Haidakhandi Universal Ashram Newsletter

Dear Friends,

I am writing this in the wee hours of Diwali, the Festival of Lights, before I go over to bathe and dress Mother. May the blessings of this holy time be with all of you and may the light that will be so poignantly displayed throughout the temple and Ashram tonight fill all our hearts with peace and wisdom.

I am grateful to begin this auspicious day, which signifies the triumph of light over darkness, taking care of the Light of my life, the Divine Mother. The two hours or so that I spend quietly with Her are so profound for me, the hair on my arms stands up sometimes and I find tears streaming down my cheeks. She teaches me so much during these early mornings. The words from the Haidakhandewsari Sapta Sati reverberate through my head:

“Oh Mother if we constantly remember

Thine image in the lotus of our hearts,

We will achieve pure understanding and our mind

Will always be composed without greed or deception.

Incessantly I want to pray to Thee, Oh Mother,

With lowered head and arms outstretched I beg.

Oh give me pure devotion to Thy lotus feet,

Entrancing and bestowing liberation.”

As I prepare for the evening that I am presenting in St. Louis this weekend on the Divine Mother, I realize that I have had no formal or fancy background of study in the Divine Feminine. My training and knowingness has come from taking care of the Divine Mother for almost twenty years and attempting to live that 24/7 at the Ashram. Every visitor that comes here is Mother’s child and Her reflection and so the morning puja continues throughout the day serving them food, answering their questions, listening to their problems, sharing their joy and most of all, seeing them deeply as a Divine manifestation.

I know you may have heard this so many times from me but I am so grateful to Shri Babaji for this life of mine and my service to the Mother. I feel I was first trained by Baba when I did puja to Him offering Him a veil honoring His feminine aspect.

If any of you feel inspired to learn this for yourselves, I am happy to train anyone (who has a deep love for the Mother) in simple or more elaborate pujas here at the Ashram or in your area, as I will be doing in St. Louis. I will also share that reading the Haidakhandeswari Sapta Sati on a daily basis (even just part of it) is an amazing practice. Also the book, Chandi Path (also known as the Durga Sapta Sati) by Swami Satyananda Saraswati and the Sri Mad Devi Bhagavatam continue to be a continual source of inspiration to me.

I love you all immensely and I know that our combined love moves through the world to help make it a better place and that there is peace at the end of the tunnel that some of you perceive.

Bhole Baba Ki Jai!

Ramloti

Ceremonies and Schedule

The full-moon fire ceremony this month is on Thursday, November 10 and the new-moon fire ceremony is on Thursday, November 24 (Thanksgiving Day). The fire ceremonies begin at 10:08 am and are followed by a meal. Our evening aarati is at 6pm and morning aarati is at 7am with a paduka puja in Shri Babaji’s kutir each morning at 6:40am. Lunch is served at about 12:30pm. The Maha Lakshmi Shop is open every day from 10am until 5pm.

If you would like to participate by sponsoring a fire ceremony, we would like to send you a blessed item from the fire ceremony. They are:

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

$54 sponsorship - Rose Quartz, Rosewood or Tulsi Mala

$108 sponsorship - Rudraksha Mala or Copper, silver, brass bracelet

You can make the donation online by just clicking here or call 719-256-4108 or e-mail the Ashram at info@BabajiAshram.org or 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.

Kirtan, Divine Mother Evening & Fire Ceremony in St. Louis MO. Saturday and Sunday, October 29 & 30

Since I am getting this November newsletter out early, there is still time to attend the above events. I am very excited to be presenting the evening on the Divne Mother. It will be Saturday evening, from 7pm until 9pm. It will include kirtan, stories of the Divine Mother, and a short power-point-presentation with instruction on performing a simple puja to Ma.

Inauguration and first fire ceremony in the new havan kund will be on Sunday morning, Oct. 30 at 10:08am. The morning will include chanting, puja, fire ceremony, chandan and a potluck.

Both gatherings will be held at 2231 Richert Place, St. Louis, MO 63143 but please email Sherry at sherryyogabliss@yahoo.com if you plan to attend because she may move the Saturday evening program to a larger studio if many respond.

Fire Ceremony Workshop in Pasadena, CA - Saturday , Nov. 5

This will be a great opportunity for folks on the West coast (and other places too) to learn a small fire ceremony that they can then perform in their own home. The workshop will begin promptly at 11am with a small fire ceremony and will run until 5pm. We will have an optional aarati at 10am.

The location will be at: 3210 Lombardy Rd. Pasadena, CA 90017. The suggested donation for the workshop is $108. Some partial scholarships are available. Donations will go to support the Ashram. For more information about the workshop or to reserve a space please call Randi Rubin at 951-808-1010. For directions to the event call Echo at 310-880-0259.

Fire Ceremony, Aarati & Lunch in Yorba Linda, CA - Sun., Nov. 6

After the fire ceremony workshop, I will be traveling to Yorba Linda for a fire ceremony, aarati, chandan, chanting and a big Indian feast on Sunday morning, November 6 at 10:08am. This will be at the home of long-time devotees, Chandresh and Jai Shri Trivedi, who met Shri Babaji in the early 80’s. We will also be joined by Nirmal and Indira Sharma who also have wonderful Babaji stories and have been doing a fire ceremony daily for years. This gathering should be extremely powerful and a great way to connect all of the devotees in the LA area for future fire ceremonies and gatherings. The address is 17352 Yorkshire Ave, Yorba Linda, CA. 92886. For more information, directions and to let them know how much food to prepare, please call Chandresh at 714-366-1836.

January - February Tour of Light

I have heard from several people already that are interested in setting up a program in their area this January or February. I am still having such a strong feeling that it is time for me to do a tour around the country. My deep knowingness is that combining Mother’s love with Shiva’s name and fire is so important.

What has been coming to me is the theme of Lighting Our Hearts on Fire with the Love of the Divine Mother and the mantra, Om Namah Shivaya. The gatherings would possibly include: fire ceremonies and even instructions on performing simple ones; images, chants, meditations, devotional practices and discussions on the Divine Mother; and Om Namah Shivaya chanting marathons.

If any or all of the above resonates with you and you wish to organize something in your area, please give me a call on my cell phone (since I will be traveling much of this month) at 719-480-5514. Between Shri Muniraji’s adesh to get everyone chanting Om Namah Shivaya and my ever deepening experiences with the sacred fire and Mother and Her love which I feel will guide us through this time of transition, I think it is time to put it out there and see what miracles happen.

Hermitage Report and Other Ashram Projects

The hermitage has had its first trial run with colder snowy weather and it is wonderfully insulated and warm. There has been no need yet to even build a small fire. It is a wonderful space.

Meanwhile, we are working on other improvements. We are working on installing a system that would purify all of the Ashram water so that we will no longer need to haul UV filtered water to all of the buildings for drinking water. We are also looking at improving the lighting in the temple. We will keep you posted on these projects.

Other karma yoga going on includes stockpiling fire wood for the winter, flushing the water system, finishing up the garden for the winter and caring for the green house so that we have fresh greens all winter and rocking the slope just north of the garden to prevent soil erosion.

Many of these projects will take Ashram funds so 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 at 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

The Completion of Fall Navratri

Fall Navratri was a love fest with our beautiful Divine Mother and all the divine people She gathered together to celebrate with Her. Nine magical days of singing to Her, reading about Her, praising Her, repeating Her Name, offering Fire Ceremonies to Her and resplendently adorning Her with new saris, jewels and our our love and devotion. Tears fill my eyes as I think of those days and the all the big and small miracles that occurred. I am so grateful to have been allowed to be part of it all. Here are photos from the last four days that did not get covered in the October newsletter.

An Amazing Diwali - So much Light (and Rain and Snow too)!

Many, many people braved the winter weather warning that was in effect last night to travel to the Ashram for Diwali. Our Sikh friends came all the way from New Mexico to share their chants with us and four Indian families came from Alamosa bringing a variety of rices and dahl for the bhandara after the festivities. More than a hundred people came togethe

r on this snowy weekday night with over 30 children. The energy was festive, light and joyful. The songs, chants and poems shared were deeply touching and inspiring. It was definitely hard to go to sleep last night with so much loving energy buzzing through the Ashram. Thank you to all who participated and thank you to Baba and Ma for directing it all so beautifully.

Calendar for 2011

October 29 - 30 - Fire Ceremony, kirtan, Divine Mother evening at 2231 Richert Place, St. Louis, MO 63143. Please email Sherry at sherryyogabliss@yahoo.com to RSVP.

November 5 - Fire Ceremony workshop at 3210 Lombardy Rd. Pasadena, CA 90017. For more information or to reserve a space please call Randi Rubin at 951-808-1010.

November 6 - Fire Ceremony, aarati, chanting and lunch at 17352 Yorkshire Ave, Yorba Linda, CA. 92886. For more information call Chandresh at 714-366-1836.

Maha Lakshmi Shop Report

We are so excited to announce that the Ashram has produced new T-shirts of Baba and Ma. The buff colored one of Baba sells for $12 and comes in both men’s and women’s styles and sizes. The pink and blue t-shirt of Ma sells for $21 and is printed on organic cotton in women’s (pink) and men’s (pink or blue) in a variety of sizes. They both carry powerful mantras that we feel should be spread around the world.

We also have a good supply of the

books mentioned above about the Divine Mother. The first is the Haidakhandeswari Sapta Sati written by Shri Shastriji as the Divine Mother looked on. This magnificent book sells for $14. The Chandi Path (also known as the Durga Sapta Sati) by Swami Satyananda Saraswati sells for $25.50 and the Sri Mad Devi Bhagavatam (a two volume set) sells for $81.

Although you can view most of the our items (not the t-shirts yet, but soon) on line at www.shop.babajiashram.org you may not be able to order them. If you come up with this problem, just call us (every day from 10am until 5pm Mountain Time) at 719-256-4108 with your order, questions and a credit card number like in the olden days. It is really nice to connect in this way, we love to talk to you. We accept Visa, Mastercard or Discover.

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

Maha Lakshmi Mata Ki Jai!

November, 2011