To describe in a few words my experiences of the many Shaktipat Intensives I have been privileged to participate in is like trying to pour the water of the ocean into a teacup. And yet there is something that I experience in every Shaktipat Intensive—the immersion into divine, pure love.
The atmosphere of the Shaktipat Intensive is incomparable and unique. For me it is as if I am sitting in a room whose silence and power awaken me and make me aware that I am inwardly and outwardly in the presence of God. This divine presence has a most positive influence on my being, my consciousness, my feelings, my future, and my destiny.
For me, taking part in a Shaktipat Intensive is the greatest and most precious gift I can offer to my soul. After each Shaktipat Intensive I feel freer, lighter, more awake, stronger, and grateful for the divine life I am able to experience.
Konolfingen, Switzerland
I participated in a Shaktipat Intensive with Gurumayi in the mid to late 1980s and received powerful shaktipat as I felt myself immersed in her eyes. It was as if her eyes were all there was; they covered my field of vision, inner and outer. I still remember the experience as if it were today.
After more than thirty years, I’m being brought back to this experience. In a meditation on Om Namah Shivaya that I had one day last week, I saw Gurumayi turn to look at me. And her eyes were once again as I had seen and experienced them in that Intensive years ago.
In a meditation the day after the Intensive, I heard Gurumayi tell me, Live in the fire of my love. After that meditation I wrote a poem about my experience; I gave it those seven words as the title, as the teaching was coming through, along with wisdom and marching orders for my life.
What a joy to feel Gurumayi’s presence with me!
Texas, United States
I participated in the Global Siddha Yoga Shaktipat Intensive in October. I was so curious and eager to participate. I experienced the happiest moment in my life during the Shaktipat Intensive.
Dombivli, India
Yesterday I participated in the Shaktipat Intensive for the second time. It was an awesome experience. On my way back home, I was laughing with an inner joy. Gurumayi is teaching me to be happy and to make my mind happy too. I am so grateful to have Gurumayi in my life.
Kolkata, India
This Shaktipat Intensive was very special for me. During the meditation, I felt stillness within myself and all around me. I experienced a bliss that is still reverberating in my being.
I am immensely grateful to the Gurus of the Siddha Yoga lineage.
Panvel, India
When the first chanting session began, I felt heat from my shoulder to my head, and I started crying and laughing at the same time. At one point I recalled the pain my mother had experienced during a hospital stay and felt a heavy feeling. Inwardly, I asked Baba, “If this pain comes in the future, what should I do?”
At that very moment, the electricity went off while the Intensive participants were doing a call-and-response chant. I interpreted that as Baba telling me that chanting
Om Namah Shivaya is what I should do. When I understood this, the heaviness I had felt was gone, and I felt light.
This is what I have to practice now.
Dombivali, India
As someone who received
shaktipat from Baba in 1981, I am so grateful for the compassion of the Gurus, pouring their love upon me all these years. During the Shaktipat Intensive for 2019, I felt more united with the
shakti than ever before, so truly one. And the feeling never leaves.
I offer
pranam in gratitude.
New York, United States
During one of the pauses in the Shaktipat Intensive, I saw a man cutting the grass across the street from the local Siddha Yoga meditation center. He was standing while riding on a power lawnmower, and I thought of the way a musher stands on a sled directing a team of dogs or a charioteer guides a team of horses toward a chosen destination with skill and precision.
It dawned on me that throughout the Shaktipat Intensive, I was learning to be a more effective charioteer of my mind and navigate it with more skill and precision toward the destination of my choice. With this realization, my focus shifted away from a challenging stream of thoughts I had been dwelling on. I was able to observe them without being swept up in my mind’s activity. At that point, as I glided into a vast spaciousness, my inner state became calm.
West Vancouver, Canada
After participating in the Shaktipat Intensive, my mind was drawn to engage in activities that lead it to stillness, such as meditation in the evening. My mind does not want to engage in any negative thoughts. This has never happened for me before. Although everything is the same on the outside, my daily experience is more peaceful and contented because my mind has been further purified and strengthened.
Washington, United States
During the Shaktipat Intensive, the Guru’s teachings came alive for me and opened a deeper understanding of the importance of cultivating a healthy relationship with my mind.
After the Intensive, as I allowed space for further reflection, I experienced waves of grace, and my heart and mind became immersed in a state of love and peace.
Connecticut, United States
During the final meditation of the Shaktipat Intensive, I had the experience of nothingness. I had nothing to request of God, no prayer. I had no need for words, feelings, or thoughts. I experienced myself as light without attributes. What I felt had no name. In fact, the word
experience doesn’t fit for me, as I was empty—and content. I felt I was simply “I Am.”
Georgia, United States
In this Shaktipat Intensive I gained clarity and direction in areas of my life I had been uncertain about. I was inspired to go deeper in my practice of meditation and to seek clarity there. And I was awed by the love and compassion of my Gurus and all the fellow Siddha Yoga students walking the path along with me all across the world. I am filled with gratitude and a sweet sense of contentment and wonderment.
Mumbai, India
Whenever I participate in a Shaktipat Intensive, I experience easefulness within myself through the practices of breathing and meditation. And by receiving the teachings from Shri Guru, I gain so much clarity and understanding for my
sadhana and life in general.
Salutations to our Gurus for their teachings and love!
New Delhi, India
After participating in the Shaktipat Intensive, I wanted to better understand the theme, so I continued to contemplate and study.
I came to the understanding that, through
shaktipat, the Guru gives us a glimpse of our true nature, and that this is analogous to the fifth act of Lord Shiva—the bestowal of grace. Now, as a seeker, I see that it’s my duty to keep engaging in regular practice to maintain the experience of grace and my true nature until they become my permanent experience.
Thane, India
A few days after the Shaktipat Intensive, something extraordinary happened. I was sitting quietly in my apartment, looking out at the expanse of sky over the bay, when I realized that I was perceiving a very subtle golden energy underlying the visible world. This energy was in and around my body and also pervaded everything in my field of awareness. I had an epiphany: I am Consciousness. I realized there is no within-and-without division and also recognized that I’m not limited to my physical form or to the reach of my sense perceptions or thoughts—I am Awareness itself.
During a Reflection Satsang at the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Oakland, I found the courage to share my experience with other Siddha Yogis. Sharing this revelation deepened my sense of wonder at the grace inherent in the Siddha Yoga path.
California, United States
This year I participated in the Shaktipat Intensive twice. The first time I experienced a glorious stillness within myself like I never had before. I experienced bliss upon bliss, and so much love.
The second time I immersed myself even more deeply. It felt magnificent and beyond the mind. During the meditation sessions, I felt that my Self, the Guru, God, and the world are one and the same, and this awareness felt so simple and natural! When the Intensive concluded, I felt distinctly lighter, from deep within—and I still do.
California, United States
I feel such gratitude for my breath! Ever since the Shaktipat Intensive, my breath seems to have come to life. It used to be so silent that I had forgotten it was even there. Now it is at the center of my awareness.
As my breath brings me into the present moment, I notice that my thinking becomes clear, my shoulders relax, and my spine lengthens. Then I feel able to move forward with whatever needs to be done.
Florida, United States
This year I participated three times in the Shaktipat Intensive. I experienced new insights and increased focus each time. My mind and heart feel cohesive now—as though they work hand in hand with each other.
During the
namasankirtana I made up my mind to be fully present regardless of some pain in my legs, and I surrendered to the power of my breath. I had very few thoughts, and I was completely still, in body and mind, for some time.
After participating in the Intensive, I began waking up at dawn without any outer alarm and meditating regularly.
Dombivli, India
During the final meditation in this year’s Shaktipat Intensive, the
tamboura sounded different to me. I heard the sound going very high, then very low. My body started inhaling as the sound ascended and exhaling as it descended. On the ascent, I felt like my breath was leaving my body through the crown of my head. It was a profound meditation.
At the conclusion, when we were asked to journal about our experience, the following poem emerged:
I am the breath
The breath is breathing me.
The sound and the breath are one,
without boundaries.
Nothing exists except the breath
going up, going down,
one with the universe.
Florida, United States
During the entire Intensive today, I felt as if Gurumayi was in the hall, nurturing the inner
shakti of each one of us. I also felt as if every word was directed to me specifically. I got the answers to many questions, even before I asked them!
Mumbai, India
As I was listening to Gurumayi’s words during the Shaktipat Intensive, I had a new understanding that led to a change in my day-to-day life. Now, when I am looking for inner guidance, I can clearly see when my mind jumps ahead with an answer. As I notice this habit, I practice Gurumayi’s Message for 2017 to evoke calmness and patience. Allowing the Guru’s guidance to illumine my understanding in this way brings me great peace.
California, United States
This year, I participated in the Shaktipat Intensive and offered
seva in the hall. During the day, I was aware of discomfort in my body and found it difficult to concentrate.
Late in the day, as we were chanting, I was conscious that the discomfort was still present. I decided to surrender to the experience and think of myself as a coconut being offered to the fire of yoga. I closed my eyes, and immediately I saw the Blue Pearl, suspended in a vast space of swirling blue, white, and black light. The chanting poured from the meditation hall directly into me, as though a great waterfall had dissolved my discomfort. I experienced that all that existed was the point of blue light in the slowly dancing space of the chant. I felt so much love and ease.
That experience of bliss has stayed with me. No matter what has been happening in my day, I have been aware of a sense of deep stillness in my heart.
Watson, Australia
At the beginning of each session of the Shaktipat Intensive, my attention became absorbed in the beautiful images shown, and I experienced a very different type of contemplation than I am used to. It was as if the energy within the images went directly into my body. Normally, when I contemplate spiritual teachings, I am drawn to words and concepts—but today I could feel that the images themselves were teachings, and that they were suffused with Gurumayi’s intention, with her
sankalpa.
Freiburg, Germany
For the past several months before this year’s Shaktipat Intensive, I had been experiencing a tightness in my chest that restricted my breathing. I tried many things to release this tension, but nothing really made much difference.
During the first meditation session of the Shaktipat Intensive, something let go in the area of my lower chest and my breath opened so deeply that, at first, I thought my inhalation would just go on and on! The sensation felt so freeing, and I began deeply drinking in the breath. I experienced the nourishment of the breath penetrating into my cells and my mind became stable and silent.
Afterward, I began to practice Gurumayi’s Message for 2017 and I could actually feel it viscerally. I also had the insight that I can receive her Message as a direction, an intention, and an invitation. This Intensive has illuminated a doorway for me into Gurumayi's Message, and I’m excited to begin my newly enlivened exploration and study.
Toronto, Canada
I was offering translation
seva during the second session of the Intensive. At a certain point, to keep the pace of Gurumayi’s speech, I started breathing in the same rhythm as her own speech. It was an amazing discovery: “I’m breathing together with Gurumayi; we are united!”
And then, tears of great joy poured down my cheeks as I thought, “I can unite with Gurumayi’s breath at any time, not only when I’m providing translation during Siddha Yoga events!”
It was yet another experience in my
sadhana when I understood Baba’s teaching that the Guru and the disciple are one. It was beautiful.
Warsaw, Poland
As I participated in my first Shaktipat Intensive, it felt like a bath in the Ganges for my soul.
My heart felt deep gratitude to Gurumayi ji for taking us on this path of enlightenment.
Gurgaon, India
In the 1980s, I attended a Shaktipat Intensive with Gurumayi in Oakland. The concept of the Guru’s grace was new to me, and I felt unsure about keeping open to the gift that I was being offered. However, after some initial resistance, I settled down and set the intention to allow grace to flow. After a while, I was deep in meditation and had a vision of Gurumayi walking through the hall, radiating sparks of energy. As she got closer on the aisle beyond mine, I felt a great longing and noticed the sparks were bending toward me, seemingly responding to my longing. Then, Gurumayi reached across two rows and touched me on the head with the peacock feathers. I had a very intense physical experience of
shakti. But most importantly, I knew that Gurumayi did hear my longing and would always be here for me; I only need to keep my heart open.
Washington, United States
When I participated in the Shaktipat Intensive away from home this year, a gentle rain blessed us all as we entered the Intensive hall. I could perceive gratitude, excitement, wonder, and devotion shining in everybody’s eyes as we gathered together.
Chanting
Om Namah Shivaya with the awareness that many other Siddha Yogis in the global
sangham were, or would soon be, chanting it as well—while participating in different countries, across different time zones, and speaking diverse languages—gave me a sense of profound unity, within and without.
Now that I have returned home, I will have the opportunity to participate in the Shaktipat Intensive again. This is indeed a blessed opportunity for me to refine my understanding of how my own breath relates to the primordial acts that govern the universe. In turn, I know this will uplift my day-to-day life and deepen my awareness of my creative responsibility.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
I participated in my first Shaktipat Intensive in July 1999, during my first visit to Gurudev Siddha Peeth. The energy of the Intensive was palpable even before the day it began. I experienced my heart becoming moist, and I felt pure joy and love in communicating with other Siddha Yogis. As I recall, the title of the Intensive was “A Gentle Mind Upholds the Auspiciousness of Every Moment.”
After chanting
Om Namah Shivaya in the first session, we were invited to attend Gurumayi’s
darshan in Guru Chowk. When I came before Gurumayi and bowed to the
padukas at her feet, the
darshan assistant introduced me to Gurumayi. Gurumayi gazed into my eyes and gave me an exquisite smile. I bowed again and knew that my vessel was already full.
That night, I slept like a baby. Following the Intensive, I was very indrawn, speaking little and just savoring the gift of
shaktipat. Something had subtly changed in me. I felt that participating in the Intensive had made my mind “gentle,” enabling it to “uphold the auspiciousness of every moment.”
New Jersey, United States
At my sister’s invitation, I attended my first Shaktipat Intensive in 1981 in Vancouver, Canada. As I walked toward the location, I said inwardly, “I’ll just have an open mind.” Hearing myself say this was a surprise because in those days my mind was quite closed. I arrived early, so when I was ushered into the meditation room, I was the only person there. As soon as I sat down, I felt my mind drop into my heart, and a peaceful, quiet sensation descended.
I had prayed many years earlier for inner peace, and this is what I experienced; I received what I most longed for. This inner peace continues to be both my experience and my goal as I continue
sadhana with Gurumayi’s guidance in the company of my enthusiastic fellow Siddha Yogis.
Nelson, Canada
During a Shaktipat Intensive in Santa Monica in 1980, Baba touched me between the eyebrows. Instantly Baba, the roomful of people, and my identity as an individual all fell away, leaving no sense of time or space, no shapes, no relational awareness at all. All that existed was a beautiful, scintillating, serene blue light, and the certainty that I was that light, and I was love.
Eventually, a thought occurred: “So this is bliss.” For the duration of the thought, I became an individual, with a body and a mind. Then I once more was light and love. Another thought, “I want this!” brought another glimpse of my usual identity. Thoughts then came more and more rapidly. Each time they replaced the blue light with ordinary awareness until the thoughts were seamless, and “I” was back in the hall, the meditation session over.
Baba had shown me who I truly am—and the nature of my forgetfulness. He said to meditate so that this experience of who I am would become permanent. I have been a daily meditator ever since.
California, United States
When I received
shaktipat on Easter 1990, a new life began for me. Early in the Intensive I felt fear leave me, and a wisdom arose through which clarity came to me about events in my life that had led to much sadness. I was the witness, observing all of this with both compassion and detachment.
I then entered the state that transformed my life forever. I became love, divine love, unconditional love. Everyone and everything was love. No separation existed—just different manifestations of the same love. I remained in this state for two weeks. The perception of myself and life that had led to past suffering has never returned. How could it when I had experienced my true Self?
The Guru’s grace had turned darkness into light, and the grace of
shaktipat continues to unfold. I feel gratitude every day for having received the greatest gift a human can receive: the gift of experiencing my own divine light.
Central Coast, Australia
In April 1980, in the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Melbourne, I participated in my first Shaktipat Intensive. I had been attending satsangs at the Ashram for a few months, and I was particularly drawn to Baba Muktananda’s teaching: “God dwells within you as you.” These words triggered something deep within, long-forgotten, that was echoing and calling for my attention.
When I entered the hall on the morning of the Shaktipat Intensive, the atmosphere felt ancient, alive, and suffused with sacredness. Very naturally, my head bowed.
In the first meditation session, I felt as if I were floating down a deep, velvet-lined well. When I arrived at the bottom of the well, I lay suspended on waves of gently pulsating energy. Rising and falling in time to an ancient rhythm, I felt deeply soothed. Although I had never experienced such a thing before, there was a familiarity about this stillness; the cells in my body were remembering a long-forgotten code, and with this, the awareness that my essence was pure and divine. I felt humbled and amazed, absorbed, and nourished. All I could hear was Baba’s teaching “God dwells within you as you” reverberating through my being.
In the years since receiving shaktipat-diksha, the understanding that arose within—the awareness of my own divinity—has become the true north for my life. This beautiful awareness constantly guides me, bringing me into alignment with the most refined and pure essence of my being.
Dulwich Hill, Australia
I participated in my first Shaktipat Intensive in October 1996 at Shree Muktananda Ashram. The Intensive was titled “Baba Muktananda, the Ocean of Enthusiasm” in honor of Baba’s Mahasamadhi.
I began this special day by reciting Shri Guru Gita in the early morning. As I recited the verses, I felt energy ascending from the base of my spine. This movement was gentle and winding. It continued upward to the crown of my head, and I remained aware of the pleasant, rising pulsation as I continued the recitation.
Later that morning when the Shaktipat Intensive began, one of the Siddha Yoga meditation teachers described Kundalini Shakti and the unfolding movement of this sacred energy when it is awakened from its dormant state. I recalled the extraordinary experience I had while I was reciting Shri Guru Gita, and understood it to be the awakening of this mystical spiritual power.
Then, during one of the meditation sessions in the Intensive, I saw a beautiful green garden with a path winding through it. The flow of the path mirrored precisely the movement of the energy that had spiraled up my spine. At that moment, I knew with certainty that I had been awakened to a magical inner world. And I knew that the journey through this world would be filled with grace, wonder, and beneficence. It has been so.
New York, United States
I participated in the Shaktipat Intensive for the first time in December 1993 in Oslo, Norway. I had begun attending Siddha Yoga satsangs just a few months earlier, and in the weeks leading up to the Shaktipat Intensive, I joined the other satsang participants in preparing for the event.
I will never forget the moment I entered the meditation hall on the morning of the Shaktipat Intensive—the energy was soft and gentle but also joyous and bubbly. When the Intensive began, we chanted the mantra with Gurumayi on video. Later, during meditation, I felt light pressure in the space between my eyebrows, and I remember feeling like my body and mind had come to a complete state of rest and stillness. I was cradled in that deep and gentle state. This was the first time I had meditated for any extended period of time, and I was happy to have achieved this state; however, since I did not have any amazing visions or see lights, I wondered if I had really received shaktipat.
Then, during the reflection time at the end of the Shaktipat Intensive, I closed my eyes, and I had a vision. I was a large mountain of ice. I could see the frozen tip of the mountain sticking out of the water. It looked massive, permanent, and immobile. Then, the vision shifted to deep below the surface of the water, at the foundation of the mountain, and I saw that a crack had formed all the way across the base. I knew that sooner or later that crack would lead to the next stage in the mountain’s evolution: to break loose and glide freely in the ocean.
This image helped me realize the power of shaktipat-diksha, a force strong enough to shift an immense mountain from its base and at the same time gentle enough to cradle me in meditation. I knew then that I had received shaktipat-diksha. The same initiation that others experienced with visions of light, I had felt as a subtle power at the depth of my being. I might have looked the same on the outside, but deep inside a process of transformation had begun, and it held the promise that one day I would be totally free.
British Columbia, Canada
In the spring of 1994, a friend told me that a Shaktipat Intensive was going to be held at the Siddha Yoga Meditation Center in Wroclaw, Poland. She suggested that I come with her. I hesitated, because I already had plans. A few days before the Intensive, however, I made up my mind to participate.
The very same night I signed up for the Shaktipat Intensive, I had a dream. I was climbing a staircase of stone steps, and I saw a man standing at the top. He was wearing a white cloth around his waist. I felt unconditional love radiating from his presence—love which felt beyond time and space. When I got closer, he embraced me and we danced. Then he touched the space between my eyebrows, and everything melted into pure energy. There were no shapes, no different forms: all became one, and it was all red-colored energy.
When I woke up I was in an ecstatic state. The love I felt in the dream was still with me, and I knew it was God’s love I was feeling.
A few days later, when I walked through the doors of the Intensive Hall in Wroclaw, my eyes were immediately drawn to a picture near the puja. I recognized the man from my dream. A sevite at the meditation center told me that this was Bhagavan Nityananda, Baba Muktananda’s Guru.
I have heard many Siddha Yogis share that the Shaktipat Intensive begins as soon as they register for it—whether it’s their first Shaktipat Intensive or their twentieth. This was certainly my experience. Just a few hours after signing up for the event, I received shaktipat from a Siddha Yoga Guru! This experience of shaktipat, and the eternal love I felt in my dream, has transformed my life. Since then I know in my heart that there is not a single second when God’s love is not with me. I know that I am not alone; God’s love, the Guru’s love, is always here. The awareness of this love is the foundation of my life, bringing me peace and expanding my joy within.
Oregon, United States
I remember my first Shaktipat Intensive in Gurudev Siddha Peeth as if it were yesterday. The atmosphere in the meditation hall felt powerful and sacred—the smell of incense, the soft chanting of the mantra, the swish of Baba’s silk robes, and the sound of the peacock feathers touching us as Baba made his way around the hall.
I can feel to this day the moment when Baba’s peacock feathers touched my head. I saw a brilliant white light in the space between my eyes. I became very still and my entire being dissolved in soft blue light. In that divine light I experienced the overwhelming presence of God’s love for me. I felt perfectly safe, pure, and full of joy.
Something had been awakened in me that was deeper and more significant than I could ever imagine. In that touch from the Guru I had received initiation and become aware of my inner divinity. That awareness has never left me.
Quebec, Canada
During one of the meditation sessions in my first Shaktipat Intensive—on Thanksgiving 1984—I experienced pressure between my eyebrows and then, suddenly, I felt free and light! I found myself flying in a blue space, like a bird. It was so blissful that I cried tears of joy. I realized that there was something beyond the material world, something I had always been searching for. And here it was!
Following this experience, I began to notice an essential change in my behavior: I was listening to what people were saying when they spoke to me, whereas before I had mostly waited for them to finish speaking. Today, as a teacher and a writer, the essence of my work is
listening: to my students’ stories and to my own creative voice within.
It was through s
haktipat initiation that a light in me was turned on, a light that can never be turned off. Every Thanksgiving I celebrate my initiation. And every day of the year I give thanks for the gift of
shaktipat, for Gurumayi, and for the Siddha Yoga path.
Los Angeles, United States
I received
shaktipat from Swami Muktananda in 1981. The experience of the unfolding of
shakti and the revelation of knowledge from within is continuous. The Guru’s grace has revolutionized my life. I continuously and naturally turn towards the light like a sunflower. I often see the Blue Pearl and experience waves of blue light and bliss.
The Guru has revealed my true nature and the truth of my existence. My wish is that everyone receives this awakening and that we all realize the bliss of our own nature.
New York, United States
My experience of
shaktipat was quiet and subtle. At my first Shaktipat Intensive, many of the people around me seemed to be having dramatic experiences, and I prayed to Gurumayi to please help me stay with my own experience and not compare myself with others. I felt the Guru’s presence reassuring me, letting me know that everything was okay and that I could trust my own experience of the Kundalini Shakti as being just right for me.
That first Intensive set me on a clear path that dramatically changed my life. Gradually, I began to see the world as a manifestation of God and my own daily activities as a flow of energy between God within me and God around me. I’ve come to experience that I am not alone; God’s love is always with me.
Vermont, United States
For the last twenty years, I have participated in and loved Shaktipat Intensives. In the first Intensive, my inner power was ignited. I experienced such happiness and joy. I was recharged with fresh energy. What a wonderful day it was for me!
Since then, through
seva and devotion to the Guru, I have received countless excellent blessings and such great love.
Osmanabad, India
I took my first Shaktipat Intensive with Gurumayi in 1990, in Gurudev Siddha Peeth. I was fifteen years old. I was really hoping for inner fireworks and amazing visions, and when this didn’t happen, I thought maybe I had not received
shaktipat.
It wasn’t until my first day back at school that I realized what I had received. To my surprise, within minutes of seeing friends, they were saying, “What happened? You’ ve changed!” And I began to understand then that
shaktipat had opened up an entire inner universe and, with it, a spiritual foundation that was unshakeable.
Gurumayi bestowed upon me the priceless gift of an awakened life, and when I even stop for a second to think about it, I cry with gratitude.
Bath, United Kingdom
I met Baba Muktananda in 1975 and participated in my first Intensive that weekend. The immeasurable love and utter openness that I experienced within myself in that initial transmission of
shaktipat spread through my entire being and lasted, uninterrupted, day and night, for about two months.
From that experience I understood that the Self is real, tangible, and is within me, within everyone, and that it is absolutely accessible through the Siddha Yoga path. It was this direct perception of the Self that has fueled my longing for God. And, sustained by meditation and the Siddha Yoga practices, it continues to do so forty years later.
This is the magnitude of the Intensive.
New Jersey, United States
I received
shaktipat in a Siddha Yoga meditation center in London in 1977. In meditation, I went very deep and heard Bade Baba laughing. At the end of the Intensive, I felt so much love and peace. Overnight, I became a vegetarian, and I started rising an hour earlier to meditate. And my poetry transformed from being rather dark into expressions of love, insight, and experiences of the Siddha Yoga path. It was a real heart-opening experience, a truly wonderful time.
London, United Kingdom