More than twenty years ago, during a visit to Shree Muktananda Ashram, I went for Gurumayi’s darshan after an evening program. During the darshan, I asked Gurumayi for blessings for my husband and two children. I watched Gurumayi close her eyes and she seemed to be finding them in the universe. Then she nodded and I felt her bless them. I felt so much gratitude. Gurumayi had blessed my whole family.
After the program I called my husband to tell him the good news. His reaction was dramatic! “Leave that place! Come home right away! I don’t want to hear anything about it!” I wrote Gurumayi a letter asking her what I should do about my husband who is fiercely opposed to Siddha Yoga. The very next day a sevite called me on Gurumayi’s behalf and said: “Gurumayi received your letter. She asked me to tell you to see your husband as the Guru and honor your commitment to him.”
When I returned home, my husband was even more distressed and asked me to make a choice. I meditated and asked Gurumayi inwardly what I should do. Again I heard the answer, “Honor your commitment to your husband, see him as the Guru.” I felt a profound sense of peace and calm as I carefully packed up all my outer manifestations of Siddha Yoga in two shopping bags: puja items, books, photographs, asanas, malas. Everything. With respect, I handed the bags to my husband and said, “I will give up these outer things, but I will maintain my inner connection with the Guru and the path. This will always be in my heart.” My husband, feeling my calm and conviction, immediately became less agitated. He responded that he would honor me for my inner path and we would see if it was a “true path.”
For ten years, I meditated, contemplated, repeated the mantra and nurtured my inner relationship with Gurumayi. I did not go to the Siddha Yoga meditation center, I did not offer seva at the center, I did not travel to Shree Muktananda Ashram, and I did not have any outer manifestations of Siddha Yoga in the house. And throughout those years, I felt Gurumayi walking with me all the time. I felt her presence, blessings, and grace.
Little by little my husband began to soften. He could see and experience how much my inner practices were benefitting me…and him, and the entire family. He began to accept a small puja in my study. And then, as time passed, he was comfortable with a slightly larger puja, and a space for my meditation. Sometimes I would come home from work and find a small flower on the puja that my husband had picked from our garden to honor the sacred space. After a few more years, he was happy for me to go to the center and offer seva. Sometimes he would even come with me and work in the garden outside the center.
This year, I was thinking of applying to go to Gurudev Siddha Peeth for a Pilgrimage to the Heart retreat. I spoke with my husband about it. He thought about it for a while and then said, “It might be a little hard on your body to do all that traveling. Why don’t you just go to New York this summer and be with Gurumayi there?”
So this summer, just before we celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary, I was able to offer seva in Shree Muktananda Ashram with my husband’s full blessings.
Great love and gratitude to Gurumayi.
a devotee from California, USA
In June, 1995, I came to Shree Muktananda Ashram from Oakland, California planning to stay the summer. At the end of the summer, I was invited to stay another year (I ended up serving on staff for seven years.) My first visit back home was in November 1995, over the Thanksgiving holiday. During that time, I went to see my Grandparents.
My Grandmother, whom I adored, taught me about unconditional love and completely supported my choice to serve on staff in Shree Muktananda Ashram. During our conversation, I told her all the great things Gurumayi was doing in the world, and about her travels on the tour the Mahayatra. At some point in the conversation, my Grandmother stopped me and said, “Well, I guess I’ll have the next lifetime to know all about it.”
I was completely blown away by this response, as my Grandmother never spoke of such things before. I am grateful that the Guru’s blessings reached my grandmother, as well as my entire family, and that she had this understanding.
a devotee from California, USA