July 11 2006
Photos
On 11 July '06, Guru Poornima was celebrated world over in all the Nithyananda Meditation Academies with great devotion, and most grandly at the ashram in Bangalore in the presence of Bhagawan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam himself. His Divine Holiness during his Guru Poornima address said, 'Just like how you celebrate Father's Day, Mother's day, Lover's Day and so on, the Vedic Masters have created Master's Day for us to celebrate. That is Guru Poornima. We celebrate the Master's Day simply because he happened in our lives. It is very rare that a Master happens in the life of a person. It is the ultimate gift, the ultimate experience for any human being. The Master is the ultimate luxury.
Only because of great Masters, our culture is still alive; life still exists on planet Earth. Otherwise it would have been wiped out by power-hungry politicians and other extremists. Because they preached spirituality and created solid systems, planet Earth has been saved from being wiped out. This is the time to pay our deep gratitude to all the great Masters who have come and gone and who are here today for being there for us.
The Master is the ultimate thing in your being. He demands the ultimate luxury that is your ego; your being. When the Master happens in our lives, nothing else is needed. If he does not happen, nothing else is of use...'
His Divine Holiness conducted the following initiations this Guru Poornima Naishtika Brahmacharya initiation - Brahmacharya initiation was given to 21 chosen boys and girls of the ashram who desired to choose the path of sannyas. Vaanaprastha Dheeksha - Sannyas initiation that was given to 7 chosen married people of the ashram who desired to choose the path of sannyas. Ashramite Dheeksha - An initiation that was given to 11 people who wished to be initiated as ashramites to be at the feet of the Master and learn and offer service to humanity. Acharya Dheeksha - An initiation that was given to 13 acharyas (teachers) trained by Swamiji himself to spread his teachings to the world at large. GMA (Guru Homa-Mantra-Arati) acharyas - An initiation that was given to those who trained to perform the Guru homa, chant the appropriate mantras and offer arati as per the tradition of Dhyanapeetam. These people, Swamiji referred to as 'Oduvaar', the name used in yester years to refer to those who chanted from ancient lore. Vidyaarthi - An initiation that was given to one 9-year-old boy to mark the start of the spiritual learning at the feet of the Master. Medium initiation - An initiation that was given to 16 disciples who His Divine Holiness deemed to to be his mediums to give ananda darshan to the public at large. On the night of Guru Poornima, His Divine Holiness conducted the first ever Guru Bhakti Program for the gathering through the night till early morning on the 12th. This was followed by 'fire walking'! His Divine Holiness called for fire walking to allow the participants to experiment with pain and how to un-clutch from it. This event was followed by blessings for everyone present. Following are pictures taken during Guru Poornima day