We are divinely blessed to be here at this time, together. A new nameless love welled up in each heart for all the others. It felt sometimes as if we were only just souls, floating in Heaven.
For more than four weeks continuously, there had been a new air of solemnity and joy at the mountain Dharma Centre in Todhkebari, Badegaun. Having come from all regions of Nepal, over one hundred new Maatma Marga gurus added to the simple mountain monastic community a new air of bright solemnity not unmixed with deep rejoicing from the depth of the heart.
Maatma Marga Gurus are new official gurus who will represent Maitri Dharma throughout Nepal. They have renounced former allegiance to the previous Path with old regulations and practices, to live and to disseminate Maitri Dharma learned on the Maatma (Earth-Light) Path. They have taken up and shall live the Maitri precepts of universal loving compassion and equality, of never causing the slightest harm to anyone or anything, of loving all living beings equally, without any sense of separation. And they shall so remain for life. Soon, they will be spread forth into the world like seeds, there to grow and to mature as the Maitri-bhav deepens and expands from within each heart. Serving villagers throughout the land, they will perform all rites and rituals entirely within Maitri guidelines, free of any harmful beliefs or practices. Here for intense preparation in this initial study period, their presence in blue Maitri robes brightlystriped with yellow and red, have added a feel of solemnityand purpose to our mountain community.
The new Maatma Marga gurus form the first wave of Maitri officials to spread the Maitri Dharma of Peace and Compassion throughout Nepal. Our Planet is shifting into its Maitri phase, and the Maatma Marga gurus are the vanguard of the new outpouring of Maitri-bhavana that shall uplift the entire world.
More than any other Puja this occasion has clearly and deeply impacted the hearts of all devotees present, like a huge bolt of thunderous lightning. Deep reverberations linger in each of us, expanding long afterwards. It has been a powerful group experience as we shift into third gear in this gradual unfolding of True Maitri Dharma in its growing cosmic dimensions.
Guru presided each day, serene and glowing in His human form of deep calm and peace, radiating a gentle loving warmth that kindled every heart. Sangha members kept hugging each other across cultural and language borders, many exchanging loving, knowing glances without words. We are divinely blessed to be here at this time, together. A new nameless love welled up in each heart for all the others. It felt sometimes as if we were only just souls, floating in Heaven.
The Prayer Book has grown immensely with new blue hard covers. Hundreds of new pages reveal surprising, unsuspected aspects of Maitri Dharma. Chanting the Sambhota (simplified Tibetan script) text in unison brought profound emotions to everyone, even though few foreign devotees understood the words. Aside from the many hundreds Nepali devotees who came and went each day, among residents virtually everyone of the 50-odd international sangha, forty sayasins and the more than hundred new Maatma Marga Gurus, all came down with one distinct physical reaction or another, each lasting several days. We were being restructured as it were, radically, from the inside. It is as if spiritual growth must be attended by physical transformation…
Besides ‘purification’ discomforts, some new members prayed for what seemed to be impossible, at least highly unlikely favours from Guru. But to everyone’s surprise their wishes were miraculously granted. Others from overseas, having missed the puja, are still queuing to come here, wishing to experience the profound transformation still under way, even as training intensifies for the Maatma Marga Gurus, and Maitri blessings in the form of water materialise in unseasonable showers, smiling gentle drops on everyone.
Celebrating well over one full month, the second three-day Puja around Guru’s April Birthday was celebrated with joyous festivities as numerous sangha members came with their whole families young and old. Delicious local foods and exotic dishes and deserts were served up by professionals, and the international sangha got together to create humongous fruit salads, as new visitors from foreign lands continued to arrive.
In all, the world sangha included many new faces from various corners of the planet. Large groups from Korea, Thailand and Taiwan arrived during and after the Maitri Divas Puja, mostly to seek not so much personal blessings as to declare their recognition of and allegiance to the True Guru, and their resolve to spread Maitri Dharma in their home lands.
“May all be Happy in Maitri. So be it.“
Sarva Maitri Manglaman Astu. Tathastu.
