News from Inaugural Lakshmi Puja Weekend, Sahaja Yoga School SA – Jan 2024

Inauguration Lakshmi Puja Weekend
Sahaja Yoga School South Australia

26th to 28th January 2024

Jai Shri Mataji

Dear Australian Collective,

We would like to share with you the events of the recent inaugural Lakshmi Puja at our new Sahaja Yoga School in Cadell Valley, South Australia.

Looking forward to hearing the voices of playing children again
Cadell is a small town situated near the north western edge of South Australia’s Riverland. The school is very close to the Murray River. It is about 2 hours drive from Adelaide and the property itself is surrounded by citrus and grape farms that scatter across the whole area. Our neighbour grows apricots and was quick to introduce himself to the band of Sahaja Yogis that suddenly appeared. Across the road from the school is an Op shop were the volunteer staff remarked at how wonderful it will be to hear the voices of playing children again. In fact, the reception from the local community was very warm, the people of Cadell are simple hearted and honest types and very down to earth.

Highlights from the Inauguration Lakshmi Puja Weekend

We had yogis from every State
Initially, we expected a very modest gathering for the Puja, given its announcement was quite short notice and its location remote. However, as the day approached, more and more registrations came through – and in the end, the total number in attendance was 65! What’s more, we had yogis from every State. What was evident when speaking to the yogis (who came from as far away as Western Australia), was that the school project had drawn them to the Puja, compelled them in fact to be there. All sensing something momentous was being born, and each desiring to be present at its inception. There was no doubt that each of us could feel that this project has deep and profound reverberations, its impact on the subtle level is global. A Sahaja Yoga School, in the land of Shri Ganesha, at this most tumultuous and precarious time. We all felt a great sense of a something extraordinary unfurling while at the same time being unassumingly simple, just like Shri Ganesha.

Shri Ganesha’s gravity.
The school’s location itself feels primordial, the earth is a beautiful reddish-brown colour and the land effuses a deep sense of Shri Ganesha’s gravity. It also feels particularly untouched by the modern world, somehow far simpler, almost a step back in time. The nearby Murray river is deep and especially cooling, surrounded by ascending gorges that feel ancient. The water is soft with clay in the banks. We all felt our livers cool down and our minds completely clear each time we ventured there.

Everyone contributed to the organisation
Uncle Phillip, Aunty Sarah, Aunty Shubra, Uncle Paul and Aunty Violeta arrived several days earlier, working tirelessly to tidy the place and organise items for the Puja and the meals. The Maynard’s, hailing all the way from Western Australia, joined soon after to provide a further assistance. The local Adelaide collective brought the Puja items and everyone contributed to the organisation of the meals and Puja preparation. We all knew what to do and without much fuss or talk everything found its place and organised itself in such a Sahaj manner. The Friday before the Puja included the compulsory bath in the Murray River, the locals looking quite bemused by such an eclectic bunch arriving out of nowhere. Friday evening, we enjoyed a modest performance night, with some beautiful songs by the Canberra collective and a beautiful Sitar performance by the young Adi. The Yoginis had also set up a little fundraising stall with many beautiful items. The following day we held Shri Lakshmi Puja.

Washing of Shri Mataji’s Feet
The Puja started with the children cutting the ribbon followed by the washing of Shri Mataji’s Feet for Shri Ganesha Puja. Mother’s presence was felt so strongly throughout the Puja, there was no doubt of Her presence blessing the school and everyone who would step foot on the land from that day forward. In the Puja talk, Shri Mataji spoke about a mother who had so much faith in Shri Mataji that she saved her son from an incurable disease. Shri Mataji spoke of deep faith and Shraddha and its ability to achieve the impossible. The school felt like just such an impossibility, but the enduring faith of the Sahaja Yogis committed to its vision had achieved the remarkable. The music was lead by Padmini Didi, driving all the way from Canberra with her family after a dream where Mother had instructed her to bring her harmonium. The bhajans were overflowing with sweet devotion and bhakti as all the different collectives were invited to make offerings for the Puja. Like a true national project, all the states and all the generations were represented.

Divine presence established
In the meditation in the next morning, we felt like the Divine presence had been established. After enjoying breakfast, all together we slowly departed in dribs and drabs, each feeling it hard to move from the quiet blissful atmosphere. In fact, we slowly migrated, as yogis often do, finding each other once again at the serene Murray river to offer the Puja flowers and our final salutations. Our final act was the burial of vibrated coconuts under the red dirt in every corner of the property. Such was our weekend, time together seemingly stretching out far longer than its modest few days.

Please guide us at every step
Shri Mataji, we, the Sahaja Yogis of Australia, humbly ask You Oh Divine Mother for Your guidance to establish a Sahaja school in Your vision, in the sacred land of Shri Ganesha. Please guide us at every step and may Shri Ganesha remove all obstacles.

With Love
The Nirmala Sarva Education (NSE) Board
Daniel Firth, Mark Beaven, Jack Beaven, Brett Johnson, Rob Henshaw and Kabir Sattarshetty

“Mahalakshmi Principle, which works out everything…”

(Shri Mataji’s full talk was played at the above event)

“So this is the guiding factor for you, this Mahalakshmi Principle, which works out everything that is balancing you, the equilibrium and the wisdom. As the light of Mahalakshmi Principle starts, the wisdom dawns upon you.

But the greatest of all is the love: love for God, love for truth. And you thrive on that love. Just you are there. I mean, I asked him, “Why so many are here?” They said, “For the puja!” Why? It’s a sign that you are great Sahaja Yogis, that you are here because of puja, that you understand the value of puja and that you need the puja, that you enjoy because it is nourishing to you. It’s a very good thing, because that shows that you are very much there, you are very much understanding the importance of right things, and you want to do it at any cost.

All these desires are significant because they show that you are in the Mahalakshmi Principle and you want to keep on that one.”

Shri Mataji – Shri Mahalakshmi Puja, Brisbane February 20th, 1992