New Temple

Soon the Temple with all the Murtis will move back to its old place in Building A near the Lighthall.

We renovated the whole room: new wallpaper, new lighting and a new carpet!

The last weeks Kalpit did a good job: he built a wonderful new Altar in the way that Swamiji wanted to have it:

Right now he is adding the last finishing touches before Gitanjali from Portugal comes to do the painting.

Parking

Slowly but surely we are on our way to reopening. (Sometime between Christmas and Navaratri.)

Since Germany is a very organised country - which has its advantages, there are lots of rules:

For example, the parking of cars by visitors at events. There escape routes must be kept clear.

You see the small speakers: Bhajans running the whole time! They had fun!

We have now counted all existing parking spaces (120) and Seva volunteers are doing a very good job and highlighting them.

Please:

Park within the markings!

Try to find car-sharing partners!

There should be NO cars on the access road to the centre. If someone parks here, their car will be towed, at their own expense!

Additional parking in the village is possible near the village community house. (5 min walk). On the street inside the village you should park correctly, otherwise you may receive a parking ticket!

The community of Heidenrod is supporting us in finding an additional parking site which our guests can use during big events.

Sunday Morning Prayer with Swamiji

Anyone who has watched the live stream on Sunday morning, could see Swami Vishwananda at the Morning Prayer in the Temple.

It's always amazing how much energy is around when Swamiji is here! - It feels so good!

When you let the live stream run during your cozy breakfast at home, and are aware with all your senses, then you can also feel this energy - amazing!

click here for the Livestream

 Or on the Bhakti Marga webpage, click on the icon on the top left.

Krishna Retreat with Sri Swami Vishwananda

On the weekend 10th -11th of August the Krishna Retreat with Sri Swami Vishwananda will take place.

Who was there at the retreat in Steffenshof in 2007, knows how amazing it was. 

Swamiji went totally inside the Krishna mood - he spoke so nicely about Krishna's time, and what happened. It was so wonderful to be with him - he even got the shimmer of Krishna's black-blue skin!

The event will be held in the tent - the places are limited and the participants can bring their own statues/murtis for the celebration in the evening. The cost of this retreat is 300,-€.

For more information and for registration click here.
Or phone: +49 (0)6124 605 9000 (between 14:00 - 17:00, Tuesday - Saturday)

Regardfulness aud respect towards Swamiji

As more and more people come to the events with Swami Vishwananda and want to see Him, we have a big request:

Everyone would like to be as close to Swamiji as possible, but naturally there are limits.

Swami Vishwananda goes about the centre in his loving and relaxed way - even in jeans and a T-shirt - this is not, however, an invitation to run after him, just to ask him a few questions - NOT at all!

Swamiji knows exactly what one has on his mind and heart - he knows whom he needs to talk to and why he is on the way through the entrance hall in that moment. Trust him and connect with him inside of you! This is done through prayer - you can be sure that he will help!

We therefore ask everyone NOT to run after Swamiji with questions, or to follow him if he wants to go already. Only touch his feet (with his permission) in an appropriate moment, and not when he is walking or having a private conversation with someone.

Please help with this, so that we can create and maintain a space in which Swamiji can move freely and comfortably in his own centre!

Thank you for your help and support.

Photoshooting

The day after Guru Purnima, Swami Vishwananda had the idea to take a couple of new photos for the shop.

Such an opportunity is rare - we had to be fast - and we were fast! We picked Vatsala, a photographer from Russia, and without much effort, on the way from the Kali temple to the main building - she shot some nice pictures, including portraits!

In the near future they can be bought in the shop.

Swamiji's Flag

In the afternoon, just in time for Guru Purnima, the banner ordered for Swami Vishwananda arrived.

We have long wanted to bring the old flagpole back on track.
Then, Kalpit, as though he would have had a lot of experience in this, in the present and previous lifetimes, climbed a huge ladder and fixed the ropes.

Now we have a flag indicating - if it is raised - that Swami Vishwananda is here in the centre!

Happy Gurupurnima!

Swami VishwaKeshavananda

 Deveshananda hardly got his high school diploma in hand and was finished with school, when Swami Vishwananda initiated him as one of his Swamis.

This all took place during the Gayatri Yagna ceremonies and was pretty exciting - especially since Swami Vishwananda prompted (ex-) Devesh to sit in his seat and then there, he revealed some of his future tasks.

So, there are now 7 Swamis and 3 Swaminis around Swami Vishwananda.

Soon after that, the Gayatri Aarti was sung with many concluding "..... Ki Jai's" ...

Darshan 5th July cancelled!

Please note:

the Darshan on the 5th of July (thursday) is cancelled. There will be only 1 Darshan next week on the 4th of July (Wednesday) 

Gayatri Yagna, Saturday

For some more pictures plese click here

Gayatri Yagna Opening Ceremony

Yesterday afternoon the Opening Ceremony of the Gayatri Yagna took place in the tent.

There were many Gayatri Mantras and "Swahas" and at the end in the late evening, a lot of Bhajans!

Swamiji is back

Over the last few days Swami Vishwananda looked around in His Centre and was really happy about some progress, esspecialy in the garden:

Good bye India!

Last greetings from India...

this morning in Rishikesh...

...and now on the plane on the way home!

India Pilgrimage with Swami Vishwananda continued

The last days few days, Swami Vishwananda was in Badrinath together with the pilgrimage group. The temple here belongs to the hindu pilgrimage called "Chota Char Dham".

Inside the Temple there is Lord Vishnu in the form of a Saligram -

and in a form of a self-manifested deity out of black stone  - one metre tall!

(these two pictures were found on the internet- it is not allowed to take photos inside the temple) 

Now they are on their way back home: first to Rishikesh and then to Delhi.

Kenya Seva - June 17th - Joy Town

Once again about 25 of us got together on Sunday 17th June and departed Nairobi at 10.15am for a seva to Thika about an hour away at 80kph in a hired bus. Something inside of us told us this seva was going to be more special than ever. About 5 minutes into the ride, bhajans and singing started and if there was space to move in the bus some dancing would have happened as well. We took a wrong turning and had a quick tour of Thika town for 15 minutes before we arrived at Joytown Primary School for the Differently Abled.



The school motto very appropriate "Disability is Not a Inability". We are greeted by scores of smiling children, one of whom shouted for Big B as he came out of the bus. After a few minutes we started wheeling the kids to the chapel room one by one. The room got filled in half an hour with over 250 kids, and we all started with a Happy Birthday song to our Beloved.



The mood and tempo increased and more dedications were sung with all the kids joining in. They also sang a couple of songs to us. There are no words to describe the intensity of what we all felt. Strong hands quickly offloaded various foodstuff and articles donated by Friends of SVSS-K, a big Thank You to all. We started handing out gifts to these children and before we knew it was past 1pm and time for their lunch. Lunch was served and never once did we see the smiles and joy disappear from their wonderful faces.

A bright impromptu idea of planting a tree on occasion of His birthday took 25 of us, digging an inch each one after the other, another half hour.



 After a prayer to the planted tree and watering it, we were in the bus at 2.30pm, with delicious bateta vadas being gobbled down as we drove back. The way back was quieter with a lot of reflection on the wonderful time that we had and planning details for the next Seva in October, this time somewhere within Nairobi.




JAI GURUDEV

Pictures from India Pilgrimage with Swami Vishwananda

This day started especially wonderfully:

Some pictures from India came:

 Deveshananda wrote: " This was 5 min ago in a temple in Ukhimath.

The deities are appoximately 5,500 years old."

On the internet it says that: ...during the winters, the idols from Kedarnath temple are brought to Ukhimath and worshipped there for six months.