Day 4 – March 20th

The Amazing Race scavenger hunt in NYC

Tuesday was very eventful for the yuva shakti. The New York yuvas composed a scavenger hunt for all of us to enjoy. We were randomly divided into two teams: one lead up by Liz and the other by Shrikanth (who did not help with clues since he wrote the clues).

It started off with NJ transit bus to Port Authority and bought subway tickets. We all received our packet of clues and headed off to Times Square, which was the first clue. There it started to get competitive because the teams could see each other as they started. It seemed that Shri’s team was taking the lead at first, but then sneakily Liz’s team caught up and made their way ahead of Shri’s team. The teams had to find Forever 21 store and dress up in a disguise. Then they had to walk to Central Park to find the House of Kings and Queens to play a game of chess and take a picture of us holding up the Columbus Circle globe. Neither team knew at this point which one was ahead of the other, and both teams tried to fool the other by calling and misguiding them. Next the teams headed to Lincoln Square to find the fountain and sculpture of apples.

The teams next headed to the subway to downtown to the financial district. Shri’s team figures themselves to be ahead and relax for a bit for lunch and lemonade. Liz’s team figured out a way to save time by getting off at a closer subway station. We needed to find the big eagle and decipher a clue from the wall of names nearby. We then headed to find the Wall Street Bull. Liz’s team patiently waited in line for 20 minutes to feed the bull statue, and just after they took a picture of themselves they saw Shri’s team just behind. Instead spending time to wait in line, Shri’s team used guile and brazen disregard to find themselves immediately in front of the bull. Hot on the heels of Liz’s team, Shri’s team quickly catches them with their fast runners.

However, in a twist of events, Shri’s team misses finding the answer to the nearby clue of what the 99% want to prosecute. Despite being told to go back and answer the question, Shri’s team keeps pressing on to the finish. Both teams circle around to answer the final question and head to the subway station to reach the finish at Grand Central Station. Shri’s team ends up finishing 15 minutes ahead of Liz’s team. Both teams hand their question papers to Shri and show their photos proving they finished certain parts of the challenge. In the end, Shri declares that Liz’s team is victorious and were given New York commemorative prizes.

The teams congratulate each other and take rest at the food court, relaxing after their grueling adventure. After some time we split into 3 groups to attend the 3 public programs around New York. The day ended by having dinner at Chef Yu’s Chinese restaurant, heading home and doing footsoaking and meditation.

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Day 5 – March 21st

                      89th Birthday Puja

We had many bunches of balloons delivered to the ashram in colors of pearl white, pale pink, and bright pink. We all cleaned and decorated the ashram to prepare for our Mother. Many saris were hung as the backdrop and a colorful umbrella hung over Shri Mataji’s photo. An abundance of flowers decorated the area near Mother’s photo.

During the puja we went into meditation and sang many heartfelt bhajans to our Mother. Large flower garlands were offered to Shri Mataji and in the end we all sang Happy Birthday in seven languages while we offered birthday cakes to Her.

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Day 3 – March 19th

Treatments, Cricket: New York vs. America

Monday started off with morning meditation, followed by treatments. We did candling, worked with camphor ajwain, and breathed in the ajwain in the kitchen. Irina didi from Florida led us through a new treatment: salt treatment. We mixed lots of salt with a little bit of water in a bowl. Outside on the grass we rubbed the salt on our hands at the places of the chakras, one by one, and recited affirmations for right, left and center of each chakra while rubbing the salt on that particular fingertip. Along with feeling more clear we also had smooth hands.

Monday was another rest day. We played a few games of American Yogi Circket: New York vs. Rest of America. In a startling upset, the rest of America barely defeated the New York star players 2-0. It was due to a combination of spin bowling, brilliant batting and good sledging.

Monday finished with practice bhajans for the puja: Chindwara Mein and Janam Din Aayo.

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Day 2 – March 18th

Epic soccer match, intermediate seekers meditation program, fun games

Sunday was a more relaxed day with more free time for games and activities. The yuva shaktis decided to see who was worthy of being crowned champions of soccer, and headed out to the field in their finest gear to test their merit and skills. An epic game ensued which could rival Shaolin Soccer, and even the battle of good vs evil in the universe. The players gave it their all, playing through sweat, tears, and near injuries to fight for their teams. Even local authorities were drawn to the power and energy of the game, and informed the players that they needed a permit to play on the field. Through their determination to play through the end, both teams worked together using divine diplomacy to convince them to let us finish the game. The game continued on, and after the players had given it their all, one team had emerged triumphant. The winners proudly bowed and were crowned champions. Congratulations Vikramaditya, Mohit, Balaganesha, Sid, Vaibhaib, Shri Mohan, Soumya (captain), Liz, Niraj bhaiya, Rob. Your determination will be remembered for time enumerable.

After resting some time after the soccer game we held a meditation session for the intermediate level seekers. Fab led the meditation and it was assisted by Shrikanth, and they showed the seekers how to do balancing techniques. Afterward we all ate yummy pasta, followed by a game of Wuz and Mafia. In the evening we practiced bhajans for Shri Mataji’s birthday puja.

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Seminar 2012 March 17th (Day1)

Online meditation, jewelry gift, QA with Aunties and Uncles, public program

In the morning we attended an online meditation hosted by sahaja yogis in India. The whole focus of the meditation was to feel our connection to Shri Mataji. One thing that stood out in our mind was that we should not put any barriers between ourselves and Shri Mataji, and this is possible if we have a strong connection and faith in Shri Mataji.

Sophie had prepared a hand made jewelry gift for all of the seminar participants. It had a leather rope for a bracelet or necklace with a metal Ganesha hand created from a hand made mold, and each necklace had a leela game paper on it. During the introductions everyone chose a necklace, read out the paper and told a story about themselves.

In the afternoon we had a session with the aunties, uncles and older bhaiyas and didis. The yuva shakti wrote their questions on slips of paper and then the yogis older to us answered our questions. The idea was that we could ask them about stages in life that they have gone through already and give us advice. The session proved to be very informative and helpful in answering the questions that the yuvas had. Our older brothers and sisters also gave us the suggestion to be more dynamic and active in doing the sahaja work. If we actively come forward to ask the older yogis what we can do to help with sahaja work, then this will help us all to be more productive.

In the evening we attended the collective meditation in New York city. The New York yuvas prepared a Sahaja Jeopardy quiz and the game was played Uncles vs. Yuvas. It was an intense game. The questions tested our knowledge and mettle, and in the end the yuva shakti came out as the winners.

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Day 7: Good bye

Following the excitement of last night we really needed to sleep in.

So our schedule ended up being delayed by about two hours. We had breakfast at around 10 and started the preparations for our Puja.

We had Puja at midday.

Then we went back to Mother’s house to offer some white roses, after which we all posed for a collective photo and then it was time to leave. And everyone started saying good bye.

And now we are really tired and exhausted and looking forwward to sleeping in tomorrow!

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Day 6: The Big Day!!!

Today we changed the routine, breakfast was before meditation and we got to sleep in for an extra hour!!! And we held morning meditation in the Ashram, as we could no longer fit in Mother’s House. Yuvas just kept coming! An overwhelming majority of them boys!

From the moment we woke up we could feel the excitement in the air. Only a few hours to go before the show! Everything has to be ready!
Rehearsals took on on a frenetic pace. Bhajans were perfected.

Then in the afternoon we learnt a Stick dance in less then 2h! That asked for a lot of attention. But it got done!

Meanwhile other people were figuring out the logistics of getting 70 yuvas to the hall we had rented at NYU. Some were to go in cars some were to take the bus into town.

At around 4pm everyone started putting on shoes and pilling on into cars. Driving around New Jersey is quite confusing so most of us got lost along the way.

Once at NYU we had an hour to finish rehearsing and finish setting up stuff, like our live webcast! There was so much excitement in the air.

And then we waited for the yoguis to arrive.

The programme in itself was beautiful. There is a certain magic that happens when yuvas get together for Sahaj projects, a certain vibrancy, dynamism, innocence and beauty all mixed up together. Once thing was for sure, our Holy Mother was with us, watching us.

There was also pride in the beautiful performances that we displayed, and tons of fun!!!!

When we came back after, no one wanted to go to bed, we all stayed and ordered pizza and chatted and played games till way into the night!

An unforgettable night!

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Live Streaming of Yuva Cultural Night at NYU

Day 5: Preparing for the big day!

Morning meditation in Mother’s House, listening to a very interesting talk on the meaning of Branti, Kshama, Lajja, Preeti, Nidra, so fascinating!

Today we decided to scrap the normal programme as we had to prepare for something much bigger…. the yuvashakti cultural programme!!!!!

As soon as breakfast was over, Bhajan practice started. And in other areas of the ashram we could here different music practice going on as well.

Outside boys were practicing Bhangra. Sick people were having naps. So much was going on it is hard to chronicle all of it, so if we miss out on something write a commentary.

Practice went on the whole day. Its crazy how fast a day can go bye when you have a deadline!

And then all of a sudden it was party night! But before that we had a very inspiring and powerful presentation by Scott Gaddy, on the meaning of yuvashakti!

The photos and videos can best describe the moments of joy we went through dancing!

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Day 4: Outdoors

Thursday started with all of us yuvas listening to such an amazing talk! It was a Fatima Puja in 1988 in Switzerland, and everyone’s attention was razor sharp on what Mother had to sat, and we were also laughing at times. It was such a fascinating talk! And it set the mood for the rest of the day.

We passed on to Questions and Answers, and the subjects discussed were soo moving! Questions such as “How can we increase devotion?” “Please share your best Sahaj experience” had us blown away at Sahastrara by the wonderful experiences that we heard.

After lunch we gathered again for something less spiritual, but still very important: Football!!!!!!!!! East Coast vs West Coast. Final score 6 – 6, just to keep everyone happy.

Girls meanwhile did other things together, hanging out.

In the evening we had a powerful havan to Shri Vishnumaya.

Once again we somehow ended up going to bed past midnight.

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