Ashram Newsletter - March, 2023

March 9, 2023  |  by Ramloti

Dear Friends,

I am on my way home from India with a long layover between flights. It seems like a perfect time to write this newsletter, since much of it will be about my trip. I had my ticket for India when covid hit in 2020, so I cancelled my flight, and this is the first trip back in four years. I am not sure if it was the length of time between trips (I normally go every year); or that the quieter Pandemic time which was actually deeply spiritual for me; or reading the new book five times by Vijay Gupta about the early years of Shri Babaji’s manifestation; but this time in Haidakhan was extremely powerful.

Waking up in the wee hours of the morning to bathe in the Gautama Ganga River was exhilarating. As I floated in the water, I remembered the story about Babaji in the river that Vijay Gupta relates: “He went supine and started floating. He kept drifting with the flow of the water, not moving His hands or feet, not even to keep balanced while afloat. It was a sublime, stunning sight; only an extraordinary being could stay so still on a moving water-surface. I became lost in the wonder of His latest leela. After fifteen minutes, He came out of the river. I wiped His body with a towel and helped Him put on a fresh set of clothes.” (page 110)

As I sat in meditation in the sacred cave, I remembered and felt the profundity of sitting in the same place that Shri Babaji had sat in meditation. Vijay narrates a story from a villager, Chandramani, to whom Babaji appeared in a dream telling him that He had returned and to come to the cave in 1970. “Chandramani then crossed the river in the dark, traversing at least a kilometer to reach Babaji. And there he found Him—a slim, fair, sharp-featured handsome young sadhu, lost to the world, immersed in meditation, clad in a loincloth and an andi hanging from His shoulder and covering his torso and legs. Chandramani sat in the corner, patiently waiting for Him to return to consciousness.” (page 18)

It seemed wherever I went or whatever I did, I was awed by the deep realization that Shri Babaji had walked these paths, had built these 108 stairs, had built these nine temples, had walked out at Sati Kund.

When we videoed the satsang with Gaurhari and he shared Shri Babaji’s words to him: “This whole Ashram is My body. Whatever service you do here, you do to Me.” I was tingling inside and remembered Baba’s other words where He said every particle of this place, Haidakhan Vishva Mahadham has the power to enlighten you.

The word “awe” is prominent in my mind when I describe my time in Haidakhan. Awe that I was allowed to go to my Lord’s home again, awe that I met Him in the flesh several times, and beyond awe that He came to this world in a physical form for each one of us. Perhaps Vijay puts it best when he writes: “He was the Lord of the Cosmos, and I so small before His infinite Divinity. How could I understand His cosmic play and mysterious ways? But one thing I’m sure of—we were all off-beam when we thought that Babaji would become entrapped in our maya jaal (snare of illusions) and stay because of His attachment to us. How wrong we were!” (page 240)

As we sang the aarati outside of the nine temples, morning and evening, the words in the Sharanagati Stav, “Aja darasha dikha ja”, “Oh Lord, come and show yourself to us” were very strong. And He was certainly giving us His darshan in our hearts as we sang with such devotion and love. When we sat in satang with different long-time devotees (all of which are on the Ramloti Wood YouTube and listed below), the fervor of our love was palpable. We are so very, very blessed.

And all of this wonder does not negate all of His beauty and love that is pervasive at all of His Ashrams. Speaking of this one in Crestone particularly, the MahaSamadhi ceremony, Shivaratri, Full and New Moons and daily fire ceremonies that we celebrated this last month were all beautiful and powerful. I believe that Babaji’s statement that the whole Ashram is His Body applies equally to this Ashram in Crestone, to all of His Ashrams, and for that matter to the whole world. Once again, we are so blessed. Bhole Baba Ki Jai!

In truth and love,
Ramloti for the Ashram

Satsang with Devotees in Haidakhan

What delight to share the experiences, teachings, and love of Lord Babaji with others. We managed to make six videos from Haidakhan as well as one in New Delhi. Here are the links and those involved.
Gaurhari – the Pujari on the Gufa (cave) side of the Ashram in Haidakhan for the last 45 years. Part 1: https://youtu.be/KGZARHxaKzc and Part 2: https://youtu.be/mz6PcfbbSUY
Prakash – Shri Babaji made him pujari in the temple at His Ashram in Chilianaula in 1980 where he served for 25 years until his injury. He now lives in Haidakhan for the last 17 years. https://youtu.be/urTdCvYmW_A
Bhagwan, Col. Rana - oversees the Ashrams in Haidakhan and Chilianaula. He is the son of Swami Fakiranand and he is married to Devi, the daughter of Shri Muniraj. They live in Haldwani. https://youtu.be/fNJ6E6A4l9Q
Tara Devi – Is from Serbia and has lived in Haidakhan for over 5 years serving on the Gufa side. She is a bright light and a great example of karma yoga. She actually wanted to ask questions of Ramloti for this satsang: https://youtu.be/07HlM9j-6ZA
Hari Hara – is from Holland and shares many of his experiences that he had of Shri Babaji in Haidakhan, Holland, and Italy. https://youtu.be/rAPul-9pTRQ
Dr. Arvind Lal – is the Chairman of the Haidakhan Samaj and we attended and live-streamed his weekly fire ceremony in New Delhi which have gone on since Shri Babaji told him to do one each Monday. We all shared a light breakfast after the fire and then went and had darshan and brought flowers to Shri Babaji’s room where He would stay when He visited the Lal’s home.

While in Haidakhan, I did bless malas for the Maha Lakshmi Shop in the Gautama Ganga River, Babaji’s Kutir, at Hanuman’s feet at the Sati Kund, and with the Divine Mother in the first of the nine temples.

Story about a First Visit to Haidakhan

Many times we have shared excerpts from emails sent by a viewer of the Zoom Satsangs and other live-streams who has always asked to be anonymous. This time we actually met in person as he lives in India and he met me in Delhi. Here is his experience, and once again, asks to remain anonymous.

Our Sweet, Beloved Bhole Baba
Finally, I'm going to Haidakhan! On almost the first anniversary of my hearing for the first time about Haidakhan Babaji, the Innocent Lord, I'm going to the Ashram He described as His body, the Haidakhan Vishwamahadham. But first, I have been invited to my first Havan at the residence of Babaji's great devotee Arvind Lal.

Everyone makes me welcome, and I meet Ramloti for the first time. So many firsts for me!

Afterwards, we visit the room Babaji had used, with paintings done according to Babaji's directions. It's a small room on the top floor, but after I bow to Babaji and help Ramloti put a large bouquet of lilies on His bed, I look up and see the night sky on the ceiling, with stars and constellations I can recognize. It is a small reminder of my cosmic address and of the mystery of the Lord of the Universe coming to Mother Earth in a beloved human form. I am once again reminded of the immeasurable grace that gave us a cosmic being like Babaji.

On the train, it is Satsang time, and the tireless Ramloti liberally opens the doors to the memories of the many times she was with Babaji in the early eighties. Each story is like a sacred flower in the endlessly blooming garden of Babaji's grace and love, and to hear them is to be lost in the wonder and graciousness of a timeless cosmic symphony. I begin to understand the passion and the urgent earnestness of the many devotees I have met virtually through Ramloti's YouTube channel--Ramloti herself, Pujari, Kharku, Gayatri, Ramlota, Sundar, Raghu, Hiroman . . . And now, I was making the same journey that all of them had made so many decades back!

The stations pass by, the Shatabdi Express races through the beautiful countryside, and slowly I begin to see pine trees and mountains. As we reach Haldwani, I feel I'm already home. One must now ask for Munirajji's shop...but I'm quickly pulled out of my daydreams as the train pulls into Kathgodam. The cab takes us into the mountains now, and I'm able to see the town, the river, and the riverbed that served as the highway that took Babaji's early devotees to His Ashram. I seem to be making a journey as much into the past as to the present as we go up and down the mountains in roads that curve and twist, growl and grumble.

We're headed to the Gufa Side of the Ashram, and the cab now begins to take an almost invisible road of rocks laid out on the riverbed. I get a faint taste of the early times when devotees had to do this arduous journey on foot and on pony, turning when the river turned, and skirting rocks when the river skirted rocks. Finally we are home!

From the moment I step into this sacred space, I notice a benign presence at the back of my thoughts and consciousness. It is as if one has become a witness; as if the being that one usually experiences as oneself is being observed and loved. It was like the touch that awakens oneself to oneself, so that you are both the gift and the giver of the gift. The trees were the gift, the river was the gift, and this consciousness that one usually mistakes as oneself is itself a gift. Somewhere far away, I know this has happened to me before, in Thiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, in Guruvanam and in Anandashram in Kanhangad, in La Verna in Italy, in Mookambika in Karnataka, in Brockwood Park in England . . . . I realize Babaji is at work on me, in me, and all around me.

I don't seem to have a room booked for me. An old, disused room is hastily scrambled up for me. It doesn't have a key. I am told I just need to sweep the room. I am told the bathroom nearby has hot water. I am asked again and again if this is alright. I give them the answers they seek. If only I could tell them what has awakened inside me! I am too busy with my guest there! The room is alright, the dust is alright, I have come home, Babaji has come home!

I continue in this slightly dazed state. Strangers come and tell me what to do. Don't sit down now. You mustn't use your left hand. The text of what they're singing now is right here in this book. That seat is already taken. You can ring one of the bells there. I will take you to the river in the morning. Your new room is ready. I experience Babaji's loving presence everywhere. Terms in the songs and Aarati come alive for me. O vishaal bahuwale! I can feel Babaji in all the hands around me. In the morning, at Paadukapooja, I struggle to indicate this. All hands are His, mine too. It doesn't matter which ones He uses and which ones He doesn't. They also serve who only stand and wait!

Gaur Hari moves me very deeply, sometimes to tears. Why do they call him Gaur Hari and not Gaur Hari-ji? He serves me food with the same care that I observed him using when serving the murtis during Pooja. He tells you lovingly how to turn your head when he applies chandan. He does this as if you were Babaji's murti. My allergic reactions force me to wear a mask at all times, but the mask helps me hide my tears. What is the name of this effulgent love that doesn't know me from itself? I experience the reason why they call Babaji "Bhole Baba." Everytime I look at Gaur Hari, I am moved beyond words. It is the same with Babaji's retired priest Prakash Chandrakanth Pal.

Once when I pass by, they both call me to their side and give me some biscuit s. This love pleases as much in little things as big, and surpasses the understanding of words.

Everything here ends with the cry 'Bhole Baba ki Jai.' I resist saying this. I want to experience the meaning of each word every time I say it. I don't want to surrender to habit. I notice that nothing is a habit for Gaur Hari. He experiences everything he says. When you do something during pooja, he pronounces the words for you, and when you change your mind and give a dakshina instead of the flower he was expecting you to offer, he corrects the accompanying statement. Nothing is a ritual for him--everything is for real.

Right in the middle of an earnest pooja, he suddenly leaves off whatever he is doing and rushes out. Everyone looks out anxiously. He had heard one of the puppies crying, and he knew from the cry that its lead string was strangling it. The pooja continues after the puppy is saved. He sees Babaji in everyone and everything. I have a beautiful understanding of 'ritual' pooja. I have been moved to tears by poojas and aaratis before, but the pooja of everyday life that I see in Gaur Hari's pooja practice crowns it all.

I see the cosmic dimension of this kind of pooja practice when I go out with Ramloti for a bath in the river. As soon as Ramloti's ritual bath is over, a light sprinkle of a rain greets us. There is no cloud in the sky. These are the waters of grace, needing no source cloud, no cause and effect cycles. Everything is an offering. Your bath is an offering. Your Satsang talk is an offering. You are an offering in the gentle stream of the Gautama Ganga. Benedictions in an endless stream of love. I remember an incident that happened during a teaching session of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharmsala in the early nineties. At a particular point, His Holiness was to sprinkle water on all the six thousand of us, but he apologetically sprinkled the sacred water on the Mongolian nuns in the front row. There was a spontaneous rain for just 2 seconds as he did this, and all of us gasped in wonder. The endless stream of benedictions unite all things and beings in its embrace of love and compassion. Nature and our minds, body and mind, Earth and sky, rivers and shores, are all united in an aarati of love and grace. The planets Jupiter and Venus come together to watch Gaur Hari's aarati, and vanish when the aarati is over. The stars, the planets, the mountains, the river purling in the dark background, seem to be part of the evening aarati. Tears flow as I chant the Hanuman Chalisa and later when all the devotees intone the Devi Kshamapana Stotra of Shankara. Tara distributes the prasad, carefully choosing the items to give to each individual devotee. She gives more fruit to one, and more sweets to another. This individualized prasad distribution moves me too. I reflect on her name, and what the name names. We talk, and we see Babaji's endless forms all around us--here sitting as a group of three, there as two, and further on as a lonely figure looking across the river at the other shore, where Babaji's Samadhi Mandir gleams like a tower of light on the side of the dark mountain.

Everybody knows Ramloti, even those she doesn't know! We meet utter strangers who run towards her, exclaiming in disbelief, "Ramloti!" They have met her on YouTube, on Facebook, in online satsangs. Her havans, her poojas, her satsangs, her interviews, have taken Babaji and His message of Truth, Simplicity and Love to so many corners of the world! As we meet these strangers, we marvel at the abundance and variety of His shapes and forms.

As we move towards Sati Kund, a young devotee recognizes Ramloti. He is a music teacher from Gujarat. We climb the steps to the Hanuman Temple and chant the Hanuman Chalisa together. We hold Ramloti's hands as we walk the rocky riverbed in the deepening dusk. Ramloti stumbles, but our hands hold her up, two online minions now found in the real world. Ramloti's online work has beaten the restrictions of the Corona years, and Babaji's work has triumphed. Bhole Baba ki Jai!

As we return to Delhi in the Shatabdi from Kathgodam, the physical Ashram moves away from us, but the Ashram inside us glows like a secret that cannot be told but can nevertheless be experienced, even shared, wordlessly and in the simple gestures of everyday life. We review the magical days we spent at the Ashram, and once again regale each other with anecdotes and reflections on Babaji and His endless manifestations as saints and mahatmas.

He comes in each form that appears before us, His hands and feet are everywhere, His immeasurable grace surrounds us always. His endless disguises slip when He takes the forms of the saints, and He stands revealed as the Lord of the Universe and of our hearts. He is close at hand always, as the porter who carries our luggage, as the friend who waits for us at the gates of the railway station, and as the hot rice and dal that a loving friend serves us. He sleeps in the sleep of the tired, He wakes in the wakefulness of those who serve others, He is the Supreme Lord, the Lord of Utter Innocence, our sweet, beloved, Bhole Baba.

Upcoming Events

March 21 - New-Moon Fire Ceremony and Pitru Puja at 11am MT

New-Moon Fire Ceremony and Pitru Puja at 11am followed by chai and banana bread.

March 22 through March 30 – Spring Navratri

The Divine Mother Festival, will be from Wednesday, March 22 through Thursday, March 30. Daily Devi Pujas begin at 8:30am and daily Fire Ceremonies, Chanting, and Discourses on the Divine Mother begin at 11am. We will send out a more detailed update on Navratri as the time approaches.

March 26 - Children's Day

We will honor the children on Sunday, March 26 after the Fire Ceremony with a story, a chant, and little gifts. Calling the Ashram at 719-256-4108 is helpful for us so we know how many children to prepare for. This will be followed by an Indian feast.

The Ashram Needs a Newer Car

We have had a 2003 Honda Pilot for many years, and it has served us well. However, now that the miles on it are over 250,000, it feels prudent to get a newer vehicle. We would like a 4-cylinder, mid-size SUV, that gets good gas mileage that is 2017 or higher. If you have one that you would like to either donate or sale to the Ashram, please call us at 719-256-4108. Thank you for your support.

Recent Events

Shri Babaji’s Maha Samadhi Commemoration

It was a lovely coming together of devotees from as far as Minnesota, sharing their love and devotion to Babaji. We began with a paduka puja (washing of Shri Babaji’s sandals) followed by a cold but heartwarming fire ceremony. Here is the link to the paduka puja video.

Ramloti’s Birthday Fundraiser on Facebook

A huge thank you to everyone that donated to the Facebook Fundraiser for my 74th birthday. It was a great success, and all of the good wishes and prayers were received with gratitude and love. I am sorry I could not message each person to personally thank you but you were in my heart and prayers. Thank you. We also had a small birthday lunch to celebrate with coconut ice cream and a candle!

Maha Shivaratri

Maha Shivaratri was celebrated with a beautiful Lingam Puja and Chanting. Unfortunately, the recording did not work out on this program.

New-Moon Fire Ceremony and Pitru Puja

A beautiful day for a wintery outdoor Fire Ceremony and Pitru Puja honoring, nourishing, and thanking our ancestors.

Karma Yoga

Shri Babaji’s teaching of karma yoga has shaped life at all of His Ashrams. Here are photos from both the Ashram here and in India. It is a beautiful spirit of generosity that pervades His Ashrams and it makes a huge difference in the care and the upkeep of His Homes around the world.

Visitors to the Ashrams

Since I was in India much of this time, there were not too many photos taken but we also are posting photos of folks from the India visit.

Ways to Support the Ashram

First and foremost is to pray, pray, pray for all the disturbances amongst people and life all over the earth. This is a time of great challenge, and Babaji spoke over and over again about the power of prayer, the mantra, havan, puja, and seeing all as children of one Divine Mother Earth.

You may also support financially by going to …

• GoFundMe Campaign
• Donate Page (this page has links to Paypal, Amazon Smile, and GoFundMe)

Calendar of Events

Mar 21, Apr 19, May 19	New Moon Fire Ceremony
Apr 5, Jun 3, Jul 3	Full Moon Fire Ceremony
Mar 22 - 30	Spring Navaratri
Apr 5	Hanuman Jayanti

Please go to our Calendar of Events page for all events.

Maha Lakshmi Shop

We are so happy to announce that we finally have the new book by Vijay Gupta in stock, Haidakhan Baba, My Years with the Himalayan Mystic. This engrossing and inspiring book sales for only $15 and can be purchased at the Maha Lakshmi Online Shop.

Bhole Baba Ki Jai! Jai Ma!