What a week! (part 1)

A personal travel report by Swami Kuru

Guruji spent the whole last week in the UK, and what a week it was! 

When some of us back in April were looking at Swami’s calendar, we were tempted with the idea of going. It seemed like a promising proposition: Not too far away from Shree Peetha Nilaya, many devotees who are ready to offer accommodation, a rich combination of events, starting with a Satsang on Monday (see blog post), and ending with a Darshan on Saturday (see blog post), and inbetween the main event, the glorious and powerful festival of Narasimha Chaturthi (see blog post) at the Bhakti Marga Sri Lakshmi Narasimha temple in Feltham. We felt that it would become a great week, and as it turns out, the week became even richer, and exceeded all our expectations.

The week began with a Satsang that took place in East London, Monday evening, light drizzle outside, in a “cool” location, literally, cause the temperature in this former church was quite low, and the atmosphere was a bit cool. Also, Guruji seemed toned down a bit, somehow less forceful than usual, as he was attuning himself to the many newcomers - amongst the estimated 150 guests - who met him for the very first time. I felt transported 10 years back, and reminded of Satsangs in earlier times. Guruji patiently and gently introduced the new visitors to the basics of his teachings as he would answer the questions that were posed to him.

One of the topics Guruji covered was that of chanting mantras, where he explained that the mind is like a tree full of birds, symbolising all the different thoughts that are flying in and around our head. When we stand below the tree and start clapping, then the birds will fly away. When we chant the Divine Names, it is as if we stand below the brain, the tree, and we start clapping, and make all the thoughts go away. When we sing the glory of God, the vibration of the Divine flows through us. The more we chant the Divine Names, the more the Divine qualities within ourselves start to reflect to the outside, and we get transformed.

Next day, Narasimha Chaturthi, contrasted strongly. Now the vast majority of the visitors who squeezed themselves into the packed full temple house in Feltham were no “newbies”. Guruji was in full force as he poured litres and litres of abishekam blessings over the great Murthi of Narasingha Dev. Again I felt pulled back in time, in the many more intimate moments that took place in the temples and private homes of Mauritius, Switzerland and UK in the early years of his mission, and also in the first Ashram in Steffenshof, before we moved to Springen. Many who had witnessed other Chaturthis in Feltham before, said that this time topped the ones before. It is not possible and important to compare, but it suffices to say, that it was a powerful night, with powerful chanting, and bestowing powerful blessings from Lord Narasimha to those who were fortunate to be in His presence. And for sure, out of his unlimited mercy, the blessings were extended also to everyone who was not there, and even to those who do not know Him or are not interested in Him. Also a nice bonus, this year, Swami Vishwananda’s dear friend Dr. Satya Narayana Das joined Him for the feast (his first visit to London since 1978!), and wonderfully explained the tale of Lord Narasimha and his great devotee Pralad. Amongst many things, he explained that true devotees, such as Pralad was, are fearless. Every opportunity they receive is to praise God. And that our life is meant to serve the Lord – full heartedly! The Night ended late, and it was the first of 5 long or rather short nights, with little sleep, and the strong sense of intimacy of a spiritual family, one of a kind, that of Sri Swami Vishwananda. Not only devotees from the UK came, many from other countries, Portugal, Spain, Russia, Germany/SPN, Greece, and even the US. Unfortunately, at Shree Peetha Nilaya, and also elsewhere, such nights are rare, and all the more we appreciated them, being aware of their precious nature.

Wednesday was the most laid back day, due to the intensity of Narasimha Chaturthi the night before. We had the privilege to enjoy a Satsang by Satya Narayana Das at Feltham. Many of the numerous visitors who came, heard him for the first time, and received valuable insights from the treasure box of his accumulated wisdom for the spiritual path. Dr. Satya Narayana Das (SND) is one of the world’s greatest vedic scholars, and it is always a great joy to hear him speak.

One question was about the Lord’s own abode, which is called Vaikunta, his eternal place in which he resides. Does, when the Lord comes on Earth, the place where he stays, become also Vaikunt? SND explained that God comes with his own abode, and whilst the place where he stays on the physical plane is material in nature and stays material, it becomes a place where Vaikunta becomes manifest. Actually, Vaikunta is always here, but we are not attuned into it. Most of us normally watch the “material channel”, because the mind and the senses are drawn to that frequency, but if we tune into the “Vaikunta Channel” and we change our consciousness we can attune to the higher consciousness.

There again lies the importance of chanting mantras, as they act like a remote control to attune to the frequency of the Lord.

He went on to explain that when the Divine descends (which is what the term “Avatar” means), then He overpowers all the other channels, then the Lord desires that everyone sees him, whether or not we have done sadhana. He makes himself manifest in the material world. 

So in short: He is not making the particular place into Vaikunta, but he is manifesting Vaikunta in this particular place. Same but not same. And everything exists already, it is a question of what we are attuned into.

In part 2 I will cover the second half of the week, in which we had many more wonderful and joyful moments in the sweet and loving presence of Sri Swami Vishwananda.

Sri Swami Vishwananda attends Era Of Unity Forum in Barcelona

SWAMIJI’S ATTENDANCE AT THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM OF SPIRITUAL CULTURE, ERA OF UNITY, 11TH MAY 2013

On the 11th May 2013, Sri Swami Vishwananda attended the International Forum of Spiritual Culture – “Era of Unity”, held in Santa Susanna, Barcelona. The two day event was organized by Russia’s Advaita Vedanta Congress and Spain’s Om Terra Nova. The purpose of the forum was to discuss an era of unity among mankind, in which different cultures, religions and spiritual organizations would be united by their love for ethics, ideals, divine forms, sacred texts and holy teachers. Various talks, workshops, music and yoga classes were held.

Swamiji was one of several key note speakers.  He shared the stage with a number of prominent Masters representing different Eastern spiritual traditions. Notable participants included Mahamandaleshwar Swami Vishnudevananda Giri (Russia), Mahamandaleshwar Swami Pilot Baba (India) and Mahamandaleshwar Yogmata Keiko Aikawa (Japan).

Swamiji was enthusiastically listened to and received by the public, including 100 Bhakti Marga devotees that travelled from Portugal and Spain. This included a 17 hour bus journey from Portugal, a wonderful show of Love, Patience and Unity.  Bhakti Marga had a stand at the forum and held a number of well attended workshops run by Mahesh (Spain), Mira (Serbia) and Roshan (UK) in:   Babaji’s Surya Namaskar, Mudra Course, Mantra Project, Om Healing, Simply Meditation, workshop about the Power of the Divine Name, talk on Spirituality Unity through Yoga, presentation about Sri Swami Vishwananda and Bhakti Marga and Bhajans.

Swamiji gave a satsang and also took time to meet all the bhakti Marga devotees.  During the opening ceremony Swami spoke to an audience of around 300 people. This was his message:

“My greetings  to Swamiji (Swami Vishnudevananda Giri)  and to all the Saints and Sadhus and to all of you.

Swamiji is trying to bring a new awareness, a new understanding of unity. Unity happens through one thing. That’s love.

We see in our life different stages of love. Since we were small, since babies, we are covered with love. Love of the mother, parents, people who come to see the child, the child growing. Love transforms. There are different kinds (of love), but yet it carries on its way of growing. So time is the cause of this love. We can grow ourself into it, to play the game of life until we realize that what we are looking for is inside of ourself.

We concentrate on so many things, we focus our mind into the outside world, but in reality one has to become a better human being, getting rid of all jealousy and hatred. We see that with the mind we have judgement of good or bad. The scriptures talk about rising above the mind, rising above good and bad. Then only you will realize your divinity.

Without love  there can’t be freedom, because love is freedom. Love is a choice like you all chose to be here today. So we have a choice. When the divine created this universe he created it with his will and his choice. He created all and infused his power into everything.  Into the animals and insects, but in the end he created human beings and he infused himself in the choice and the choice is freedom. To choose what we want. I’m sure you are all here to bring a change to the world and this change depends entirely on each one of you. As Swamiji was saying earlier, one person can change a lot. And you see through history, all the great Masters, they were one single person, but they had an idea and a wish. So if you want to bring change to the world and if one has this eagerness and deep desire to change things, then you will have all the Divne help.  

As it is said in the Srimad Bhagavatam, that   Lord Naryanaya resides in each ones heart equally, and if we realize this we will just love him. We will first find him in us in our heart. If you have found him in your heart, you will easily find him in others. We cannot love the divine without loving his creation. And this unity will happen when we start to love. Remove all the judgement . Let love take over, you will be peaceful, you will have peace of mind because you won’t have time to stress yourself, but if you focus so much on the stress , then don’t think the stress will go way. It will grow bigger and bigger. So focus on the essential on what you want, so that it can become a part of this unity which you will yourself start to call and bring it to the world.

Jai Gurudev”

Darshan Speech 10.12.2011 - The Purpose of Life

Here you can listen to the whole Darshan speech which Swami Vishwananda gave on 10.12.2011:

Puja Tour

This July, Paartha and Utpalavati (Autor of the book "Unity with the divine"), two disciples of Sri Swami Vishwananda, make a joint tour through Europe.

They stop in different places to conduct pujas, do workshops and satsangs. Both of them are long time disciples of Swami resp. Babaji and help to spread his teachings about the path of Bhakti.

During these events one can also hear news from Shree Peetha Nilaya (Swami’s intl. Center in Springen, Germany). All proceeds from the workshops, pujas and satsangs go directly into the centre and its renovation works.

Here you find an overview over all the places, dates and contact details of the organisers.

We look forward to see you there!