India Glorious India
We recently visited India to attend a Celebration of our Divine Mother and Teacher, H.H. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. The first leg of our journey was a pilgrimage and an unforgettable divine experience indeed.
But, today’s blog is not so much about the above but more about our travels through a very small...teeny weeny part of India. It is with love and the greatest respect I humbly share some of our experiences with you.
An amazing country for sure!
“It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country (with over 1.2 billion people), and the most populous democracy in the world. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast; and Myanmar and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.” – ‘Wikipedia’
India, even with its poverty, over-population, crowded noisy jammed up streets at certain parts – it would be
foolish to allow this to stand in ones way of recognizing this glorious, amazing, colorful, beautiful, deeply spiritual country.
India has always been known for its richness in ‘Arts & Architecture, Literature, Performing Arts, Motion Pictures, Cuisine, Spices, Clothing, Fabric, Sports etc. One can say that India must have been blessed by the Divine.
We've been to India many times before, however, the last time we visited was in 2006 and now we honestly say that India has changed. Oh my gosh, India is going through physical transformation at a great speed. Throughout our travels we noticed major construction taking place from building bigger, wider roads to more bridges and freeways to huge residential and commercial buildings. Development and growth is taking place from all directions, be it commercial, economical, technological, environmental, physical mental emotional wellness and spiritual growth. We are so grateful to have been given this opportunity to visit once again.
Our Arrival
We landed at Mumbai’s 'Shivaji Chhatrapati International Airport' and from there we weaved our way through a very small section of India.
MUMBAI
We spent our first night in Mumbai –previously known as Bombay, situated on the west coast of India, the capital city of Maharashtra and one to the world’s largest and densely populated city with an estimated population of 12.4 million as of 2011. Mumbai is the financial, commercial and entertainment capital of India.
NARGOL
The next day we taxied our way from Mumbai, to Nargol. We spent one night here. Nargol is a village located in the southern region of the Indian state of Gujarat near the Maharashtra border. It lies about 150 kilometers north from Mumbai. Nargol beach is dotted with Casuarina trees and the waters have a population of sea turtles. Nargol is a small typical ‘Indian style village’ surrounded with small farmhouse type of dwelling. The beaches are wide and lonely sand-beaches with big tidal water level differences.
We visited Nargol because it is of great importance and significance to us, the followers of Sahaja Yoga. One of the Casuarina tree (or Saru tree) is called "Nirmal Tree". The founder and spiritual leader of Sahaja Yoga, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, opened the Sahasrara chakra in Nargol in the year 1970 under that tree, thus marking the beginning of Sahaja Yoga. Meditating in this space was really amazingly beautiful - in a meditative state continuously.
The forest land surrounding "Nirmal Tree" has been declared and inaugurated as "Nirmal Van" ("Pure Forest") in an official ceremony on 2 March 2009 by representatives of the Indian government and other state authorities. The Forest Department protects it as Eco - Zone under, JFMC (South Valsad Forest Division of Gujarat State) for promotion of environmental awareness, ecotourism and peace project.
Nargol is also known for its Parsi (Zoroastrian) population as the Persians (Zoroastrians) migrated from Persia to land on the shores of Nargol first then spread south to Sanjan and north to Udvada.
PUNE
The next day we continued on to Pune from Nargol, about a 6 hour drive by taxi.
Pune is the second largest city in the Indian state of Maharashtra after Mumbai and the seventh most populous city in the country. It considered to be the cultural capital of Maharashtra. Pune is known as "Oxford of the East" due to the presence of several well-known educational institutions in the city. Pune is one of the fastest growing cities in the Asia-Pacific region. Pune is also wonderful for shopping, well we did some shopping here, eastern wear of course.
Whilst in Pune, we were fortunate to be able to visit my cousin. It was really wonderful meeting with her after so many years. We had an opportunity to catch up and enjoy a very scrumptious lunch together…yum yum!!!
PRATISHTHAN Sahaja Yoga, in Pune is an Ashram and Museum for Sahaja Yogis.
Her Holiness Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi lived in Pratishthan from 1986 till 2010. Her residence ‘Pratishthan’ was named after the capital of her ancestors the Shalivahana (presently called Paithan). Shri Mataji personally designed Pratishthan to demonstrate how vibrations penetrate matter and create the coefficient of vibrations. As a result Sahaja yogis come here to enjoy the beautiful vibrations that take one into deep thoughtless meditation that is a spontaneous happening. Our three night stay here was truly magical and deeply spiritual experience.
NAGPUR
We then took a flight to Nagpur. We had to say good bye, to a wonderful taxi driver, Vincent, who looked after us as a brother would take care of his sisters.
Nagpur is the third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune. Nagpur is the 13th largest Indian city in terms of population. It has been proposed as one of the Smart Cities in Maharashtra.
Oh and here is the bit/trip never to forget - Our taxi drive from Nagpur airport to Chhindwara.
All four of us (ladies) were tightly packed, like sardines in a can, into a very small car - Fiat Pinto, with four and a half suit cases plus four back packs and some hand bags. This journey, a long hilarious one, lasted about 3 hours. This situation came about by the arranged taxi man that sent his friend to pick us up but forgot to mention that we were more than one passenger.
CHHINDWARA
Our three night stay at ‘Hotel The Karan’, was wonderful, highly recommended. The service was excellent the food was delicious and the stay was comfortable.
The main reason for our trip to India was to attend the Birthday celebration of the founder of Sahaja Yoga,
H H Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, in Chhindwara. It was a purely divine experience which I wish could be shared with the world.
“Thousands of followers of Sahaja Yoga come every year to Chhindwara to visit the birthplace of H.H. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, founder of Sahaja Yoga. She was born on March 21, 1923 to a Christian family in Chhindwara, India (http://www.chhindwara.org). Her parents were Prasad Salve and Cornelia Salve, direct descendants of the royal Shalivahana dynasty. Seeing the beauty of this child who was born with a spotless brilliance, they called her Nirmala, which means 'Immaculate'. Later on, she came to be known by the multitudes by the name of H.H. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi — the revered Mother — who was born with her complete Self Realization and knew from a very young age that she had a unique gift which had to be made available to all mankind. Her parents played a key role in India's Liberation Movement from under British rule. Her father, a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, was a member of the Constituent Assembly of India and helped write free India's first constitution. He was a renowned scholar, master of 14 languages, and translated the Koran into Marathi. Her mother was the first woman in India to receive an Honors Degree in Mathematics. “Wikipedia”
“Chhindwara is the most rapidly developing city in Madhya Pradesh. It was believed that Chhindwara District was full of "Chhind" (date palm or khajoor) trees many years ago, and the place was named "Chhind"-"Wada" (wada means place). There is another story that because of the population of lions (called "sinh" in Hindi), it was considered that making entry into this district is akin to entering the lions' den. Hence it was called "Sinh Dwara" (means through the entrance of lion). In due course it became "Chhindwara". Wikipedia”
MUMBAI – Shoppers paradise
On the 22nd evening we took a flight back to Mumbai were we spent our last three nights of our journey, experiencing the very busy, noisy, crowded Mumbai. Mumbai is known for its shopping and that’s exactly what we did, oh and eat :). We stayed in Colaba, close to all the shopping bargains…and of course we bargained our way through quite a few different stores. We also did a few touristy things like visiting (the outside) of a few Indian Movie star homes, Shopping malls, Beaches etc.
25th March, we left India for home after a two weeks stay.:)
IN CONCLUSION
One of the most memorable part of the trip was the people. We are very grateful to have crossed paths or come in contact with all these beautiful people along the way. Be it the Auto rickshaw driver, taxi drivers, doorman, reception man, travel agency, shop owners/ assistants and especially the Sahaja Yogis from around the world.
A special "Thank You" to all the Sahaja Yogis at the various ashrams that welcomed us with open arms and took such great care of us, continuously making sure we were comfortable and well fed:). They showered us with tremendous love, which we will always hold in our hearts.
This LOVE in itself was a "Blessing", that we experienced throughout India. It was really comforting and joyous to be shown so much of love and care by all those of whom we have never met before.
So in a nut shell....we had a wonderful, enjoyable, amazing time but most importantly a deeply spiritual one.
Should you wish to know more about Sahaja Yoga Meditation
please visit: www.sahajayogameditation.online
