Greetings from Swamiji

We just received the following email from Yamunashree*, which we would like to share with you all:

Jai Gurudev Dear All - SHALOM! many greetings from Swamiji on the way from Bethlehem now to Galilee to the Baptism this afternoon! Everything runs well - the group is nice and we have an intensive time together!! We all give you our greetings and Love

Sea of Galilee

"Skyline" of Bethlehem

* Yamunashree organises external events with Swamiji, such as this pilgrimage to Israel

We venerate the place where the body of Christ was put after his death

Swami Vishwananda at the Holy sepulcre Church in Jerusalem

Visiting the Golgotha where Jesus Christ was crucified.

On both sides of the altar you see the golgotha rock. Under the altar you can put your hand inside the square hole where the cross was fixed in the rock.

Swami Vishwananda gave Shaktipat to the Atmakriya group

In Moscow  the 4th of May Swami Vishwananda began with the blessing of the new Atma Kriya people.

Satsang of Swami Vishwananda

After the Shaktipat Swami Vishwananda gave a satsang with the Atma Kriya group.

Swami Vishwananda gave also a satsang to the Belarussian people

How nice it would have been to have a darshan in Bellarussia with such nice people.

Short satsang of Swami Vishwananda

The Ekaterinburg people from the Ural region had also a satsang with Swami Vishwananda.

After all the short satsang Swami materialised a ring for a devotee

Darshan with Swami Vishwananda

After the Satsangs Swami Vishwanandaji gave a discourse about love and began at 6:00 PM the darshan.

Darshan of Swami Vishwananda

The baby Alexander was enjoying also the darshan with many others.

Anastasia Baby was happy in the arm of Swami Vishwananda.

Anastasia got a big tilak and a red dot. The darshan went on during nine hours to finish at 3:00 AM.

A nice way to greet after Easter

Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti! A few days ago we celebrated the "Feast of Feasts" in the Orthodox Spiritual Calendar: Easter.
Well over 200 guests participated in the festivities, many from Russia and Poland, but also from France, England, Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal and of course also Germany. Reading from the look on the faces and the plenty feedback we received, not only they enjoyed their time, but were also touched by the ceremonies in our cute little chapel at Shree Peetha Nilaya in Springen, Germany.

As you might know, in Orthodoxy, after Saturday night, when the Holy light from the Altar is brought out and everyone light their candles off it at the strike of midnight, to commemorate the Resurrection of Christ one greets one another with „Christos Anesti“* (Greek) = Christ is Risen! and the response is: „Alithos Anesti“ = Truly He is Risen!*.

What you might not now, is this: In the days after Easter in Greece and other Orthodox countries people keep greeting eachother with „Christos is Risen“ instead of „hello“, and the person who is greeted responds again with „Truly He is Risen“. It is the standard greeting and response during Easter and for 40 days after, till the day of Ascension.
It's a nice reminder of Easter and extends the sweet flavor of the Great Feast of Feasts well beyond the first hours after we have returned home and are enveloped again by the routine of everyday life.

* in Russian: Hristos voskrese! Voistina voskrese!


>> Flickr Photo Album of Easter 2011 at Shree Peetha Nilaya

Youtube Video with Slideshow and Live Chapel Music of Easter 2011:

Swami Vishwananda gave a Darshan in Bremen

The darshan took four hours. People came from the North of Germany but also from London, Switzerland and even Siberia.

Swami Vishwananda blessed every one

The darshan began at 12 and went on until around 4pm. Many of those present were very happy to see Swami "live" for the first time.

The Atma Kriya Workshop

Swami Vishwananda gave Shaktipat to 33 participants of the Atma Kriya Workshop in Bremen

Swami Vishwananda visited the miraculous staircase of Santa Fe

Seing the pictures of the miraculous staircase of Santa Fe, it reminded me of the afternoon before a darshan in Santa Fe some years ago. Swami decided to have a walk around the hotel and so we discovered the nice chapel of Santa Fe. The Gothic Revival-style chapel was patterned after King Louis IX's Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. But the most amazing thing was inside the chapel: the miraculous staircase of St Josef...

See the full story of the miracle at: http://miraclesoffaith.wordpress.com/

Darshan Maastricht

Swami Vishwananda said:

"In one week is Ram Navami. This is the time to chant the divine name of Sri Ram. Lord Rama is the incarnation of compassion. He came around 10 thousand years ago to show us all that one can attain the divine by performing ones dharma sincerely. Trust that God placed you now and here in this place to attain Him (God). So it is in this place (pointing to the heart) that you must seek Him and not anywhere outside."

The Darshan tonight was very nice. There were very many first-timers and our "Bhakti Sounds" Bhajan Band was so good, that some guests thought that a CD was playing rather than the bhajans being live!

Darshan in Bruges (Brugge)

Swami Vishwananda said yesterday at the Darshan:

"...turning the mind within. What is happening outside is also happening inside. Does all the outside make us happy? No! We can see too much suffering in the outside. We want change. So, how do we change all this? We must change! The more we focus on negative things – news, chit-chatting – the more we become negative. The more negative energy we create, the more negative things happen. Better is to be calm, be at peace and go inside. Go in calmness into the depths of your heart. Then you will become a temple of inner peace."

Yagna in Brugge

Last night Swami Vishwananda celebrated a Yagna in a private House near Brugge. Here are some pictures:

First Darshan in Amsterdam

This afternoon on his "Tulip tour" Swami gave his very first Darshan in Amsterdam. It took place at the Theosophical Church.

The church was completely filled with Darshan guests and the atmosphere was wonderful.

Swamiji spoke, no surprise, about Love. He also said, that the heart (chakra) can't help but being always open!

Tomorrow very early in the morning the "tour" moves on to Bruges/Belgium to prepare the Darshan there. It is scheduled to start at 1pm.

Swami Vishwananda shows us the miracles of the faith

Snakes are venerating the icons of the holy Theotokos on her Feastday of the 15th of August.

More on: http://miraclesoffaith.wordpress.com/

Today Swami Vishwananda was looking at this Miracle

As St Theodora was dying, she wished that her hairs become trees and her body a chapel. Since centuries this miracle can be seen in Peloponese. Huge trees are growing on a small chapel roof.

Look at : http://www.miraclesoffaith.wordpress.com/

Worldwide OM Healing with over 1'000 people

Based on reports we received from a number of OM Healing groups, an estimated well over 1'000 people participated in last Saturday's worldwide monthly full moon OM HEALING session dedicated to JAPAN!

Currently there are over 300 active OM Healing groups across the globe, and many* join in when we come together once a month for a joint big international OM Healing session during a full moon period. For example in our group here in Springen at Shree Peetha Nilaya we had around 50 participants, or in Cudrefin/Switzerland there were well over 30 participants, and so while we do not currently systematically collect statistical data, we can confidently say that our estimate is solid.

When we come together and join our forces to help others, whether it is in OM Healing or in common prayer, we can achieve astonishing things. Even though the people of Japan do not know us personally, and vice-versa, we hope that our joint chanting was strong enough to touch them in a significant way, providing strength, healing and comfort.

A new Swami

Yesterday, during a wonderful sunny springday, Swami Vishwananda welcomed a new Swami in his Family. It is Shash from Durban /SA and his new name is:

Swami VishwaChakraDharAnanda

Now there are together with:

Swami VishwaVijayAnanda (Germany)

Swami VishwaAnashuyAnanda (Germany)

Swami VishwaKuruNandhanAnanda (Germany)

Swami VishwaParanthapAnanda (South Africa)

5 Swamis.

Sri Chaitanya Jayanti

At Shree Peetha Nilaya, Springen, our morning prayer of yesterday Saturday was dedicated to Sri Chaitanya, also called Gauranga, the Golden Avatar. As it was his appearance day called "Sri Chaitany Jayanti".

Here are some pictures of the altar after the prayer showing Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda, as well as Radha Krishna and Shree Mahalakshmi.

More pictures can be found on the Facebook channel of Swami.

We also sang the beautiful Gaura Aarti again after a long break, it was really nice.

P.S.: By the way, Swami in parallel inaugurated a temple in Szczecin/Poland dedicated to Radha Krishna.

Berlin Darshan - Live Update

The first pictures from the Darshan in Berlin just arrived a little while ago.

Over 300 guests made it into the hall of the Freie Waldorfschule Kreuzberg. Many friends also from Poland (a warm "cześć!" to you! :)). We're told that the atmosphere is very nice.

Swami spoke about the four forms of Yoga: Karma, Bhakti (the best! ;)), Jnana & Raja Yoga - and that everyone has to find their very own way to God.

Vibhuti covering the walls

Swami Vishwananda was about fourteen years old and attending college, when He called me at work. “Do you know Aunty, today vibhuti has appeared in my room”? He sounded quite confused and didn’t understand what was happening. I told him not to worry, that we would visit his room with our family after work to see what was happening. When we arrived, everyone was amazed to see vibhuti covering the room and coming out of the walls. Everyone at first thought it was damp flakes coming from the walls themselves. An aunt who lived in the same yard tried to wipe the vibhuti off with a cloth but was unable to do so and felt dizzy. When she went back to her own house, the pavement in front of the door was also covered with vibhuti. Swami’s mother was shocked and surprised at what was happening. But soon after the appearance of the vibhuti, people came from the neighbourhood, surrounding areas and soon from all corners of Mauritius to see for themselves the miracles that were taking place.

2011 Mahashivaratri with Sri Swami Vishwananda

Sri Swami Vishwananda: (after chanting Panduranga Hari & Panduranga Vittale Vittale with devotees) "I was saying, you know, after midnight that I will tell you about Shivaratri and that is Shivaratri."

SSV: "What is Shivaratri? Actually, Shivaratri is when you forget about your mind and what dwells only in your mind is the Divine. Actually, right now when you were singing and chanting Panduranga Vittale Vittale, Panduranga Vittale Vittale, you were not thinking. You were just chanting the Name of God and by the movement you didn’t think of anything. You were just concentrating on the vibration that was coming out from what you were chanting, no? And that’s what is Shivaratri, actually, which is uplifting you and really awakening what is deep inside of you.

(excerpt from Swamiji's talk "What is Shivaratri?")

Hear Swamiji chanting "Panduranga..." on his podcast channel:

Darshan at Shree Peetha Nilaya

Saturday night there was Darshan at Shree Peetha Nilaya. The atmosphere was very deep and uplifting. More then 400 people were staying into the morning singing bhajans. The temple was so very full of Love.

After darshan, Swamiji led devotees in more bhajans and dancing. Then He led the chanting of Panduranga Hari & Panduranga Vittala Vittala for Sri Narayanaji, who was with us so palpably & potently in the form of the Hiranyagarbalingams, thus bringing us all into the state of Divine Ecstacy and that wonderful place of no mind.

Birth of the two Golden Lingams on Youtube

2nd Golden Lingam

Rarest and most auspicious occurence! Sri Swami Vishwananda gave birth to a second Hiranyagarbha Golden Lingam this afternoon. They symbolize the two eyes of Narayana and the two creational forces of the Universe (female/male, Shakti/Shiva, etc.).

Swamji said about the Lingams: They are the two eyes of Narayana. They symbolize the unity of the forces of the two hemispheres of the world and the Universe, which is governed by these two cosmic energies, which are the female and the male energy, which makes everything come into manifestation. The two Lingams symbolize these two cosmic energies: Shakti-Shiva, Lakshmi-Narayan, Brahma-Vishnu. Lord Narayana shows that all is present within Him –The Creator, the Protector and the Destroyer is only Him. The big I is only Him. There is no You. Nothing exists other than Him.


Identify yourself with the higher spirit of the cosmic energy which is inside of you. This will help you to burn all your negative karma, pride and ego which is inside of you. This will raise you toward your True Self. Do the Manasa Puja (worship in the mind) inside your mind. Let your mind transcend the duality of what you see. Let it merge into the sublime and know that it is only Him who exists inside of you. So do it through the mind. It is very difficult to control, but not impossible to control. When you sit for meditation, see the Lingam inside and outside of you.

Hiranyagarbha Golden Lingam

At about 9 pm Swami Vishwananda gave birth to the Golden Lingam (Hiranyagarbha-Lingam). In his speech he told us, that the Lingam will stay with us for 3 days. Everybody can come to receive Darshan from Lord Hiranyagarbha.

Sri Swami Vishwananda's Full Talk from 26th February Darshan at Shree Peetha Nilaya

Darshan with

Sri Swami Vishwananda

26^th February 2011

Shree Peetha Nilaya Temple

Nishkama Karma

(subject to minor corrections)

click the link for the full text of Swamji's talk: http://www.bhaktimarga.org/talks-swami-vishwananda/Habits-Change-Darshan-Talk-Sri Swami-Vishwananda-26-Feb-2011.pdf