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Wow! time just flies. Looks like we went to the retreat in March and then again we are meeting swami ji this month. He is visiting New York, Toronto, Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago from June 9 – July 15.
As per his hints, there will be fewer camps in days to come.
New York team had been looking for a place for a three days meditation retreat to be conducted by Swami Anand Arun. The criteria was – a place with plenty of green, water and a little far for the city, that can accomodate all the participants for the whole duration of the camp. The Streling Inn in South Sterling, PA met all those criteria and the owner of the resort was also a Osho Lover.
The camp started on 11 June with some 40 participants, some new comers and some seasoned meditators. A whole house was converted to a mini-commune for the participants. We started with Dynamic meditation, followed by sharing, Nadabrahma, Kundalini and evening satsang. Swami Arun talked about the early days of Osho’s work and his struggle to establish Osho centers in Nepal. “All we need is a dedicated team who is ready to work hard. Money has never been a problem, once you have dedicated people”, emphasized Swami ji. He further added, “I love to stay in Nepal and speed up the work that is happening there, but I take all the pains of travelling to USA with a hope that we will build a Osho Commune in US very soon, and I try to inspire people for dedication and hard work.”
The Energy of the place had changed in a day. Everyone was enjoying the retreat. On the second day, Swami Arun shared about developments in Osho Upaban, an upcoming commune in Pokhara, Nepal, which is taking its steps in a fast pace. Today was the sannyas day, two friends were initiated on sannyas amidst an energetic sannyas celebration. After sannyas celebration, some participants also got a chance of experiencing Shaktipat. Over all the energy was at its peak this evening.
The last day ended with group prayer meditation – one-of-a-kind group meditation that everyone loved. Its difficult to explain the magic of the moment. The camp ended after lunch, but no body was willing to return back, and time seems to fly away very fast. Next year, we will be hosting a 5 days retreat in the same resort so that much work can be done on ourselves, than to just leave at the crescendo of energy.
Osho New York team, (Sw Narendra and friends) did a great job in managing the camp and for taking care of all the participants.
Swami ji arrived to US on 11th February and he sounded very tired. I have become so restless to meet him. I am waiting at Detroit airport where the flight is delayed not one hour or two hours, but three whole hours. Thank god i ate a big sandwich. There is still no guarantee that the flight is leaving today. Lets see what existence has for me in the store. May be this is the time to catch up with newsletter writing and some left over projects……. I am listening to Geeta Darshan Adh 16 discourse #6, which is so awesome….
Buddha: so god-less and so god-like
Today we had a very eary morning flight for San Francisco. We departed from home aroudn 5 because our flight from LAX was around 8am. Sarito was with us. Reached Airport at around 9:05 in SFO. WE were earlier than our hosts. Ma JAsmine looked like a good lady, so sweet. Harry, her Husband dirve his Hummer to pick us up. Besides that Gurinder and Poonam ma also came in as we had a lot of luggage. We headed straight for Viha’s Event. It was in a good spot at Weber Point in the China State Park.
It was great to meet Dhanyam and Avinasho. We did some vipassana (silent sitting) and everyone rushed towards food. I wished we listened to some Osho discourses and celebrated, a big OSho’s Picture. We were celebrating Guru Purnima and we did not even remember Osho, or hear his discourse. this was a wonderful opportunity to meet Old Osho Sannyasins and specially Ma Sangeet who did all the preparation for cases against OIF’s trademark case. She said they have no trademark waht so ever and people need not be afraid of OIF regarding Osho.
After this we drove to Dhanyam’s house, where Sw Ji and he and Harideva talked about how we could organize Osho’s work in the US and all over the world. It was a good time. Avinasho made us some german cake and some coffee.
We arrived at Jasmine’s place a bit late in the evening. Sw ji rested for a while and then we did an evening Satsang.
3rd July
Meditation camp started with 25 people. Met Sarito at the lobby. Sw ji explained Dynamic meditation in its detail. People loved it. It was already late when we finished up with dynamic, so sw ji did a quick breakfast and we headed for next session . In this he talked about Osho and his movement in west coast. People were inspired. We did stop meditation, i loved it.
We then went home for lunch. A room was booked for him to stay overnight. A quick lunch and then Nadabrahma and then Kundalini. 4 people signed up to take sannyas, be Osho disciples. Sw Ji explained the way of Sannyas and I could see the light in his eyes, the thrill and passion he has and every day it grows. Inspiring people to open centers and meditate daily.
Sannyas had a beautiful energy, people were dancing like anything, magic of Osho. Slept late in the night.
4th July
Another busy day for me. Got up early, sw ji was showering when we got it. Amritananda ferried us to and fro his house and hotel. I had not imagined that we would have such a wonderful time at his place. We loved to chat with Kanchan and Maressa their daughter, the feeing of being at home. After dynamic, we had a good session of sharing about Mala and a need of a center. Fortunately and surprisingly, a sw ji came from RIver side and he told us that he and his friends were starting a new Osho Meditation center in Riverside and wanted to inform us about that. They have about 1000 Osho’s discourses in DVD ISO format, I am sending in hard drives definitely to get them as soon as I get home.
3 people took sannyas and i noticed that the energy was better than yesterday. So much of love and bliss! And yes Bala, friend of Sw Murali and a director in Holywood, took a small interview with Sw Arun. It was really good to connect with him. It felt like all the people in the camp were like a family enjoying every moment with love and laughter.
Today we decided to go to Santa Monica Beach. I asked sw ji to be in his shorts but unfortunately it was cold. He was shivering like anything. But i took a dip in the sea although it was a bit cold. Chanda enjoyed the sea. (She was at sea for the first time). It was a good time. we then had lunch at a south indian place and then we returned back home. Tomorrow is the camp so we needed some rest.
This day turned out to be the best day since the trip started. WE started off to see LA and Hollywood, but who cared about Hollywood, we were more excited to see Yogananda’s Samadhi. It was such a charged place. I could literally feel pounding on my head and my heart beating. Thoughts ceased for a moment. Anyone visiting LA must see this place. Its in Glendale cemetery and you need to ask the info desk on the gate about the “GOlden Slumber” or Yogananda’s Samadhi, they will give you directions, which of course is impossible to find without proper directions.
We had an appointment with Bala, so we went to the technicolor building in universal Studios for a Screening at 1pm. We were runing late on time so we finished out early (20 minutes) “Blind Faith”. I liked the concept of the movie.
We then headed off for San Rafel to find the SRF (Self Realization Fellowship) building. We got there on time. Br. Aldo gave us a tour of the place, the gardens and we were fortunate enough to see Yogananda’s bedroom and living room and his library. Everything was kept so clean and everything was preserved as if Yogananda was living there at that moment. We bought some gifts for friends too. Another great experience indeed. I had read and see pictures of this place, but to see everything by your own eyes was just beautiful. We wished we could stay longer, but we were running out of time.
Today was the day to leave. We did all the huge packing. Sw Arun gives so much attention to Details and sometime I being such dis organized, wonder why he does so. Inspite of all this I always forget something here and there. And he has the habit of locking his bags, which I never do for my bags.
Rakesh dropped us off at the airport. It was like leaving back a long time friend. I feel fortunate to be connected with Such nice people. Thank you Osho and Sw Arun for all the wonderful people and opportunities to meet them.
At Ontario, Amritananda came to pick us up. He was so friendly. When i saw his picture, i thought he would be a tough guy. But he was exactly opposite. At home Ma ji and baby were waiting for us. The little Marisha was so sweet…
Dr Pandove came in the morning to see Sw ji. They had a long talk and it was very surprising to Discover that He had a long journey in spirituality. He shared his moments with his guru ji in Punjab. It was a joy to listen about him and his ways. He gave some tips to Sw Arun about losing weight and eating healthy. I picked up some for myself. We then went out to have some lunch, before which we stopped at Fry’s to just browse some stuffs. Lunch was fulfilling. WE then went to see if we could get to the tower. But it was closed. so we instead headed towards Hare Krishna Temple where we saw the evening arati.
Then Mahesh sw ji hosted a dinner at his place. It was a bit noisy and the med. room was quite unmanaged. The Gujrati food was great. Sw ji bought an iPhone for himself. It was really later when we slept!
Awesome camp. 8+10 people tooks sannyas. Deserves a lot of writing. Will do some time later!
Our days start with prayer, Yoga and silence sitting. Shushmita ma is supposed to pick us up for lunch. To my surprise I met pratima at her place. You never know whom you meet and where.
The food was good. A satsang was scheduled at the studio for interested friends on this thursday evening. Some 20 people came for today’s event. It went great. so much of silence.
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