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Report contributed by Br.T S Chandrasekar, Chittoor Master started by car from Chennai at around 7 AM on the 19th of January for Ramapuram, where He had inaugurated the ashram in 1991. After conducting satsangh for the assembled abhyasis, He left by about 10:30 AM for Chittoor – an hour's drive away. He conducted satsangh at Chittoor immediately upon arrival with about 1,100 abhyasis present. Following satsangh, He inaugurated a cottage prepared for His stay. Master appeared happy and was pleased to see the disciplined behavior of all abhyasis present. In a private conversation, while speaking about death, he drew a parallel with people travelling in a train, where people get down and new members join, and we don't worry about anyone. In a similar way, when dear and near ones pass away, their demise should be treated in a way which does not affect the inner serenity and purity of abhyasis. After a brief rest, Master conducted another satsangh in the evening and also gave a talk in which he exhorted people to accept change, for which we should meditate. Earlier he also mentioned that two types of faith are necessary for practicants
On the 20th morning, Master conducted satsangh at 6:30 AM and left for Tirupati by road at 8:15 AM. Upon reaching, He conducted satsangh for about 1500 people assembled and also gave a talk following satsangh. Following lunch, Master returned to Chittoor, where he rested for a while, then conducted evening satsangh at around 5:15 PM. Following dinner, Master spent some time with abhyasis. He mentioned that real darshan is the darshan of the Reality within, and asked this to be translated in Telugu (local language) for those present. The following morning, Master conducted satsangh at 7:45 AM, and left Chittoor for Chennai at 9 AM. Some photographs taken during this visit can be seen at:
Master arrived on 23rd January afternoon amidst tight security at the airport on account of the impending Republic Day event. This however did not dampen the sentiments of hundreds of abhyasis who had lined up single file at the airport to have a glimpse of Master as His car slowly made its way past them and He patiently waved to the abhyasis, to their immense joy. After some rest, Master spent a quiet evening. Little did we realize that Master had begun His work on Gujarat in a quiet way. Master was up early on the 24th morning to complete the work of preparing a prefect for a centre in the USA. We could observe his tireless effort to create instruments for the transformation of human beings all over the globe. In the Adalaj Ashram premises, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, as Master made his way past the children's center to the meditation hall, He was witness to placards displayed by children expressing joy, happiness on arrival of Master. Master liked the pin-drop silence at the meditation hall as all abhyasis were seated well before Master came to the hall. From his seat in the meditation Hall, Master had a view of the six dormitory blocks where more than 2000 Abhyasis (of the total attendance of 2800 Abhyasi delegates ) were housed, utilizing also the terraces on dormitories with pandals for accommodation. With a grand opening sitting marked by amazing stillness, Master began his formal operation on the hearts of abhyasis assembled. This was followed by mellifluous rendering of bhajans by Sis Ranjana Mehta . When 'Aee Mere Gurudev' was sung by her one could see tears rolling down the cheeks of many abhyasis. As Master stepped into His car to leave the Ashram premises, abhyasis lined up along the pathway for about half a kilometre . As his car moved slowly, abhyasis waved gleefully and Master was smiling and waving back to abhyasis Although we expected Master would take it easy in the evening, to our surprise, Master announced that he would conduct five sittings over the period of stay. He had a very clear agenda set for himself! This spelt out a very clear message to both abhyasis and functionaries that we need to cultivate a sense of urgency in ourselves in attending to mission work and also recognize and assign prime importance to our spiritual wing of existence. Master conducted the evening satsangh and left His Divine stamp on the hearts through an extremely subtle sitting. On 25th after the satsangh Master decided to spend the day at the Ashram premises, which thrilled and pleased the abhyasis gathered. Master made His way to one of the rooms in the Apartment Block which was made ready for His stay Master was casually mentioning that 'It is Love and Brotherhood' which creates atmosphere conducive for spiritual growth. The onus of spiritual Growth entirely rests on the abhyasi. It is the abhyasi who is responsible for his own destiny, he commented Master was delighted to see the well-equipped book sales display that is housed in one of the Apartments. It is a large area designed to allow browsing of publications including books, audio & video. Master was very happy to see the complete collection of Gujarati, Hindi and English language publications of the Mission as well as a wide range of books in other languages including limited quantities of Telugu, Marathi, Bengali and foreign language publications, such as Italian, Farsi, German. Master enquired in detail about the technology being adopted, including usage of bar-code labels for all the publication items, and publications sales transactions. Master also had a look at another apartment which is furnished to serve as a 'Welcome Desk' on Sundays. Master then inspected his cottage that is coming up. He appreciated the roof that has traditional Mangalore tile roofing but has an insulation and water proofing layer underneath. Master provided a lot of guidance to the Civil Engineering experts who were briefing him. He made a remark that it was compact, beautiful and well thought out. In the afternoon Master came out and sat on the verandah. Very soon, over 1000 abhyasis had assembled in the open area beside the apartment. Within minutes parents who wanted to name their children, those who wanted to seek Master's approval for marriage, etc managed to meet Master . Master joked, answered few questions and won the hearts of the abhyasis by speaking in local Gujarati dialect. After the evening satsangh, Master very willingly agreed to witness a Solo dance followed by a 'Quawali' and an 'English ' song , all performed with finesse. The audience was enthralled watching these very well performed dance and music programs in the presence of Master. It was indeed an eventful day. 26th January was a very busy day for Master. After the Grand Finale (5th satsangh) Master watched the young and ebullient Gujarati youth perform 'Garba' and 'Ras ' – (Traditional Gujarati dance) Master then decided to conduct a meeting of Prefects including about 140 prefects from Gujarat and neighbouring states. Besides giving a sitting to the prefects assembled Master also gave a talk. A few paraphrased excerpts relevant for everyone are: Master was exhausted giving back-to-back sittings and fortunately had a quiet evening after some rest. Following this packed visit, Master was eagerly looking forward to move on to his next agenda in Delhi and Satkhol. Some photographs taken during this visit can be seen at: |