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December, 2006 & January, 2007Dear Friends of the Ashram,
It has been a busy December. Quite unexpectedly, I was offered a free ticket to travel to India for the annual Paduka Puja in New Delhi at the beginning of December. At first I dismissed it as not possible with only two days notice. But then I promised to try and every thing fell together easily and smoothly so it felt right to go for a quick week trip to India. Read more about the wonderful Paduka Puja below. Arriving back in Denver, I met up with Shila, who was returning from Finland with a five-year visa to serve at the Ashram. I drove her back to Crestone, which gave us lots of time to catch up. It is a great blessing to have her back here helping at the Ashram. A week after our return, we helped with the Charter High School's fund raiser for their trip to India in late March. Next the holidays, taking us right into the New Year. Read on for more information and photos. Our evening aarati remains 6pm for the remainder of the winter and morning aarati is at 7am. Our full-moon fire ceremony this month is on Wednesday, January 3, and the new moon-fire ceremony is on Thursday, January 18. The following month they are on Thursday, February 1 (full-moon) and Saturday, February 17 (the morning after Shivaratri). The fire ceremony begins at 10:08am and is followed by a meal. If you would like to sponsor a fire ceremony ($108) or bhandara (feast) ($108) you may make the donation on line by just clicking here or call 719-256-4108 or e-mail the Ashram at info@BabajiAshram.org or send us a check at P.O. Box 9, Crestone, CO 81131. Thank you for all of your support. In truth and love, Ramloti Tour to New Mexico, Florida, and CaliforniaLet us gather together in Shri Babaji's and the Divine Mother's energy at these places around the country. Several long-time devotees will be joining us so the Babaji stories should abound.
Thursday, January 11 Chanting and Satsang in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Call Bob at 954-792-0936. Friday, January 12 Chanting and Satsang at The Transformational Studies Institute, 108 Intracoastal Pointe Dr., Suite 200, Jupiter, FL 33477. Call Jim and Sari at 561-744-9123. Sunday, January 14 Fire Ceremony, aarati, chanting, satsang at Delray Beach at 9am. Call Sarena and Sal at 561-274-0883. Saturday and Sunday, January 20-21, fire ceremony, aarati, chanting, satsang in Treasure Island. Call Sharda & Jeffrey at 727-363-0800.Thursday, January 25 Aarati, Chanting, and Satsang at Sondra Ray's in Marina Del Rey, CA. Call 310-577-9124 for more information. Saturday, January 27 Chanting, and Satsang in San Diego, CA. Call Sarah at 619-517-4550. You may also call the Ashram for latest details at 719-256-4108. It is is always so inspirational to be together. Hope to see you there. Kirtan Hall Update
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Tuesday, January 9 Aarati and Satsang in Santa Fe, NM. Call Darlene at 505-920-8001.
All night chanting on Shivaratri is always full of energy, even at 3am in the morning about when this photo was taken last year. It is particularly popular when it falls on the weekend, as this year. This is the night that Lord Shiva's energy is said to be most present on the earth. Shiva is the aspect of the Divine that brings transformation into our lives. Throughout the night we bathe the Shiva Lingam in milk, honey, ghee, and sugar as we continue to sing chants to Shiva from 10pm until 4am. We then gather again at 7am for aarati in the morning (Saturday, February 17) and have a large fire ceremony at 10am followed by a bhandara (feast). We hope you can join us for this special night. If you would like to reserve space in the dorm or yurt, please call the Ashram soon as we fill up quickly for this celebration at 719-256-4108 or email us at  |
Every thing was beautifully organized. Each of the daily fire ceremonies was very well attended and energized with the presence of Shri Muniraji and the mantras of Shastriji.
The function was held at the home of Doctors Vandana and Arvind Lal and their daughter, Archana was also in attendance. The paduka puja has been held in Delhi at their residence several times before but this year there was a certain vacancy at all the events since Arvind's mother, Vimla had passed away the month before. We all miss her dearly. She was a great love and example.
The Ramayana Singers chanted during all of the fire ceremonies, just as they do at the Fall and Spring Navratris in Haidakhan and Chilianaula. After the fire, those that had made the offerings waved the aarati lamp to the fire.
One of the days of the paduka puja, we all headed to a large auditorium where the Lal's had organized a world concert. After some of the Haidakhandis had led us in rousing kirtan, a noted diplomat and Vedic scholar spoke.
Mr. Karan Singh has served in the cabinet of the last three prime ministers, and his eloquence was apparent. After his speech he presented flowers to the performers and other special guests. The concert then continued with bhajan singers from Bombay and other musicians. It was a great success.
There was also plenty of time to renew friendships with friends from around the world and make new friends. Below are Moti Ma from Germany, Gaby from England, Ramloti, and Jai Shree formally from Bombay now residing with her family in California.
Here Ganga, Moti Ma, and Mary pass Shri Muniraji a cell phone to say hello to a devotee. It was a wonderful time to be together in Baba's joy and love!
Charter High School Fashion Show and Bake Sale Fund-raiser
The Ashram is collaborating with and helping to lead the Crestone Charter High School students to India in Spring. They will be visiting Delhi, Agra, Amistar, Dharmasalla, and Jaipur as well as traveling to Babaji's Ashram in Haidakhan to experience life in a small village and an Ashram. This is a big trip for them and so the fund-raising is important.
On Saturday, December 16th, the Ashram, with the help of friends from Denver and Colorado Springs, made chai and pakoras to sell at the event.
We had also collected many Indian suits and saris to auction at the fashion show. You may see some of them that you donated in these photos.
Some of the Ashram friends joined the high schoolers modeling the clothes. It was great fun and they raised about $1,000. Thank you to all who donated clothes and those who helped cook making this event such a success.
A Snowy Fire Ceremony
As most of you have probably heard on the news, it has been quite a winter in the west. Actually, at the Ashram, we have had only one big storm of about 12 inches of snow. Somehow they seem to be happening north of us in Denver and south of us in New Mexico. But as fate would have it, the day the storm hit was the day of our new-moon fire ceremony. It was quite an event! Not only were we loaded with snow, but the wind blew strongly blowing the snow in our faces. I thought for sure we would only half a half dozen attendees but about 18 people arrived. Some parked at the bottom of the hill and walked up since their cars could not make it up the snowy driveway.
The local Charter School closed because of the snow, so we ended up with four children at the fire. You can barely see them tucked under the two red and white umbrellas. We were once again grateful for the warm kirtan hall where we retreated for some chanting and the aarati at the end of the ceremony, as the lamp would not have been able to stay lit in this storm! We all then went to the earth ship where the hot soup and hot yogi tea were the most popular parts of the bhandara. We actually had a great time!
Other Winter Gatherings
With Shila's arrival back to the Ashram and Christmas around the corner, we had some friends over for lunch and gave every one small gifts from India. Several in the picture are Board members of the Ashram.
Then, Matias was celebrating his first birthday, so he came up and opened his little gift from India.
With the storm, many of our holiday visitors had to cancel. But by Christmas and New Years days, the roads were cleared and several hardy families made their way to the Ashram for a few days.
They must have really had a strong intention to spend Christmas and the New Year with Ma.
Their children were lovely. As the older children helped with the karma yoga, the little ones loved the cats.
We also had a raw food luncheon with some Taiwanese friends over the holidays. Chin-Nan Lai, Ph.D. and some of her students and family were in Crestone retreating and organizing her next workshop to be held in Crestone this summer. She teaches energetic healing, ecological living, organic eating and gardening, and raw food preparation all around the world. She said that last summer several hundred Asians attended her workshop in Crestone. For more information on her work go to www.lapislazulilight.com
Calendar for 2007
January 9 - Chanting and Satsang in Santa Fe, NM call Darlene at 505-920-8001 for more info.
January 11 - Chanting & Satsang in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Call Bob at 954-792-0936 for info.
January 12 - Chanting and Satsang in Jupiter, FL. Call Jim and Sari at 561-744-9123 for info.
January 14 - Fire Ceremony, Aarati, Chanting, & Satsang in Delray Beach, FL. Call Sarena and Sal at 561-274-0883
January 19 & 20 - Fire Ceremony, Aarati, Chanting, & Satsang in Treasure Island, FL. Call Sharda and Jeffrey at 727-363-0800 for more info.
January 25 - Aarati, Chanting, & Satsang in Marina Del Rey, CA. Call Sondra Ray at 310-577-9124 for more info.
January 27 - Puja, Chanting, and Satsang in San Diego, CA (near Mission Valley). Call Sarah Meier at 619-517-4550 for more info.
February 16 - Shivaratri, all-night chanting from 10pm until 4am at the Ashram.
February 17 - Shivaratri fire ceremony at 10:08am followed by a bhandara (feast).
March 18 - March 26 - Spring Navratri, nine days honoring the Divine Mother. Daily fire ceremonies, chanting, special pujas, discourses, and bhandaras.
July 23 - July 27 - Annual Family Week and Kirtan Workshop.
July 28 - Annual American Haidakhan Samaj Meeting. (click here to learn more about the Samaj)
July 29 - Guru Purnima, the day you honor your teacher with paduka puja, fire ceremony and bhandara.
October 10 - 18 - Fall Navratri, nine days honoring the Divine Mother. Same as Spring Navratri.
November 9 - Diwali, Festival of Lights.
Maha Lakshmi Shop Report
Ramloti's quick trip to India really did wonders for the Maha Lakshmi Shop. Several items that we were out of are now back on the shelves including the items pictured above.
Heavily embroidered silk clothes for $35
Packages of Bindis for the forehead for $3
Cotton embroidered blouses for $15 (and sheer fancy blouses for $20, not in photo)
Soft cotton om scarves in many colors for $7.50
And our favorite soft cotton/wool shawls for $20 (solid prints are only $15)
You can call the shop toll-free at 1-866-686-4185 daily from 9am until 5pm. We do take Mastercard, Discover, and Visa. To view all the items in the Maha Lakshmi Shop, please refer to our newly updated web site at BabajiAshram.org. You may order on line through paypal or e-mail us at shop@babajiashram.org, or of course, place the order over the phone. We thank you for all of your shop purchases as the revenue from the shop is a huge support for the Ashram.