GURUPURNIMA 2013, DANDI ASHRAM - JULY 21, 22, 23

I would like to begin by giving a brief background on the preparations for this unique Gurupurnima. In the last one month or so before July 21, I had been to Dandi on three of the Sundays and to be honest with you I used to wonder how such a gigantic task would get accomplished. Mind you, I had full faith in the Guru energies and in Pratapbhai’s organisational capacity and commitment to have the preparations completed in time. Just the Sunday before GP 2013, the heavens had opened up and the rains had really made the ground soggy and only the frame for the massive pandal had been put up. (When Pujya Swamiji had made us pray for rains in Shirdi and all over India, we had no doubts that there would be plentiful rains – but rain to such an extent and spread all over the country has not been witnessed in a very long time!) In fact I had been praying for the rains to stop for some time, and fortunately that day, the sun smiled at us after almost a week of incessant and heavy rains. As the sun came out I saw the volunteers – our dedicated group of sadhaks (not professionals), get up and start putting up plastic sheets like true professionals. Because once the plastic was up at least the people working below would remain dry and the ground too would get some protection. But when we reached for GP 2013, miraculously all tents were up, the stage was set and we were left afire in anticipation of an unforgettable Gurupurnima. Like Pujya Swamiji subsequently mentioned that Pratapbhai’s dedication and commitment to accommodate all those who wished to participate forced the Guru Energies to support him to make the impossible, possible. So when it comes to faith, nothing is impossible and the Guru Energies make things happen which just leaves us sadhaks open-mouthed in amazement on what all is possible with faith, the powers and tenacity of the mind and the will to make the impossible, possible. God and Gurudev bless all those who made this event a reality, plus may the blessings of all those souls who attended also shower on the die-hard believers who made this event a resounding success.

Please view the youtube video link to understand the enormous adversity faced and overcome under Guru's Grace:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-T4CoeAIPg

A brief interlude – my actual going for the festival was under a cloud as my wife, Arati’s tickets were booked by her company for going to the USA on 21, 22 and 23 July – the same dates for the festival – and she had told me not to go. I told her ok, you go and left it at Gurucharan whether I should reach Dandi or not on the given days. Five days before the event, She called me and said that the approvals from the US Government for their work were not obtained as there was some procedural change and her visit was postponed to August 19. I just smiled and said ok, Jai Baba Swami, offering a silent prayer to Pujya Swamiji!!

We left Mumbai at 6.15 am in heavy rain and reached Dandi Ashram at around 10am. After we had crossed Vithal Kamat restaurant and before Charoti we saw a wheel roll off a multi-axle trailer and knock down a pedestrian like a game of nine pins. We looked back and saw that there was no injury, but just goes to show how careless transporters are with respect to the maintenance of their vehicles! Rainfall was intermittently heavy along the way and I was constantly praying for the rain to stop at least as we entered the Dandi Ashram rough road. As we approached Dandi, the Sun had started to peep out, so my prayers along with I am sure thousands of sadhaks prayers were heard by Pujya Swamiji, who held the rain Gods in check, indicating his oneness with nature. Again a silent prayer of thanks was offered for showing such kindness. We reached the Ashram, slowly with the vehicles wheels slipping on the mucky road, we were early and extremely fortunate as we got to park inside the Ashram under a shed made for vehicles. The two sadhikas and Harish were dropped off at the gate and I parked the car and walked back for registration. After registration we had a long walk through muck, sadhaks were filling up the watery spots on the pathway with gravel. As we went inside we saw that shuttering plates were being fixed in the main pandal and work was on in full swing to get the program off to a great start. We then walked to the gents residence area, which was already full with sadhaks having taken their beddings and placed them at places of their choice. The bedding numbers given were not implemented as there was no time for the organisers to do structured numbering as planned because of the rain….so it became a first come first served kind of situation. Harish and I went into the residence hall and saw two beds vacant with no bags on them indicating that they were unoccupied. We put our bags there after asking around if anyone had taken these beds. The pandal was extremely stuffy and as the sun had come out and there were more than a thousand bodies resting in the pandal, the atmosphere had become that of a sauna bath – I was sweating like a pig, in spite of just being seated. Harish and I decided to check the cloak arrangements and as we went out we noticed sadhaks carrying bedding into another tent. We went inside and saw this was cleaner and had more ventilation with the fans hanging lower than in the main residence hall. We went inside and I booked 3 slots (one for Khamankarji) just below a fan on a level and dry area of the ground (plastic and then green matting had been laid) and Harish rushed off to get bedding and pillows. He returned after about half an hour and said that his slippers had disappeared as he had climbed to get our mattresses! In the meantime Ambareeshji and Yogesh Lalwaniji had come to survey the preparations. I went and greeted them and I told Ambareeshji that we were shifting from the main tent as it was like a sauna bath, Ambareeshiji laughingly replied you don’t need sauna bath as you are too fair anyways! I too laughed. After Harish came back, I went to the other hall and got my bag and one bedding roll and placed it for Khamankarji. We then rested and took in the cool breeze which was blowing. It was past 12 noon, we then went and took our lunch packages and ate our lunch.

After lunch, the tent had completely filled up, and Harish and I rested on our beds waiting in anticipation of this momentous event which was taking place in spite of massively adverse conditions! The re-scheduled program which was to begin at 2 pm instead began at 4 pm with a 15 minute meditation conducted by Shri Rambhai. There were 8700 registrations and with an average of 10% delinquency there were still 8000 plus sadhaks with a gents to ladies ratio of approximately 40 : 60. Dr. Paras Bhatt and Mrs. Hema Virkar as usual were the efficient, informative and competent masters of ceremony. They announced that 104 overseas sadhaks from 12 different countries were present for this event, including one sadhaks from Pakistan (this was greeted with a huge round of applause from all present).

Harshaben Shah, the Event President gave a short speech giving information about the event. At 4.25 pm the chant (Shivkrupananda Swami Namo Namaha, Babaswami Namo Namaha) started indicating that Pujya Swamiji and Pujya Guruma would arrive shortly. As the chant started cold divine energy started flowing from my feet upwards encompassing my entire being from outside and from within. After the arrival of Pujya Guruma and Pujya Swamiji, the event was inaugurated with the lighting of the lamp ceremony by religious heads of different faiths. Sant Narendraprasad and Sadhu Priya Saran Das from Swaminarayan sect, Sikh Sant Dhanwant Singhji, Parsi – Shri Cyrusji, the Maulvi and Father representing their respective faiths could not make it but sent their best wishes. The MT of SSSAT, Shri Kumar Makadia felicitated the Saints by offering them a coconut, memento and a shawl each. Harshaben then gave a formal introduction to the program, after which new Samarpan sahitya was launched at the Lotus Hands of Pujya Guruma, namely. HKSY-3 (English), HKSY-4 (Bengali), Shirdi Mahashibir DVD Set. Pujya Guruma’s autobiography in Hindi titled “Ma” was launched at the Lotus Hands of Pujya Swamiji. 

At 4.50pm Pujya Swamiji started His opening discourse. He said that this GP held at Dandi is unique -it has never happened before and will never occur again at Dandi. This is because the location of the main sabha mandap is the site for the Guru Shakti Dham whose plans have been drawn up for construction, the construction of which had been held in abeyance because the GP festival had to be hosted on that spot. The Guru Energies desired this GP because this has been the place for devotional spiritual practice of sadhaks, seven mahadhyans have taken place, and this place is our Mother. Pratapbhai desired that all sadhaks who desired to come should be accommodated. GP is a festival to go from body to soul. Focus on energy and not on possible physical discomfort. Samarpan Meditation was earlier handed down from one to one, but now is being handed down from one to many, because the Himalayan saints selected a medium and through this medium reached the people at large in society. This started in 1999 and progress began slowly and this Trust was formed. I experimented with various forms, first there was a World Leader concept, which as an experiment failed. The Guruma came into Samarpan and created her own space. Anurag was introduced, then we experimented with lifetime sevadharis (volunteers), this also did not succeed. Then I ultimately decided to introduce Anuragji, Ambareeshji and Shaswatiji as Lifetime Trustees and they will take full charge of administration.

We are in the process of preparing policies and systems which will help in the administration of the Trusts for the next 800 years. The policy of having appointments of office bearers for 3 years is also being changed and post holders can get an extension of one year at a time based on good performance. Swamiji announced that He was completely resigning from administrative matters and will henceforth concentrate only on spiritual matters. His doors are open to all sadhaks who approach Him for spiritual guidance, He said that the real game of liberations starts now.

He announced the structure of the Trusts going forward. He said that Pujya Guruma will head both the Trusts, followed by the Lifetime Trustees, then the Management Committee, Managing Trustee and Board of Trustees, Pramukh Acharya / Maha Acharya for zones which will be divided into centers having 50 or more sadhaks and sub-centers having upto 20 sadhaks who will have acharyas / co-ordinators heading them; all this for India. He mentioned that if there are any suggestions then the same should be sent to Mr. Anant Khamankar who will collate all of them for taking suitable action.

Pujya Swamiji then told the story about the Shirdi farmer at whose house He stayed during the Shirdi Mahashibir. He said that the farmer goes on an annual 28 day pilgrimage to Vithal Mauli’s temple at Pandharpur. He gets energy to last the full year post this pilgrimage. He mentioned that all sadhaks should start their 3 day journey from today and reach that state and take advantage of the joy and bliss of the good collectivity. He said that accept one’s self as a soul, then only will you be able to absorb the knowledge. Join tomorrow’s GP function as a soul and not as a body. He mentioned that the Gurupujan will be performed by two couples, Mrs. And Mr. Vibhav Parikh and Mrs. And Mr. Jiten Thakkar. At 5.30pm shanty path was recited after which Pujya Guruma left followed by Pujya Gurudev to loud claps.

At the dinner break I ultimately bumped into Anant Khamankarji for whom I had kept the third bed ready. He seemed to be in a hurry and said hold my meditation mat, I have to meet my wife. I told him jokingly it must be really important as you have not met her for the past one year! He became very coy and shy and replied, “no, I have some urgent work related to bhajans for the next day”. I laughed at his reaction. After he came back we had our dinner and then went to the under construction bhojnalaya site where Anant had kept his bag. There we met Pravin Puravji and Deepak Tandonji who had made a bed of bricks to put pillows on for making their bed. After chatting with them for some time Anant carried his bag down to the tent where we had our beds. At 8pm Shri Bihag Lalaji summarised Pujya Swamiji’s discourse in English for the overseas sadhaks. At 8.15pm Pratapbhai gave his thanks to all the sadhaks of Surat and Navsari who worked day and night to make the impossible, possible. At 8.30pm Pujya Guruma arrived to the sound of blowing of conches for the evenings’ cultural program. The cultural program began with a welcome dance performed by Dandi Ashram sadhaks. This was followed by a dance by Gandhinagar sadhaks titled “Thaye Swamiji jeso” – this was performed with great feeling and love energy. Third dance was by Vadodara sadhaks – Shiva Tandav was performed with tremendous energy which resulted in the cooling of my crown chakra. The Surat sdhaks then performed a dance “Gurumat pita, Gurumat mata” with beautiful, colourful and bright costumes. Mulund center, Mumbai then performed a dance “Kesariya Balima avo padharo maro desh” – this was a Rajasthani dance performed by sadhaks of all age groups. Anleshwar sadhaks then performed a dance on the “Ganesh Stuthi” – a Marathi presentation with young and old sadhaks – there was complete energy flowing during this dance and I was bathed from head to toe in cool, blissful energy. The seventh dance was a classical dance performed by Goa sadhaks based on the Samudra Manthan. The next dance was a Navdurga garba performed by Bhavnagar sadhaks. The ninth dance was performed by Surat sadhaks on Guru Mahotsav. The days finale was a beautiful presentation by Rajasthan sadhaks titled – “Sai pujan karne aye”. After the last dance we recited the shanty path and were told to assemble the next day for meditation by 5.30am.

There was a commotion a little distance away from our bedding as one sadhaks who had put his bed on the thoroughfare was not allowing sadhaks to pass by as they were walking over his bed. He started shouting and telling all sadhaks to go back and walk all the way around. Two sadhaks pushed their way past and went, a couple of others turned back and went back quietly. After they left I went to the sadhak and politely told him focus on the purpose of Gurupurnima and what Swamiji is going to give us tomorrow. You have blocked the path as organisers have created two entrances that means there has to be a pathway from one entrance to the other. Requested him to keep at least one foot gap and cooperate, he muttered something, but agreed in the end. We retired for the night at around 10.30 pm. There was a small frog which kept landing on my leg and stomach – it was very sticky and damp to the touch. Twice, I let it go by, but the third time, I gently picked it up and lobbed it some distance away – after that I fell fast asleep.

Day 2 – 22^nd July, 2013

 I felt a tap on my shoulders from a great distance, when I felt it again, I woke up and saw that Harish was waking me up for going for a bath. It was just 1.15am. We had decided to go very early to avoid the rush as the bathing and toilet arrangements were not more than probably 50 each. We went, did our morning ablutions and came back in half an hour, refreshed after the cold water bath. A slight drizzle was on and a very cool breeze was blowing. We came back, woke up Anant and sent him for his morning session and then lay down and went back to sleep.

At 5.15am we went and sat in the meditation hall. After some announcements, the musical meditation chant started playing as we sat in silence preparing our body and spirit for the meditation. It was dawn and one could hear the chirping and tweeting of different kinds of birds singing in joy, it seemed, in anticipation of this momentous day – one could hear the consistent cry of peacocks in the distant backdrop too. From 6.15 to 6.45am Shri Rambhai conducted the meditation session. There were tremendous vibrations as energy was flowing in abundance – the center of my palms were pulsating and fingertips throbbing with energy, there was whirling in my crown chakra as I enjoyed the bliss of the occasion.  After the meditation, announcements were made and then the musical chant started playing as a prelude to the advent of Pujya Guruma and Pujya Swamiji. At 7.10am Pujya Guruma arrived followed by Pujya Swamiji. After Guru Ahavan, Shri Rambhai prayed to Pujya Swamiji to shower us with his nectar.

Pujya Swamiji started His discourse narrating the story of the sage and the scorpion, wherein a scorpion falls into the river which the sage is crossing, and the sage picks it up at which point the scorpion stings the sage and the sage lets go of the scorpion. He repeatedly picks up the scorpion to save it and gets stung repeatedly by the scorpion dropping it in the process every time, but ultimately does save the scorpion. A disciple who watched this process asked the sage why he kept saving the scorpion – the sage replied, “it is the scorpions ‘dharma’ to sting and my dharma as a human being is to save”, so I was just performing my duty. Swamiji said this story reminded him of the Shirdi Mahashibir which was a very big event. He said that strange conditions prevailed at Shirdi – there were a lot of disciples of Shirdi Baba who had committed suicide because they believed that by doing so they would obtain liberation. Those unsatisfied souls were stationed at Shirdi – Sai Baba created the plan for the Shirdi Mahashibir – this was in fact decided 15 years ago, but a very large collectivity of pure souls was required to do this work. This was not possible till such a large collectivity was created, when that was created then only was this shibir possible. All obstacles to this shibir were created by these souls. This work was that of Sai Baba and he made you a medium for the same. Those souls are now liberated. (This was said to thunderous applause from the sadhaks).

The medium was prepared and ripened in the Himalayas and sent to society to give the message -akin to a mango which falls from the tree when ripe, this medium was sent from the Himalayas. The Shirdi mahashibir is a result of 15 years of penance. You have become the mediums for Sai Baba’s work by liberating those souls (again loud claps). This is related to Karma – if you have done bad karmas in the past birth and continue to do so in this birth, then you are going into the dark. If you are doing bad work but your ‘chitta’ is towards good, then you will progress from dark to light sooner or later, this depends on your direction. If you do bad all your life and move towards good later in your life, read good books, get a Guru’s proximity, then your next birth will be good. If in the past birth you have done good, this birth you continue to do good and desire to do good, then this journey is from light to more light. If you have done good in the last birth and are good in this birth, then you will get liberation (moksha). If I am taking you towards liberation, then I believe you will all obtain liberation (loud claps and cheers), liberation is a state of mind….of void.

If a small river wants to become an ocean it can’t, but it can meet the ocean and merge with it and lose its identity. This difficult task can be accomplished by surrender, surrender, surrender! Today is the test for checking the percentage of your surrender. Do not pretend about the level of your surrender as the concept of negative marking applies in the eyes of Paramatma – if you surrender 10% show and accept 10% and not 50%, if you do this it will be a big loss to you. Surrender means to merge with Pujya Swamiji’s consciousness. Test yourself – do I have feelings of greed, jealousy, greed, do I eat non-veg, drink, etc – does the medium do this, does the medium drink, smoke etc. There are many sadhaks who still do this that means that your identity is separate from mine. If you merge with me then there will be 9000 Swami’s, it is my desire that you all leave as Swamiji’s, become one with me.

I am moving away from administration to spirituality. You will have to connect with me, till you do not become one with me the values will not be transferred to you. I have a huge treasure of knowledge to give. I cannot give it nor can you take it, it will happen automatically once you achieve the condition to absorb the same. When I did Jain shibirs, knowledge of the Jains was automatically transferred. Ganpati Atharvashirsha is not taught by any Guru, because if the disciples’ state is not good and it is taught, then the sins of the disciple are transferred to the Guru. I got the knowledge from one of my Gurus. I have stayed with various Gurus – of different languages, size, colour, etc and have always completely merged with them, with complete and total surrender – you too completely merge with the medium, once you do that the mediums knowledge will slowly be transferred to you. If you are doing anything which I am not, then you are not surrendered, then you will never get the knowledge within me – as this knowledge cannot be obtained, it is only transferred. Water may have different colours, but water quenches thirst. Medium can have different colours, but the medium has no colour of His own, but that colour is created by the situation, water has no colour, and quenches only thirst. When thousands of souls are benefitting but you are not recognising the medium from His root; you are being fooled into believing that this medium is an ordinary person, when you think that then your absorption capacity will be zero. The medium to get close to you keeps fooling you by putting up such a illusionary web (brahma jaal), but you should not get fooled.

Swamiji then narrated the story of the hotel in Singapore which He had visited during His visit there. Sadhaks took Pujya Swamiji to a hotel for dinner. When the manager saw Pujya Swamiji along with the sadhaks, he told them why did you not inform me earlier? I would have made elaborate preparations to receive your Guru. The sadhaks told the manager that our Swamiji is not like that, He is simple and not flamboyant and does not mind. The manager told the sadhaks that no Guru is ordinary, I know because I used to have the proximity of a Guru who has passed away – so even though the Guru appears ordinary, he is not. The moment you think that the Guru is ordinary then the game is over. Pujya Swamiji then said never treat a customer rudely, treat each customer believing him to be Swamiji. The whole game is about belief. If you believe and idol to be a stone, then it will be a stone, else it is God; the same holds true of the medium, if you believe the medium to be extraordinary, then you will obtain extraordinary results from time to time. Consider the medium to be an ATM, you can approach the ATM for emergency cash, similarly you can go to the medium for emergency energy – the medium keeps giving you energy in emergencies. Also you can withdraw cash from ATM if you have balance in your account, similarly you can withdraw energy if you have balance of the feeling of surrender in the mediums bank.

Gurupurnima cannot be complete without Gurudakshina. Just as a singer feels his students should spread his knowledge, my Gurudakshina is your desire to obtain the state of moksha! The Gurudakshina you should ask for is the state of moksha in this birth itself, I don’t want another birth. This is the biggest Gurudakshina any disciple can offer. Help in Gurukarya that can also be big Gurudakshina. Any commitment you make for Gurukarya will definitely happen, that is my promise. Participate in Guru puja as a soul – that you are praying to the Guru within you and expressing gratitude to that Guru for guiding you from time to time. Guru pujan is that puja which takes one from body to soul and your soul becomes so strong that its control on the body will begin. Once that happens, you will be free of addiction, pain and all other physical problems. With this, Pujya Swamiji ended his discourse and left followed by Pujya Guruma at around 8.20am. We broke for breakfast and reassembled at 9.30am for the diksha ceremony.

At 10am Pujya Guruma re-entered the hall followed by Pujya Gurudev. Rambhai explained the importance of Gurudiksha. He said that during the diksha is a process under the guidance of a capable and responsible Satguru whereby an atom of His subtle body is transferred into the disciple, the disciple needs to nurture this seed and make it grow into a big tree.

At 10.10 am the diksha program started with Shri Rambhai reciting the purification mantra. After that the Guru mantra was recited by Pujya Swamiji followed by all the initiates. As Pujya Swamiji started energising the atmosphere with His hands while reciting the mantra, the heavens opened up and it rained very heavily. After about 10 minutes as the Guru mantra recital got over, the rains slowed down and ultimately stopped. This clearly showed that Pujya Swamiji has completely merged with nature. The diksha program ended at 10.30am after which chants started playing over the sound system prior to the commencement of the Guru Pujan. The Guru Pujan then started with the recital of the Ganpati Atharvashirsha, followed by recital of ‘Om Shri Shivakrupanand Swami Namo Namaha’ after this both the couples, namely, Mrs. & Mr. Vibhav Parikh and Mrs. & Mr. Jiten Thakkar garlanded Pujya Swamiji (who was in a very high state of meditation) and placed a crown on His head. Pujya Swamiji looked really divine as He sat there in patience – a real epitome of peace! At 11.30 am the Arati took place with each sadhak performing the Arati while standing - with the waving of a lighted lamp which was given to each sadhak. As the Arati concluded tears of joy and bliss started flowing from my eyes in welcome of the new initiates. There was tremendous energy flowing during the Arati with my back and crown completely awash with cold blissful energy – I never cease to be amazed of the Guru Energies as they bathe you and bless you. Thereafter both the couples paid their respects to Pujya Guruma by making offerings to her. The ‘namaskar vidhi’ took place thereafter, with the volunteers letting the sadhaks go in batches.As the namaskar vidhi started, the bhajans also started with Sumangalaji singing the first bhajan, followed by Krishnaji, both singing their bhajans in their mellifluous voices. Then a bhajan "Paar kar de" was sung by a first time singer, Saurabh Thanki - this was sung with great feeling and the same was very appropriate for the occasion. Sanjay Boseji also sang and he really took off and was in great form as all the singers served us an appetising dish of bhajans sung with great feeling and energy.When our turn came we went made our offerings and then came back and prostrated from the back of the hall and performed the ‘namaskar vidhi’ praying to our hearts content, with nobody bothering us. Then we left for lunch.

After lunch, we visited the sahitya stall along with the exhibition stall. Purchased the Shirdi mahashibir CD’s and booked a copy of Pujya Guruma’s autobiography. We then rested and had a short nap before the evening program commenced at 4pm.

At around 4.20pm Pratapbhai spoke about how the Gurupurnima function was organised in spite of huge odds and how the Guru Energies supported them in ensuring that this program becomes an unique and unforgettable one. He mentioned that the Guru Shakti Dham is going to be constructed at the same sire where we were sitting, and he called on the sadhaks present to make a commitment that they will contribute whatever amount that they decide on mentally as donation. He told them to think big because they were contributing for a good cause and the Guru Energies will help by ensuring that they earn more than enough to fulfill their commitment. He said that the Surat sadhaks have committed to contribute at least 60% of the total budget for the Guru Shakti Dham, and the rest of India had to only raise the balance. He told us to collectively express the desire that the Guru Shakti Dham should be a grand one. A short video was shown about the preparations for GP 2013. This video explained more than any words could describe the hard work put in by the organisers and sadhaks to make the arrangements for holding the festival on time. Subsequently Shri Kumar Makadia, the Managing Trustee of SSSAT informed the sadhaks about various developments at Dandi Ashram and other Ashrams at Gandhinagar, Sindhavadar (Rajkot) and Bengal. He mentioned that 300 bighas of land had been acquired at Rajkot, 90% land acquisition had been completed at Gandhinagar and NA work had started. He mentioned that a Samarpan office was to be opened in West Bengal and Pujya Swamiji’s approval was awaited for the same. He mentioned that the Sindhavadar Ashram was the biggest and was being managed by both the Trusts and 90% land had already been acquired and 80% of the land had already obtained NA approval. The Guru Shakti Dham was planned to be constructed using stone and the budget for the same was Rs. 15 crores. At around 5pm Ms. Deepti Shah and Ms. Seema Dasgupta gave information about Madhuchaitanya followed by Ms. Sonali Shah who informed the sadhaks about the Samarpan Vivaha program.

At around 5.15am Pujya Guruma entered and took her seat to address the gathering. As the Guru Mantra was recited there was great energy flowing indicating the presence of all Guru Energies in their subtle form. Pujya Guruma started her discourse with a little known story from the epic Ramayana. When the final battle was to start between Ram and Ravana it was being decided who will fire the first arrow, Ram or Ravana! Ram said he will do so as his wife had been abducted. But at what time should the arrow be fired? Ram said concentrate on Hanuman’s breathing (Hanuman was standing on top of a hill. Then he told his army to synchronise their breathing with that of Hanuman. When the synchronisation took place, while exhaling in collectivity a lot of heat was generated and at that point he shot his arrow. You should synchronise your breathing to take advantage of energy at the time of common inhalation. This energy will protect you and this positive energy generated by you will connect you to other such souls transforming this whole world into one family (Vasudev Kutumbakam). Do not meditate with small goals in mind, these goals are all by-products, meditate regularly to reach the ultimate goal. If you have reached here, it is because of your penance for maybe last 100, 200, 500, 5000 years, that is why in this birth you have reached upto here. You are born with habits, good and bad, of your past birth. Free yourself from the desire from moksha also – as that too is a desire. Gurudev please keep us on the true path – that is all you should ask for. When you sleep at night – that sleep is the best for your clearance. Say the Gurumantra and sleep, then you will sleep in a meditative state. If anyone imbalances you, pray to Swamiji to disengage your chitta (attention) placed on that individual – whether for good or bad. If you want to remember someone – just remember Gurudev, instead of others from whom you will unnecessarily draw their energy, which may be of any state. Make a time-table where you have a fixed time for meditation, those whose life has irregular time schedules, pray to Gurudev to help them meditate at least twice a day. God helps those who help themselves – meditate in and around the time of sunrise or sunset, this is the most ideal time. Make it compulsory to wake up before sunrise, make this a military rule for the kids at home.

This is an era of illusion – get out of this illusive state. Pray to Gurudev to help you get out of this state. When performing Gurukarya do not pull in opposite directions. Many thanks to Surat sadhaks for making GP 2013 possible in spite of negative feedback from other sadhaks. Pratapbhai had pure faith in Gurudev’s word that this years Gurupurnima will take place at Dandi only and he said it will happen! Those who had the desire to do Gurukarya, only those people came. 8 to 10 busloads of people came daily for the last ten days or so and they helped in putting up the pandal. Gurudev gave a small glimpse of the difficulties He faced when wandering in the jungles for 18 years, so you have to manage for only two nights for this GP. He had only one desire and that was to obtain spiritual knowledge and a great desire to distribute this knowledge globally. The first Guru cam and took Him away, after that He always went by Himself.

The fourth point is Gurudakshina – give this knowledge to others (about Samarpan Meditation) who do not know. Give this message about this path to moksha to other. Do not consider yourself to be different to others. Each soul is doing devotional practice in some form or the other – do not distinguish between non-sadhak and sadhak. Post holder’s should not develop any ego – this post is not forever, like the body, stay in balance while doing Gurukarya. Change of external clothes does not change the soul – that is eternal. Because you are post holders do not consider yourself to be different. If you attract the chitta of others, both good and bad, the bad effects occur immediately to imbalance you. Wear whatever you need to wear if it makes you happy from within. Clothes which expose the body attract unwanted attention. Males should not have hair which touches the collar and girls should never cut their hair. Stay neat, proper and happy and give joy to others. I want to share with you one point for your overall progress. An ideal sadhak is one who always accepts that there are many who are better than him/her, then only can you keep on improving and learning. If you believe yourself to be the best, then there is no room for improvement, for progress. Examples of ideal sadhaks, Sonali and Dharmesh Shah, Naimisha and Bihag Lalaji who make power point presentations for promoting Samarpan Meditation, Rambhai who performs Gurukarya through the medium of ‘havan’, Harshaben and Pratapbhai Shah. Pujya Guruma told the sadhaks to donate selflessly and they will always get more than they need. She told her story about Gurudev needing Rs. 8000 to go to Assam one day and she did not have any money whatsoever. She said from out of the blue she received a call from a radio station to conduct a radio program. They signed a contract and after the program she got a cheque for the exact amount which Gurudev wanted! On another occasion she got a program on Doordarshan, which too gave her a cheque for the exact amount which was Swamiji’s requirement. Many such incidents have taken place. One will always get money when one really requires it, always remain positive and things will always happen positively. I realised that I went through tough times so that I could learn from the hardships of life and to learn to manage with little, learn that wastage is bad, such as wastage of water, electricity, etc. The cost of learning in life is the fees you pay by means of the experience you get – always take it positively.

Pujya Guruma then spoke about the chakras. I missed writing about the first three chakras. She said when the heart chakra, one has no fear, one is completely satisfied, such a life is limited and controlled and no bad can ever happen. This chakra belongs to the Ram and Shiva element – when the heart chakra is clear then you will always live a pure life in your daily routine. The Vishuddhi (throat) chakra's deity is Shree Krishna – Shree Krishna was complete in all respects. An intelligent person uses 4-5% of his intellect, a genius uses 8-10%, but Krishna had mastered all 16 faculties. The virat (vast) element is awakened, you accept and respect all religions, this is the place for brother and sister relationships; you will get success from all avenues. For the Agya (third eye) chakra requires Gurudev’s blessings for clearance – only a living Satguru is required; Mahavir resides in the left hemisphere, Buddha in the right hemisphere, Jesus at the rear (representing forgiveness) and Gurudev in the front part. When Gurudev clears the Agya chakra He absorbs all the poison lying there from all your past births, and then only can you progress to the sahastrara (Crown). Once you reach the sahastrara, then all the elements get developed. You need to keep your attention on the sahastrara at all times – you should attempt to remain there all the time, for that you should meditate regularly. From Deepak Sharma you can learn the meaning of surrender. About Ujwaladidi, Guruma said that Ujjwaladidi has the job to ensure that Swamiji should not be disturbed, she is willing to take any amount of rebukes / ill wishes to protect Swamiji.

Pujya Guruma mentioned that Pujya Swamiji wants to meet each and everyone, she said that it is her promise that he will meet everyone (Loud applause and cheers). Centre visits can happen only if you have spiritual questions to be answered. If you have no questions then you can meditate with Swamiji for half and hour. She gave her blessings to all to clear their chakras, saying that you should have the feeling that you are nothing, and Gurudev has done everything, meditate regularly and progress spiritually on the path to liberation.

After Pujya Guruma’s discourse we broke for dinner and reconvened at 8.00pm for the cultural program. At 8.15pm Pujya Guruma entered. There were ten dance performances from different centres. The Bharuch centre dance on the theme of the full moon was vibrant and full of energy - it energised the entire gathering into continuous applause and shouts of “once more, once more”! This dance was repeated after all the performances to continuous applause. The other standout performance was the Ganpati Stuthi performed by the Surat sadhaks. After this, the days’ program concluded and we retired for the night at 10.15pm.

Day 3, July 23, 2013

At 1.30am Harish and I woke up and went for our morning ablutions. There was a very cool breeze blowing with the hint of a slight drizzle. I had just completed my bath and was towelling my body, when the person in the next bath cubicle landed with a thud at my feet. He was probably trying to remove his trousers by leaning on the plastic partition thinking it to be a solid wall!! I held his shoulders and helped him get up (I was completely in the buff) as he apologised, he was probably 60 plus in age but very slim and fit. As I helped him up I raised the blue plastic partition and tried to fix it to the nail but without any success. After trying for a couple of minutes I told the gentleman that it cannot be fixed and that I was letting it go. He said ok, and with his back to me he proceeded to undress, and I with my back to him proceeded to wear my boxers. As I bent down to pick up the liquid soap bottle my eyes fell on his brown bunions and I left the bath cubicle laughing to myself silently. I reached our tent, woke up Shri Anant and told him to go for his bath. I packed my bag and brought out the last set of clothes for the day and had this feeling of why oh why is this getting over so soon. As I lay down again, I enjoyed the cool breeze and the night sounds of insects and birds as nature played its song as the souls slept. Nature’s musical symphony is best to be heard in silence – and this time we experienced real silence as Swamiji ensured that there were no snorers anywhere near our beddings. My eyes closed and when they opened about 3.30am, I saw Harish sitting and doing his yoga asanas. I too sat and did some asanas taught by Atul Shuklaji.

We left for the meditation hall at 5.30am. The meditation was conducted by Shri Rambhai at exactly 6am. During the half an hour meditation I got an amazing fragrance, nothing I had got before, it was ethereal and unearthly, I wondered which Guru Energy blessed me with His fragrance. After the meditation we went and stood in line for breakfast. The line was massive, and as we neared the volunteers who were segregating the ladies line and the gents line, bunch of Goa sadhikas (about ten of them) gate crashed the queue, in spite of protests from the other sadhikas and volunteers giving seva - they just did not listen – they pushed their way in. I really felt ashamed at being a Goan at that point in time! We immediately took our breakfast, ate it and went back to our tent. Anant went to meet his family and said he would join us in a while. As we relaxed in our tent, Harish asked me to check out the sadhak on his left, the guy was merrily rubbing a plastic bag on his hand, preparing his gutka – I remembered Pujya Swamiji’s discourse where he mentions what is our level of surrender by doing a self analysis of whether Pujya Swamiji is doing what we are doing. I had got a faint whiff of tobacco the previous day, but I had thought it was my imagination. Also a few moments later, I saw another elderly man light up a cigarette on the far side of the tent. I told Harish, it is so sad that these sadhaks do not know what they are doing – they are in a divine, energy filled vibrant Guru’s place and they are showing disrespect to the Guru’s place. But I guess each individual is on his/her own journey and will have to face the good/bad consequences of his/her actions. We can only pray to Pujya Swamiji to forgive them for they know not what they do.

At 8 am after Anant joined us, we left for the final session of Q&A with Pujya Swamiji. Before the Q&A session, Trustee of YPBSST, Shri Vibhav Parikh was requested to read out the vote of thanks. He started by thanking Pujya Swamiji and Pujya Guruma for making this event a grand success to a round of very loud and incessant clapping of the 8000 plus sadhaks present there. He then thanked the sadhak brothers and sisters who made the impossible, possible. Then he thanked Dr Paras Bhatt and Mrs Hema Virkar for there as usual impeccable compeering of the event, then he thanked all the agencies involved in the preparations, the collector of Navsari, the Police Commissioner of Navsari, the Gram Panchayat and Babaswami Multimedia. His vote of thanks came right from the heart and touched me as he spoke with a depth of feeling, which I am sure must have touched each and every soul present there. Deservedly his vote of thanks drew a very large and loud round of applause, such that I can confidently say that this was possibly the best vote of thanks I have heard anyone give at any event which I have attended since the time I joined the Samarpan family in February 2009.

After the vote of thanks we waited in anticipation for the arrival of Pujya Swamiji and Pujya Guruma for the final session. The meditation chant had started playing and I had my eyes closed in meditation, savouring and enjoying the last session of the three day event, absorbing the sounds and soaking in the energy prevalent over there. Pujya Guruma entered the hall to the accompaniment of the blowing of conches and about five minutes later I thought Pujya Swamiji too had entered, and as the thought crossed my mind the conches blew and the sadhaks started clapping welcoming Pujya Swamiji’s arrival. The mike was given to Ujjwala-didi for compeering the Q&A session. After obtaining Pujya Swamiji’s permission Ujjwala didi started the session with the first question.

1) Why do you entrust Pratapbhai with all big events? Pujya Swamiji laughed and smilingly said that no answer can be better than this successful GP. He then said that Pratapbhai pays attention to small detail and the smallest of jobs he does with great planning. We need 10 such Pratapbhais – he is personally present at the site and he delivers, look at how he works. It was my wish that this place be purified by GP as this location will host the Guru Shakti Dham. It was his wish to accommodate all those who desired to come. As he expressed the desire, I had to stand by him willy-nilly and give him support.

2)  When you choose all post holders, why do you select those who don’t listen to you? Pujya Swamiji replied – my view is like that of a mother. My appointments are like a medical solution, to treat the appointee. Earlier the meetings used to take just five minutes and rest of the time used to be spent having spiritual discussions.

      3) What is the new rule which is going to come? Policies change with time. Now changes will take place to take care of the present as well as the future. Henceforth people will be able to work based on capability and efficiency and commitment, not for a fixed term. Trustees do not have time to get involved in management, this Management Committee (MC) will be involved in framing rules, policies, guidelines, be used for taking tough decisions, they will guide not only the Trustees, but also the Life Time Trustees. I have told them to keep a watch on the activities of the Life Time Trustees too. The management of both the Trusts is now handed over to Guruma, after that will be the Life Time Trustees, followed by MC, Managing Trustee, Trustees, Pramukh Acharya and so on. Management involves all aspects and the decision should be right. Registration for any event is mandatory as it is an important aspect of planning. The same rules apply in the outside world. As sadhaks you have to have self-discipline and this planning is being done keeping in mind the infrastructure we need to have in place for the next 800 years. These policies and rules will be brought into effect from April 1, 2015, these will be published,  if any of you have any suggestions, please give them to Shri Anant Khamankar.

      4) Ajeevan Sevadharis come only to get married and then leave, why does this happen? I do not keep anyone who is only physically present and whose chitta is not over here. What do I do with the body, I let it go. Whoever stays will reach a state of void.

      5)   My wife loves me a lot and she wants to be my wife for the next 7 births. But I do not love her and I wish this to be my last birth. Whose wish will come true? (On hearing this question Pujya Swamiji was in splits as was the entire gathering, Pujya Swamiji was laughing heartily). Pujya Swamiji said, Paramatma’s energy is one. By praying to that energy and increasing your receiving capacity, and after doing this you use this energy to fulfill your wishes. There are two kinds of energies – positive and negative. If through a positive medium you invite the energies, then these can be used only for positive purposes and vice versa. I am always with the positive forces as they are praying and working in the direction of flow of those energies. In Dandi GP, there were sadhaks who wanted to have GP in Dandi and those who were against this. I sided with the positive forces. Similarly Paramatma also sides with the positive forces – so your wife’s wishes are positive and yours are negative, hence you are stuck with this wife for 7 births. (The audience was clapping and laughing loudly to this response as Swamiji looked on with a broad smile).

      6) While propagating Samarpan Meditation should we make them meditate on “I am a holy soul, I am a pure soul”. This years’ Chaitanya Mahotsav will be held in Kutch and the Doctors Mahashibir in Kutch in October. Since the age of 5 I have believed myself to be a holy and pure soul. As I believed this my soul became stronger and stronger and took my body in the direction in which it should go. The knowledge of what is good or bad is known to the soul and not to the body, give your bodies steering to the soul. It took me 50 years to reach this stage – you cannot use this to propagate SM. I was in a very high meditative state when I made you recite I am a holy soul, I am a pure soul and then transferred my state to you. Do not try to become a Guru and do something for which you are not authorised. Do you want to experiment again, repeat after me.

The sadhaks repeated with Pujya Swamiji the mantra “mai shudh atma hoon, mai pavitra atma hoon” three times and then entered into meditation. I was busy writing and tried to connect during the third repetition, but could not connect. As the meditation started, the heaven literally opened up and it rained heavily for the 15 minute duration of the meditation. As the meditation ended so did the rain. I did feel peace and quiet, vibrations and feeling of coolness on the spine and crown chakra were all there – but this could have become something special, but I missed the bus…..but I am sure my time will come sooner or later with His Grace. During this meditation about 5 sadhaks possessed with spirits (souls) who were screaming and shouting and crying and finally achieved liberation with His Grace and kindness.

7) How does one do the “Namaskar vidhi”, as volunteers give conflicting views during the process?  When I did meditation with you, I did ‘namaskar’ to you, I surrendered to you, you do not need to touch physically, your feelings are important. Be silent, ladies keep talking and yesterday I tried to figure out what they were saying, it was like a buzz, this disturbs the entire gathering. I saw male volunteers amongst the ladies, this should not happen. Make a promise to yourself that till you offer your ‘namaskar’ you will not get disturbed.

      8) What is Guru pujan? How should it be performed? Guru Pujan is only a reason, like any other puja you remove the flowers, smell them, take the idols, wipe them, wash them with water/milk, clean them, apply ‘gandh’, offer flowers, etc. As we perform these kriyas it is our aim to go on the journey within. We always pay attention to the faults of others, but don’t go within – puja is performed to go within, to reach our soul and reach the peace of the soul. Gurupujan is similar – to reach the soul in the form of the Guru, if we reach that state then that will be the true Gurupujan. Our attention strays to distractions, never let that happen, keep your attention focussed on achieving a state of void. Don’t look at others’ faults.

      9) Is it possible to give the knowledge of “jeevant Samadhi” (living entombment / death at will) to a sadhak, is anybody capable of receiving this knowledge? My maternal grandfather had the knowledge of making  an antidote for snake poison but he did not pass it on to his sons, he confined that knowledge to himself. I used to think why did he not pass on this knowledge to his sons. This knowledge cannot be given, it will automatically get transferred to a capable disciple. I have received this knowledge from the Himalayan Gurus after I became capable of receiving it.

After the Q&A session Pujya Swamiji gave the closing address at 10.30am. He said that the Guru Shakti Dham will be located at the site where the GP 2013 festival took place. Work will start immediately after GP. There will be no space to hold GP after the GSD comes up, hence this GP is unique, there was never one held before and there won’t be any GP held at Dandi in the future. The programs are becoming bigger and bigger, and hence GP was held here in the face of extremely adverse circumstances, if we had missed this opportunity, it would never have happened. Those sadhaks who have made this possible are deserving of special blessings. Guru’s work is greater than the Guru, hence when the sadhaks desired to have such a big function, they are all deserving of special thanks. The next anushthan will see the mangal murti for Melbourne getting energised.

After this, we did the shanti path, it was about 10.45am and those who wanted to visit the energy statue were allowed to do so. We carried the mattress on which we were seated as instructed and piled it at the location indicated by the volunteers. We went back to our tent and packed our bags, changed and waited and shared experiences. At around noon, we carried our mattresses and bags to the main tent, where we helped in piling them up. Anant went to check on his family. I informed the sadhikas who had come with us to get ready for departure. Anant and I then went and got the food packets and Prasad packets for the three of us. In the meanwhile Pravin Purav and Deepak Tandon joined us. We had our lunch and then I moved on to get my car out. I managed to get the car out and I thought the car would pass through the bamboos and a tractor parked there. The ground was slippery and for a while I thought I had got stuck. I called Pratapbhai and requested him to have the tractor removed, in the meanwhile Harish, Deepak and Pravin came to the shed where the cars were parked. One small car manoeuvred and got its self out. Harish then told me to reverse and get out from behind. I managed to squeeze the car through a very tiny gap leaving just a couple of inches on either side of the vehicle and heaved a sigh of relief as the car passed through. Then I waited for a Maruti Desire to make its way out, as the driver went back and forth at least four times before he managed to get out. I managed to get the big SUV out in the second instance and speeded on the mucky road lest I got stuck. I managed to get out and went onto the Ashrams main road.  As I waited for Harish to come – he had gone to get his bag, a sadhak caught me and asked whether I could drop him of at Navsari, I said sure, then he said he had another person with him, I said ok. As he sat in the car, he said he was Ashok Jain and a judge from Ajmer, and whenever I come to Ajmer I could call him, etc. I told him there is no need just sit. Cars behind were beginning to come out and I went a little ahead and waited as Harish finally came with his bag. The rain was still holding up and I prayed that it not rain till at least we reached the main pucca road at Dandi, after which it could rain all the way to Mumbai for all we cared. Arati had called and said that Mumbai was receiving very high rainfall and high tide warnings had been issued. We finally got on our way…..there were sadhaks walking on their way out in the muck and the progress was slow. The judge was very impatient and lowered the window to loudly gesture to the sadhaks to make way – I stopped him and told him to have some patience and consideration as we were lucky to be in the car and they were walking in much with their baggage, young and old alike. After that he kept quiet. It took us almost 50 minutes to cross the 3km stretch, testing my driving skills to the limit, people were there all along the way and with oncoming autos and small tempos the going was tough and dicey. But we made it! We dropped off the judge and his companion at ERU road, then went to A-1 Bungalows to pick up the ‘sahitya’ boxes which Naimishaji had told me to collect from Rupambhai’s house. We picked the three large boxes and put them in the back and then went to the Dham for a while as one sadhika was new and had not been to the Dham. After a 15 minute break at the Dham at around 3.15pm we left the Dham for Mumbai. We sped across to the accompaniment of light to heavy rain and stopped at Parsi da Dhabha at around 4.30pm. We were joined by Khamankarji and Deepak Tandonji. After snacking to our hearts content we left at around 5.15pm for Mumbai. Puravji joined us, and we sped through the toll, and reached Goregaon at around 7pm where, the sadhikas got off, Puravji and Harish then got off at Andheri. It took me about half an hour to cross Andheri, I ultimately reached home at 8pm, totally energized after three days of great fun, bliss and joy.

I hope all of you enjoy reading this as much as I loved writing it re-living each moment as I wrote the blog. God and Gurudeva bless all!

Jai Baba Swami