Dear Friends,

What happens when we go deeply inside and share our truths, our fears, and our life-changing experiences? It seems as if there is a pause in time, the relative world stops for a while and it is like the heavens open and our eternal natures come to the forefront.  It is actually somewhat hard to put into words but I think we have all had these moments.  And this happens not only inside the speaker but also to those who are listening, and to the whole environment.

A friend of mine has recently begun to go to AA meetings and as we spoke about the life-transforming effect hearing each person’s story had, I was reminded of our family meetings at the Ashram.  When we sit together and share from our hearts, we step into one another’s divine humanity and life changes.  This is actually what the word ‘satsang” means “sharing of the truth”.  Shri Babaji said that Harigovind should give satsang every morning of one or two hours in Haidakhan.  I do not know how long this happened but I know it does not happen now.  What would Haidakhan be like if this had continued?  I was also told by Martin Baba that Shri Muniraji told them to have a daily meeting at the Holland Ashram.

Of course making these into something usable was a huge task and no one ever appeared that was willing and able to undertake such a project.  In the summer of 2013, Ferd and his wife Betty from Canada came for their second visit to the Ashram and when I mentioned the videos to him, he was elated to take this on.  He was with Babaji in the early 80’s and could not wait to hear others’ stories.  After several hundred hours of viewing the videos, collating and organizing them in a meaningful format, he has created a wonderfully inspiring ninety-five minute DVD about Shri Babaji primarily through the stories of such devotees as Radhe Shyam, Lok Nath, Sondra Ray, Pujari, Ram Dass, Turkantam, Lorain and David Davis, Toby Clark, Hiroman, Vimla Lal, Peggy Thompson, Joanne Honglso, Don Kehoe, myself, Ferd, and Premanand.  This is now available through the Maha Lakshmi Shop (read below for more information.)

Seeing this DVD, which had its grand debut on the huge drive-in movie screen at the Movie Manor weekend this last month, I am inspired to make more DVDs and to collect more stories.  The improvement of technology makes this an easier project now and with Noura’s iPhone we were able to capture a nearly half hour interview with Charlie Geer a couple of weeks ago in Yorba Linda.  (Read below for his story of being with Babaji several times in the late 70’s.)

The world is in need of inspiration.  I am committed to encourage every group of people to have regular family meetings or satsangs or whatever you want to call it.  Simply set aside a time at least once a week and begin with going around the circle and sharing with the person next to you what you appreciate about them.  Next share from your hearts your concerns, your fears, and your dreams owning them with “I statements”.  It does not matter whether you are a business, a team, or family group, this small amount of time spent pays dividends in emotional health and joy.  I am also committed to sharing as many stories of Shri Babaji as possible with all of you.  I hope they inspire you as much as they do me.  Thank you for your love.

Ramloti

Ceremonies and Schedule

The full-moon fire ceremony this month is on Saturday, December 6 (whoops, that was yesterday!).  It was an amazing fire ceremony that brought tears to the eyes many times with all the sweetness shown by the over 50 people in attendance.  I will write about it in next month’s newsletter though or else I will never get this one out!  The new-moon fire ceremony is on Sunday, December 21.  The full-moon in January is on Sunday, January 4.  The fire ceremonies begin at 10am and are followed by a meal. Please arrive freshly bathed, in a long skirt or pants with shoulders covered, and having fasted from grains, cereals, meat, eggs, garlic and onions. Fruit, yogurt, nuts, veggies and tea or coffee are fine to eat before.  Also, if you have a dietary need for something more hearty before our meal at 11:30 or so, please partake.                                                    

If you would like to participate by sponsoring a fire ceremony or a bhandara (feast), we would like to send you a blessed item from the fire ceremony if you request. They are:

$27 sponsorship - Copper, brass, nickel Om Namah Shivaya bracelet

$54 sponsorship - Rudraksha, Rosewood, or Tulsi Mala

$108 sponsorship - Rose Quartz Mala or a copper, silver, brass Om Haidakhandi bracelet

You can make the donation online by just clicking here or by calling 719-256-4108, or by emailing the Ashram at info@BabajiAshram.org. You may also send us a check made to HUA to: P.O. Box 9, Crestone, CO 81131.  We are continually grateful for all of your support of the Ashram.

Florida Events - January 9 through 15

Florida is just a month away and we hope to see many of you at the different events.  It is always such a blissful and energizing time together.  Please mark you calendars and attend as many of the events as you are able, you will be happy that you did. 

Friday, Jan. 9 - Chanting Evening in Delray Beach  or West Palm Beach area.

Saturday, Jan. 10 - Fire ceremony, chanting, satsang, and house blessings in Jupiter area.  For more information, please call Elaine at 561-277-8326.

Sunday, Jan. 11 at 9:30am - Chanting, chandan, fire ceremony, aarati, and potluck lunch at Harmony House in Delray Beach.  Call Sal and Sarena at 561-274-0883 for more information and directions.

Monday, January 12 - 7pm Chanting & Slides - Sacred Lands, 1700 Park St N, St Petersburg, FL 33710 - call Sharda at 727-363-0800 for more information.

Tuesday, January 13 - Restorative Yoga Class in Treasure Island. Call Sharda at 727-363-0800 for more information. 

Wednesday, Jan 14 - Aarati, chandan, fire ceremony, workshop, and Plunge in the Ocean on Treasure Island.  Call Sharda at 727-363-0800 for more information.

Bal Golulam - Children’s Program

Saturday, December 20 - 10:30am - noon

Children of all ages are invited to join us on Saturday, December 20 morning for yoga, stories, crafts and a puja honoring Lord Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  This will be a special Christmas program so we will also decorate the temple for Christmas during our time together.  This is followed by a potluck at noon.  All children must be accompanied by an adult.  For more information call Ramloti at  719-256-4108.

Hydroelectric Water Rights

We are grateful that we still have this conditional right and by March of 2017, we need to show that we are researching and even better, have installed such a system to keep our water right in this area.  Although our location on the Spanish Creek is not ideal for hydro generation, we feel that by now there are enough advances in micro hydro systems that we could utilize it for the growing need for more electricity on our off-the-grid Ashram. 

We are asking if anyone out there is well-versed in this area or knows someone that is.  We would love your help and support in this matter.  In the meantime we are coming close to needing to change out the batteries in the dormitory.  We would like to move to a much more ecological battery, the nickel-iron battery.  These last many times longer than the common battery, are not detrimental to the environment when they are disposed of, and also cost a good deal more.  Once again, if anyone is knowledgeable about these batteries or have a good source, please contact us.  If you would like to help fund this project, let us know too.  Please call 719-256-4108 or email us at info@babajiashram.org.   Thank you for your support to keep Baba and Mother’s home in the Rockies as sustainable as possible.   

An Interview with Charlie Geer

Ramloti:  So when did you first go to Babaji?

Charlie Geer:  I was into TM and a TM friend of mine told me that if I am in India I should go to visit Babaji, but he gave me very bad instructions.  He told me to go to Bhimtal and then hike up a river, but I had no idea where Bhimtal was.  So in Indian fashion I found myself at a bus station in the middle of nowhere and you have to ask where the bus is going so I ask a bus driver if he was going to Bhimtal.  He says, “Yes, Bhimtal.  Get in, get in” and I get in.  We’re driving and every once in a while I would go up and ask if we’ve arrived and he would say, “No, no, no Bhimtal.” So after about 12 hours it was pitch black, about 11pm and he stops.  And it’s so black you couldn’t even see the hand in front of you.  There isn’t a single light anywhere and he turns to me and he says, “Bhimtal”.  So I got out and there was some sort of lake, I was not sure where I was, even till now.  All I could do was pull out my sleeping bag and put it near some bushes and sleep until the light came out.  And then there was some kind of lake and some kind of water flowing up.  I found a river and hiked up and I couldn’t really talk to the people but I would ask them and in any event, some didn’t know and some would say yes.  So I kept hiking and hiking.  There were no roads or anything and I just kept hiking up this river.  I was pretty tired and I sat down to rest and could see some kind of building in the distance.  Some people came to me – now when I got there, there were only Indians at the ashram.

R:  Which year was this?

CG:  I am not sure, but somewhere in the 70’s I would say 76’ somewhere like that.  So these people come and sit next to me and I’m thinking, “ What’s going on, who are these people?” and they said “Babaji will meet you now.”  I say, “Oh that’s great Babaji, yes… that’s where I am going.” And we walk up and Babaji is there sitting in a circle.  I sit down and He asks a few questions, “How was your trip, are you tired?  Yes there is a place for you to stay, don’t worry.”  I felt immediately welcomed, embraced and part of the family.  There was never any thought that there was anything else but this thing.  And once you get in there you’re in a different world. You’re in a completely different place emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  And it can be very destabilizing for a while and a lot of people didn’t know what they were feeling and they were not sure if their life was coming together or falling apart. (Laughter) And there can be this turmoil and at first it can be… you can’t pull it together.  You can’t organize things; you’re kind of floating in some world.  But it’s all part of the operation there so you get used to ‘this is what goes on’.  You go through big ups and downs.  It’s some sort of catharsis, some kind of cleansing of your system.  Just as you’re just about at your wits end, Babaji would come up to you and say just a few words that would just nail it on the head and suddenly shift you in a new direction and it was like, “Oh yeah, that was it”  And you didn’t have any idea how He could do that or where He was coming from or what you were even feeling in the first place but it all seemed to work and everyone got used to having this go on, having these states.  But He used to do all kinds of unusual things.  I remember one time He said out of the blue, “ There is a German devotee coming, he’s a very special devotee and he’s coming. He’s left Germany, he’s just about left Germany.“  Then another day would go by and He would say, “He’s left Germany, he’s coming to India. He’s a very unique devotee.” Then another day, “ Oh he’s in Delhi now.” Then another day goes by, “He’s left Delhi now he’s coming up the river.” And so we’re all waiting, wondering, “Who is this person?” And then He says, “Oh yes, he’s arriving tomorrow morning.” So Babaji walks down the steps to the river and sure enough a German guy arrives, exactly as He predicted.  And He looks at him, and shouts, “ Hippie! Hippie! Out! Out! Out!”  So this poor guy turns around and goes back down the river.

R: This was before any e-mail contact, just Baba’s radar.

CG: Yeah, there were all kinds of unusual, unexpected things that would happen.  But uh, we went down from Haidakhan down to the Kumbh Mela that was going on and that was very nice because there were a lot of spiritual things going on.  And we went out on a little boat on the Prayag, where the Jamuna and the Ganga and the Saraswati rivers joined and um I remember being very thirsty and being out in the middle of the rivers and thinking, “Should I drink or should I not?” Because I really wanted to drink something and I kind of looked at Babaji and He kind of motioned, yeah it’s okay.  So I reached down and took a drink and it was so clean and pure and then everyone started drinking from the river with their hands.

R: That’s amazing.

CG: Yeah, it was amazing… yeah.  And then He had a little tent and He had his little place where He sat and He was sitting there and He called me.  And He said, sit under the seat.  So I said, “What, sit under the seat?” But He said, “Yeah, get under the seat.”  There was like this little space under His chair and it was a little tight but I could fit in, and I could see and hear everything.  I was looking out and all these people were looking at Babaji and I could have eye contact with them all and they came up and did their pranams and it was like I was really at the center of the action and it was a very unusual feeling.  But during that night, they said you had to be there at 1:35am or 1:37, it was a particularly auspicious time. So we were all sitting up and it was January or so it was a very dry time in India, there was no rain.  And they said, “Oh at this particular time Indra will come down and he always comes with rain.”  And I thought, “Rain? I’ve never seen rain at this time of the year.”  And at about 1:33 suddenly out of the blue the thunder comes, and the rain comes pelting down and everywhere are just turrets of rain and the whole place turned to mud.

R: So then what else do you remember; so then you went back to Haidakhan with Baba?

CG: I went to Haidakhan and Chilianaula and Vrindabam, and many different places.

R: Were you there for very long?

CG: Each time I went there I might have stayed about 3 weeks, and then I would leave and maybe a year later I would come back and spend 3 weeks again.  I had a friend of mine I told to go there, he was very interested.  Babaji gave him the name Shamku, but in any event, he went there and he came very well dressed cause he thought he would give a good showing for Babaji.  So he came in a tux and a coat (laughter) and Babaji immediately said to him, “Take off all of your clothes and only wear a lungoti.”  (laughter) So he took off his fancy suit and tie and put on the lungoti and just lived in the ashram in the lungoti.  And he like was one of these characters who just goes anywhere and does anything. There were a few people like that in the ashram where they just were almost free-spirited, like they were from some other plane or something, like no rules applied to them.  So this guy took on this role and uh, but it was a little too much – he couldn’t quite integrate what was happening there and his life back home.  So he ended up floating around India for a bit and then coming back home to his parents, he sometimes would lurch into wearing the lungoti (laughter) and his parents did not like that at all.  So there was some adjustment.

But it goes on and on, there were all kinds of different things.  Sometimes Babaji would make prophecies about things.  And you know, he didn’t talk much, so you kind of go around sort of picking up the silent message that was for you or for others.  And oftentimes it was there; He had a very potent presence. But He sometimes would make predictions.  I remember once He sat in the cave on the other side of the river.  And we all sat outside and He said that He felt there would be troubled times coming.

R: What made you keep coming back?

CG: Well, there is some kind of connectedness, some sort of you know, spiritual understanding of the larger life.  I think we were always kind of fascinated about who He was and what He was and where He came from, and what He was doing, and what His impact was and there was some kind of bigger agenda going on and we weren’t sure what it was or what our part was, but we felt that we were connected to the big operation.  Plus, you know, this great feeling of connectedness, of intimacy, of belonging, of like He kind of knew you or you knew Him and the relationship was very, very old.  It wasn’t superficial at all and had something to do with a much bigger thing.

R: Something very ancient huh?

CG: Yeah, very ancient, right.

R: Did He ever refer to anything like that when He spoke with you or when you had feelings inside?

CG: Well, he would allude to them.  As I say, you’d be going through things, and I know sometimes I would be thinking some certain things in my head.  To tell you the truth, there was some physics stuff that I was working through in my head - it was kind of a hobby.  And He would come up to me and say something that was exactly where my thinking was in that and it would give me a certain direction.  So He would – there was a lot of talk about the state of the world and you know, the state of mankind and whether things were going properly or not properly and He tended to think that the spiritual growth wasn’t what it should be out there, that the society had become very off-course.  There was some mention of that and of the karmic consequences that would be there.  But it was very austere; we had to go down those steps to the river whenever you had to go to the bathroom, which was a big trek.  So if you had to go in the night, you had to really prepare.  You had to take your bath down there in the early morning and there was no electricity and no heat. So you’re always struggling against what was going on, just on the physical level. And the physical level was so mundane and simple and concrete and grounded but on the spiritual level was so lofty that there was this huge dichotomy.  But it was the physical level that brought us down from this spiritual plane that we were forcibly thrust onto, whether we liked it or not.

R: It was worth going back even though it was so rough.

CG: Oh yeah totally, that was the appeal.  It was definitely - you transcended the physical discomfort that became something that you dealt with.  But you were totally enamored with the spiritual things that were going on.

R: Would you be willing to share one of your most ecstatic or transcendental experiences with Babaji?

CG: Uh… I guess… It’s just … It fit. Things just fit. Out here, you don’t know what the purpose is.  You’re going somewhere out here, but you’re not sure if you’re going to the right place or whether you have the right values or the people around you have the right values.  There it just seemed like it fit, it was almost ordained by the universe and proper and good and you felt this deep inner comfort that it was okay.  Everything was okay.   And I’m not sure how He transmitted this, how we all picked it up, but we did. In some way, in fact, the fact that He didn’t talk almost made his message louder and clearer and bolder than if He did.  Because if He did, then this words and this meaning, and the mental… but there, there was none of that.  It was just the pure silence and being and so strong, that there was no way you could deny what was going on.  So it forced you to go onto that level, you couldn’t carry on with your mental functioning because it wasn’t there to distract you.

R: How many times do you think you went?

CG: Hm... I don’t know maybe four, five? And we went to all the different spots with Babaji.  And traveling around with Him was often very exciting.  Whenever we went like to Chilianaula and the Kumbh Mela or wherever, He would come with us. So there was getting in cars and where to stay, and just this constant exchange.  I remember once we went down, and there were dogs there and they were very nice dogs, but the dogs followed us all the way down to the river and then you got across the river, which is an operation. If you do it wrong, the river will flood you down and off you go.  It was a very fast moving river, you had to do it just right and know where to cross and how to cross.  So anyways, these dogs were very good and they would come and I remember at least one dog coming down and this one dog really loved Babaji and he wasn’t going to leave Babaji but when we got down to the end, he couldn’t come.  This was like the threshold for the world of Haidakhan.  So Babaji would go running after the dog with a stick yelling like, “Get out of here!” and the dog would sort of pretend like he was going to run away and then he would come back and they did it a few times until finally the dog ran back up to Haidakhan.

Greg: May I ask one question?

CG: Yeah.

Greg: These experiences that you’re describing so long ago and His presence… well what about now?  Do you still have these kinds of challenges or those kinds of pulls; does it still operate?  Is it still operating for you now, or is it in another way altogether?

CG: I felt I got put into touch with an expanded part of my own kind of being, if you will.  A certain subtle part of the universe and that He was present there.  And having kind of gone there even once, you’re always there.  It’s always like a certain you become aware of a certain zone and therefore it’s kind of a stabilizer even later…. at all times.  So I would say whatever was experienced stayed definitely with me, even now.

R: So when you come to an event like today, a fire ceremony and aarati and everything, does that rekindle or enliven anything?

CG: Oh yeah, it definitely rekindles it.  And the community that you’ve been so good at keeping together and keeping alive has been so important.  I had kind of a little bit forgotten, but Babaji came back into my life again by people around here contacting me and bringing me down.  It all brings me back.

R: Baba doesn’t let you go does He!  He has the shackles on us all! (Laughter) You think you have a little wiggle room, and there He goes reeling you in again.  Like Greg hasn’t been at the Ashram in 4 or 5 years and this is the first time I’ve seen him since then.  He hasn’t been to Haidakhan but to our Ashram, which is just as shackley. (laughter)

R: I feel we are so blessed .

CG: Yeah

R: Do you ever contemplate this thing?  I don’t know if you see Babaji as divinity manifested on earth like I do in my heart, but to wrap my mind around that is… BIG.

CG: I think it’s so important and I think that any of us that go there are trying to contact the divine.  I mean that’s the ultimate appeal.  But at the same time many of us don’t know what the divine is, maybe we don’t have the credentials to put the label for where the divine should be or shouldn’t be.  We had very deepened experiences and it was beyond how we could label or define it ourselves, but it was transformative within on a very deep level.  And I think that’s what it’s all about, and it definitely took place.  And this familiarity is the key thing that I felt… He just seemed so comfortable, you felt so comfortable with Him and He seemed so approachable and understanding and He seemed so present that there was this sort of immediate appeal and it had nothing to do with what He did physically. It was His soul presence that was so strong.

R: Did you ever have moments when you were frightened by Him, or He seemed rough or scary?

CG: Oof! (laughter) I had one.  Uh, He was sitting and there was some kind of construction going on the upper part of the stairs and He was sort of sitting on the ashram side of the wall and I was coming up, and there was a ladder.  And He was going on in Hindi like there was some big thing going on, really kind of giving orders.  And I thought, “Oh He must be talking to some of the workers or something,” but He was really talking to me.  And He was saying to me, “make sure when you go up the ladder, it’s jittery.“  And I was noticing the ladder, I just wasn’t paying much attention because He was always telling the workers what to do and they were always getting dressed down for something.  So I was coming up the lip of the ladder and He was getting worked up, but I was aware of the ladder, I wasn’t going to do something wrong and I was carrying something, my laundry or something from the river and I was carrying and going up this rickety ladder and He was looking at me and He was really sort of angry.  And we just had this sort of exchange, and His eyes were at me and I immediately responded like, “What’s going on?”  I looked at Him and it was like sparks were fired.  And He kind of calmed down and later He said something kind of strange, He said to me something very big.  It was a thing where His anger was coming out towards me and I had to reciprocate.  I was used to this mellow, loving, serene feeling from Him but here it was really something very explosive.  And it caught me off guard, so I couldn’t respond from the level of my head but I responded instinctually.  But I remember just having this kind of inner fury that came out, like, “What do you mean? What’s going on?” and almost kind of like fight or flight kind of thing.  But it made me feel extremely connected.  And I mean later when I look back, it was a very deep thing that had happened.

R: Because you could feel - you could connect with love and softness and with fury.

CG: He came up to me later and said, “ You know, there is fire that can come out of your stomach, your stomach chakra.”  And there was something that came out then, it was almost because I was responding like with like intensity.  And He is also this powerful figure and I came over this thing and saw Him standing there and it hit me like a thunderbolt.  And by this time I was at the top of the ladder and I had to concentrate on holding my things and not falling off the ladder.  It was kind of a big thing.

R: Hm…yeah, letting you see your fury, the energy that you had within you.

CG: Right, yeah.

R: And He set it all up so that it would happen like this.

CG: Yeah, right exactly. All of these things are carefully scripted so that they come out and so that you have an insight on what you’re supposed to have an insight about.  And uh… it definitely did that.

R: Thank you for sharing all of this with us.  It means a great deal to others to read these experiences.

 

The Indoor Dhuni Fund

Karma Yoga at the Ashram and at Ashram Events

The continued amount of generosity of spirit that we experience at the Ashram and at all of the Ashram events almost brings tears to the eyes.  There seems to be no end to it and the love and energy generated by this selfless service is a boon for all.  Whether it was at the Ashram, at the weekend in Monte Vista, or in Yorba Linda, CA, we are deeply appreciative of all who serve.  Babaji said that we are putting new life into karma yoga and that this would effect the whole world.  Below are some great photos of our karma yogis!

We are so grateful to all of those who can come help at the Ashram and to all of you that help make these projects possible by your financial donations.  We ask each of you to look into your hearts and see what this Ashram means to you and to please donate as you are able. You may go to our website and donate through PayPal . (You can even set up a monthly tithe.) You can also send a check (made out to HUA) to P.O. Box 9, Crestone, CO 81131; or you can call us at 719-256-4108 with a credit card number. We want to thank you for your support, love and prayers.

Recent Events

A Spectacular Weekend Together in Monte Vista, CO

Oh what love, energy, devotion, and generosity!  It just never seemed to stop.  The chanting was

joyful and so powerful, the fire ceremony was deep and strong, the food was sumptuous, and the movies and hotel rooms grand.  What a weekend!  People gathered from all over Colorado, New Mexico and even from California!  The preparations were impeccable by our Monte Vista and Alamosa hosts and hostesses.  The food was amazing and never-ending, the rooms immaculate, and they even built a large havan kund for the occasion.  The Ashram crew and friends turned part of the restaurant into a full-blown temple, and everyone pitched in for the clean up.  What an amazing time we had.  Here is a link to a three minute video of the shakti filled morning aarati at the celebration.  Thank you sounds way too small for this gift to the Ashram!  May Mother and Baba bless all that were involved abundantly.  

Fire Ceremony in Yorba Linda, CA 

Lots of Visitors to the Ashram

Here is a short article that I just received from a visitor that was here in August.  If you would like to view a 5-minute video he made of his visit go to:

http://vimeo.com/marcstrauch/babaji-crestone

“The sun had just broken through the clouds of a late afternoon thunderstorm in Crestone when we headed up Baca Grande to the Haidakhandi Universal Ashram. I had wanted to get to the temple early, to meditate before evening aarti, but the weather and new friends had conspired to delay our trip up the mountain. The blacktop soon gave way to dirt and while there were no truly egregious potholes, it seemed that we felt each and every nuance of the road as we rumbled upward, the energy pulling us ever onward.

“I had felt an affinity for Babji since I was sixteen years of age having read Yogananda’s spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi, and though my spiritual path took me to another yogic lineage, I still, these many years later, felt a profoundly deep connection, so much so that the altar on my car’s dashboard has had an illustration for many years of one of Babaji’s earlier incarnations before he appeared in Haidakhan.

“The sun was still high in the western sky as we silently entered the foyer of the temple, removed our shoes and felt the energy. I wrapped a brightly colored lunghi around my waist to cover my legs, as is the custom in India that I had grown used to, and entered the silence of Babaji’s temple. Sun poured in from the west-facing windows illuminating Babaji’s photo on the altar of the eastern wall. A murti of the Divine Mother, resplendent in her grace and her glory stood facing us from the southern chapel. I felt bathed in a quality of divine energy that defies words, an energy that is more deeply felt in consciousness and in body than is easily verbalized.

“Silence, the holy grail of the yogi/yogini as we progress along the path to Brahman, filled the temple. There was no space for anything but silence. Silence was pervasive. Silence was profound. Silence was deep and rich and moist and earthy. Silence simply was….I was enveloped.

My bath in silence was interrupted by the pujari, entering from the west as he prepared the Divine Mother murthi for evening aarti. Several more people, a puja, aarti, then harmonium and kirtan, more silence; a wonderful way to be in sacred space.”

by Marc Baraka Strauch marcstrauch@gmail.com

Calendar for Events at the Ashram in 2014

December 21, 2014 -  New-moon Fire Ceremony at 10am followed by an Indian Feast.

Calendar for Events at the Ashram in 2015

January 4, 2015 - Full-moon Fire Ceremony at 10am followed by a meal. 

February 17, 2015 - Shivaratri -  All-night chanting followed by a fire ceremony at 10am on February 18 culminating in an Indian feast.

March 21 - 29, 2015  - Spring Navratri - Divine Mother Festival with daily fire ceremonies, pujas, discourses, reading, chanting and other ceremonies.

July 18 & 19, 2015 - Annual American Haidakhan Samaj Weekend and Meeting.  Their new web address is www.babajisamaj.us

July 22 - 25, 2015 -  Annual Family Week w/ concurrent Sofia Diaz Workshop.

July 31, 2015 - Guru Purnima Day with fire ceremony at 10am followed by a meal.

October 13 - 21, 2015 - Fall Navratri - Divine Mother Festival with daily fire ceremonies, pujas, discourses, reading, chanting and other  ceremonies.

November 11, 2015 - Diwali, Festival of Lights.

Maha Lakshmi Shop Report

We are so excited to announce the release of a new DVD of devotees sharing their stories of Babaji.  This 95 minute treasure has been organized and put together in a very engaging way with different categories.   

The categories are:

1) Babaji Mahavatar

2) The Calling

3) "Hoshyar"

4) Omniscience

5) Leelas

6) The Teaching

7) Baba's Love

8) Ashrams

Click here to preview an excerpt from the DVD.

We are selling this in the Shop for only $15, a perfect gift for any devotee of Babaji.  You may buy it on-line at http://mahalakshmishop.wazala.com/products/mahavatar-babaji-dvd/ or just call us at the Ashram.  We are happy to drop ship this item for you, gift wrapped and with a card saying that it is from you.  Just send us an e-mail or call us with the details. 

We also have a few of our wonderful Babaji Calendars from Italy and our Prayer and Meditation Calendar from The Truth Consciousness Organization in Arizona.  These two items you will either have to email us (shop@babajiashram.org) or call us (719-256-4108) directly at the Shop and give a credit card number or make a donation through Paypal.  We have too few of these for too short a time to put on our website.  Here are descriptions and samples of each.

The Babaji Calendar has photos of Babaji on each side of the page as well as a page of all of the Haidakhandi celebrations.  The quotes are from Shri Babaji and are beautiful.  The calendar sells for $18 and there is a limited amount of them.

To view the photos and quotes click here

The Prayer & Meditation 2015 Wall Calendar with 12 inspiring photographs from around the world and quotations by Swami Amar Jyoti, Michael Singer, LD Thompson and many others. The newly designed 12 x 12 (12 x 24 open) wall calendar is printed on glossy recycled paper and includes holidays and holy days from all faiths.  It is an extremely beautiful work of art.  The Calendar sells for $15.

To view a full-size sample of some of the pages  click here

The Maha Lakshmi Shop is open every day.  We can bless an item at Mother’s feet for you if you ask.  As we near the holiday season, we are also happy to drop ship items for you to your loved ones.  You may call the Ashram at 719-256-4108 and place your orders over the phone (every day from 10am until 5pm Mountain Time).  We are happy to answer any questions.  It is really nice to connect in this way. We take Visa, Mastercard or Discover.  

The Shop is a major supporter of the Ashram, so we deeply appreciate your patronage.

Maha Lakshmi Mata Ki Jai!