Second Teachers Training in Krishnalaya, Northern California
After the AAPI convention we flew to San Jose and then drove 5-6 hours to Krishnalaya, a peaceful retreat center located in Northern California. We rented out this retreat for the second teachers training. The drive was quite scenic. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM drove with Ma Sachitananda, Bhaktananda, and I. During the long picturesque drive, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM talked and joked. At one point when we were talking about people who miss the master, He said, "I am your gate. Do not worry" It was as if he was telling us, relax, do not worry, I will take care of your spiritual growth and enlightenment.
Krishnalaya was a beautiful resort nestled in a remote part of the state near Oregon border. The resort was located on the banks of Eel River. In total we had 50 or so participants for the teachers training. By this time we had a teachers training manual and also insisted on pre-work prior to teachers training. We had a large contingent from Seattle, mostly a group of young Microsoft techies who attended THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's NSP program in Seattle. Bhaktananda was managing all the training programs and was doing the pre-screening and following up with participants to ensure attendees came prepared for the teachers training. We were doing this to ensure all those attending got done with the training aspects quickly so that they maximize the precious time they had with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM.
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM started the introduction session with a 3 hour talk and told us point blank, in no uncertain terms, to wake up and grow consciously or be ready to be exploited by a whole host of special interests all of whom have a personal interest to keep us in a subdued/ignorant state. After this discourse it was quite clear this teachers training was going to be different right from the word go!
By this teacher training we got ourselves more organized. Teachers were given pre-training work in terms of repetitive reading and internalization of the LBP Level 1 course materials. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was quite clear that there is as much learning (actually a lot more) that happens in the presence of the Master as it does on the technical aspects of delivery of the chakra discourses. In fact by now, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM wanted all of the pre-work done ahead of the training retreat so that He could spend most of the time with the participants. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is quite clear that He first cares about the teachers' own personal growth and transformation. He wants them to experience the truth so that they can transmit their experience to others and inspire them to start their journey of personal transformation. His model is simple, yet profound – raise human consciousness through personal transformation, one individual at a time.
The location of the teachers training in Krishnalaya was spectacular. The cottages were located on the banks of a River Eel and we were surrounded by mountains. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM aptly called the river Eel Ganga. Like in the Ganges, all of us would gather near the river and those who could brave it jumped into the 40 def F water and had a lot of fun. We would complete our breakfast and head to the class. After an hour or two of the teachers training session, we would all gather on the banks of the Eel River where we erected a makeshift tent and sit down with the Master. We would sit for hours together; sometimes it was singing, dancing and kirtans. Sometimes, the Master would deliver teachings, sometimes it is a profound truth, sometime it is intense silence. But I know at every moment He was always working on us at various levels of our being – sometimes on transformation at the physical level, but most times His work is at the subtle level, the "invisible" work of inner alchemy.
Learning
Joking and having a great time!
On the 5th or 6th day of the teachers training, we completed most of the formal training. It was a cold, misty day and we proceeded to our makeshift. It started like every other day, singing kirtans, joking and having a great time! THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM also started singing kirtans and we spent a few hours with him. It was about 2 pm in the afternoon. It started raining quite heavily and a lot of us got wet. It was quite cold, probably in the 40's (degree F). Then all of a sudden, I remember there was a request from one of our devotees (I think it was from Ma Viroopananda, our Columbus devotee) requesting THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to give us a meditation technique. There was a sudden silence; it was as though He had instantly put us in a meditative state. We felt this silence of our mind and all of said later that every one of us felt the same, a feeling of intense silence. We had all lost track of time. I don't know when this instruction was given, but I think sometime after a few hours all of us closed our eyes. Then THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM started talking – he ordered that super conscious energy and said as an enlightened master he is demanding that all the gods come down and shower blessings on this group. He invoked the presence of Devi and Shiva (the feminine and masculine aspects of the universal spiritual energy) and said, "As an enlightened Master I am ordering you to come down and bless this group". It was quite an amazing moment. Several of us at this stage had some truly amazing experiences.
As soon as the invocation was over, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM instructed us to open our eyes and look upwards. It was the most spectacular sight. All of us could see a circular area right above us where the sky was most beautiful. We saw stars with absolute clarity and brightness. They looked like grapes waiting to be picked. All around us the sky was overcast, but just overhead, there was this circular region where the stars came out with absolute magnificence and brightness. He simply laughed characteristically and said, "Enjoy the moment, the starts have come out to greet you!" He said this and walked away towards his cottage. All of us were spell bond. This was the first time the Master has shown a group of us that the cosmos is at the service of the enlightened master. This was one of the turning points of the US mission.
Words cannot do any justice to the experience. Again I am sorry for those of you who may question and not believe this, but honestly what happened is the truth. All I would ask of those of you who doubt this incident is to be open-minded and talk to any one of the attendees of this teachers training. There were 50 of us who experienced this truly exceptional moment in His mission.
When I look back and reflect, there was not a particular instance I can pin point and say "yes! This is when my understanding has happened." The beauty of my journey is I know I have transformed, I know nothing shakes me these days, I know I do not go through a low curve in my mental demeanor, I know I am intensely living in the moment with passion, I know I can be an intense observer, I know when I make a mistake I am not hard on myself, instead, these days, I feel, "Ok, I could have handled this situation better and I will next time" and that's it – there is no pondering or feeling of guilt, just an understanding and that's it. It is quite a liberating feeling. Yet if there is one point I can pinpoint where there was a step change in my understanding it was at the Living Enlightenment. This was a program where there was surely something mystical, something that He did at the very core of the being. This essentially eliminated the "low energy curve" for me. I will discuss more about living enlightenment towards the end of this book.
But every time I am with him there is a new understanding, a cue from His body language, and a cue from how He handled a particular situation with utmost compassion. I am also sure there is a whole lot of alchemy that goes on "under the hood", i.e., in the subtle dimension. The reason I am sharing this I hope and wish those of you reading this will appreciate what a blessing is is to be in His presence. I hope all of you understand that He is here and now and with open arms giving us the confidence that the path of spirituality can be easy, fun, exciting, transforming. And more over if I can do this so can you. But we need to take the first step and be patient and open to the process. If we take one step, He will take hundred steps to help us on our journey. I know He has bestowed enormous grade on me over the last four years and for this, I am eternally grateful.
The day after this incredible day, we were again with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM sitting near Eel Ganga. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was joking and all of us were having a good time. He asked us casually, "Should we have an Ashram in US? I think we are ready." He paused and asked, "How many of you would like to come and be a part of the ashram?" He was truly opening up His space and reaching out to the people who wanted to be with Him, to be with God. If I look back, it was nothing but the divine reaching out and asking us, "Come on here and let me show you the path and take you to the space in which I reside always." And yet, like me who struggled when he opened his space to me and asked me to jump in, several people were afraid. There were 12 people among the participants who jumped at this opportunity and wanted to take this journey. )
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was very happy this group of people wanted to be part of starting the USA mission in earnest. He quickly asked us to prepare for a homa (fire ritual) at the bank of Eel Ganga. We had a wonderful ceremony on a cool chilly afternoon on May 16, 2005. After the homa THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM dropped another bombshell – he said, "The LA Ashram will start before October 1, 2005!" It was already mid May and there was a little over 4 months for the ashram to start! The logical mind wanted to reason and question how can THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM make these statements so casually? Yet, I realized that when Master utters these words, it is simply bound to happen. So we started this exciting new chapter in our mission, now preparing the move to Los Angeles!
I will talk in detail about the LA Ashram and how this came together in the next chapter. After this teachers training, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM left for Bharat for Gurupoornima. Ma Sachitananda and I accompanied THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to Bharat.