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Baba’s 100th birthday celebrations
Friday night was the 100th birthday of Swamiji’s Guru, Baba Muktananda, a Siddha and powerful yogi who was one of the most influential spiritual teachers of the 20th century. As part of a weekend full of celebrations, Swamiji and Ma Devi had invited Prasad Balkrishna Joshi - a temple priest from Bhagawan Nityananda’s samadhi shrine in Ganeshpuri, India - to conduct a puja on Friday evening. The hall at Kailas Nivas was filled with ‘old timers’ (those who knew Baba) and other devotees who commemorated this auspicious event with a special abhishek in honour of a Great Being who carried such transforming Shakti.
As part of the proceedings Prasad invoked the Lord Varuna (the Indian God of weather), and our prays were answered with record downpours all that night and the next day. Despite the minor floods, a large crowd attended our pre-Satsang feast and the cooks excelled themselves by producing a wonderful array of Indian food.
The evening Satsang on Saturday was introduced with great wit and sweetness by Goti, a much loved ashramite who had known Baba. The evening held many Shakti filled elements, with beautiful chants by Prasad and others. Swamiji gave an inspiring talk in which he outlined “15 things about Baba”, that is, some of the key teachings by Baba Muktananda. He noted that to speak of Baba is to invoke the Shakti and it was clear to all that the spirit and legacy of this Great Being continues to live in all the work that we do at the Shiva Ashram.
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