Ashram Newsletter - February 2024

February 9, 2024 | by Ramloti

Dear Friends,

When I was in Haidakhan in 1981, Shri Babaji told us it was time to spread His message of Truth, Simplicity, and Love. On Sept 14, 1981, Babaji said: “It is the duty of everybody who comes to Babaji to spread and repeat the name of God and to spread His message of Truth, Simplicity and Love. Those who return to their homes should go on tour and tell people that the way to save mankind is by following the teachings of Shri Babaji.”

Having heard these words, I agreed it was a good idea but was more than a bit nervous to go on tour, it seemed like a large and unknown venture. But then I remembered I had done slide shows at my son’s school encouraging more parents to volunteer in the classroom. Hiding behind a slide projector in the dark was much less daunting than standing in front of an audience. So, I decided I could go around the country doing slide shows about Shri Babaji and His teachings.

That hurdle being overcome, I realized I had a camera but no film. Finding film at the Ashram or in the little town of Haldwani in 1981 was pretty much impossible. I mentioned my dilemma to someone, and she said, “Ask Babaji for some film, people give him everything.” Now that was also a bit scary. But I soon rustled up my courage and asked Him.

He smiled sweetly and went to His room and brought out two rolls of film, slide film to be exact. It was as if He knew exactly what I wanted to do with the photos I would take with that film, and of course He knew everything. It was as if Shri Babaji was guiding me on the path with every step. And so it began, in 1981, I got a group of friends together and showed them the slide show. They were all very enthusiastic and full of great ideas on where to go and other people and groups that would value learning more about Shri Babaji. In the early days, 4 or 5 of us would often jump in a van and travel from town to town for three to six weeks with our slide projector, harmonium, drum, small havan kund, and puja items. We also carried wares from the Maha Lakshmi Shop; Om Namah Shivaya bracelets, malas, books, cd’s, and photos of Babaji. People around the country loved getting these items and the profits helped put gas in the van to get to our next stop. We called it our “dog and pony” show and it was indeed all fueled by our enthusiasm, prayers, and love for Shri Babaji.

So, to this day, I have done hundreds of tours and presentations. These days, I am more likely to jump on a plane to take me to an area where several programs can be reached by car. I just finished what has become a January tradition in Florida meeting with many folks that have been coming for over thirty years. It has now extended to Arizona and California. There are also many new people that become inspired by Babaji and His teachings. I am doing more fire ceremonies and chanting than slide shows these days, but it is all about Babaji. Here are a few emails I received from some of the participants.

“At one point I felt sooo much bliss enter my consciousness and body, it is still there. Thank you for everything!!!! Baba definitely orchestrated that. All of that. It was so beautiful and thank you for traveling all the way and bringing your beautiful self. 🥰 go always with love from me.”

“I’m thinking of how to describe the feeling. It’s as soft, subtle and tangible as a lullaby. The love entered my emotional body and changed the way I feel about my life completely and irrevocably. My father died when I was very young and he traveled often so I can say I didn’t know him. I had often thought something like “ our father who art in heaven…” and that I have support from somewhere distant. This experience after the sacred fire ceremony is different in that suddenly I knew the feeling in my body, emotional body and consciousness of what it feels like to have a father on earth, right here, who loves, supports and protects you. Now I completely understand why and how you’ve devoted your lifetime to bringing this to others. It’s a miracle. Thank you so very much. I feel as if my base of viewing life, from my mind, body and consciousness is originating from an utterly altered viewpoint. From a viewpoint of feeling completely loved and supported on this earth, right here and now in a tangible way. The fear is absent. I know that I have back up.” “Thank you for such a beautiful morning! Ramloti, the fire ceremony was so beautiful! I have to share with you what happened after…. Ramloti, when you invited us to include someone who needs healing in our prayers, I asked for love and healing for my aunt in Chicago who has dementia. She lives alone and has been very resistant to any help or support (but she really is not safe to live alone any longer). My cousins and I have been trying to persuade her to move out to California for months and she has said absolutely no… and we have all been so worried about her. And when I left your house and was walking back to my car, I got a message…. she is ready now and she wants to move to California! Now I want to come to the Ashram in Crestone and bring my daughter.”

“Oh Ramloti. Today was wonderful. It was great to see you and Bipen and everyone and the usual Leah, Sula Maya. Just amazing. Energy was wow. I’m still high from it.”

“Hi Ramloti, I hope things are going well for you. I miss you, the house seems really empty! I loved the Vijay Gupta book. It felt like I was right there with them on their tours together with Babaji and somehow it makes our Florida tours more meaningful. Now I want to try and get to Crestone sometime this year. Lots of love 💕 to you and thanks for keeping Babaji alive for so many of us. Xxx”✨

Which brings me to my final thoughts about all of this. As the above letter referred to, in Vijay Gupta’s book, “Haidakhan Babaji, My Years with the Himalayan Mystic” he often shares stories of Shri Babaji going from place to place to give darshan. Here is one quote, “On the way, I remarked, ‘Prabhu, you stay a lot in Vrindavan.’ He responded, ‘Birju, there are a lot of devotees who cannot come to Haidakhan. I go to various places and stay at Vrindavan to fulfill their desires for darshan.’” Page 191

In another place, Vijay writes about Mahendra Baba’s prediction about Shri Babaji in his book “Divya Kathamrit”. Mahendra says, “My God will come. He (Babaji) will go house to house to give darshan to His devotees and spread happiness and remove their sufferings.” His predictions came true, and Prabhu did go house to house to meet His devotees. He would descend to Vrindavan from Haidakhan so that the old and decrepit among His followers, who were incapable of making the trek through the mountains to Haidakhan, were not deprived of His Darshan. Page 189 We are fortunate to have a pair of Shri Babaji’s sacred padukas (sandals that He wore) at the Ashram and also a pair in the temple in Treasure Island, FL. So, these often accompany the tours bringing even more of Baba’s energy from house to house. It is truly a great blessing to be able to share the love and Divine Presence of the Lord to so many people.

In truth and love,
Ramloti for the Ashram

Remembering Matts Eriksson from Sweden

Another early devotee of Shri Babaji has passed away in Sweden. He met Shri Babaji in the early 80’s and was instrumental in the founding and building of the Swedish Ashram. We met in the US in 1980 and he helped guide me to India for my first trip in in 1981. He has been suffering from Parkinson disease for many years and therefore was unable to share his st ories of being with Babaji on Zoom. He will be missed by many, especially his wife, Valerie, and their children. May Baba keep him close to Him and shower much love on his family.

Bhole Baba Ki Jai!

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, February 14 - Shri Babaji’s Mahasamdhi, 10am MT

On February 14th of this year, we will commemorate the 40th anniversary of Shri Babaji’s Mahasamdhi, the day He left His Body. We will begin with a Paduka Puja and it will be followed by a fire ceremony. Whether it will be indoors or outdoors, will depend on the weather. There will be breakfast and chai served afterwards. It will be live streamed for all to see.

Saturday, February 24 – 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.

Friday, March 8 - Maha Shivaratri – The Great Night of Lord Shiva

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. We are sorry we did not notate this well on our Divine Mother Calendar. We will begin with Aarati at 6pm, and puja to the Shivalingam (symbol of Lord Shiva) at 7pm, and continue every three hours throughout the night with offerings of milk, yogurt, ghee, and honey. 1. Milk is for the blessing of purity and piousness.
2. Yogurt is for prosperity and progeny.
3. Ghee is for victory.
4. Honey is for sweet speech.

Shri Babaji always observed Maha Shivaratri and it continues to this day in all of His Ashrams.

It is said that when Mother Parvati asked Lord Shiva about worshipping Him, He spoke about Maha Shivaratri. He said fasting and all-night vigil and prayers on the night going into the dark moon of the month of Phalgum (February/March) would help with overcoming darkness and ignorance in one’s life and the world. The sacred Panchakshari mantra of Shiva, "Om Namah Shivaya" should be chanted throughout the day. He said, “My devotee should bathe Me in milk at the first period, in curd at the second, in clarified butter at the third, and in honey at the fourth and last. Next morning, he should feed the Brahmins first and, after performing the prescribed ceremonies, he can break his fast. O Parvati! there is no ritual which can compare with this simple routine in sanctity.”

Please join us for all or part of this great night. For more information call the Ashram at 719-256-4108 or email us at info@babajiashram.org. There are a few rooms left in the dorm if you call soon.

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, except when I am traveling. You are still 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

As you read above, there have been many fire ceremonies and gatherings. Here are photos and a few words about each location.

Treasure Island, Florida

The home of Jeffrey and Sharda Solomon have a strong and beautiful temple that houses the Padukas and Shri Babaji. The love and devotion these folks have is palpable when you enter the holy space. The fire ceremonies on their deck overlooking the Gulf of Mexico are always lovely. Although it is never warm taking our Makar Sankrant dip there, it is definitely warmer than Colorado or Haidakhan for that matter. Here are a few of the many photos from those days.

East Side of Florida

Shri Babaji’s Padukas and His devotees were hosted at the sweet home of Elaine Heroux from where we traveled to several locations to do programs. Once again, the love and devotion was felt strongly. Each location we visited had prepared meticulously in advance for the great honor of hosting Shri Babaji and His sacred fire ceremony. One of the events was at the home of Sal and Sarena Morello in Delray Beach, where we have been doing fire ceremonies for the last 30 years. Some days before the program, Sarena fell and broke her femur, so we sadly missed her at the event. We did get to see her later at the hospital, and we even took Babaji’s Padukas so she could have His darshan.

Here are some photos from the events.

Arizona and California

The next stop was in Gilbert, Arizona at the beautiful home of Vibha and Prabhat Tiwari’s. Once again, what meticulous and abundant preparations were made for the sacred fire ceremony and the hosting of the 50 guests they invited. There were more dishes of sumptuous Indian food than I had ever seen. I then traveled to San Diego where I stayed with my loving family. I still did daily fire ceremonies and people in the area attended from day to day. It is so rich to meet with others interested in the sacred fire ceremony. Once again, photos of the events follow.

Karma Yoga

As you can see from the above photos, there has been lots of karma yoga setting up for all of the programs that have been happening around the country. Meanwhile, much continued here, I just do not have many photos since I was away. Wherever we are involved in service for others, we are doing the practice of Karma Yoga. Here are a few photos from the Ashram.

Visitors

Likewise, I was not at the Ashram most of the time and the weather was not too conducive to many visitors but here are a few photos.

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

Mar 10, Apr 8, May 7	New Moon Fire Ceremony
Feb 24, Mar 25, Apr 23	Full Moon Fire Ceremony
Feb 14	Babaji's Maha Samadhi (observed)
Mar 8	Maha Shivaratri

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

Maha Lakshmi Shop

Did you know we have small havan kunds and all the items for the accompanying pujas in our Maha Lakshmi Shop. There are also directions for doing a simple fire ceremony (https://www.babajiashram.org/fire-ceremony) and simple puja (https://www.babajiashram.org/simple-puja) on our website. Here are a few of the links for items for the fire ceremony and some puja items which can be found under “Devotional Items” on the Shop Site.

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!