In December 2006, 165 Sahaja Yogis from all around the world gathered in Mumbai, India, for a ten-day tour through the beautiful state of Maharashtra. Among the eleven Australians who went on the tour were two lucky people from the newsletter team.

In Sahaja Yoga terms, different countries of the world represent different chakras and aspects of the subtle system. India represents the Kundalini. Indeed, if you look at the shape of India, you will see that it is a similar shape to the sacrum bone where the Kundalini resides.

Maharashtra literally means “the Great State”. It is also known as the Land of Shri Ganesha, the elephant-headed God worshipped by the Hindus. In Maharashtra there are eight places where natural rock formations known as “Swayambus”, shaped like Shri Ganesha, came out of the earth. The picture shows one of the eight Swayambus in Maharashtra.

Australia is also called the Land of Shri Ganesha since it, too, contains a Ganesha Swayambu: Uluru, when seen from the air, looks like an elephant.

At the beginning of the tour we visited two of the Ganesha Swayambus, at Lenyadri and Ozar. This was followed by visits to Alandi where the poet Gyaneshwar took his Samadhi, and to Dehu, the birthplace of the saint-poet, Tukaram.

Many sacred sites and temples were included in the itinerary. We went to the Bimashankur temple at Tulajapur, the Bhavani Mata temple at Yamunachala Hill, the Shri Vithal Rakhumai temple at Pandharpur, the Mahalaxmi temple at Kolhapur and the Ganesha temple at Ganapatipule.

An important place of pilgrimage for Sahaja Yogis is Brahmapuri, a tiny village on the bank of the picturesque Krishna River. In the early days of Sahaja Yoga, Shri Mataji brought groups of western Sahaja Yogis to stay at Brahmapuri. Here, She gave practical training to the seekers in ways of spreading the Sahaja Yoga message to different countries of the world. At Brahmapuri, tour members enjoyed the cool vibrations and footsoaked in the fast-flowing Krishna River.

We spent some time in the beautiful mountain area of Mahabaleshwar, which is like a cross between the Grand Canyon and the Blue Mountains, in New South Wales. Spectacular scenery, cool nights and warm, clear days ensured that our stay at Mahabaleshwar was especially delightful. Like the Blue Mountains, it is a favourite place for honeymooners. As our stay in India coincided with a very auspicious time for weddings, the place was filled with newlyweds.

The tour ended with a stay at the seaside township of Ganapatipule, with its beautifully carved Ganesha temple. This is another place of pilgrimage for Sahaja Yogis. For many years, seminars were held at Nirmal Nagari near the beach during the Christmas and New Year season. Sahaja Yogis journeyed from all over the world to be with Shri Mataji in this sacred place.

The tour was a very special and blissful experience for all the participants, with many vowing to go again next year. The blessings from the tour remain with us, even though we have returned to our homes in different parts of the world.

There was a study done in the 1960s which illustrates the nature of left-sided, right-sided and centred tendencies in children. The study, called “The Marshmallow Test”, was intended to shed light on the nature of emotional self-control. Initiated by the psychologist Walter Mischel, the study involved a number of four-year-old children.

Each child had a marshmallow put down in front of them. They were allowed to eat the marshmallow when the experimenter left the room, but if they waited until his return, they could have two marshmallows! The experimenter then left for up to twenty minutes. A number of the children were simply unable to hold out, and ate the single marshmallow. Others, however, were able to delay eating it, in favour of having the double treat upon the experimenter’s return.

What was remarkable, however, was that, twelve to fourteen years later, the children who were unable to hold out had developed many traits of the left side. They tended to shy away from social contacts, to be indecisive, to be easily upset by frustrations, to see themselves as unworthy, and to still be unable to put off self-gratification.

Of the children who resisted the temptation of the single marshmallow, we find two distinct groups: those whom we would call right-sided; and those who were more centered. Those of the right side, when tracked down in adolescence, were characterised by self-assertiveness; they embraced challenges, pursued goals, were quick to take the initiative and were often aggressive. Those who were of the centre, who were also able to withstand temptation in the Marshmallow Test, were characterised as self-reliant, confident, trustworthy and dependable.

Where the left-sided child is simply unable to resist, and the right-sided child has to exercise strong self-control, the centred child remains detached, distancing himself or herself for as long as is required, doing so with little effort. Such a child neither implodes nor explodes in the face of difficulty, but responds to it with an appropriate attitude that best serves themselves and those around them.

Brian Bell