My humble prostrations to SreeIshwara and the Guru Parampara for their infinite compassion and unbounded blessings in uplifting us physically, devotionally and spiritually to SISS on the holy Shastiabhdapoorti of our Sadguru, Her Holiness MaaPurnananda ji- a ShrotriyaBrahmanishtha !
We grahasthas attend myriad social functions - birthdays, anniversaries, weddings as part of our mundane lives and experience the highs and lows of joy and sorrow, however, the inner Ananda of being at SISS on this most auspicious occasion is indescribable.
Devotees started arriving as early as 6th, 7th and early 8th Dec in their enthusiasm to share in the preparations.The 8th morning Aarti at SadguruSharanam and Gurudev's message of a peaceful mind being a significant condition of happiness prepared all of us to take up our duties with dedication.
“9” is a magical number and on 9th December morning the atmosphere was filled with tranquillity amidst the greenery and Vedic Mantras.We were all at Sree Ishwar Darshan Mandir for Aarti and then to SadguruSharanam for the Vedic Pujas and Homam. Purohit Pandit Bhimshen Bhatt ji and his learned pandits performed the invocation of the three holy rivers -Kalasha Sthapana ,VarunaDevtata, and pujas for Sree Ganapati, Navagraha Devatas and MahaMrityunjaya, AyushHomam , Chiranjeevis, Devi Bhagawati and SreeSadgurudev. Manish Sharma ji performed the puja and homam on behalf of all of us, and we all prayed for a healthy and long life for Maa who has been nurturing us throughout. The chanting of SreeTapovanShatkam elevated all of us to a sublime state.
A delicious breakfast over and we were all gathered at the celestial shamiyana to receive Her Holiness with PurnaKumbham.Maa offered Aarti to Param GurudevSreeTapovan Maharaj and SreeChinmayananda ji.
The greatness of Paaduka Puja defies expression in words - the Lotus Holy Feet represent the lofty ideals and enduring values that our hallowed Sanatana Dharma Guru Parampara stand upon. Three generations of Maa's devotees performed Paaduka Puja - Vrinda and Unnikrishnanji, the seniors, Sumedha and Sunil Todi ji, and the children, Riddhima Mahajan and Suhrit Ramanan.The devotees who were watching the Paaduka puja were totally absorbed in the Shodashopachar!
I was privileged to convey about all the sacred activities of the Trust - newsletters to GyanaYagnas !
What made Maa'sShastiabdhapoorti very special was the confluence of Her Poorvashram sisters, brothers in law, nephew, niece and family, devotee trustee Smt. Deepika Jindal ji along with her spiritual children!
Smt.Sonal Shah, Maa'sPoorvashram eldest sister gave a most informative yet touching account of Maa's early years, her brilliance and versatility and Her association with Gurudev. Our eyes and hearts were moist after hearing these words of praise.
Sri Dinesh Trivediji, Maa'sPoorvashram brother in law, who is known to many, spoke about his association with Gurudev who inspired him to work for people being in politics.
Sri Manish Sharma, our dedicated Trustee, who has dedicated himself to the cause of this spiritual awakening and awareness gave a heartfelt tribute to Maa. His analogy of Maa's greatness and unique personality with the six rasas are still lingering in our souls.
The most awaited ritual of Maa'sShastiabdhapoorti, the "Tula Bhaar " was extensively explained by Pandit ji- “This body of ours is the medium of all experiences, that is, experiences through our thoughts, words and actions, performed knowingly or unknowingly, in awake or dream states. Thus, for purification at different levels of Mana, buddhi, chitta, ahamkara, as well as the four sheaths namely, annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vigyanmayakosh, we should offer oblations in the form of any “dravya”. As a very unique and sacred concept, for the Tula Bhaar puja in SISS, “gyan” itself was being offered in the form of books. This was truly an imperishable and pure offering.”Pandit ji was most appreciative that devotees from the world over were offering Sacred books and DVDs in this auspicious ritual which will be distributed to deserving institutions. For us devotees, Maa is indeed Maa Sarasvati and what else could we offer to express our respect and love but Maa's books and hyms themselves.
It was a most ethereal sight to behold Maa seated like a Goddess on one side and books being kept on the other balance amidst the mystic spellbinding Vedic chants. Tears of Ananda were streaming among the devotees!It is no short of a heavenly miracle that all the books and DVDs came to a perfect9 Tulas! The Gods and Guru Parampara were indeed pouring their Grace on Maa and through Her to us.
We all gathered in a long queue to pay our respects to Maa and receive the holy Prasad- Maa has so graciously taken the effort to render the Ishwar Archana chants and shlokas musically and give it to us as SreeIshwara Vandana CD! A collection for posterity.
Meanwhile after the holy chanting of Purushottama Yoga of SreemadBhagawad Geeta, devotees relished a delectable spread of South Indian saddhisappaddu on green plantain leaves - all the flavours - sweet, salty, tangy, bitter, sour and spicy were served with love. Payasam, puranPoli, sweet Pachadi, Curries, avial, fries, vada, morkuzhambu, sambhar, rasam, lemon rice , curd rice , pickle tickled our taste buds - when offered to Maa Annapurna , food becomes Amrit with Her Grace. Even a most tasty south indianbeedapaan was offered at the end as digestive.
Maa was full of Grace and after Mahaprasad gave us a most insightful message that "There is no concept of balancing in this royal path- Spirituality and Divinity has to be the only firm foundation,“Aadhaar”. Materialism is a natural outcome. We cannot balance worldliness and godliness "- Only a realised Sadguru can convey such subtle truths to the devoted disciples.
Time flew and after Evening Aarti to Shree Ishwara, we all gathered at Annapurna Kshetra continuing the joy of celebration!
The devotees from UAE and India presented a virtually extempore, amateurish, humorously managed yet clothed in devotion "KsheerSagara Samudra Manthan " skit replete with costumes and makeup- dhanyavaad galore to everyone who played their part in terms of makeup, procuring props. What made this offering so divine is that we had the Trinity and their Consorts, Devas and Asurasas, and all the celestial beings- Airavat, Ucchaishravas, Kamadhenu, Kalpakavriksha, Apsaras, Varuni, the Sages Vasistha, Durvasa, Narada ...were all present.
The appearance of Mahalakshmi and union with Lord Narayana, the drinking of Halalal by the compassionate Mahavdeva and becoming Neelakantha, Dhanwanatri ji with his Amrit Kalasha , the mesmerising dance of Mohini Avatara are all fresh in our hearts.
The surprise was sprung at the end when Ganesh Neelakantan Sharma dressed up as Gurudev entered in Gurudev's inimitable gait.Maa and all of us were overwhelmed and the parley between Maa and "Gurudev" was indeed enthralling and engaging.Ganesh ji has so beautifully expressed this experience resonating perfectly with Gurudev's Golden Message of One in Many and Many in One! In Ganesh ji’s words,”We are all actors in this continuously changing stage of plurality and it is with 'prasad bhav' that we play the roles assigned to us. Playing Gurudev is something that I can never forget. I was trembling when Maaji stood up to do namaskar to me, a mere actor who was trying to play His role. I was indeed taken aback for a moment, before I realised that it was because of Her reverence towards Gurudev, the ideals He stood for and more importantly, seeing The One in many and the many in One that she did this spontaneously. This is my biggest take away from this humbling experience. “
The next programme was a garland of Gurustuti's on Maa - what ensued is testimony that when one's ego is humbled at the Feet of the Lord and Sadguru, originality and creativity express themselves effortlessly through melodious enlightening verses . We offered this Gaanahaar to Maa in Gujarati, Marathi, Konkini, Hindi, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Assamese, Haryanvi, Urdu, Punjabi, Oriya, Marwari, Telugu, Kannada, Tamizh, Malayalam , Sanskrit and Maa Herself read out an English poem by Aryaa- daughter of Deepa and Suresh ji from Dubai.
Cutting of the cake with singing followed by Renuji's Italian cuisine and culminating with natural ice-cream - hearts and stomachs were full!Then the young and old alike digested this through a spontaneous expression of dance - a wonderful fusion of classical with contemporary styles.Maa's "Aajkeaanandki Jai" brought this joyous day to a peaceful close and we all went into a most restful sleep.
The next morning saw many devotees rush back while a lot of us were fortunate to offer Aarti, hear Gurudev's message " The poor man is one who lacks the joy of heart "- we the inheritors of the treasure of Sanatana Dharma through the Guru Parampara are truly rich!After breakfast, on the verdant laws couched within the four Mahavakyas - we all sat with Maa and Manish ji and went through a vicarious journey of Maa with Gurudev and Her spiritual experiences - we were filled with a sense of awe and shraddha as we heard Maa.
Some insightful discussions on topics like Life, Awareness and Consciousness set us contemplating into these subtle truths. We offered Aarti to Maa and rushed to have lunch bhikhsa and pack.
The memories of this “once in a lifetime” Tula Bhaar Puja experience and priceless teachings were our treasure that we had collected. We express our gratitude to each staff member of SISS, who serve with complete dedication to make our stay in the aashram perfectly comfortable and enjoyable.
We are apparently in our respective homes and offices but our Hearts are in Satyavrat with SreeIshwara and Maa !
Heartfelt dhanyvaad to Manish ji in particular for his selfless service for our benefit and to all Satyavratis.
My dandavatpranams at Maa's Lotus Feet for this " Once in a lifetime opportunity “! - All due to Guru Kripa!