gurudev prepares the sadhaks for all eventualities and takes care of all his/her needs with great compassion! We returned to our hotel rooms around 9.30pm and retired for the day as very happy and lucky individuals who had the fortune to offer seva during Guru Purnima. As PP Gurudev says, by doing Guru karya one takes care of the left channel (Chandra nadi) and regular meditation helps take care of the right channel (Surya nadi) thus keeping the sadhak in balance. All one should ensure is that whatever one does is done selflessly without the “I-factor” meaning the ego creeping in to mar spiritual progress.
It was now raining very heavily and the rain continued through the night. I woke up again at 2.30am completely refreshed and got ready followed by my fellow sadhaks. We left at 5 am and reached the venue at around 5.20 am, put on our jackets and pulled out our umbrellas and walked down to the venue. We went straight to the dining area and were not really surprised to see the entire area – both ladies and gents section full of water as 4 sections had collapsed and were in urgent need of repair. As soon as we saw the problem, we obtained plates and crates from the kitchen along with rugs to remove the water and mop up the area. At 6am we sat for meditation and after that there was a question-answer session which was taken up by PP Gurudev. This session extended upto 9.15 am which helped us by giving us enough time to remove all the water and swab the place clean so that the sadhaks could enter the dining area without getting their feet wet. After the breakfast session, the program continued and we sat back to enjoy the cultural program on TV. At 11 am we were called together and told that due to the dampness of the ground we would have to adjust by having lunch in buffet fashion. The plan was made to have eight counters and one counter for repeat diners. The organisers had kept 3 hours for lunch considering that sadhaks were still coming to the program venue due to late arrival of trains and buses. Once the sadhaks were told to go for lunch a strict program was adhered to where the sadhaks were directed to counter one and so on so that no crowding took place. We were running up and down seeing that no counter remained vacant for long and people just moved in a continuous stream. After initial hiccups things started moving like clockwork, the sun was out slightly and the area was now hot and humid with the smoke coming from the kitchen making the eyes burn and I was sweating profusely too. Suddenly in the midst of the lunch program I found myself going cold, I went to Vasant and asked him whether he was feeling cold, he gave me his hand – his fingers had gone ice cold, there was tremendous energy and my body was going cold from head to toe in waves. We continued with our directions to the sadhaks – and you won’t believe at 1.35pm Dharmenbhai informs me that the rush was over – more than 6000 people had finished their lunch in one and a half hours. Subsequently it was announced that PP Gurudev had done the rounds of the dining area in his subtle body – no wonder everything went as clockwork – with Guru energies at work everything just happens smoothly. No wonder I felt tremendous energy at that time! We had our lunch after the sadhak rush was over and waited for the concluding session of the program.
With time on our hands we decided to visit the sahitya stall and made our purchases, then we went to the exhibition where PP Gurudev’s photos were placed and an exhibition which showed the effects of pollution on water was on display. At the exhibition there was tremendous energy flowing as the sadhikas explained the effect of pollution on water with reference to how our minds get polluted. When the water flows down from the Himalayas it is clean and pure and is always flowing, but once it enters the cities it becomes stagnant and starts getting polluted. Similarly man in an open and clean environment is away from thought pollution but when he enters the city there is tremendous thought pollution which affects a person’s balance. The body of a human consists of 70% water, hence it is very important to maintain balance and ensure that one is not affected by such pollution. The exhibition concluded by showing water which was sent for analysis to Germany in bottles after PP Gurudev’s dhyan maha shibir in 2007. Seven bottles were sent covering each chakra and the crystal formation of the vibrated water showed the positive effect of meditation on water, with the crystal formation for the Sahastrar chakra being the most compact and beautiful!
After attending the exhibition, we went back to the dining area, watched the remaining programs on TV and listened to PP Gurudev’s concluding pravachan. PP Gurudev mentioned that he would have loved to do meditation with us, but the sadhaks had come in an unstable condition and would not have been able to take the vibrations emanating from him. He spoke lengthily on the administration of the Samarpan movement and how one should ensure that ego should not develop due to taking up posts in the movement, either as Acharya’s, co-ordinators, Maha Acharyas or Trustees as this hampers the spiritual development. After the pravachan, we paid obeisance to his holy presence and concluded the program with Shanti Paath. Sadhaks were requested to attend the prasad dinner and then disperse after surrendering their registration cards at the registration counter and collecting prasad from there.
We helped in removing and stacking up the mattresses as we were planning to leave the next day. After completing this karya, we went out only to find that Deepaks wife, Sharmila had also lost her slippers – looks like PP Gurudev had cleared a lot of negativity from their lives – as negative energy collects in the footwear.
We then left and went shopping for flipflops for Sharmila and Deepak. In Goa all shops close early, hence we were lucky to get the flipflops, we then left for Mapusa where the rest of the shopping was completed by our fellow sadhaks. As we parked our cars at the hotel, we looked up into the night sky with the full moon coming out – in the silhouette of the moon we saw “Aum” formation coming and going a couple of time. We felt truly blessed at the divine sight. On the return journey on Tuesday, we were three cars fully loaded with 15 people. Ramnath, who was originally to come with us in his car, at the last moment had decided to go by train, which got cancelled due to heavy rains and had to revert to his original plan of driving down was with us on the return trip. With him was Ananth Khamankar and his family, we offered to take two sadhikas from Airoli center as there were two vacant seats on the return trip.
We left Mapusa very reluctantly at around 6.30am on the return trip – it is always difficult getting away from such energy in such sylvan surroundings. We stopped for breakfast at Sawantwadi and then continued on through the Amboli Ghat. We had great fun on the way back, stopping at the top of Amboli Ghat getting into the waterfalls on the way, taking photographs, feeding monkeys with acorn. The return journey was quite uneventful, except that Deepaks car got punctured after Kolhapur. In fact I was expecting this, as before we started out Deepak had stopped at a petrol pump for filling gas and also having air filled in his tyres. When I had called he had said he was filling air in the Stepney too – Deepak is so connected with Guru energies that I was quite confident that his car would get a puncture on the return trip. After that the trip was quite uneventful, we stopped for tea at Lonavla and reached Deepak’s house in Airoli by 7.45am. The trip to Mahim from there took two hours as we got stuck in major traffic at Powai – but all in all it was a wonderful trip, spiritually uplifting and fulfilling.
Jai Baba Swami
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