Ashram Newsletter - March 2024

March 1, 2024  |  by Ramloti

Dear Friends,

We are moving toward the sacred night of Maha Shivaratri, the great night of Lord Shiva. It symbolizes "overcoming darkness and ignorance" in life and in the world through Shiva. It is observed by remembering Shiva and chanting prayers, fasting, and meditating on Him.

This year it is on Friday night, March 8. (Sorry, our Divine Mother Calendar incorrectly has it on Saturday.) We will begin with aarti at 6pm followed by the first Lingam Puja. Those that wish may take a break until the 9pm Lingam Puja and then we will continue chanting through the next two pujas at 11pm and 1am.

The celebration includes maintaining an all-night vigil and prayers, offerings of fruits, bilwa leaves, sweets, yogurt, ghee, honey and milk are made to Shiva, some perform all-day fasting. In Shiva temples, the sacred Panchakshari mantra of Shiva, "Om Namah Shivaya" is chanted throughout the day. Devotees praise Shiva through the recitation of the hymn called the Shiv Chalisa.

The significances of the four pujas are as follows:
1st Puja at 7pm is with Milk - Milk is for the blessing of purity and piousness.
2nd Puja 9pm is with Yogurt - Yogurt is for prosperity and progeny.
3rd Puja at 11pm is with Honey - Honey is offered for sweetness and sweet speech.
4th Puja at 1am is with Ghee - Ghee is for victory.

In the words of Swami Satyananda Saraswati: “In the essence, Maha Shivaratri signifies a transition from the darkness of ignorance to the shining light of divine joy and wisdom. Lord Shiva is the great Transformer who transitions us from the darkness of ignorance to the light of divinity. He helps us to move beyond our attachments so that we may discover the eternal Consciousness that shines behind our perceptions. Shiva means ‘auspiciousness’ and He represents the Consciousness of Infinite Goodness. Lord Shiva, through his great compassion for his worshipers, dispenses both spiritual and material blessings on the night of Shivaratri.”

I first met Shri Babaji in This physical form at Shivartri, 1981 in Wape, Gujarat. Having just arrived in India and not knowing anything about the tradition or knowing what Shivaratri was or when it was, I did not participate in the all-night festivities. It was my good karma to come to meet the Lord of the Universe, but perhaps not enough to bathe Him in milk, yogurt, honey, ghee: as I found out later, some people had been blessed to do.

So, my first Shivaratri celebration was the next year in 1982, in the small apartment of a friend, Parvati, in Lahaina, Maui. From sunset to sunrise, just the two of us sang “Om Namah Shivaya” accompanied by a shruti box. It was quite a sadhana but also very powerful. When I went home to catch a couple hours of sleep before I went to work at 10am that morning, I asked Lord Shiva to show Himself to me.

After falling asleep, I was awoken by a loud crash. I jumped up and looked around the condo but could see nothing so fell back asleep. A few hours later, as I went out the door, I saw the cause of the shocking noise. The condo next door had been struck by a huge lightning bolt in the roof and the gaping hole had been covered with a bright blue tarp. Now understand that it had not been raining or storming and I had never seen lightening on that side of the island before. I felt it was my prayer to Lord Shiva that had caused such a disaster and I learned to be more specific with my requests because He does listen to our prayers! Lord Shiva Bhagavan a Ki Jai!

I have continued to observe this sacred night of Lord Shiva since then. I remember in 1995, when we only had the small part of the temple built and there was very poor heat, if any, in it. We would bundle up with many layers and even wear gloves to play the harmonium. In those days we would chant from sunset to sunrise and there was only a half dozen of us or so chanting. By the end, we were pretty frozen and came into the equally cold earthship and sat around the stove with the oven door open sipping hot tea. But one of the purposes of these austerities is to help us overcome our need for comfort, which we had done pretty well that night. It is far easier for me to chant in the larger temple were we have adequate heat with many other devotees. There are generally a few harmonium players so that you can take a break from sitting for so many hours. I do remember, however a few Shivaratris that I was the only player and somehow the energy pulled me through for the many hours of chanting. During Covid, we did the evening program and chanting on Zoom, which was something but not quite the same. We are looking forward to all being together again for this Maha Shivarati and chanting Lord Shiva’s mantras and names. We will live stream the pujas throughout the night if you would like to join at Haidakhandi Universal Ashram Facebook Page.

This year we are learning the Shiv Chalisa. (Chalisa means 40 verses and like the Hanuman Chalisa, there are other ones to some of the dieties.) I include here both the PDF of the words and a recording of Anup singing it simply so that we can learn proper pronunciation.

Shiv Chalisa PDF
Shiv Chalisa MP3

Have a blessed night of the great Lord Shiva.

Om Namah Shivaya!
Ramloti for the Ashram

Upcoming Events

March 8 - Maha Shivaratri - Lingam Pujas at 7pm, 9pm, 11pm, 1am MT

Maha Shivaratri known as The Great Night of Lord Shiva will be celebrated on Friday night, March 8 going into Saturday early morning, March 9, which is the dark moon day. Lingam pujas will be performed at 7pm, 9pm, 11pm, 1am. There will be chanting in-between these pujas.

March 10 – New Moon Fire Ceremony - 11am MT

New Moon Fire Ceremony, Pitru Puja, and chanting followed by a meal.
Live-streamed at Haidakhandi Universal Ashram Facebook Page and posted on YouTube at the Ramloti Wood Channel later in the day.

March 25 – Full Moon Fire Ceremony - 11am MT

Full Moon Fire Ceremony and chanting followed by a meal.
Live-streamed at Haidakhandi Universal Ashram Facebook Page and posted on YouTube at the Ramloti Wood Channel later in the day.

April 9-17 - Spring Navratri

The Divine Mother Festival with daily Pujas, Discourses, Readings, Chanting, Children’s Day, Blessing of Maha Lakshmi at the Creek, and Fire Ceremonies. The Fire Ceremonies begin at 11am.

Daily Events

We continue to do Aarati each morning at 7am and evening at 6pm. You are welcome to attend. We also continue our daily fire ceremony, which is generally live-streamed at Haidakhandi Universal Ashram Facebook Page. You are welcome to attend at any time, just call the Ashram first at 719-256-4108 as the timing varies depending on the day and the weather.

Recent Events

Shri Babaji’s 40th Mahasamadhi Commemoration

This year’s Mahasamadhi commemoration held special significance since it was 40 years since He left His body. As we did Paduka Puja to the Sandals that He wore and offered the Sacred Fire Ceremony, it still struck me that we were not aware that this would happen so soon, after just 14 years of His manifestation on earth. He had told us several times about this, but who could hear as we were so overwhelmed by His Presence and Love.

Here are a few times He shared His short presence with us.

“The joy of walking with God is like nothing else in the world. I thought of Surya Devi Baba, who had told me that a person attains siddhi after meditating for fourteen years in Uttarakhand. Anxious to satisfy my curiosity, I questioned Babaji and asked Him why this was so. He waved His hand in an arc and said, ‘After meditating here for fourteen years, a man becomes enlightened.’ He laughed and said, ‘Birju, we have also come here for fourteen years.’

I couldn’t fathom what He meant at the time. How ignorant I was! He told me so many times, ‘We will do our work and leave soon.’ Yet it made no impact on me. I never quite understood that He would only be with us for a short period of time.” – Haidakhan Baba - My Years with the Himalayan Mystic by Vijay Gupta - page 129

“In the initial years, he would often remind us, “We had only come for some time.’ But none of us paid any attention. He displayed His leela to Makkhanji in 1972. But we were so mesmerized by His presence that we all forgot that Babaji would leave us one day, after building several temples in the world in just a short span of fourteen years.” – Haidakhan Baba - My Years with the Himalayan Mystic by Vijay Gupta page 166

Here is one comment we received about Shri Babaji’s Mahasamadhi "I often wonder if the way of His (Babaji’s) passing was a leela around the theme of prem (love) that carried a special significance for His Western devotees. For me, it is a teaching that demonstrates the self-sacrificing and unconditional nature of His prem. The metaphor has become the reality here. Laudato si' O mi' Signore. Let us always remember the ocean of prem, the sweet, gracious, all-giving, all-forgiving Lord. He is what we give when we love, He is what we live when we live in prem."

Lots of Birthdays and Anniversaries!

This month of February it seemed many people came to the Ashram to celebrate their birthday and anniversary. We are grateful that so many want to spend this special time with Shri Babaji and the Divine Mother. Here are some photos.

Karma Yoga at the Ashram

Still plenty to do around the Ashram, clearing snow, preparing, serving and cleaning up after food, ceremonial preparation and cleanup, computer work with accounting and web management, upkeep for our water system, shop sales, cleaning, and so much more. Thank you to all that help, we could not do it without you.

Visitors to the Ashram

Even in February we have been quite busy with visitors. First-timers and old-timers, we love and appreciate you all. We know the love and devotion you bring makes a difference here. Thank 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
• Venmo (@babajiashram)
• 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 continue to have some great books in the Shop. Here are a couple with a review of the first one. We also carry wonderful photos, here is the link to the Shiva photo in the newsletter.

Autobiography of a Bhogi by Raghuvir Charan Chaudhary - $36

https://mahalakshmishop.wazala.com/products/autobiography-of-a-bhogi-a-life-with-babaji-by-raghuvir-charan-chaudhary/

“Autobiography of a Bhogi: life with Babaji will leave you mesmerized with wonder and devotion for Shri Haidakhan Babaji - that Divine lightening that stood still in human form for the blink of a universal second and then merged back into the Source. The author, Raghuvir Charan Chaudhary who lived with Babaji from 1981 to 1984, describes with some beautiful and witty stories and very rare photographs, a fascinating, larger than life tale of how experiences and learnings worth several lifetimes were taught by Babaji to all who came to him - in just the 14 years He spent on Earth. A fascinating read!

Haidakhan Baba, My Years with the Himalayan Mystic by Vijay Gupta - $15

https://mahalakshmishop.wazala.com/products/haidakhan-baba-my-years-with-the-himalayan-mystic-by-vijay-gupta/

This latest Book about Shri Babaji gives us an extremely close up account of the early years of His physical manifestation. Since Vijay lived with and served Babaji from 1970 through 1973, he shares very honestly and clearly what it was like to eat, sleep, and live with Divinity. It is a must read for every devotee.

8”x10” Photo of Lord Shiva Painting by Naga Brand - $15

https://mahalakshmishop.wazala.com/products/babaji-color-sepia-tone-photo-8-x-10/

The Maha Lakshmi Shop makes up a large part of the Ashram budget, and is open daily from 10am until 4pm. Thank you for your support.

Bhole Baba Ki Jai! Jai Ma!