American songwriter Barry Manilow once said – “Misfits aren’t misfits when they’re with other misfits.” If we line up all the festivals celebrated in India, Paryushan Parv would most certainly emerge as the odd one out. No sumptuous feasts, no fancy clothing, no dancing, no dazzling lights or firecrackers. True to Manilow’s words, though, this misfit of festivals finds its perfect home at SRM, a community for those who drop the pursuit to fit in with the world and seek belongingness where it always exists.
For us misfits, another advantage of being with our kind is the fact that we feel like we are finally “seen”, because they can appreciate parts of us that others never even cared to observe. Every year, ‘Paryushan Parv’ gets to cherish this feeling at SRM. On this occasion, after a devotional opening with Shri Atmasiddhi Pujan, Sri Guru inaugurated the festival by alchemising the meanings of three words used quite commonly in these eight days – Pratikraman became ‘rest and return’, Prayashchit became ‘regretting joyfully’, and Pratyakhyan became ‘reprogramming’. This is how Paryushan Parv deserves to be treated and appreciated.
Return, Regret, Reprogram – these were the ingredients with which Sri Guru created an ‘intent bubble’ for seekers staying at SRM’s Paryushan Parv Bhawan in Ashok Vihar, Delhi. This bubble ensured that resident seekers were aligned round-the-clock to the pure purpose behind putting all worldly obligations on pause for eight consecutive days. The mornings were dedicated to Pratikraman, with Anu Prabhu taking care of the ‘rest’ part through YogaYog, easing the tension and inertia out of the body and mind. The collective SwaRaj Kriya ‘returned’ us to a stillness within, deeper than ordinary silence – the kind of quiet a home settles into once a loud gathering has finally left.
The late-morning sessions on Shri Atmasiddhi Shastra, designed with real care by Sri Guru and her Content team, provided the perfect platform for Prayashchit, or ‘regretting joyfully’. Seekers’ interest in these sessions was high even before the first one began, given how much thought and attention to detail had gone into preparing them. During these three hours, we revisited some of the key moments of the ongoing Shri Atmasiddhi Shastra Satsang series – regretting the mistakes that have shaped the past and vices that continue to weigh on the present. Worksheets guided this reflection. Yet, held by Sri Guru’s loving words and Grace, no one was allowed to go on a guilt-trip. Rather, these sessions felt like a way of readying ourselves for the showpiece event, like wearing a spacesuit to prepare for the launch into another dimension of existence – the live evening Samagams with Sri Guru, the Festival of Meditation.
The live evening sessions completed the circle of Sri Guru’s intent bubble with Pratyakhyan, or reprogramming. First came the mind, unlearning years of misconceptions about love and meditation. Then came the energy body itself, reprogrammed to be liberated of the instincts accumulated over lifetimes. The Yogic practice that launched us into this reprogramming orbit was ‘Shaktichalan Kriya’. Just as a rocket escapes Earth’s gravity by attaining escape velocity, this intense practice activated our dormant energies to such an extent that it could break free from the pull of these deep-seated Sanskaar. In its own way, this was a live, practical experience of ‘खोज पिंड ब्रह्मांड का पता तो लग जाए’ (Seek within, and you will find the universe) – we went deep into our own being to erase instincts stored in our DNA throughout the evolution of life. Unbelievable? Maybe. But then, who would have believed the possibility of space travel just a couple of centuries ago?
This inner space odyssey reached a significant milestone on the fifth day of the festival. In the morning, we celebrated Mahaveer Jayanti by reliving last year’s musical drama – Maa Trishla Ke Saakar Swapna. Each of these iconic 14 dreams depicts a pearl of purity in the rosary that was Lord Mahaveer’s life. Sri Guru inspired us to pick any two of these dreams and realise them in our lives – another reminder that the path is no more about dreaming or seeking, but becoming.
The evening belonged to Kshamapana Mahaparv. This was the 15th year of SRM celebrating what has traditionally been a Yogic Forgiveness Meditation event. But during this year’s meditation, Sri Guru did not lay emphasis on forgiveness as a moral obligation, but as a biological necessity to make room for something far purer. Something that, like a forgotten name, definitely sits somewhere in the heart’s memory, but just can’t find a way to expression on its own – the eternal connection with the Beloved, the Love that binds every atom of existence. The Yogic Sadhana on this particular evening worked on this supreme plane of Love. After the meditation, the lightness within confirmed that we had dropped the baggage of lifetimes, the baggage we were carrying since the beginning of time.
This deep plunge into the fire of Sadhana was based on a simple principle: Forgiveness merely replaces resentment and guilt, but Love offers everlasting insurance against them, replacing the very need to forgive. However, as we were about to discover the next day, simple things require extraordinary effort and exceptionally extraordinary Grace.
Imagine trying to recreate Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ or Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’, but through words. Maybe achievable for writers who excel at their craft, but what is the point of ‘reading’ these recreations if you have not experienced the original masterpiece? No combination of nouns, adjectives, metaphors etc. will remotely resemble the wonder of the original. That is the dilemma we face as we try to share what it was like to attend the evening Satsang that followed the Kshamapana Mahaparv. As Sri Guru entered the hall, our hearts could only stand in awe to venerate the divinity that descended with her. It was the bridge of devotion laid out by the Bhakti Team that made this descent possible. On this most bewildering of evenings, a single word chanted repeatedly during the Bhakti – Parbrahma – invited a flow of Satsang so mystical that language is unfit to describe it. But since when has love ever stopped anyone from trying? The mind registered very little of this Satsang, yet the heart begins throbbing madly at even the slightest remembrance of the minute details – Prabhu’s aura, her eyes, her transcendental demeanour, her delicate pauses between words that seemed to arrest our heartbeats, and the recollection of a personal tale that doesn’t just exemplify universal Love, but redefines it. Not a single soul who witnessed this evening unfold live will ever forget Prabhu’s prayer made for the upliftment of humanity, a prayer that was finally answered during these monumental nights of Sadhana.
‘सत्पुरुषों का योगबल जगत का कल्याण करे’ (May the Grace of Enlightened Beings uplift the world) – these golden words by Shrimad Rajchandraji have always reminded us of the purest blessing that Enlightened Masters bestow on this world. This Festival of Meditation gave us a tiny glimpse of what goes into the making of this blessing – the intensity of a Guru’s passion, prayer and patience, all glued together by love and compassion that definitely belong to a different universe.
Steve Jobs famously said – “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” As we look back on these eight days of a community of misfits celebrating a ‘misfit’ festival, this quote feels more like a prophecy. We can’t help but wonder if Jobs himself knew the enormity of his words, not least because we are graced by the presence of a Divine Misfit who is constantly changing our inner world in ways that leave all logic dumbstruck. Who really is this human, whose only semblance to human beings is her appearance?
As Sri Guru put it so eloquently in one of the Satsangs: some questions come from curiosity, when the mind wants an answer. Others arise in wonder, when the heart receives something it did not know it was longing for. This Paryushan Parv left everyone with a question of the second kind – one of the simplest and most complete expressions of devotion there is: Sadguru, Tum Kaun Ho?
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