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Sondra's Comments on India trip
April 22, 2005
I know Babaji gave me this karma yoga to expand my exposure and get more focused. The fire ceremony seemed to be the highlight for everyone. This is a very elaborate form of worship where the yogis sit around a huge fire and make offerrings of fruit, flowers, incense, coconuts (to crack your ego) grains and so on. This is done while very ancient mantras are recited and very speical music is played. We all stand around and do very intense prayers to the Divine Mother during this 45 minute long ceremony. The fire clears everything. This ceremony is so powerful that it changes the elements. No mistakes can be made. You can create magic results by attending it. The other highlight of course is the cave where Babaji materialized his body in l970, appearing as a young man out of a ball of light. To sit in this cave is really something. People had visions and all kinds of realizations. For me it is where I review the work I have done and receive guidance for the coming year of service. It is my grounding place. This year Babaji told me I had BECOME the cave and therefore I was grounded enough to be stretched way out by him. Many students saw their past lives in there or parts of their birth. It IS like being in the womb. Because of all the years I have gone to India, I have spent a lot of time developing relationships with the Yogis who spent years with Babaji. Therefore it is very easy for me to get them to come to speak to my group and so we had a guest each afternoon for their experience of the whole picture. They never let me down in their ability to blow people's mind. I just love watching the results of what they say affect everyone in my group.
Bhole Baba Ki Jai! Sondra Ray! |
Who wouldn't want to go to one of the holiest places on earth where you can actually change completely in just a few days, clear your karma, become all that you can be and also be in BLISS at the same time? Is it possible really? Yes it is. Twenty four lucky people came with me this year to Babaji's ashram in the foothills of the Himalayas. And as a result they are on the rapid path now of becoming yogis and goddesses (Well Mother Teresa DID SAY that your only saddness should be that you did not become a saint) I myself got to be their guide while also going through huge changes in front of them which they enjoyed witnessing. It is all an exciting adventure and the highest spiritual alchemy I know of. After an 8 hour bus ride from Delhi, we piled in jeeps to go through the jungle and for this I suggested they be in silence...and that ride was a meditation that they will all remember their whole lives. Approaching Babaji IS approaching God, since he is an Avatar and was not born of a woman. Like Melchizadek in the Bible he had no father, no mother and he descended directly from the Source. His presence is eveywhere even though he took Samadhi in l984. He comes and goes. Several people witnessed him showing up. People often cry upon arrival in Herakhan because they feel "home" and like it is the completion of the soul. Our group was 24 of the 350 people who had come from all over the world. We even had 55 Russians this year. I was particularly happy to meet the Greeks for the first time as they invited me to come and work in Greece! We were all there to celebrate Navaratri the Divine Mother Festival...nine straight days of celebrations to the Divine Mother. In India they say there is nothing higher than worship of the Divine Mother so doing that for nine days is the highest thing I have yet to experience. Everyone agreed and they did not even complain about getting up early at 4 AM to bathe in the river Ganga. After meditation and chanting in the temple, one is high as a kite and it is only 7:30 in the morning and so you just get higher then all day.
The only challenge is really handling the bliss and the energy which can and does bring up everything unlike itself...which is the whole point. That is how you get healed . Even if someone got sick , they went through it quickly and with gratitude even because they knew they were being released from heavy karma fast and besides the whole group helped them get well quick. And since my group gets to do rebirthing frequently, it is not really an issue. No one is stuck for long . I was happy to note that nobody complained this year about anything. They were so honored to be there. They were willing and open and therefore they got the maximum benefits...so often they stopped me to thank them for bringing them. This year I was given the assignment/task/karma yoga of service to do the following: I was asked to carry the umbrella over Babajis feet (padukas - silver shoes carried on a tray covered with flowers) which were carried on the head of a yogi at the beginning of the ceremonies. Babaji always LEADS the procession in this way and Muniraj (guru in residence) comes behind with his entourage. This meant I had to walk around with Babaji the whole time ahead of Muniraj which was quite intense to say the least. I had to do it barefoot and often on hot rocks when crossing the river bed. If I would be out of my body or unconscious for even a second, the yogi would catch me and tell me ....even if l/4 inch was not in the shade. It required incredible focus and I had to be able to handle the fact that everyone would stand up and look at me as we passed by. 
Since my group was getting rebirthed they really stayed on their feet and could keep up . Every year people from outside my group want to join us because they are having a much harder time. I have to turn them down explaining that the group has paid me to be their guide and it would not be fair. As a group we did however help the others as much as time permitted. The wonderful thing about being there is that your thoughts manifest with record speed and all your desires are somehow magically given even though we are in such a remote area. You meet exactly who you are supposed to meet and what is said to you by anyone is the perfect thing you need to hear for making change. It is all happening like a Divine Circus where you get to experience magic all the time. The miracles are just amazing and unforgettable. It all kind of reminds me of the science fiction moving called SPHERE. Dustin Hoffman played in that. There was a ball of light that created a magic state of consciousness if you were lucky enough to go inside it. And you could always tell who had been inside it because their thoughts would manifest immediately in immense ways. For example if the person would think "books", then tons of books would materialize around him! Of course negative thoughts would materialize too so you better not think "rats". Well it was an amazing movie and I have always wanted to meet Dustin Hoffman so I could tell him that I know a place that is a REAL sphere and it is not science fiction. That place is Herakhan during Navaratri. *** Put it on your wish list if you really want to evolve and you know we have to evolve quickly now because the whole planet it ascending. Go to my website for the information. Next year it will start March 30.