Sahaja Yoga
Ellouin Festival, Altai Region
Ellouin is a traditional festival of Altai people’s folk games conducted in picturesque places of the Altai mountains near the settlement of Ongudai. Ellouin is the most important cultural event in Altai Republic and is yearly visited by more than 10,000 people.
Folk arts and crafts were widely presented at this festival. In the valley, surrounded by the mountains, there gathered about 20,000 people. The concert ground was the setting for Altai music. In yurts there were organised performances based in folklore. There were also many unusual crafts. In such a multiform seething stream we set our tents with Sahaja Yoga stalls, comfortably enjoying what was happening in the shade of the trees.
There gathered about 60 Sahaja yogis which created the atmosphere of a little Sahaja camp.
Mehendi painting at Ellouin Festival
There was work for everybody. Several mehendi painters sitting under a shelter were working for several hours on end painting people’s hands, not even raising their heads, and giving Self-realisation to everyone as there always was a queue . Other Sahaja yogis told people about Sahaja Yoga. Our brother Vladimir was actively giving Self-realisation using his own approach. First he arranged a rope between the trees and then started going on it to and back with brilliant skill, thus constantly attracting people. Many of the latter tried to do the same thing but, as we all know, to keep equilibrium one should gain inner balance. That is why the queue of people willing to get balance did not end, either.
Sahaja Yoga Bhajan group, Ellouin Festival
All this was taking place to the accompaniment of bhajans. Two music groups settled down in two tents. Both the groups were constantly creating a dense circle of viewers around them. Kawwalis were of special interest, gathering audiences of 50-70 people. Some people were leaving, having got their Self-realisation, but immediately others came up.
Altai people are simple and sincere and they take Self-realisation very easily as they worship Mother-Earth, River and Mountains. That is why Sahaja Yoga is also close to them. We saw an old woman (about 90 years old) getting her Self-realisation and then she sat and listened to bhajans for a very long time.
We also got an opportunity to perform one bhajan, “Guruoke Guru”, and an Indian dance on the main stage before a large audience.
In such a way, in a very interesting and intensive manner, two days passed. And of course, we had an opportunity, though not for a long time, to enjoy Altai nature, as after the Festival we returned to our Sahaja camp which we set on the bank of a rapid river in a secluded wonderful place. There were huge boundless fragrant meadows painted with multicoloured grasses. In the distance there were herds of cows and horses and around us there were mountains. What else does a Sahaja yogi need after an intensive day? To sit at a swift river in meditation, to lie on soft and tender grass looking into the high Altai sky, to sit in the company of the closest and dearest people – his brothers and sisters – at a fire drinking hot tea prepared from meadow herbs.
The trip turned out to be very fruitful as about 1500 people got their Self-realisation during the two days.
With love from the Novosibirsk Sahaja family
(Photographs: news.sahajayoga-russia.ru)
For more news about Sahaja Yoga programs in Russia, please follow this link.
Music of Joy concert, Ho Chi Minh City
I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City one week after the very successful tour by the Sahaja Yoga Music of Joy music group from Australia (Click here for a video clip of the Music of Joy). This visit was part of the Realise Asia Tour that was conducted throughout the Asian region, visiting Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma) and China, as well as Vietnam, in July 2010.
About 1000 people had registered beforehand for the Ho Chi Minh program, scheduled for 3 July. As the hall was not large enough to accommodate such a large number, a second concert was organised for the following day. Five hundred people attended the first concert, and a further two hundred came back the next day for the second concert.
A joyful experience for the audience
After Music of Joy performed, a Self-realisation session was provided. The joy on the faces of the people attending was wonderful to behold. This joy soon expressed itself in spontaneous dancing.
Since then, follow-up programs have been held for those wishing to find out more about Sahaja Yoga and its benefits, and learn how to meditate. It was one of these follow-up programs that I was privileged to attend.
Ben Tanh Markets, Ho Chi Minh City
The session I attended was run by Katie from Malaysia, who spoke to the group in English. Her words were translated into Vietnamese by Tuyet and Giang. The subject for the day was Kundalini, the primordial energy within all of us, residing in the sacrum bone. Kundalini can be awakened by the presence of someone who already has his or her Kundalini awakened. If a person has the desire for it to happen, the Kundalini will awaken, rise through the spinal cord and come out of the top of the head, at the fontanelle bone area. When this happens, the person becomes connected with the All-pervading Power. This process is called Self-realisation.
Shri Mataji
After the session on Kundalini, which was preceded by a guided meditation, we watched a short video of a talk by Shri Mataji, the founder of Sahaja Yoga. After that, we had another beautiful, deep meditation. At the end, there were lots of questions from the participants, with people wanting to find out more about Kundalini, Self-realisation and Sahaja Yoga.
Ho Chi Minh City at night
It was a wonderful experience and a great honour for me to take part in this follow-up program. The Vietnamese are very sweet and loving people, and it was a great pleasure for me to share this experience with my Vietnamese brothers and sisters.
Opera House, Ho Chi Minh City
I was also fortunate enough to be in Ho Chi Minh City at the time of Guru Puja. Guru Puja is celebrated around the world, and is a time when we pay homage to our gurus. In Sahaja yoga, our Guru is Shri Mataji. Happily, through Sahaja Yoga we also attain the ability to become our own gurus. During the Puja, we watched a video talk by Shri Mataji where She discussed the qualities of a guru, how we can tell who is a real guru, and the qualities we need to develop within ourselves so that we can become our own gurus. These qualities include patience, wisdom and discretion.
Vietnam is a very beautiful country, and I really enjoyed my visit there. Ho Chi Minh City has many wonderful parks, gardens and street plantings, gracious old buildings, built by the French, and modern skyscrapers. It is a vibrant, beautiful city.
Vung Tau, Vietnam
I also visited Vung Tau, a lovely beachside resort city, about one and a half hours away from Ho Chi Minh City by fast, modern ferry. An International Food Festival, which attracted huge crowds, was held while I was there.
While I greatly enjoyed my visit to Vietnam and look forward to visiting again in the future, the high point of my trip was the opportunity to meet and spend time with the Vietnamese Sahaja yogis.
Editor
For those of you who have already been attending weekly Sahaja Yoga programs in Brisbane, this workshop will teach you new techniques to enhance your meditations, helping you to find a new depth of peace and clarity, as well as improving your general state of well-being.
For the beginner, this is an opportunity to discover the peace which lies within and experience a new awareness that you probably never knew existed.
Here’s some feedback from our previous workshops:
“Really enjoyed the day and will continue to come.”
“Was excellent and will come again. Feel refreshed and encouraged.”
“I really liked today – found it to be relaxing and an enjoyable calm experience.”
Event details:
Saturday 26 June 2010, 2:00pm to 5:30pm
Sahaja Yoga Meditation Centre,
95 McClintock Road, Wamuran Queensland
(60 minutes north of Brisbane)
Program:
2:00 – 2:30pm: Arrival and refreshments
2:30 – 3:00pm: Meditation – how to achieve the state of mental silence
3:00 – 4:00pm: Clearing techniques to improve your meditation
4:00 – 4:20pm: Video lecture from Shri Mataji (founder of Sahaja Yoga)
4:20 – 5:15pm: Meditation and live music
5.30pm: Dinner
Cost: There are no costs or payments required for your attendance.
Directions to Workshop venue in Wamuran:
The address is: 95 McClintock Road, Wamuran. From the M1 motorway, take the Kilcoy exit and proceed along the D’aguilar Highway until reaching Wamuran. Opposite the IGA store, turn right and then right again into Station Rd. Turn left at the small roundabout into Newlands Rd for approx 3km, and then left into Patane Rd which leads to McClintock Rd. Number 95 is just over the top of the hill on the left.
View Google map.
Planning to attend? Please email us at [email protected] if you would like to come along.
Shri Mataji
The peace within expresses, first of all, peace with others. That is the first sign of the manifestation of peace. Such a person doesn’t use harsh words, doesn’t use cruel words. But he is also not a person who is ineffective. He is very effective, using very sweet and nice words. Maybe he begins by using harsh words, then he mellows down and comes down to a position where he is effective as well as he is very mild and sweet. Such a personality has to be developed – outside….
That is how our culture is going to be such that we will express complete peace within ourselves. And you must know that you are in one body, active. You are active cells in one body. All the cells of the body are never active, but those who are active have to be at peace with each other; otherwise what will happen to that poor body? So try to make peace….
So in this new culture, we have to be extremely peaceful people, and that peace should be expressed on your faces. People should understand that you are peaceful…
Shri Mataji, 1985