Pilgrimage with Swami Vishwananda

A very special Pilgrimage will take place in November - visiting sacred places in Tamil Nadu (South India) by bus, together with Swami Vishwananda. (5. - 19. November)

Please note: There are only a few places left for this trip. The Registration time will end on the 10th of March - so please, if you want to participate, register quickly!

You will find more information and the registration form here: 

(click)

Swami Vishwananda in Puri & the Jagannath Temple

Meanwhile, Swami Vishwananda is in Puri, visiting some holy places and the big Jagannath Temple, where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu merged into the deity of Lord Jagannath.

Here you see Swamiji with a sweet, very old Vaishnava, a disciple of Tinkadi Baba.

Samadhi of Ramakrishna's niece: Lakshmi Mani Devi

 Jagannath Temple

"Puri is known as the place where the Lord eats. The priests offer him 8 meals a day and they are 400 cooks working 24 hours in rotation. 

As foreigners are not allowed to go inside, Swamiji went alone and we were waiting outside. He stayed in the temple for more than 3 hours. The Priest gave him VIP treatment and took him inside the deity area (which is unheard of)."

After Kumbh Mela in India & at Shree Peetha Nilaya

Swami Vishwananda was in Varanasi and went to Calcutta from there.

At the same time, in Springen, we had the building authorities here who did a final check of all the fire protection works we have been preparing over the course of the last 3 years. Here we see Reka answering all the questions of the authorities.

She led the authorities through the building and explained everything which was done.

Sabarish showed them the "Brandmeldezentrale" ("fire control unit"), they did test alarms, activated the whole alarm system, and went through and around the whole building.

As you can see, the checks went very well (!!!)
--- but there is still some paperwork and certifications which have to be completed.

Finally: from now on, the fire alarm is working, and in case there is an alarm - we have to leave the building directly and the fire brigade from different villages will be on their way to the centre.

As soon as Swamiji heard about this positive final acceptance of the construction work, and saw the pictures above, he shouted loudly in the middle of the airport in Varanasi: "Hari Bol"!!! :-)

Kumbh Mela with Swami Vishwananda (15) "Good Bye"

Yesterday morning it was time to leave!
Swami Vishwananda's new friend 'Sri Mandeleshwar Mahant Santosh Das' came as well. There where a lot of hugs and good-byes!
Here are some impressions before the group left and went on their way to Varanasi:

And all of a sudden it became very dark ... ( picture taken at 9am) and started to rain heavily.

Kumbh Mela with Swami Vishwananda (14) A new Swami

A new Swami was initiated yesterday: Swami VishwaSharadaAnanda, Ex-Durgadasananda from Latvia.

The initiation was not done by Swami Vishwananda himself; all the rituals where performed by his Swamis, as most of them are with him at Kumbh Mela, but of course Swami Vishwananda had an eye on everything.

In the end Swamiji blessed his new Swami Sharada!

This is Ex-Durgadasananda, now: Swami VishwaSharadaAnanda

Kumbh Mela with Swami Vishwananda (13)

Today was another important snaan (bathing) day at the Kumbh Mela.

Swami Vishwananda will be on the chariot of  Swami Santosh Das. They have become close friends.

These pictures are from the last days.

Kumbh Mela with Swami Vishwananda (12)

Swami Vishwananda visited Swami Nithyananda a second time:

(Some of these pictures come from the Nithyananda organisation. Thanks to them!)

Kumbh Mela with Swami Vishwananda (11)

Visiting Devraha Hans Baba. He is always talking about Krishna, and in his ashram there are basicly only cows. He finally gave us his Padukas and a lot of special blessings!

Kumbh Mela with Swami Vishwananda (10)