Today is the final day of the Guruji's first ever silent retreat. I feel so lucky to have witnessed such peace and sublime sweetness from Gurudev and the participants.
The first night was planned to be in silence, but Guruji was very merciful and allowed everyone to talk and greet one another; He moved the silence period to Tuesday morning 6 am.
Just before dinner on the first evening, Guruji gave an extremely profound discourse on the nature of silence, the importance of it, and the steps leading up to attaining the Supreme Silence. After being filled with His Divine Wisdom, we were filled with delicious food prepared by a local devotee.
Happily we all went to sleep.
The second day started at 7:30am on the roof of Guruji's house, where all the participants silently did Babaji's Surya Namaskar overlooking the ocean and the rising sun. Directly afterwords we all did our Level One Main Kriya and the Level Two Main Kriya together.
The group peacefully watched the golden sun come up over the distant horizon, with no sounds but the waves gently meeting the nearby beach. Slowly everyone waked back to their rooms and got ready for breakfast.
At 10:30 Guruji had the wish to go one a group japa walk as a group and as if drawn by some invisible force, all the participants collected outside of Guruji's house. It was so beautiful to see each person patiently waiting for the Lord of their heart. Guruji happily reciprocated their Love and joyfully led everyone on a two hour japa walk. Watching from a distance, I could not help but think of the Good Shepard, leading His flock to the Kingdom of Heaven.
This japa walk occurred twice more, on Tuesday and Thursday.
The Tuesday Guruji led us into a giant canyon maybe 20 or 30 meters deep. There we meditated with Him for 30 or more minutes. It was wonderful to see everyone's delight to meditate with their Lord and not only meditate upon their Lord.
On Thursday, Guruji lead everyone into a huge cave. Many of us walked for more than a kilometer into the cave. Their Guruji had us turn out our lights and we mediated in complete darkness for nearly two hours. The peacefulness was incredibly tangible. No light and not noise, except the rhythmic sound of moving air from one's own breath.
Guruji later said Mahavatar Babaji was their with us in the cave.
The second half of each day was externally uneventful, yet internally lively, as Guruji asked everyone to be in their own rooms doing certain prescribed meditations.
Over the last five days with each passing day I witnessed more and more peace flowing from each participant. By Guruji's Grace and by following the program He gave, each participant has changed in a way that is permanent. This silence Guruji has Graced them with will ever be with them allowing them to drop deep into their heart and feel the presence of the Divine whenever they desire.
I feel so grateful to have been able to watch and support, in my little way, Guruji's first ever Silent Retreat. Guruji plans to do two more Silent Retreats in Shree Peetha Nilaya in 2014. I highly recommend joining one these retreats. In beautiful and unexpected ways, they will change your life... .
With Love from Lanzarote,
Tulsidasananda