By Michael Draper, UK
Prompted by a message….. a transformation
Jenny and I were on our way to Macedonia for a retreat with Mohanji, which fell on the auspicious Vijayadashami immediately after the 9-day celebration and worship of the Divine Mother during the period of Navarathri (Maha Navami). I had been participating in homas (both online and in person) led by Chris, the MCB Scotland manager, and I managed to join the inaugural Navarathri puja with Skanda Vale. I saw the Macedonian retreat as an extension of Mother’s many blessings that was to be supercharged by Mohanji with the energy of Vijayadashami, the day of victory on which, as Mohanji explains, Shirdi Sai Baba had expanded his energy for the benefit of humanity.
Our journey to Macedonia was easy and smooth, with a strong youth theme. On the bus transfer at Frankfurt airport, we were joined by a group of young children and their travel guardians. The children aged between 7 and 9 were capital ‘C’ cute and looked very impressive in their green and gold tracksuits emblazoned with the name of their country, ‘South Africa.’ Mohanji was in South Africa recently, and Africa was the only continent outside of India that Sathya Sai Baba visited. Its importance to the balancing and healing of this planet cannot be underestimated, with some describing South Africa as the heart centre of the planet.
A young girl had parked herself at my feet – literally – as she was riding her in-flight wheeled cabin bag. ‘Where are you from?’ I asked as an opener (this works for avatars and other great masters, so I thought I would go with what works). Without any fear or hesitation, she replied, ‘South Africa’. ‘Why are you here?’ ‘For a dance competition’ was the quick reply.
Ok, so she was not giving much away, but if she had replied, ‘to experience and fulfil my karmic patterns,’ that would have been a bit of a shock. So I followed with, ‘What type of dance?’ ‘Hip Hop’ came the immediate response. Even with my limited knowledge of street culture, I knew this did not refer to a bunny rabbit style dance, and I avoided the urge to hop from one leg to another in embarrassing ‘Dad style’ as a demonstration of ‘not hip-hop.’
At this point, one of the adult guardians explained that they had recently won the South African nationals and were representing their country at an international dance competition held in Macedonia. Boarding the plane, I wished them success in the competition and then realised they were sitting in the row in front of us during the flight. I anticipated a ‘flash-mob’ style dance exhibition on the plane, but unfortunately, they were as good as gold throughout the entire flight. Otherwise, I might have joined in.
On our arrival in Skopje, our Mohanji Team Macedonia taxi driver was waiting for us to take us to the National Park, where the retreat hotel was situated. It is an unwritten Universal Law that if you want to understand the city or country that you are visiting, you should ask a taxi driver for their views because they possess and are gatekeepers of the ‘Knowledge.’
Our driver was no exception, and by the end of a beautiful two-hour drive through some stunning scenery, we were fully immersed and conversant with Macedonian politics, economics, demographics, and current issues of concern along with our driver’s family circumstances – married with two wonderful boys and a girl – the boys were planned, but the girl was apparently a gift from Santa Claus. I over-tipped the driver on arrival and made it clear that this was because of his daughter. Santa Claus is always right.
We were greeted by the beaming smile of Natalija whom we had met at MCB Scotland in July and who had ‘gently’ encouraged us to come to the Macedonian retreat to the point that I was given a starring role in a promotional retreat video made possible by the skills of Natalija in translating what she described as ‘gurn’ to Macedonian. How could anybody say no to such marketing talents?
Jenny and I were sharing a villa with other retreat participants on the hotel grounds. 13 was the number of the Villa assigned to us, and some of you may think that the number has negative connotations. This is deliberate propaganda and far from the truth. In July of this year, I sent an email to another with the following included:
“The 13th letter of the English alphabet is M, which finds its roots in the 13th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, “mem” (meaning Mother), which was the ancient Phoenician word for water. The ancient Egyptian word for water was “moo.” M is the most sacred of all the letters, for it symbolises water, where all life began. It is the root of the word “mother,” and relates to the evolutionary destiny of civilization ruled by the number 13.
The African continent is the Cradle of Civilization, where the first forms of modern human societies existence were discovered. Thus, mankind truly is … “The Chosen Caretakers of the Universe.” In fact, ‘M’ made an appearance during the retreat in many ways. Chris from MCB Scotland reported to the ‘friends of MCB’ that on Vijayadashami, he had a strange urge to sit closer to Baba during aarati.
The sun was shining on Baba’s face, and then when Chris looked left and right, he could see Shirdi Sai as a reflection in pictures of Sathya Sai and Mohanji. Chris kindly took photos and sent them to the group. When I saw them, and given the auspicious day of Vijayadashami, I shared the photo of Mohanji and Shirdi Sai with the Macedonian retreat participants, pointing out that an ‘M’ in light was clearly visible on the picture. This picture is reproduced here. Shyama showed the pictures that Chris had taken to Mohanji, who was visibly pleased and gave honour and respect to the photograph of Sathya Sai with Shirdi Sai’s reflection, with a recommendation for Chris regarding how the photos should be used.
The first satsang was an hour after our arrival, and we made haste to get to the Villa, drop bags, and return on time. We met Deva Snow White en route, whom we had gotten to know on various previous retreats, and shared some precious moments with her at the Kriya intensive in Bosnia. Deva Snow White is not, of course, her real name. We sat down together, reminisced, and waited in anticipation of Mohanji arriving.
Mohanji took his seat, and it was immediately apparent that his physical form had changed. He explained that he had been fasting for seven days, and he was about to break his fast. At the end of the satsang, I was fortunate to have a brief conversation with Mohanji and Shyama. Mohanji shared that his plan for Navarathri (Maha Navami) 2025 was to encourage participants who were in a position to do so to engage with meditation, japa and other prescribed practices whilst fasting. As usual, Mohanji was showing and leading the way. I’m not sure what the expression on my face was when I heard this, but I agreed that I liked the sound of most of these plans. Shyama laughed, pointing to my stomach, having guessed which part of the guidance I was probably in conflict with.
Saturday the 12th arrived, and satsang, blessings of items, and Shaktipat were planned for the morning and early afternoon after the initial group photograph. There were over 150 participants drawn from around the globe and in multiple languages, which meant that organizing a group photo required a professional qualification in planning, language skills, and logistics.
Mohanji arrived, took one look at the proposed layout, declared that this was not going to produce a good photo, and explained why. Cue reorganisation, and the official photo was eventually taken. Mohanji was right. During the satsang, Mohanji prepared us for the future. In particular, the manner in which Mohanji was going to work globally would necessarily mean that travel for the sole purpose of retreats would be restricted, necessitating enhanced programs at Mohanji global centres, with Mohanji always energetically present and joining by Zoom for satsangs. I felt the energy of an ending and the inevitable beginning of something new.
In Chinese Medicine, Autumn is the season of the metal element, letting go and the energy of the Divine Father. If you feel nature, then the truth of the season is revealed in the colour of the leaves and their inevitable descent to earth, which allows for support and produces further growth. Mohanji explained in the satsang that change is the natural order of things and nothing remains the same, so we should not resist change as this would lead to imbalance and blockage of the natural flow of divine energy in our systems.
When given the opportunity, I presented the book ‘Divine Couple’ written by Devi Amma for blessing and inscription by Mohanji. This book was written from the Sathya Yuga frequency that Mohanji had previously talked about in his satsangs, and I highly recommend it. Mohanji explained that he had written the forward to the book, and as a result, many requests had been made for more, but time was always an issue for him.
He looked at me and advised that the time for reading was over and now was the time for experiences. This was a strong theme in his satsang. Information should become knowledge through mindful presence, and knowledge should be converted to awareness and wisdom through experience. The personal feeling of an ending and a new beginning was confirmed.
Mohanji then moved to give Shaktipat. This is, for obvious reasons, a much-anticipated element of retreats, but Mohanji would, this time, provide a twist. With around 70 percent of the room having received Shaktipat it was announced that Mohanji was suspending the process. Mohanji reassured everyone that this would recommence, but the energy required that he immediately report what he was seeing.
Most of the blockages that he was addressing were due to guilt, regret, missed opportunities, and circumstances in which we had ignored our conscience and not provided help to other beings. In other words, the practical consequences of one of the dual poles of either Selflessness or Selfishness are explored in the Empowered series. Mohanji explained that we had the power to take responsibility and freely share with other beings, especially the sharing of food.
Offering food to the beings of water would free up blockages in our water element and improve blood circulation. Giving food to birds would help remove issues relating to the air element (breath and expansion), and providing food for beings of the earth would help to strengthen our stability. Mohanji was explaining this with emphasis because it is increasingly important that we take responsibility for our energy without reliance on physical Shaktipat for alignment.
Mohanji encouraged us to make the best of the time that has been given to us. In an average life of 29,200 days, much is spent sleeping and on basic subsistence, and time is valuable and our only true currency or wealth. Each of us is unique (as demonstrated by our thumbprints), rendering comparisons worthless and a waste of time that should be spent on expressing our authentic selves, sharing what we have in abundance, and serving life. Live with awareness at all times.
Devi Mohan led the signature process of conscious dancing, and channelling my inner South African dance spirit, I threw myself once more into this incredible transformative process. I love experiencing the connection through the crown chakra to divine energy, which is the culmination of the process, along with the accompanying music and chants.
There was a wonderful addition this time – a celebratory aarati led by Devi and the energy from the group generated from a physical bonding of participants directing their energy for the universal good whilst kneeling in front of an idol of Shirdi Sai Baba. I recalled the clapping and dance moves used by Aroon at MCB Scotland, and I joined Deva Snow White, we soon synchronized, and then others joined us, forming a line of rhythmically clapping and dancing bhaktas’ Aroon style’ for Shirdi Sai during the aarati.
Sunday morning commenced with Devi Mohan leading the Soul Mirror process, which I had not experienced previously. We were to choose our first partner for the process (no prizes for guessing my partner of choice) and then intuitively select the second without analysis or thinking. No analysis or thinking is the basic requirement for the process, and the only priority is to feel our soul essence through our heart centre and, through that connection, experience the soul essence and unity with the ‘other’ through the mirror or window of the eyes whilst adopting a blessing stance during the activation of the process.
Devi explained that we should not be surprised if tears of release came as we connected with our soul, and indeed, this was the case for some, along with the childlike energy of laughter for others. This is another very powerful Mohanji-inspired shared process that aligns us with our true nature and our fundamental soul unity with the universe and all beings.
Mohanji arrived to complete Shaktipat and to lead satsang. In chanting Aum and connecting with Mohanji during the process, Shaktipat is experienced remotely if you are consciously attuned to the energy. Mohanji declared our energy to be much brighter. As Shaktipat finished, it was time for us to leave to get to the airport. Offering pranams to Mohanji, we reluctantly left the satsang hall for our taxi. Fittingly, Natalija hugged us as we left, just as she did at the beginning of the retreat. It was the culmination of a wonderful shared experience with Mohanji, Devi, and the retreat participants.
As I write this on the plane home, a young Italian boy of around 18 months old is playfully waving at Jenny and me over the seat in front of us. He happily gurgles to my ‘what’s your name’ approach, and I realize we have come full circle. Cute with a capital ‘C’. He doesn’t stop laughing and smiling until, eventually, he falls asleep in his mother’s loving arms, a perfect representation of the innocence of the soul, which we were reminded of earlier in the day by Devi Mohan through the Soul Mirror process.
Much love and gratitude to Mohanji, Devi, and the Masters of the Tradition, and with the best childlike inner smile that I can muster.
|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 5th November 2024
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