Ashram Newsletter - May, 2023

May 14, 2023  |  by Ramloti

Dear Friends,

On Mother’s Day, I would like to begin with a story about Shri Babaji and Surya Devi Baba, as told by Vijay Gupta in his book, Haidakhan Baba, My Years with the Himalayan Mystic. “He (Shri Babaji) went to the hut above (where Surya Devi Baba was staying). We heard a voice calling, ‘Eeja, Eeja’. It sounded as if someone was crying. Vijay was told that Eeja means Mother, in the mountains.”

… “I saw him (Surya Devi Baba) walking down to us from the hut above. He said, ‘Vijay, you live with Him Whom I call Mother, you are now everything to me. Come up’…After some time, the sage looked at me and said, ‘Look, Vijay, I have been living in this forest in the shelter of Surya Devi for thirteen years. I accepted water from Eeja’s (Babaji’s) hands a year ago.”

… “I asked him how he had met Haidakhan Baba a year ago, when Babaji had only appeared before the world a few months back?

… “Surya Devi Baba told me that he had fallen sick and was prey to an endless bout of vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. ‘This, then, is my test,’ he thought. He vaguely remembered some Forest Service officials trying to convince him to go get medical attention. ‘But I refused’, he said. ‘I told them quite clearly that I would not go anywhere. I vowed that I would live and die at the feet of the Divine Mother.' His well-wishers yielded before his persistence, and Surya Devi Baba kept groaning and praying to the Mother for protection.

The following morning, Lord Haidakhan arrived draped in an andi (long cloth), which He took off and wrapped around the ailing sadhu’s body. He said, ‘Don’t worry. We are here now.” He took on the role of a Mother. I would vomit on Him and He would clean me up without flinching. He took complete charge of me. My smallest needs were fulfilled. I gradually started recovering.’

Surya Baba told me he believed that even his mother could not have taken better care of him, had she been there. ‘His affection for me was like Ma Jagdamba’s love. A week later, once I was on my feet again and could go to the temple to worship the Goddess, He said, “We are going now. We’ll come again sometime.” He gave me his andi and said, “if you ever feel sick, cover your body with this.” I saw my Eeja going away, He became invisible right before my eyes and vanished.”

“Eeja”, what a beautiful name for Mother! And how grateful we are to have our beautiful Divine Eeja here in Crestone. Her bounty and love for Her children is beyond imagination. Thousands come here each year for Her darshan. Many drive 4 hours from Denver or parts thereof and sit with Her for a half hour or more and then drive all the way back, feeling quite blessed to have had Eeja’s darshan. And I totally understand.

I end with an excerpt from Raghuvir’s post about the Mother’s Day. “The representatives of the Divine Mother in our world are our own Mothers, the source of our physical body. She nurtured us into a human being and after birth took care of us into adulthood in most cases. She gave a significant part of her life so we can have ours. An incredible miracle by itself that is taking place since the beginning of time. As with the Divine Mother this is reason enough to be grateful and celebrate every single day of our life. To keep it practical and special however we have made a special day, Mother's Day that has become one of the most observed holidays in the world. At least one day a year to show in a special way our love and gratitude to our Mothers and all Mothers in general, that create the continuation of life on earth. This day we have a chance again to show love and gratitude to all the Mothers of the world. She and they are our representative of the Divine Mother.” May we all feel nourished, comforted, and loved wrapped in the arms of the Divine Mother.

Jai Ma!
Ramloti for the Ashram

A Special Havan with the Chairman of the Haidakhan Samaj, Arvind Lal

Arvind Lal, who first met Shri Babaji in the early 1970’s and now serves as the Chairman of the Haidakhan Samaj, will be traveling to the Ashram here in Crestone with his daughter, Archana and son-in-law, Jason. We are so happy to host them, and we will celebrate their time here with a special havan on Thursday, June 22 at 10am followed by a bhandara. All are welcome to attend and meet Arvind and his family. His wife, Vandana, unfortunately cannot make it this time. Arvind has written his story about Babaji in the book, “Corporate Yogi.” You can see details below under the Maha Lakshmi Shop section.

Another Miraculous Event – A Surprise Visit for Hanuman’s Birthday by Neal Desai

This family of physicians came from the East coast to see National Parks and the Hanuman Temple in Taos for the children’s spring break from school. They decided to come to Crestone for a few days because they heard there were many interesting things to see here. They had no idea there was a Haidakhan Babaji Ashram in Crestone nor that we were celebrating Hanuman Jayanti on the full-moon day they came. In Neal’s words, “the rest was grace”.

The day after arriving in Crestone, I started the morning with a jog on its beautiful long dirt roads that make you want to go forever. Somewhere along the way I lost my orientation and came upon a young couple walking to their truck. They were kind and friendly and immediately offered to help me charge my phone for directions. Before we parted I asked if there was a place they recommended visiting during our stay. They mentioned “Big Stupa”, they said the road was small and rocky but not to worry and to keep going.

As I got home still out of breath, my sister was ready to roll, mentioning how there were so many cool spots to visit. I interjected that I wanted to check out the Big Stupa first and then head out to the others from there. Soon after some yogurt, granola, and coffee, we packed in the car. My sister was at the wheel, my dad in the passenger’s seat and myself and two nephews in the back. We turned onto Camino Baca Grande and drove a few short minutes until the pavement turned to dirt and we came upon a sign for Maha Lakshmi temple. My dad immediately said, without hesitation, “take this left!”

We checked the board and it said “open at 10” with a phone number. Well it was 9:56, so we figured we’d give a call and try to visit. A friendly voice answered on the other end and encouraged us to come up mentioning a pooja. As we entered the drive, I noticed an overhead yellow and black sign that read “Haidakhandi Ashram”. I was a bit startled and slightly in disbelief. I thought this was a temple! and this couldn’t possibly be the same Haidakhan Baba I had read about and watched videos of for years, the same of Deva Bhoomi. It must be another as I described to my dad about Old Haidakhan Baba and “knew” … it must be another.

As we made it up the road and pulled into a space another had done the same and pointed us towards the temple with a smile. At that moment the temple doors seemed to burst open with a procession, as we walked up to perhaps join, we were instantly and quickly guided by another - handing us lunghis, showing us where to place our shoes and helping us wash our hands and face 🙏🏽… As we quickly wrapped our lunghis and scurried to find a place around a petal bordered Havan, I heard a warm and motherly voice echoing my nephew’s name “Rohan”. I was delighted and again slightly incredulous to see how lovingly we and especially my nephews were welcomed in and enthusiastically encouraged to be a part of the Havan! I could tell my nephews were in joy and so delighted to participate in singing, throwing rice and fruits, ringing bells in a Havan that to me had such a fresh, joyful and light spirit. (Although they still fought over who got to ring the bigger bell!) I’ve failed to mention that as I observed the procession leaving the temple towards the Havan, I noticed a draped frame being carried. As it was brought to the front of the fire, and while I don’t quite recall the exact moment the drape had fallen. I think I was both in a surprised excitement and an odd assuredness, how could it possibly be any other way? It was the Same Haidakhan Baba!

As we were flying back home, I asked my dad his experience of what to me seemed like a somewhat miraculous unfolding of tiny beauty and color filled moments. He quietly seemed to express the same, noting the moment he saw the Shrine of Maha Lakshmi, the curtains opened and I got a sense of how he was touched. He continued to recall how one of his mentors, although a Jain scholar, many years prior had atypically guided him towards Maha Lakshmi and that since that time, he would often recite Her Stotram.

It is difficult to pull parts when every moment felt like “it couldn’t have been choreographed any better” but I can say I was beyond thrilled to immerse in Hanuman beside my family. To see my nephews enchantment and curiosity in bathing Hanuman, dressing Him, and singing Him Happy Birthday with a candle lit citrus glazed delicious turnover cake. They were surrounded by so much love, encouragement and enthusiasm, so many different kind and curious voices and faces, Hanumanji abound!!!

Here's a link to us singing Happy Birthday to Hanuman: https://youtu.be/Vx0Mg_iOgKs My sister mentioned that Rohan has now started drawing Hanuman. Here is one of his sketches below. We are so grateful, I am so grateful! These moments are now and will always be a part of us, tenderly encouraging us forward. Thank you so much!

Upcoming Events

May 19, 10am MT – New-Moon Fire Ceremony and Pitru Puja

Join us for the New-Moon Fire Ceremony and Pitru Puja at 10am followed by chanting and lunch.

We will live-stream it at Haidakhandi Universal Ashram Facebook Page and post it later on YouTube at the Ramloti Wood Channel.

June 3, 10am MT – Full-Moon Fire Ceremony

Join us for the Full-Moon Fire Ceremony at 10am followed by chanting and lunch.

Daily Fire Ceremonies

Our Daily Fire Ceremonies continue to be live-streamed at Haidakhandi Universal Ashram Facebook Page and posted later on YouTube at the Ramloti Wood Channel. You may join us in person but call the Ashram (719-256-4108) ahead of time since the time varies depending on weather and the day. Usually between 9am and 10am.

Recent Events

Hanuman Jayanti

Hanuman’s birthday was celebrated with great love and enthusiasm. You can read one family’s experience above. Lots of people, lots of devotion, and lots of love. Jai Hanuman!

Easter Sunday

Some of us attended a lovely Easter Sunday mass outside at the Little Shepard Episcopal Church. We loved seeing our old friends, Sister Connie and Father Eric, who conducted the Catholic mass. We have been friends since they ran the Carmelite Monastery and miss them very much. It was a beautiful way to celebrate the rising of Lord Christ.

Karma Yoga

Karma yoga is always a part of the Ashram and we appreciate all that come to help. This last month had a lot of work put into our online fundraiser auction, which was a big success thanks to the “auction team”: Jeewat, Bryan, Elizabeth, Tracy, Milvi, Mohan, Rita, Bill, and Ramloti. A huge thank you to all who supported the auction as well by bidding and spreading the word. We have so many generous helpers here at the Ashram. Thank you to all.

Visitors

So many wonderful visitors come to this Ashram, we are so happy to see you all. Here are a few of the photos. And sometimes it is also a little sad as we say goodbye to some that are moving away, like Jane and Steve who are soon moving to England. We wish you a blessed journey and new life. We will certainly miss you.

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 and GoFundMe)

Amazon Wishlist

A few of our visitors noticed that we need different items to keep running this beautiful home of Mother and Babaji in the Rockies. They suggested that we setup a public Amazon Wishlist. This will allow people to buy items for the Ashram using their own Amazon accounts. We appreciate this suggestion, and we have setup our public wishlist. The details are below. Items will be added/removed from time to time, so please check periodically to see if there are any items that you would like to purchase. It is also useful to click on Remember after going to the wishlist. This will add our wishlist to Your Friends list and you can check it periodically, without having to find the link every time. Thank you so much for supporting the Ashram.

Please support the Ashram by going to our public Amazon Shopping List and see if there are any items you would like to buy for the Ashram.

• Start by going to https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3O3WGDJOD3WJY
• Click on Remember to add it to Your Friends list
• Add an item you would like to purchase from the HUA Public Shopping List to your Shopping Cart
• During checkout, please make sure to select Haidakhandi Universal Ashram's Gift Registry Address as the shipping address

Calendar of Events

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

Maha Lakshmi Shop

We have two great books about Shri Babaji:

Corporate Yogi by Dr. Arvind Lal
https://mahalakshmishop.wazala.com/products/corporate-yogi-my-journey-as-a-spiritual-seeker-and-an-accidental-entreprereneur-by-dr-arvind-la/

Haidakhan Baba, My Years with the Himalayan Mystic by Vijay Gupta
https://mahalakshmishop.wazala.com/products/haidakhan-baba-my-years-with-the-himalayan-mystic-by-vijay-gupta/

Bhole Baba Ki Jai! Jai Ma!