Magical Monday | Swamy Jyotirmayah visits Dubai

As Dubai is heading for the close of 2009, we had a magical Monday with Swamy Jyotirmayah descending to bless us all.

A crowd of over 700 people thronged the Hall in Karama Center, Karama vibrating to a Satsang by Pushpa kumar. As the name indicate, Pushpakumar spread the fragrance through divine music captivating the hearts and minds of all present.

As Swamy Jyotirmayah walked in, a deep silence and joy was felt by all the people in the Hall.

In a very simplistic manner, he asked whether e would like to hear Guru Stories. How many ould like to hear? All hands went up.

Guess what he said?…. He laughed…after a pause said, “you all must register for the advanced course to hear Guru Stories”. He continued to laugh in the most affable manner which was so infectious that the entire hall was reverberating with laughter…. With a chuckle Swamiji asked “don’t you think this as the best form of marketing?”

The satsang continued with Swamiji deep in meditation. By about 9 p.m, he arose and started blessing people. Dubai has never seen such a large blessing session before. Senior citizens, children and women followed by men folk all lined up to receive Swamiji’s blessings. It was so humbling to see the stream of people receiving the energy and blessings from the gentle hands of Swamiji. As the evening wore on, the queue and the crowd started to grow. For the next 3 hours, Swamiji continued the blessing non-stop. Exactly when it was less than a minute for 12 midnight, the last in the queue got the blessings!!!!

The first Swamiji to visit Dubai from Art of Living Ashram, Swamy Jyotirmayah is regarded s an embodiment of Guru’s grace, love, ompassion and silence.

It all started on the day of Shivaratri when Guruji asked Swamiji to go around and start blessing people. Since then, wherever Swamiji had gone, people lined up in thousands to receive the blessings. He has already blessed hundreds of thousands of people at a stretch!!! Sometimes continuously for over 10 to 15 to 20 hours without a break!!!

In his maiden visit to UAE, Swamiji conducted Advance Meditation and Silence program in Abu Dhabi which was attended by 146 people. En route to Sharjah for a Mega Advanced program, he came to Dubai and conquered the hearts of many. He will proceed to Sharjah to conduct the advanced program for a big gathering of 210 participants, indeed a huge one by middle east standards!!!!!

Swamy Jyotirmayah –as the name denotes- spread the light of knowledge and silence which will be felt for months to come!!!!!!

Blessing Rain in Desert Land | Swami Jyotirmaya in UAE

As Dubai is heading for the close of 2009, we had a magical Monday with Swamy Jyotirmayah descending to bless us all.

A crowd of over 1000 people thronged the Hall in Karama Center, Karama vibrating to a Satsang by Pushparaj. As the name indicate, Pushparaj spread the fragrance through divine music captivating the hearts and minds of all present.

As Swamy Jyotirmayah walked in, a deep silence and joy was felt by all the people in the Hall.

In a very simplistic manner, he asked whether e would like to hear Guru Stories. How many ould like to hear? All hands went up.

Guess what he said…. He laughed…after a pause said, “you all must register for the advanced course to hear Guru Stories”. He continued to laugh in the most affable manner which was so infectious that the entire hall was reverberating with laughter…. With a chuckle Swamiji asked “don’t you think this as the best form of marketing?”

The satsang continued with Swamiji deep in meditation. By about 9 p.m, he arose and started blessing people. Dubai has never seen such a large blessing session before. Senior citizens, children and women followed by men folk all lined up to receive Swamiji’s blessings. It was so humbling to see the stream of people receiving the energy and blessings from the gentle hands of Swamiji. As the evening wore on, the queue and the crowd started to grow. For the next 3 hours, Swamiji continued the blessing non-stop. Exactly when it was less than a minute for 12 midnight the last in the queue got the blessings!!!!

First Swamiji to visit Dubai from Art of Living Ashram, Swamy Jyotirmayah is regarded as an mbodiment of Guru’s grace, love, compassion nd silence.

It all started on the day of Shivaratri when Guruji asked Swamiji to go around and start blessing people. Wherever Swamiji had gone since then in different parts of India, people lined up in thousands to receive the blessings. He has already blessed hundreds of thousands of people at a stretch!!! Sometimes continuously for over 10 to 15 to 20 hours without a break!!!

In his maiden visit to UAE, Swamiji conducted Advance Meditation and Silence program in Abu Dhabi attended by 146 people. En route to Sharjah for a Mega Advanced program, he came to Dubai and conquered the hearts of many. He will proceed to Sharjah to conduct the advanced program for a big gathering of 250 participants, indeed a huge one by middle east standards!!!!!

Swamy Jyotirmayah –as the name denotes- spread the light of knowledge and silence which will be felt for months to come!!!!!!

Anugrahotsav at Darjeeling, West Bengal

Swami Sri Madhusudanji carried the presence of the divine to the people of the hilltops... Darjeeling and Kurseong... on 10, 11 and 12 of November 2009... The master is continuing his 'Dig Vijaya' once again... :)

The hilly terrain of the mighty Himalayas was very happy as it’s already mid November & the environment was getting chilly day after day as the non stop supply of cool breeze was rampant everywhere. With the arrival of Swami Madhusudan Ji &  the  onset of Padyatra, suddenly the inhabitants were pleasantly surprised as they experienced the warmth everywhere. Whatever they were doing came to an halt as they left everything and rushed from their shops or houses to seek his blessings. In the process, more than 25000 people got the opportunity to have a glance & get his blessings. Although silent, yet it was deeply felt as if they were literally waiting for some Divine wave to touch them & thus resulted in continuous flow of people.                 

            Anugrahotsav (Peacewalk) took a new turn in Kurseong, where 4000 students from 3 Missionary schools participated & got blessed by Swamiji. The students experienced an unprecedented feeling of love & peace as to everybody’s surprise, there was sudden calmness in the environment in otherwise, with restless & noisy students. This amazing scene was witnessed during Swamiji’s address, that too without a microphone. The students and teachers were literally awestruck at the sheer beauty and divinity radiating through the gentle smile, genuine care and concern in Swamiji’s eyes. Subsequently, streams of people came to take blessings when Swamiji was out on the streets of Kurseong totalling upto 7000 people.

A group of teenagers joined the Padyatra in Kurseong, who had never heard of Art of Living before. They shared that they were so happy to receive blessings and expressed their desire to remain attached to this Divinity & remain devoted to GOD. Voluntarily, they participated actively in the Padyatra by holding placards, distributing leaflets, photos etc. They were just thrilled to do whatever they can & exhibited the feeling of the event being their own.

 An elderely lady shared that Swamiji reminded her of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ram Krishna Paramhansa and Maa Kali – all in one.

Anugrahotsav and Padayatra in Sikkim

The divine has created sweet waves of devotion and faith in the life of the people of Sikkim on 08 and 09 of the month of November 2009. Swami Sri Madhusudanji has touched the lives of thousands of people of Gangtok... Sri. Prasenjit Saha explains....

After initiating the wave of devotion in several parts of Kolkata, now it was the turn of the land of vista & splendor, the tiny himalyan state that is blessed by unspoilt natural beauty, SIKKIM. The four walls of prison of the capital city of Sikkim, Gangtok was ever ready to welcome Swami Madhusudan Ji & the inmates along with the officials were anxious to have the glimpse & feel the touch of Divinity. The premises the prison, which otherwise is always looked down upon by our  society, was radiating positive energy as Swami Ji conducted 'Ram Dhyaan' & serenity was established in the entire environment in no time. The photograph of Guruji was given to everybody & soon the magic was experienced by people as miracles started pouring. 

While walking along the Mall of the hill town of Gangtok, it was like a mini One World Family, where tourists from all over the country and aboard go for an evening stroll. People simply forgot to go shopping or sights seeing, as all eyes were just staring at the divine light in the presence of Swamiji. His elegance, gracious looks and simplicity were enough to amaze the masses, as they were left with no choice, but to get infected by his contagious smile. Some foreigners from Brazil and Israel who took his blessings experienced a divine pull, and joined the padyatra, and attended the satsang and knowledge session thereafter. In short Gangtok was hit by the generous storm, and no less than 22,500 people were blown away pleasantly, which enriched them for their lifetimes.

SOME EXPERIENCES

“I do not know who he is, but his sheer presence was so divine and full of love that I had to go and take his blessings, I feel so good now,” – said Rupa, a localite, who was in M. G. Marg, when Swamiji arrived.

“A physically handicapped shop owner in Lal Market could not stop his tears when Swamiji himself came up to him and blessed him”.

A prisoner in Gangtok jail shared that he couldn’t bend his leg because of a bullet injury since many years. Immediately after the blessings from Swamiji, a miracle happened. He could bend his leg and he was ecstatic with joy. 

Anugrahotsavam at Chennai, Tamilnadu, India

The Art of Living Chennai organised the unique festival to create a wave of love and spirituality, ‘ Anugrahotsavam’, in Chennai. The program was blessed by the divine presence of Poojya Swami Sri Jyotirmaya-ji himself. 

To watch a video coverage of the program by the online newspaper Chennai Online, visit : http://www.chennaionline.com/video/index.aspx?vid=1555&Title='Anugrahotsavam'%20-%20From%20Art%20of%20Living&Page=0 

Love,

Suresh Nair

Reaching Out Spiritually - Anugrahotsav @ Kolkota

A man dressed in a beatific smile, with a hand constantly reaching out to bless the ones streaming in can most prospectively be a saint’s. One such saint, Swami Sri Madhusudan, has been walking Kolkata’s streets, doing exactly this, under the Art of Living (AOL) Padayatra program Anugrahotsav (the divine present).  
Swamiji is in the city to spread Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s message of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. Said Swamiji about this spiritual-walking movement, “We are reaching out to more and more people as it is the need of the hour. They are waiting for us. We’ll give not only practical wisdom but also walk on the road.”  
Swamiji’s yatra has covered many parts of Kolkata including Manicktala, Beliaghata, Salt Lake, Rajabazar, Thakurpukur, Kalighat, Howrah, etc. On these walks, mostly covering half to 1 km, he is accompanied by AOL volunteers. Members are seen carrying placards with messages of peace, singing devotional songs, inviting and encouraging people to take Swamiji’s blessings, distributing smiley badges, fruits, biscuits and pictures of Guruji.
Ravi Ranka, volunteer, AOL says that in India people have faith in blessings of saints. “You can do good by many a means - by feeding others, helping at mental, financial, spiritual level. This movement is a spiritual one - the character of individuals changes by being blessed.”  
According to Seema Hirwani, another volunteer, this is an awareness program, which holds masses psychologically and thus facilitates linking between themselves and the larger society and spiritual self. “We are going to slum areas mostly as it is in these areas that the level of spiritual awareness is less and Swamiji’s blessing will give them an outlet which is restricted to the people of the upper strata usually.”  
India, known for it’s faith in the divine, has always had miracles during such journeys. One such miracle took place during this program. “We went to Nadia and this woman who had been confined to a wheelchair got up and started walking after Swamiji’s blessing!” recounted another volunteer.
Ajoy Saha, teacher at AOL, said that AOL envisions one world family with a smile on every face. Swamiji will be in Kolkata till November 6, whereon he will visit other northeast states and return to other parts of West Bengal including Durgapur, Purulia, Murshidabad, Aila affected area Basanti, Siliguri, Darjeeling, Gangtok, among others.  
Defining spirituality as ‘something very open, the essence of religion’, Swamiji’s message to people is, “People needs to broaden their vision, delve deep into their roots, see things in an open perspective, be centered and calm and responding to the needs of the moment without panicking, getting stressed or violent.”
  Having toured many parts of India, did Swamiji find anything different in Kolkata? “I felt the people in Kolkata are more deeply devotional than in other parts of the country.”

Anugrahotsav@Kolkota by Swami Madhusudanji and Our Chayanna

On the eve of 04-Nov-2009, Kolkota’s Dum Dum airport was ever busy with flights taking off & landing to/from various parts of the country & the world. Passengers were occupied in checking-in, getting security checked, luggage collection, boarding/getting down the flight etc.
Nearby, just next to Dum Dum airport, only the Divine's chosen ones were preparing for boarding the heavenly flight to Divinity of  'Anugrahotsav Airlines'. Instead of going into any formalities, they were simply pouring in huge numbers, the premises of Siddheshwari Temple. It was an extra terrestrial flight to be piloted by two Divine souls sent by Guruji to invoke the dormant feelings of devotion in the heart of the masses & imbibe the virtues of Love, Compassion & Belongingness.
Isn't this strange, that there was no No checking-in or No security check? The pre condition was simple but permanent Smile & it was automatic as the passengers left everything & gave priority to this inner journey.
The crew members were none other than dedicated teachers/volunteers, who enjoyed working together towards smooth & devoted journey for days. To enliven the celebration flavor of Bengal, the atmosphere was reverberating with the beat of DHAKS (Country made drums of Bengal) & volunteers were holding placards announcing the holy beginning of this movement (भक्ति की लहर).
The schedule time i.e. 4:30 pm saw the arrival of the first pilot Swami Madhusudan Ji and the aviation fuel was poured in the form of 'Charan Puja'. The seat belts were tightened as the passengers were blessed by Swamiji just before the flight took off in the form of Padayatra. In the meantime, the second pilot Swami Suryapaad Ji (Chhayapati Ji) took his seat & everybody around were spell bound by mere gesture of his kindness & compassion. The flight was roaring into heights & was taking everybody around into its stride as Chhayapati Ji was going to each & everybody, who were passing by - whether on foot, taxi, rickshaw or auto. The crowd was startled as nobody expects this kind of generosity now-a-days in today's strife ridden society full of jealousy & violence.
Swami Madhusudan Ji & Swami Suryapad Ji were Blessing anybody & everybody & the initially hesitant people soon broke their shackles by the glare of their eyes & calm looks on their faces. The fellow passengers were more than involved in singing bhajans one after another. The photograph of Guruji was distributed without any discrimination & due to HIS mystic smile the magic was ON!
 The first leg of the flight ended with the Padayatra & the passengers boarded the second leg without getting off or luggage check. The crew members comprised of the musicians also this time & all were set for the meditative inner journey. The seat belts were tightened again with 'Guru Puja' as more passengers joined Auro Hall & it was jam packed. Each & every Bhajan by Chhayapati Ji was preceded by 'Strotras' & gradually took all the passengers to Divine heights.
Our loving Guruji says......."When Hearts Open, Tears Come Out" and tears were rolling over the cheeks of the passengers as anubhooti of 'Presence' of GURUJI was felt to a great extent & devotees were simply diving into His stream of non-stop Blessings. The chanting of Strotras & rendering of Bhajans like 'Namo Sharada' & 'Narayani' in typical Chhayapati Ji's style soon forced the passengers to experience the highs of Meditation when the mind is hollow & empty. The angels deputed by GOD to be in Dum Dum yesterday were fortunate enough to collect the 'Tears of Gratitude & Devotion'. By the time......the flight landed, the divine pilot Chhayapati Ji had forced the passengers to come out of their shells & entire auditorium was in raptures with the rhythmic tapping of footsteps.
The occasion was marked by the presence of Shri. Sanjib Kr Chanda, Chairman & Shri. Hardev Singh, Vice Chairman of Dum Dum Municipalty, who along with the coucillors sought the Blessings of both the Swamijis on behalf of the entire populace of Dum Dum.
I heartily apologize for showing a mere lamp to a sun by explaining the proceedings yesterday evening as I was not present there. I asked a passenger yesterday night......"Yesterday's Double Dhamaka in Dum Dum was Scintillating OR Awesome OR Electrifying OR Extra-ordinary OR Mesmerizing OR Soul Stirring?” The passenger was pleasantly confused & replied "It was all in ONE & even more". The entire English vocabulary is too short to touch upon even 1 % of what actually the devotees (passengers) felt. That was another massive explosion from Guruji's artillery & His GRACE is engulfing Kolkata on the way to MahaShivaratri celebrations in Feb, 2010. We, the ever greedy, His chosen devotees can only say........"Yeh Dil Maange More”!!!
I'll conclude by throwing a surprise that everybody floated in this journey, where the cost of ticket was ZERO & reached the destination with a sense of fulfillment & spiritual enrichment. What more can I say other than........

"Love Really Moves the World"

At last, I'll appeal to all fortunate devotees of Dum Dum to spread these positive vibrations to other parts of Kolkata & West Bengal & not confine the nectar of His Blessings to that geography, which you all received in abundance.

In 'Anugrahotsav'........Together We Can & Together We Will! The World is so beautiful!! 

Content provided by Sri. Prasenjit Saha, Kolkota

 

Anugrahotsav at Trissur Kerala

Kerala witnessed yet another miraculous blessing festival by Poojya Swami Sri Jyotirmaya at Trissur this week. Incidently Trissur is the hometown of Poojya Swamiji!

A crowd of more than 10,000 people expereinced the divine's grace through his perfect tool at the Neeranjaly Temple hall at trissur.

Swamiji was standing still like an idol for more than 12 hours to deliver the divine blessing to the believers, without food, without rest...

Many miraculous expereinces were repeated.. (Its not a miracle at all now... It just happens everywhere...)

More and more such expereinces are being reported everyday.... 

Snehasanjivani Padayatra and Anugrahotsav at Madiwala, Bangalore – 16 Sep 2009

On 16 Sep 2009, one more blessing festival happened at Art of Living Centre Madiwala – Sri Venkateswara Collage Madiwala.  Pad puja, Guru puja and Blessing happened at the centre. From the centre, Swami  Sri Jyotirmaya went to Sri Ayyappan Temple Madiwala along with  the Padayatra. Blessings were given to thousands of people there.

Snaps of the event can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/pmanish.rf/AoLMadiwalaAnugrahotsav2009#

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoNPH5-84ac

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08LjAwOitX4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju5enj9vI-Q

Anugrotsav Experience at Meenakshi Temple,Bannerghata Road on 17Sep 09

Dear soul mates

I feel very blessed to have gotten the opportunity to organize the Anugrotsav of Swami Jyothirmayah at Bannerghata Rd along with my fellow teachers and volunteers on 17 Sep09.

I must say I got inspired after reading the experiences of Suresh Nair and Raj Waghray of organizing a similar Anugrotsav in their areas. And the "biggest" inspiration was reading about more than 1 lakh people getting blessed by our Swami Jyothirmayah at palkhad, kerala in 2 consecutive days with Swamiji standing continiously for 12+ hours on each day blessing people.

Thanks to our teacher Bala (returned from Middle East and is a full-time teacher in Bangalore now) who had blocked time of Swamiji for 16th & 17th for Madiwala & KR Puram. Since KR Puram area had course during that week, the slot on 17th Sep was available and Bala suggested if I would like to use it, given that I was planning to open a new center.

I just said "YES" to Bala knowing well that we had just 4 days in hand for 17th and what followed was sheer grace and miracle.

On 16th, Swamiji was in Madiwala area blessing people and I heard around 4000 people got blessed that day. The field report indicated that there were about 30-40 AoL volunteers and teachers who made the event in Madiwala a success.

Given that I was planning to open a new center on 17th, I just had the support of 2-3 volunteers who stayed near my house. That was a sheer contrast to what Madiwala had.

What follows is the sheer hand work of Gurudev when you have YES mind and give 100%. I personally called all the teachers in South Bangalore and requested them to grace the occasion with their volunteers apart from sharing in this teachers group id. I flashed the message on multiple yahoogroups on the day of Anugrotsav and sent FREE group SMS'es using gupshup to AoL devotees with Amuthan's help.

Unfolding of THE DAY - 17Sep09:

Swamiji based on his previous day experience at Madiwala had told us to make him stand in the venue sharp at 5pm (1 hour before original plan) to be able to bless more people. We quickly altered the plan to accomodate this new schedule.

I was to pickup Swamji from Ashram at 4pm and he called me at 3:20pm and asked me if it is raining at Bannerghata Rd. It indeed was raining that time but showed some sign of subsiding at Bannerghata Rd. As I was about to reach Ashram to pick up Swamiji, I saw unprecedented heavy down-pours happening around Nice Rd and Ashram area but some thing told me it will be taken care.

Swamiji arrived at new center sharp at 4:30pm. After Purna Kumba, Mangala Arathi, Padha Puja & Guru Puja and formally inaugurating the center, we reached Meenakshi Temple at 5:15pm. There was no sign of any rain (you know whose hand work was it) and people started coming on their own for blessings. The priest of Meenakshi Temple kept telling me to bring Swamiji inside temple for Puja but I told him once Swamiji starts blessings, he wouldn't stop in between and when he finishes with all blessings, he would come in. The priest felt (based on his last 10-yrs experience) that the crowd won't last more than 30-mins in Meenakshi Temple given that it was early & remote. But the crowd kept adding up one-by-one and it went on for 2-hours. We had close 20+ teachers/volunteers working actively to streamline crowd, hand over new course launch handout and Guruji's picture, standup-satsang etc., I had also taken police permission from 4 police stations if we were to go on padayatra. We had close to 7 policemans deputed at Meenakshi Temple to take care of the event before we arrived.

At 7pm, Swamiji decided to get in to temple for Puja and then we moved to Reliance Mart, Arekere.

Swamiji was standing in the big parking lot of Reliance Mart and started blessing people and people started pouring in. Here we vitnessed a great miracle of one Mr.Bernard whose mother was missing for last 4-days, getting a SMS confirmation on his phone that his mother Marry was safe, the moment he took the blessings. He was jumping in JOY and we recorded his experience in multiple languages as he could speak 4-languages.

At 9pm, we moved to inside Arekere market place and here again people started pouring in. People from all walks of life automatically started standing in the queue. We saw a bus driver and conductor, leaving the bus in the middle of road and come running for blessings. We saw traffic constables coming together taking blessings. One more miracle we recorded in Arekere market was that one lady who came to Meenakshi Temple to take blessings was very moved and wanted to get her sister and daughter to take blessings. But by the time she brought both of them, we had left Meenakshi Temple and the priest had told her that we were planning to go to a temple in Arekere (that was the original plan which we changed on the fly). This lady with her sister and daughter waited in the Arekere temple for more than an hour and was feeling really terrible for not being able to get blessings. And they were returning home and alas they find Swamiji standing right in front of their house (Arekere Market) and blessing people. All these 3 people were jumping with ecstasy after the blessings and kept saying Gurudev knows how to answer a sincere prayer.

Swamiji finished blessing people by 10pm and thus ended an eventful day of blessings with Swamiji blessing close to 3000 people in sheer span of 4+ hours.

When I went to drop Swamiji to Ashram, we updated Gurudev about the event and HE was happy to note the details. I even showed HIM the recorded experiences from my blackberry.

Special thanks to all teachers in south bangalore who came with their volunteers to make this event a grand success; it was just a day notice and all of them were there to grace the occasion & contribute. Special thanks to teachers: Bala, Manikantan, Vaibhav, Rekha Prasad, Manjunath, Shankar, Girish, Hema, Bharat (he came all the way from Marathahalli), Supriya for personally coming and making this event a memorable one.

So what are you waiting for - Just get going with Anugrotsav in your area - If 3000 people can get blessed in an outskirt like Meenakshi Temple, Bannerghata Rd, it is beyond our imagination. People are just waiting to be blessed and this is the BEST way to spread AoL awareness in mass in your area.

Looking forward to read your sharing / experience of Anugrotsav soon.

(Content Contributed by Srinivasan Ramachandran, AOL teacher, Bangalore)

Swamiji at Puthoor Kollam

More than a lakh people experiencing the divine grace... in 2 days !!!

As the heavens opened up with cool showers after a hot week, Palakkad was set spinning in bliss by Swami Jyothirmayah at the Anugrahotsav 2009. In a span of two days, more than 1lac twenty thousand people (most of them new to Art of Living) experienced the love and compassion of the Master through our beloved Swamiji.

On July 27th and 28th, Palakkad town hall witnessed the exhilarating scene of Swamiji standing continuously for more than 12 hrs, each day, to bless the incessant stream of people. Lakhs of people from all strata of society, of all ages and all backgrounds; including communist politicians, house wives, students and so on flocked in to be a part of this historic event in Palakkad.

While some of them were suffering from chronic and fatal diseases; some were tormented with fears of never being able to live a life of normalcy, and some others dejected and depressed.The one thing that most of them had in common was that they were stuck at some point in life, down in the dumps and sinking. With the silent grace of the Master flowing through the divine presence of Swamiji, they had the experience of their life time, transfoming them profoundly. Followed by the satsang, which had people ( even the new-comers) singing, dancing and rejoicing, each one of them left the hall carrying a wide smile of happiness and a fresh and rejuvenated life.



Most of them were desperately in need of a helping-hand and Anugrahotsav gave them a new life. The tears of gratitude and the smiles of joy in these people were an eye-opener to the fact of how urgent and important it is to reach this knowledge to more and more people.

Guruji was extremely delighted at the success of the event and has suggested that similar events be organized in all cities across the country.

Our master's grace and knowledge is the best and the only way to keep this world happy and smiling…and there isn’t a better time than now to start off.

Let’s gear up for more eye-popping miracles and tears of gratitude with more Anugrahotsavs coming up in the rest of the country...


(Content contributed by Sri. Prasobh P from Kerala)

Organising Anugrahotsav - A wonderful expereince

Some weeks before the Silver Jubilee Celebrations in 2006, the Indiranagar team had a wonderful Padayatra with Swami Pragyapadji. After talking to Madhavji over phone, I called Swami Joshiji and discussed about having ‘Snehasanjivani Padayatra’ and ‘Anugrahotsav’ at Indiranagar area. He had to travel to Kerala on the first week of July 2009 for conducting a number of advanced courses, pujas and blessing programs. So he told me that he was free during 23.Jun.2009 and 28.Jun.2009. Inspired by the experiences shared by Madhavji, in ‘Josh’ I have told him that I would organize the Padayatra and Anugrahotsav on the same week.

Next day, our team consisting of the teachers and volunteers from Indiranagar and HAL had a meeting at HAL center in the evening. Leaving some of the inspired volunteers, none were optimistic about the success of the program, for they have their own reasons. There was no time for ‘Leg Work’! People were worried about the expenses! When they asked about the money, I was also worried for a while. But in a gut feeling, I told them – “Don’t worry about money, we can find some sponsor!”

We have decided the routes of the Padayatra. Also we have decided to have the blessing festival, ‘Anugrahotsav’ at a big kalyanamantapa at Tippasandra. One of our resourceful volunteer took the responsibility of getting the venue with his hold in the business and political circle. Thus our team started to go ahead! During that meeting, I got a call from Madahvji again. He called me to inform that Poojya Gurudev has blessed Joshiji with the name – “Swami Jyotirmaya”.

The fun started next day, on 24.Jun.2009. There were many people for the meeting. But when it came to work at the ground, only ‘My’ core volunteers were left. (‘My’ Gurudev – Gurudev’s volunteers are my volunteers too…J). The first blow came – The venue that we identified was not available. But Guru’s grace worked for us again! Through one of our volunteers of HAL we got the HAL Kalyanamantapa confirmed within 24 hours. Before us starting the Padayatra at Ulsoor on 25.Jun.2009 the venue was confirmed. It was really a miracle! Normally, to book the HAL Kalyanamantapa, the normal processing and formalities happen within 15 to 20 days. But for the Guru, it happened within 24 hours!

On 25.Jun.2009 evening 05.00 pm, I have reached the starting point of Padayatra, Ulsoor police station. I was shocked and disappointed for a while. There were no other teachers; hardly 2 volunteers were present there. Swamiji was supposed to reach there by 05.15. Within 10 minutes 10 to 15 volunteers reached there. Swamiji reached there by 05.30. I was a bit embarrassed, for there was hardly any crowd for padayatra. What followed was amazing. The people who were watching Swamiji started flowing to him. It was happening! Without anybody inviting them, they just came to him, made two queues and started receiving his blessings. There were all varieties of human beings in the queue; software engineers, auto drivers, children, housewives, workers, police men…

There were many healing experiences too. One lady, who was having a blurred vision, got her vision back! Many police officers from the police station came and took the blessings – remember - we never took the permission to conduct the padayatra.  The Inspector who was the in charge of the traffic cops came to us – She talked to us for just 10 minutes. She went back to the office after taking a confirmation from us to have a course for her policemen! One course was born just like that – Now Sudhendraji is coordinating with the inspector for organizing the course!

The blessing program went on till 10.30 pm. No padayatra happened at all. For near about 5 hours, Swamiji was standing in one position and blessing people. Even when he was departing in the car, people were following him!

There was no difference on 26.Jun.2009. Swamiji landed from the car at 05.35 at one of the busiest junctions in the old Madras road – Nagawara palya. People from all walks of life were standing in queue for hours, just to get one touch of him. There were amazing experiences there too. From the junction, we took swamiji to the destination of the padayatra on a car. People were waiting there too. It was a scintillating scene to watch Swamiji blessing people in that Shiva temple… along with the soul stirring satsang led by Sudhendra-ji and Praveen. After blessing all the people who were present there, at 10.30 Swamiji was taken to Art of Living Kagadasapura centre to bless the centre.

On 27.Jun.2009 we have started the padayatra from Anjaneya temple, Tippasandra. We have taken Swamiji into the temple without informing the temple authorities. The crowd at the temple was uncontrollable. At one point of time, I could see more people standing in the queue before Swamiji than the queue before the deity. The temple people were literally worried. So we somehow managed to take Swamiji away from the temple. The most miraculous things were happening there. People who came to the temple started running after Swamiji for getting the blessing. The padayatra stopped at the Shiva temple Tippasandra at 06.45. That day, the temple saw such a big crowd inside the temple for the first time! 4 or 5 queues starting inside the temple running out to the roads, blocking the traffic… More and more people were joining the queue every second to get blessed by the divine. Many of the people were confused between Gurudev and Swamiji! It was too late when the blessing program came to an end. The priests of the temple conducted special puja in presence of Swamiji after 10.30 pm may be first time in the temple. When he left from the temple, there were more than 100 garlands with us! It was a wonderful scene to see Swamiji with kilograms of flower garlands…Then we took him to our centre at Jivanbimanagar. Blessings continued there too…

On 28.Jun.2008 Swamiji visited the HAL centre at 04.30 pm. We had a small satsang there. By 05.00 pm, we took him to the Kempfort Shiva Temple on Airport road. No words to narrate what followed. Hundreds of people surrounded Swamiji and we had no control! People were getting amazing experiences. I could see one lady, who was shivering fiercely the moment he touched her head. There were many people who were weeping after getting blessed. When the crowd started growing into such a state, where the Airport road was about to get blocked, we somehow took swamiji out of that place and walked towards the venue. People were not leaving him. They too walked after him to the venue. Many people joined on the way. People got out of running buses to get his blessing. It was raining. But nothing could stop Swamiji from blessing them; nothing could stop people from reaching them! By 06.30 hours we reached the venue.

The celebration began! I was in wonder when I saw the hall packed with people. They were waiting for Swamiji to arrive. The wonderful singer and his team were creating a wave of devotion there – Sri. Raviprakash and his team! What a devotional satsang! A wonderful welcome was given to the Swamiji by the devotees. He was taken to the stage. The 5-wigged lamp was lit by Swamiji and the teachers. People started flowing to him in a much disciplined manner.  To see him right in front of the photograph of the divine, in a similar costume was so amazing. So close! Miraculously similar! The disciple merging with the master!

What a wonderful celebration! More than 10,000 people, the unseen souls and angels in the forms orbs and bubbles in the air! You can see them in all the photographs that were taken there (http://picasaweb.google.com/graceofmaster). Lot of healing experiences, it will not be possible for me to write everything in a week too. The celebration went on till 11.00 pm.

We were all experiencing the grace of the divine for the four days. All heads broken, all hearts blossomed. No more doubts left over in the way the master works. And me, left with only gratitude for the divine for giving me and our team to organize such an event.

Jai Gurudev

Suresh Nair

 

Photographs of the Blessing Festival

Jai Gurudev

You can see the soul-scintillating moments of the Snehasanjivani Padayatra and Anugrahotsav happened in the divine presence of Poojya Swami Sri Jyotirmaya from 25.Jun.2009 to 28.Jun.2009 at Bangalore in my web albums. (http://picasaweb.google.com/graceofmaster)

1. Anugrahotsav & Snehasanjivani Padayatra at Ulsoor, Bangalore
   
2. Anugrahotsav & Snehasanjivani Padayatra at CV Raman Nagar, Bangalore
   
3. Anugrahotsav & Snehasanjivani Padayatra at New Tippasandra, Bangalore
   
4. Anugrahotsav & Snehasanjivani Padayatra at Airport Road, Bangalore
   
5. Anugrahotsav at HAL Kalyana mantapa, Bangalore
   

Love and regards

Suresh Nair

Day 2 : More Photographs

At the Temple

At the temple

At the bus stop

Waiting for his blessings!

Day 2 : Seeing God in the Messenger of the Divine!

On the first day, our plans to conduct Padayatra failed successfully! So on the second day, we were decided (rather I was decided) to conduct the Padayatra from the Nagavara playa junction on the old madras road to Sri Bhuvaneswari temple in CV Raman Nagar through one of the most congested Nagavara playa road. On contrary to the situation on the first day, there were many volunteers and teachers waiting at the junction for receiving Swamiji. Irrespective of the heavy traffic on the Bangalore roads, our volunteer Sri Parthiban managed to bring Swamiji to the starting point by 5.30 PM.

Our team was ready with two banners carrying the photographs of the master and the disciple for Padayatra. Swamiji’s car stopped in front a bar cum non vegetarian restaurant. The very moment he came out of the car, I have informed him about my ‘plans’ about padayatra. We were at a busy bus stop. Some of our volunteers put garlands on swamiji and took blessings. What followed was something amazing! People started pouring in to the point where swamiji was standing; within seconds there were two long queues. Most of the people in the queue were ‘poor’ people – construction workers, slum dwellers, auto rickshaw drivers. Without any hesitation, they started touching the lotus feet of swamiji and receiving the blessings. Some of them managed to get some garlands too for swamiji. They were not having good dresses, they were not clean from outside, most of them were directly back from their work places, but their devotion was unmatchable.

Many heart-touching incidents took place there at the bus stop. Amidst of all these, I came to know one more fact – my plan of Padayatra was not again failing. But I was happy looking at the eyes of those people, who were poor from outside but pure from inside! There was no hesitation for those people to bow down to the feet of the saint. Many well dressed, clean, “pure from outside” people were keeping away from the queue – but they were missing something very special.

Many of the people who were already enjoying the ‘spirit’ in the nearby shop came to swamiji and took his blessings. Most of them were in bliss after the blessings, may be, they started enjoying the other ‘spirit’ which was not available in the shop. People kept on putting garlands on swamiji. It was mind blowing to see swamiji with so many garlands, for he resembled the master completely in the ‘blessing posture’.

One of the people who received the blessing was hesitating to go away from the place after receiving the blessings. Not sure, I doubted that he was also totally immersed in the ‘spirit’ from the shop. After some time I could see, that one of our volunteers who was holding the banner was replaced by the same person! He remained there till the end!

One family came with a lot of flowers. All those flowers were offered at the lotus feet of the Swamiji.

There were some young girls, waiting for the bus. Our volunteer went and asked them to take the blessings of Swamiji. They just hesitated to come. One of them told – “He is just a man. Why should we take his blessings?” Something wonderful happened the very moment. A lady from the slum reached to Swamiji with her child. The child was crying in the peak voice, may be seeing the large crowd. The lady brought the child to Swamiji. He looked at the child through the half open meditative eyes and kept his hand on the head of the child. Suddenly the child stopped crying. He was looking in wonder at the divine messenger’s face. After receiving the blessings, the lady bowed down to his feet. With a lot of devotion, she took a flower from his feet, kept it close to her heart, and fixed it in her hair. He kept the child at his feet and asked the child to touch the feet. The child hesitated for a while. She told – “Touch the feet my dear son, He is God!” The other girl was listening to them. I looked at Swamiji, even I felt like looking at the face of my divine during Navaratri or Shivratri. I looked at the faces of both the women. One was glowing with happiness. The other was blurred – I just smiled at them. Once again I understood why Art of Living course was much needed for the so called rich and pure people. The uneducated slum dweller, without doing any spiritual practice, could see the divine in the messenger of the master! The educated, stylish dude could only see the human being!

The blessing festival was going on. People were waiting for us at the temple. So we have decided to conduct the padayatra and go to temple. But Swamiji was not in a mood to open his eyes at all! Thus our beloved teacher Sri Sudheendra-ji started the padayatra and moved towards the temple. I along with two of our volunteers waited there for Swamiji. It was total darkness and there was not even a street light – the blessing was going on. I was praying to my divine, to help me to take Swamiji to the temple, for people were waiting there. Slowly the crowd reduced. Immediately we got him inside the car and moved towards the temple.

We reached the temple by 8.15 pm. The wonderful, serene atmosphere at the temple was vibrating with the most energetic voices of the devotees of the divine in satsang when swamiji entered the temple. He just sat there right in front of the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Shiva, and started singing along. He could not sit for long time; people started making queue before him for his blessings. It was wonderful – we have not asked anybody to take blessings, they just came voluntarily. The satsang and blessing were going on… In between the electricity supply failed… but nothing stopped the enthusiasm of our volunteers… They kept on singing… without microphones and amplifiers… and swamiji went on blessing people…

Normally the temple used to close at 8.30 pm. In his divine presence, may be for the first time it was kept open till 10.00 pm, till the last person was blessed. Once it was over, the priests conducted special puja… Swamiji went inside the sanctum sanctorum… blessed the priests…

What a way to end the day! At least 5000 people got blessed on the day! We all were so exited… experiencing the divine presence everywhere… no words to thank Swamiji… No words to thank my divine… Only two words… Jai Gurudev!

My blessings are like blank cheque... :)

And they came…from small kids, their parents, parent’s parents…all walks of life…Teachers, doctors, auto drivers, flower sellers, shop keepers…Wondering what is this glowing near Ulsoor Police station during a Powercut!

And they saw…the radiance and the charm and to top it all the SMILE…IT WAS THE SMILE...

And they walked…but not for long…BLESSINGs are done on the SPOT! Where?? When ?? OUTSIDE St. Anne’s School and NOW we said!  

And they stood…waiting for their TURN… THE TURN I tell you… 

AND THE MOMENT !! Swamiji placed his amruthahasta on the people and BLESSED them. We could see CHANGE…YES WE CAN!! 

Some people came with PAIN and went with GAIN!

Some people came ILL and left with a STRONG WILL! 

And HE was there doing his role…I too took my TURN on the SPOT and had my MOMENT with the SMILE..

In total bliss!!!.

Alok.

JOY GURUDEV!!

Padayatra & Anugrahotsav Photographs

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Jai Gurudev