“To become Love is to become what you were, before you were.”
“Love needs to be learnt” (प्रेम सीखना पड़ता है) – this statement was imprinted in bold within every seeker’s heart at last year’s Annual Retreat, celebrated as the ‘Festival of Love’. The message from Sri Guru was loud and clear – love is not something we do, rather something that we become. But how? Well, the probability of Sri Guru revealing the ‘where’ of the spiritual path without lighting up the ‘how’ is as much as the sun rising but keeping the earth dark – it just doesn’t happen. Sure enough, just 8 months later, the sacred days of Paryushan brought with them the ‘Festival of Meditation’. It was finally time to learn the exact phases of the journey to ‘become love’, from the one who has completed the round trip.
For those connected with SRM, the significance of Paryushan Parv needs no description. The eight days of Paryushan are considered the most pious days of inner purification in Jainism. However, when observed under the guidance of a Guru, the definition of ‘purification’ is much more subtle than treating the body and mind with heavy doses of discipline. And even this nuanced definition keeps evolving with time.
Last year, we witnessed the revolutionary inaugural Festival of Meditation, where Sri Guru explained seven timeless sutras of meditation and took us into exceptional experiences every evening. It was the first time we were introduced to the ‘Beloved’ – a God who not only created us, but tries every possible trick in His holy book of Love to lure us back to Him. Undoubtedly, the most effective of those tricks is entering our lives as a Guru, which seems to be working its magic flawlessly.
At this year’s FoM, Sri Guru took us on a glorious tour of the road that leads to the Beloved – the journey of the sacred union, the journey of becoming love. Combining the depths of spirituality with fascinating concepts from neuroscience and quantum physics, each day covered one of the six phases of this journey in great detail.
If we compare the distance between the common understanding of the words ‘Love’ and ‘Meditation’ with their distance in the dictionary, the dictionary would emerge as the clear winner. But at SRM, Sri Guru has made it abundantly clear that they are two sides of the same coin. And this was indeed our experience during these otherworldly Satsangs. As Sri Guru explained each of the six phases, we meditated on her words. And as she guided us into meditation, we experienced tiny but precious glimpses of what it means to become love.
For most of us, our meditation journey feels similar to a small child in a crowd of adults at an amusement park. He can feel the thrill and eager anticipation of his favourite ride, and is desperate to get a glimpse. He keeps jumping with all his might, but the view remains just beyond him. Moved by his eagerness and enthusiasm, his mother can’t help but lift the child on her shoulders for a sneak peek of the joy that awaits! This year’s festival of meditation was Sri Guru lifting us all on her shoulders.
While the evenings were all about becoming love, the mornings offered an opportunity to deepen our understanding of Sri Guru’s personal letters to us based on her own journey of becoming love, compiled in the book ‘Dear Seeker’. Gautam Prabhu, Shivani Prabhu, Ajay Prabhu and Lakshita Prabhu were specially trained by Sri Guru to unearth the jewels buried within each letter and share it with us. The speakers delivered with outstanding clarity and palpable connection. Following each session, seekers were given reflection worksheets to contemplate their own spiritual progress, identify obstacles, and determine small, actionable steps forward. These sessions also revealed intriguing behind-the-scenes facts about the book. For instance, did you know that Sri Guru wrote all 12 English letters in just 10 days in February 2024? The content team then took nearly three months to translate them into Hindi. Sri Guru’s divine flow fills us with nothing but complete awe!
23rd August was a very special day in this year’s Paryushan Parv. It was not just our Beloved Guru’s birthday, but also a day to celebrate Mahaveer Jayanti like never before. In Jain mythology, the tale of Queen Trishla’s 14 dreams before Lord Mahaveer’s birth is well known. Less known, however, is the story of how Lord Mahaveer, through his extraordinary life, willed those very dreams into reality. Our cultural team brought this magical tale to life through a musical play. It still feels hard to believe that the team had only 20 days to bring the play from the ideation table onto the stage. With standout performances, it succeeded in opening the audience’s minds and winning their hearts. Even our in-house ‘VFX team’ deserves a special mention for recreating an AI version of the ferocious demon Shulpani Yaksh. It could have given nightmares to even the bravest among us. Thankfully, Lord Mahaveer saved the day (and our nights)!
The journey of becoming love can never be complete without the pit stop of forgiveness. Thus SRM celebrates Kshamapna Mahaparv every year, where seekers practice a guided yogic meditation technique, and offload all the hazardous items not allowed on the path to love (anger, resentments, guilt, shame, self-loathing etc.) into the bottomless pit of forgiveness. In the latest instalment of this forgiveness festival, Sri Guru explained the root sins that lead to all other sins, before guiding us into a deep fire-like meditation practice that burned away all the banned impurities. While the meditation was shorter than in previous years, its intensity was several notches higher.
After any SRM retreat or major event, our editorial team enters into recollection mode to write the event report. This process requires an unspoken underlying assumption – there must be some key highlights to share with the seekers. But this Paryushan Parv presented a unique challenge: how do you find highlights when the entire event was an uninterrupted stream of trailblazing light? How do you ‘break’ this festival into ‘pieces’, when it was all about celebrating the canvas, the ultimate union?
Yet, there was one moment that was probably the highlight of not just this festival, but of our lifetime. In spirituality, a Guru blessing a disciple with a sacred mantra is a highly revered tradition. The mantra serves as a tool for instant connection, powerful enough to uplift the disciple from even the nadir of negativity, right into the lap of his Guru – haven’t we all felt that purifying power of Trimantra, Param Krupadu Dev’s gift to His disciples? This year’s Paryushan Parv, however, gave us a much more personal and relatable tool for connection, marking a golden page in the history of SRM: Sri Guru blessing all of us with three sacred mantras, along with specific guidance on when to use each one!
We know the destination. We have the path. And now we also have signboards to check our progress, and cheat codes to overcome any hurdles. Could we be any more blessed?
We have send code on +91 9876543210. Change Number
We have send code on +91 9876543210. Change Number
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