Kṛpā kā Jharanā
The Waterfall of Grace

Part II

An Account of the Gurupurnima Celebration Satsang
with Gurumayi Chidvilasananda

Shree Muktananda Ashram and Gurudev Siddha Peeth
Saturday, July 12, 2014

by Swami Ishwarananda and Ami Bansal

As the satsang participants heard Gurumayi’s words, all of us in the Intensive Hall felt that we were seated in the Temple in Shree Muktananda Ashram, and all of us in the Temple felt that we were right there in the Intensive Hall in Gurudev Siddha Peeth. This extraordinary tapestry woven by the Guru’s shakti grew even more beautiful and luminous as the chant concluded and we all rose to our feet to sing Jyota se Jyota Jagāo.

In Shree Muktananda Ashram, Meghna Gautam came forward to wave the āratī tray to the mūrti of Bhagavan Nityananda.camera motif

In her darshan with Gurumayi the previous day, Gurumayi had said that Meghna was Gurudev Siddha Peeth’s Goodwill Ambassador. As Meghna offered āratī to Bade Baba, the Gurukula students and visiting sevites in India experienced that she was making this offering on behalf of all of us. The āratī culminated in stream after stream of the refrain, Jyota se jyota jagāo; Sadguru, jyota se jyota jagāo. We experienced that the shakti and love that arose from our offering of āratī was vast enough to encircle the entire universe.

As we took our seats after the āratī, we naturally glided into the space of silence for a few moments. The immersion in the perfect fullness of the heart was truly a holy bath. And then we heard Gurumayi say very softly, "Shubh Gurupurnima."

Gurumayi then spoke these words, Main nata mastaka hun, Gurudev Siddha Peeth. “I bow my head to you, Gurudev Siddha Peeth.”camera motif

After a moment of quiet, she asked who in Gurudev Siddha Peeth would like to describe the Bhagavan Nityananda Temple today on Gurupurnima.

With great reverence in her voice Ami said, "Gurumayi, pranām," and told Gurumayi that Chinmay, a visiting sevite from Mumbai, had stepped forward to describe Bade Baba’s mūrti. Gurumayi asked, “Is this the same Chinmay who used to be young and has now grown up?” Ami laughed and said, “This is a different Chinmay.” Gurumayi said, “This Chinmay too must have been young and has now grown up.” In both the Intensive Hall and in the Temple, peals of laughter ensued.

Chinmay Barve remained very poised, and spoke with great devotion about the cream-colored robes in which Bade Baba was dressed after the abhishek, and his turban with an orange feather. Chinmay described the golden pendant in the shape of AUM which rested on Bade Baba’s heart. He said that when he saw the AUM pendant and where it was placed, he felt connected to Bade Baba’s heart.camera motif

Hearing Chinmay’s beautiful description of Bade Baba’s golden pendant, Gurumayi shared that earlier that morning while she was having darshan of the setting full moon, the words svarṇim pūrṇimā had arisen, "golden full moon." This reminded us of Gurumayi’s Message for 1999, Svarṇim Man, Svarṇim Jīvan. A Golden Mind, A Golden Life.

Gurumayi asked Chinmay if he had received a message from Bade Baba that morning. Very sweetly, Chinmay replied, “Yes,” and said the message he’d received was to remember Gurumayi.

Gurumayi then said that last night she had received a command from Bade Baba and Baba Muktananda, which is also her command for all of the Siddha Yogis in Gurudev Siddha Peeth.

After Gurumayi imparted this timeless and universal guidance, she invited someone else to describe Baba Muktananda’s Samadhi Shrine. Reena Sonawane, a Gurukula student, shared that a full moon made of mogrā flowers adorned the top of Baba’s Samadhi Shrine. In the center of the moon were orange roses in the shape of a heart.camera motif Circling the full moon were the words Om Guru Om in the devanāgari script, formed by mogrā flowers.

When Reena described the heart made of orange roses, Gurumayi asked her if she had seen the heart motif in Shri Guru Pādukā Panchakam on the Siddha Yoga path website. This heart motif was also made of orange rose petals! Reena said that she hadn’t, but that Ami was nodding her head so Ami had seen it. Gurumayi said: Ham sab sāth hãi. "We are one."

Gurumayi gently teased Ami, saying that Ami is ahead of everyone: she had already visited the Siddha Yoga path website before anyone else had done so. Then Gurumayi shared that because Ami was offering so much seva for the Siddha Yoga path website, of course she would want to visit the website regularly.

Gurumayi then mentioned another new posting on the Siddha Yoga path website: Baba’s teachings on the guru-tattva. She asked Vani Agrawal, a visiting sevite in Shree Muktananda Ashram, to read Baba’s teachings in Hindi.

Baba's first teaching on guru-tattva is:

guru tattva

Guru tattva kālātīt ādi tattva hai aur iskā astitva do starõ par hai. Pratham hai, param guru, brahmāndīya tattva, jo sarvavyāpī aur sarvajña hai.
Phir hãi ve vaiyaktik guru jinse tum shaktipāt, divya shakti kā sampreṣaṇ prāpt karte ho aur jinse tum pūrṇatā kī prāpti karte ho.

Gurumayi expanded on Baba’s teaching about the Guru, from whom we attain perfection–– pūrṇatā— by singing, Om pūrṇamadah as she motioned to the conductor, who then led everyone in reciting these mantras together:

Om pūrṇamadah pūrṇamidam
Pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate
Pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya
Pūrṇamevāvashiṣyate
Om shāntiḥ, shāntiḥ, shāntiḥ

This beautiful moment reminded us of the Indian tradition known as Harikathā, which has been observed for centuries in South India and in the state of Maharashtra, where Gurudev Siddha Peeth is situated. Harikathā is a form of satsang in which spiritual themes are explored through teachings, storytelling, and music. A speaker recites a teaching or tells a story, interspersed with the singing of bhajans, abhangas or scriptural verses on these themes.

We feel so blessed that on the Siddha Yoga path we are able to learn about, and participate in, these sacred and time-honored traditions of worship, through which we can experience the perfection of the Self.

Om. That is perfect. This is perfect.
From the perfect springs the perfect.
If the perfect is taken from the perfect, the perfect remains.
Om. Peace. peace. peace.

 

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