Jai Gurudev...
YES as the title indicates this is my post on the experiences i had during the Nav-Ratri festival in the real home Banglore Ashram! To start with, this was my first time attending Nav-Ratri in Ashram...and i tell you all friends it was really really an amazing experience..ekdam solid tha...although i attended only the last 4 days in Ashram i had taken up a certain sankalpa for the 9 days before i had actually started my journey for Ashram, and at the end of the 9 days it really got fulfilled! so i am damn happy about it..
Never in my life has it happened that five days of attending the Homas changed the way I lived my life and gave me a completely new way of looking at certain things, situations and people!! So the title is what it is!!.. It was indeed a blessing that i could attend this superb and huge Satvik fest!! as i was knowing many people who had missed the chance to attend the Nav-ratri this year..i and viru used to say this almost everyday when we used to meet after the Homas that what a good luck we have that we could attend this fest!
Anyways, my journey began from Kalyan station at 11..25pm on the 3rd of October, 2008. wow what a moment it was too...it was the first time i was going to do an over-night journey! as soon as the train left i got a miscall from PALLAVI from swedeen! wow!! what connection man..she knew that we were going to leave on 3rd, but she was not atall aware of the time we were leaving! and exactly at the time the train left her miscall came!! sahi na?!!
So i was waiting for the fun in the train! As soon as we reached Kalyan station, Pradnya(a superb volunteer and a dea
r friend from Dombivili) told me that her ticket is not yet confirmed and its in RAC, so her dad was tensed like anything, i could see it in his eyes, he was not even talking with his own family with a smile! so i could understand the seriousness if the whole situation! on top of that Pradnya said that her name would not be there on the passenger's list as the ticket is not yet confirmed! when we were talking all this, her dad had already reached the place where the railways display the passenger list! and Pradnya was terrified as her dad had warned her that not to travel without proper ticket etc! but one good thing in this entire episode was that Pradnya and her friend Siddhi were determined like anything to come to the ashram! Then Pradnya's mom called me over and said in a very deep and concerning voice that "ravi i am letting pradnya go for this event in spite of her dad's disapproval, so please take care of her and don't leave her alone!" after hearing these words i assured aunty that there was no need of worry at all as all of us including omki, siddhu and priyank would take care of both the girls... and i told her that after boarding the train we will do some setting and the ticket would be confirmed...(from this i could learn that how much others respect you when you are carrying the knowledge HIS HOLINESS!!!)
Then came the real beautiful moment! Pradnya's dad walked from behind and said that her ticket was confirmed in S1! that was it, i told aunty that moment only that dont worry, both of them will never see S1 during the journey only as we would all be together in S9...this really gave some comfort to her dad's worrying mind, then the we all got in the train and were waiting for the moment the train leaves! finally the train left at 11.25pm and all of us were happy like anything! the initial worries and tensions seemed to settle down as Pradnya and Siddhi started with their session of PJ's!! and i had made it a point that what ever they would say i would go a step ahead and say some thing absolutely ill logical like their PJ's!! so this was quiet a fun, both of them were surprised to see the other side of me, as in cracking PJ's like them!!
Then slowly and gradually the photo session started in the train itself! i and priyank were at each other by taking snaps and com paring whose was the best!! it was quiet a competition, which continued till the journey ended back home on 10 oct!!! then the real fun! it was 2am and the train left Pune, that time all were feeling sleepy and we had no berth to sleep on! as prads and siddhi were in our coach! so i
and siddhu and omki and priyank shared 2 lower berths it was quiet an experience! ekdam full to paisa vasool!
Then in the morning all got up quiet late, expect me! i was the first to get up early at 6am itself! and first thing strkied my mind ki kriya karna hai! so i some how got adjusted in the seat and started with my Pranayamas! after the kriya when i opened my eyes it was quiet a scene the morning sun-rise!! wow!! ekdam sahi scene tha!
Then before all could wake up, i had already finished my first round of breakfast! and was waiting for others to join! soon all finished their kriya and joined in the food club!! we all had a big brunch! so the best part of the afternoon was also taken care of! then as the evening was coming close we already were making plans of what we would do after we re ach ashram, etc...on our way in the train we met a group from AOL Dharavi who were also in the same train and they shared their previous experience...it was quiet an experience too! While discussing our plans of hiring a rickshaw from the station, we were cautioned about the dangerous intent of the rickshaw drivers! One from their group narrated how an ashramite was about to be robbed by the crooked-minded rick driver just when he saw GURUJI's photo in the ashramite's wallet and left him...so they were saying to us that we all being youth and also we had girls with us, to stay back in the city hotel somewhere and then come to ashram in the morning! but we all were determined to reach the ashram at any cost and that too in the night itself as we all had to attend the morning homa!! so we changed our plan and decided to book a tata sumo to reach ashram...
When we reached Bangalore city we all took a huge sigh of relief... i and Priyank went ahead to book the sumo and omki and siddhu went for collectin g the food parcel from a hotel where prices seemed very ok ok..while I and Priyank were going to book the sumo, we both decided that we will not pay the sumo guy more than 600 bucks! as our wishes were heard by someone! a sumo driver came in front of us and said Jai Gurudev, Ashram jana??!! wow!! i was like yes yes! so he said 650 hoga sirji!! and thats it, i and priyank were like wow!! thats it we were done with the booking in 5 minutes itself! then omki and siddhu too collected the parcel in 15mins and we left for the ashram...it was an amazing dinner in the sumo on our way to the ashram! fried rice with gravey of manchurian! wow!! The sumo driver drove the vehicle so skillfully that we were at the gate of the ashram with in mere 50 min!! yes in 50mins!! we were surprised ourselves!! but this the way the DIVINE takes care, i realsied this when i entered our names and car number on the gate number 1...i thought came into my mind that yes because we had a strong intention of reaching the ashram that night itself, the PRAYERS were heard and answered!
Then we all landed at the reception, i called up Viru a s i was dying to meet him and aki...but aki was in VM where Garba had just finished! i met viru at the divine shop! and was very happy to see him after a gap of 6 days! this is the connection that we have developed that both were really happy to see each other...
As soon as i met him, SHWETA DESAI called me! and this was another connection that i share with her too...i mean it was just 5 minutes we had reached ashram and Shwetz called up asking that whether we reached safely or not!! wow!! i really feel supremely lucky at times to have got such wonderful friends with such great connection..then i met aki in near the reception...then the best part i met AMBA my very dear friend at the reception where he was waiting for us to arrive! we shared few talks and then we headed towards housing for getting our accommodation...
As omki describes it very correctly, that whatever is the fear in our mind that manifests...the same thing happened we got our rooms in Khoday;s a very beautiful guest house which is 4 kilo meters away from the Ashram!! wow!! i was really looking forward to stay there again as my experience during the last advance course was mind blowing when i, omki, viru and siddhu shared a room there!! thats it we left for the place in the ashram bus at 12.30am!!
We were told by an volunteer that morning 6am Long Kriy a was going to be held in Yagya-shala...it meant we had to get up really early in the morning and had to rush to catch the bus as only 3 buses were going to be there in the morning, so if we would have missed it, then we would have to reach ashram walking!!
Then the long kriya started, and i must tell you friends, this was the most amazing Long kriya i ever attended, it was taken by Pankaj-bhaiya i guess, as the translations from English to Hindi were really amazing, i was listening to them carefully so that i could implement those sayings in hindi when i take kriya!! and yes i really liked the tone at which he gave instructions too! after kriya we all were really hungry, so and viru rushed towards kitchen for breakfast, on our way i asked viru ki IDLI hoga toh dhamaal aayega re! Viru said ki yes, a day before only they had it in their breakfast and he remembered me at that time!! but that day we had Upama for breakfast..after that we attended the Rudra-puja which was followed by Homas...and each day was the same schedule from mo rning till noon...but really it was real bliss attending these homas as they were very meditative and calming...it was like an advance course only! after breakfast 3 hours of meditation then in the noon after lunch some seva and again in the evening satsang and the best part GARBA!!
The best part of this year nav-ratri was GURUJI, came out of his Silence on the 3rd day itself normally HE comes out of it on the 8th or 9th day of nav-ratri...i guess HE must have reailsed that this year some really aspiring youth are going to come down to witness the magic of yagas and homas! so he must have left HIS silence early!! but really the way each evening went in HIS bliss and knowledge wow!! amazing it was...each one of us got the knowledge that we needed at that time..
Garba was the best as it took place on traditional GUJJU songs and not on the noisy filmy music! and the best part was that the crowd was decent too! all were well behaved... just a day before we reached ashram, viru tld that DINU-DA had come to play GARBA! and it was qu iet a treat to watch him play! wow! i can imagine what a sight it must have been! i saw the pics they were amazing!
Now the best part of this Navratri..each day after i reached ashram, we met GURUJI either on his way to satsang or homas or in his car or outside his kutir! i mean not a single day went by that we not had darshan of our MASTER!! so the trip was a grand success in that sense!! a really heart-warming experince at that too..
This time i realised that how to remain happy even when i have friends around me and even when i am alone. AMBA shared some of his experiences of taking YES+ courses in Vidarbha and other parts of Maharashtra..and i was amazed to listen to his exper iences..that brought a sense of realisation in my mind about how tough it is really to work or do seva on your own..i am really blessed to have such a great team of volunteers with me who are really dedicated and open to new ideas in life...
That was all about the ashram stay and nav-ratri...then we left the ashram on 9th noon at 1.30pm...we hired a bus and reached Banglore station around 2.45pm..that time we came to know that our train was an hour late and so we had to do some time pass on the station..we had a superb cup of coffee outside the Banglore station...and it was a real pleasure of drinking it...then we boarded the train and the journey back to the not so real home began!!! i and viru were not liking the scene that we are leaving Banglore and coming back to mumbai!! but then a thought came in my mind that unless we go back and do seva we wont get a chance to come back to Ashram and meet GURUJI...Up, close and personal!!! it as really the merit of the seva that all of us in dombivili had done over the past few months that GURUJI met all of us for nearly 3-4minutes! HE asked all of us to be in group and continue doing the good seva that we are doing!! wow!! what else can a DEVOTEE ask for!!
Thats it this was all about my Nav-ratri experience!! hope you guys liked it!!
will post new experiences soon...so watch out for this space!!
Really cant wait for the next year to attend the fest again!! so here's the last pic saying that the "Journey Begins for the next year"
P.S. a new thing whcih i and viru adopted from this tour was the style and the way on the person in our Ashram says JAI GURUDEV BHAIYA!!!! !! WOW it really sounds cool when we speak in that tone!!
