'Ask and thy shall receive' says Bible. And this came true for the Sahaja Yogis of DC. With the celebrating of the spring festivals, we were blessed with opportunity to spread and share our blessings of joy, love and peace to many others on March 26th and 27th at the Holi celebrations.
Looking back - this feels perfect. Everything was part of divine's plan. We were mere instruments who simply plugged ourselves into cool vibrations so as to allure more seekers into the divine pool of 'self-realization'. We were given booth and a meeting room generously. In addition were allowed to perform songs on stage that which we coolly termed 'Music and Meditation'. And within two weeks time we were blessed with one print and one television coverage on Sahaja Yoga.
And so our journey began...
Saturday, March 26th, 2005: It's a crisp, clear Saturday morning in Maryland as Sahaja Yogis begin to gather at the Maryland Soccerplex stadium on the occasion of the Holi Mela organized by United Cultures. With Mother's Blessings, a booth and a meeting room had been reserved to give realization, distribute print material about local program venues and allow seekers to deepen their experience. The DC Tristate area Yogis had been wanting to organize a mass realization event where hundreds would be touched by the bliss of awakening and guided towards structured courses beginning at two different locations in the Metro Area. Energy levels were high, optimism was infectious and the deities were conspiring against all the obstacles.
0900 hrs: Armed with over 2800 carefully prepared brochures and a few hours of practice, the Yogis arrive at the Soccerplex, ready to spread Love. Quite like bees humming around the queen in the hive, decorations begin on Mother's Altar at Booth #2, strategically located right near the entrance to the Soccer Stadium hosting over a 1000 revelers and 25 vendors hawking their gaudy clothing, jewelry and artifacts. Not surprisingly, Booth #2 is the only booth that does not have a price tag.
1100 hrs: Three different nationalities are at work and the Booth is looking like a Puja venue- so much so that one of the Yogis exclaims- 'which Puja are we celebrating?!' The decorations are beautiful and the Yogis feel that they need some more energy. They head straight for the meeting room for collective meditation and come out invigorated.
1500 hrs: Over 150 people have taken realization at the booth and interesting memories are being created- Shri Mata Ji's neighbor from Mumbai looks at Mother's photograph, exclaims 'Aunty!' and rushes into the booth for her awakening. She leaves, looking radiant and promising to attend the nearby Sahaja Yoga program in Germantown. The Yogis are beginning to think of or planning lunch at the local food stall or the nearby Chinese buffet.
1700 hrs: The Voice of America film crew arrives to capture vignettes of Holi celebrations. They are looking to find what Holi means to the Great Indian Diaspora in Maryland and how different nationalities are participating in the festival. Not surprisingly, the Sahaja Yoga booth has the most diverse group in the whole stadium. On being asked as to what the colors meant to him, a British Yogi answers- " Well, I am smeared largely in red, which is the color of Shri Ganesha!". The film crew is completely enchanted with the group and the Marathi cameraperson decides to follow up on Sahaja Yoga.
1800 hrs:Sahaja Yogis are on stage to perform a few Sahaja songs for the 700 odd people gathered for some entertainment. The performance begins with a Shree Ganesha song composed in fusion style and moves on to Vande Mataram. The crowd begins to settle down, vibrations start pouring and many are gravitating towards the Sahaja Booth. The event anchor christens the group 'Saptarishi' or seven saints and asks for one more song as he calls for kids to participate in a Raffle contest. People begin to line up at the Booth to take their realization and mention how soothing it felt to listen to the Sahaja songs after the pounding bhangra and pop music.
Sunday March 27th, 2005: Sunday is more subdued as the attention shifts towards the workweek ahead. Despite the lower numbers, Booth #2 attracts another 150 people; simple affirmations taken to higher planes of consciousness and the promise of a higher life. The Yogis thoroughly bathe in Divine Love and finish the evening with another rendition of Sahaja songs. They are already looking forward to the next opportunity to give realization and, of course, warm foot soaks!
In two days, hundreds got their self-realization, thousands carried home vibrations and thousands more as of today in DC are aware of Sahaja Yoga. What more can a Sahaja Yogi ask for except that we continue to invade more camps such as this one only to spread more love, joy and peace.
Thank you mother for blessing us – your Sahaja children of Washington DC
Jai Shri Mataji |
