Back with a bang

This navratri at ashram was like a bang on the door. I mean, a loud bang that wakes you up from a deep slumber! Never in my life has it happened that five days of attending the Homas changed the way I lived my life. Many of my close friends will now unanimously agree that I have become more expressive since Navratri! Well, what magic does this Navratri behold?? Well, that's a mystery to be experienced!! The whole episode of experiencing the navratri at Bangalore ashram is like a bountiful blessing. I have some amazing experiences to share. The first experience started in the train. Our fellow passengers were a group from dharavi. While discussing our plans of hiring a rickshaw from the station, we were cautioned about the malicious intent of the rickshaw drivers! One from their group narrated how an ashram-ite was about to be robbed by the crooked-minded rick driver just when he saw guruji's photo in the ashramite's wallet and left him unscathed! We were about to change our plans when we hit upon a concrete idea. We planned to hire a tata sumo. When we reached Bangalore city Jn. we were famished. We came across a hotel where the prices seemed reasonable. We collected our food parcels and had food in the tata sumo which we hired. The sumo driver drove the vehicle so skillfully fast the we were at the gate of the ashram with in mere 50 min!! Then came the real challenge. Accomodation! Getting accomodation, during navratri, within the ashram premises is a daunting task. Soon our fears manifested. We were allocated "The Khoday's ". Khodays is around 4km far from the ashram area. Although there was shuttle service (Bus), it meant getting up early and be ready to catch the bus in the morning. Initially we were given Dormitary at khodays. It was a big hall with generous amount of ventilation(Read cold morning breeze). The bathrooms and toilets were 100 meters away from dorms. I just prayed that atleast we could be given rooms at khodays instead of dorms!!! Then a volunteer from ulhasnagar (Ashish) appeared. He collected our tags for the entry. We just hoped the we get upgraded. AND Lo Behold!!!! We were given rooms! Atleast we could spend nights in warmer rooms! The Pic below is the view of Khodays. ***************** Then came the most precious moment of my life... Meeting guruji personally. It was navami(ninth day) i.e. 8th Oct. We were, as usual, in masti mood. We were really desperate to meet guruji. Then a news wafted to us that guruji has left his kutir without his car. It meant HE was walking, meeting everyone! We (YES!+ Gang from dombivli and mulund) decided to maintain discipline. You might have heard guruji say umpteenth times... "Sit down. I will meet you all" We really did that, we sat on the path were guruji was to pass by without any commotion or chaos! We could see in distant our master was walking towards us. Where ever people made chaos guruji would move away quickly. In front of guruji were some security guards who were clearing the path. They saw our discipline and were really impressed and commented, " These kids have really maintained order" Guruji saw this and spent almost 5 min with us!!! We showed HIM Anatarag* pass. He took the pass and observed it for a minute. HE beamed and said, "Hey! you were the people who came at the Mumbai University na??" We all squealed with excitement. At mumbai university the crowd was so much that it was almost impossible to have a glimpse of guruji, but guruji knew that we were there to see HIM!!! HE later told us that we must always work in team and blessed us all by giving a "Taali" The moment he touched I felt like I was waiting for this moment for millions of lifetimes! ************** More experiences will soon be posted!! * Anantarang is a fun-filled musical event with songs, dance and blissful satsang with Krishnan Keshvan, Harshal Pulekar and Vishwas Bhaiyya. This event is organized by youth of YES!+ & WAYE. This event for which we sought blessings of guruji is on 25th of October 08, Saturday at Savitribai Phule Auditorium, Near BSNL Telephone Exchange, MIDC, Dombivli East 421202. The event will start 7:30 pm onwards. Donation amount for each pass is Rs.100/- This is going to be a very special event, so do come with all your friends! For enquiries and passes... [ Information withheld. Details will be soon published.] O.A.K.