Lucknow Trip 23rd July 2010

The special train for the Bandara at Lucknow started from Chennai on 21st July at 9.30 PM with around 1500 abhyasis and more than 100 volunteers who worked tirelessly for uploading and distributing food and water for all the abhyasis.

The 46 hour journey gave us ample time to take individual sittings in train and get introduced to our fellow travelers. The formal introduction gradually turned out to be a discussion of our experiences with The Master. It was amazing to see how people from different walks of like, who spoke different languages and in different profession where strongly united by the same Master, Mission and
Method .

Though initially many of us were little frustrated due to unexpected delay in the special train by one day yet the satsangs conducted in the train made us witness Master’s presence strongly. We reached the celebrations venue at Lucknow on 23rd July at around 9 PM. The venue was such a massive piece of land with a big meditation hall which can accommodate around 40,000 abhyasis, Master’s cottage, tents for all the abhyasis, canteen, Kitchen, Comfort dormitories, Kids zone, book store, general stores, medical centre etc. Thousands of volunteers were working for twenty four hours in various areas like canteen, security, house keeping, transportation, medical, children’s zone, book stall, meditation hall etc.

During these Bandaras Master gives us a chance to live a simple life and be identical with nature. Taking bath in cold water be it early morning or midnight, staying in a tent, sleeping on the floor, sharing common toilets all these would never appear to be discomfort because the heart is joyously awaiting to participate in the birthday celebration of the Master.

More than 40,000 abhyasis gathered in the meditation hall on 24th July at 7.30 AM in pin drop silence, you listen to the Happy Birthday tune and Master enters the meditation hall; even if you have met the physical Master 1000 times in your life and been in Sahaj Marg for more than two decades yet you cannot control those drops of tears which rolls down the eyes. They are drops of love and gratitude emanating from the depths of our being. what else will you pray for except your Master’s good health and long life. They are moments of inexpressible grace. Does a abhyasis feel elsewhere or does he/she has the consciousness of existence at all? How lucky is the one who has a living Master who creates such a moment for all His disciples.

Few books and DVD’s were released. Rev.Master solemnized few weddings and gave though provoking speeches.

Yet another remarkable aspect of this Bandara was that 25th July also happened to be Guru Poornima day. A day when your spiritual progress is many folds. We boarded the special train to Chennai on 25th July at 11.45 PM. We met our fellow passengers as strangers; slowly exchanged eatables, gifts and rich experiences and within a short time a strong feeling of brotherhood prevailed.

Whether we are able to perceive it or not, in every Bandara Master inculcate in us brotherhood, tolerance, simplicity, service and devotion and then makes us taste the divine nectar.
From the spiritual perspective Master has always remarked that when many people meditate together the progress is exponential. Babuji has beautifully put it in Whisper’s that they are days of special grace you can imagine as if electric current surrounds the entire globe. The only question is are we sensitive enough to perceive it?

Even before we reach home the heart starts longing for yet another Bandara. A Persian poet has remarked “Whenever you look for Divine grace, keep your heart fully empty because it is often like a full bottle of wine poured over a small cup”. So let us start to prepare ourselves for the next Bandara.