Her Holiness Sri Sri Guru Maa Jyotishanand Saraswati commenced Her annual pilgrimage to India on November 19, 1999. The H. R. Jhunjhunwalas, The D. C. Anands, Pawan Srivastava from Lonawala, and a few other devotees received Her at Sahar Airport in Bombay. Immediately upon landing, she decided to drive straight to Lonawala Ashram. The next day, people from Lonawala and Pune started visiting Gurumaa. In Her inimitable fashion, She was occupied every minute of the day. She was constantly receiving and meeting people from all over India, taking care of organizational needs and issues, and meeting with the local members of the Board of Vedic Heritage; India (VHI.)
On November 28th a meeting was held at the Lonawala Ashram site. With nearly 30-40 people present, including the Vedic Heritage trustees for India, the meeting was most fruitful. A lot of issues, regarding the construction of the Ashram, were discussed and resolved.
Another important meeting was arranged, by VHI trustee Shri Nanasaheb Sitholey, with Chief Minister Shri Sharad Pawar on November 29. Once again, this was a most successful meeting.
Guru Maa drove back to Bombay, on December 1, to depart for Capetown, South Africa. She was accompanied by Dr. and Mrs. Pragyamitra Bhangdia. Maa Jaya Sati Bhagwati of Ocala, Florida, who arranged for this trip, was accompanied by her usual entourage. Two of her devotees, Amba and Torini, were given the duty of taking care of Guru Maa.
The purpose of this visit was to attend the Conference of World Religion, also refered to as the Parliament. Gurumaa was truly delighted to be in the company of Her divine and devoted friends that included Maa Jaya Saraswati, her disciples, His Holiness Yogi Harbhajan Singh and his wife Bibijee.
As is always the case with Her Holiness, Gurumaa's schedule in South Africa was quite busy and truly hectic.
The next morning, after pooja, Gurumaa went to the site of the Parliament sessions, leaving in the afternoon for a brief but much needed rest. Then once again, she rushed back to the parliament in the evening for further debates.
On December 4, Sangeet Martandya Pandit Jasraj, Durga Jasraj and Dr. Jhunjhunwala arrived in Capetown to join Guru Maa. Unfortunately, the very same day, Durgaji caught the flu and was bedridden. She remained unwell till her departure from South Africa.
The parliament was bursting at the seams with 7,000 visitors and 300 Assembly Conference members.
Guru Maa participated on December 6th, 7th, and 8th in the three day Assembly Session. Being an assembly member, Guru Maa had to be present everyday. It was a new experience for Her Holiness and she did enjoy it thoroughly. Within one week, She met many people of so many pursuasions, exchanged views with them and broadened her perception of this world.
On December 7th, Mr. Nelson Mandela addressed the assembly. It was a pleasant surprise to see the love, adoration and respect Mr. Mandela commanded even after leaving political office. Guru Maa really liked him and her observations of him are: simple, humble, full of feelings and love for his people and country and honest about wanting to serve his nation.
Gurumaa was very disheartened to see the state of civil affairs in South Africa. The country has the highest percentage of HIV patients and the highest incidents of rape. Life is not safe in Capetown. At 5:00pm everything shuts down. Nobody feels safe. You constantly hear of violent incidents. Guru Maa was disturbed at this lack of humanity and respect for human lives in this country. A Higher Power is watching. Why are these people not afraid? All this really hurt Her.
On December 8, His Holiness, The Dalai Lama was supposed to be in Capetown for the entire day. Guru Maa was seated at the table next to His Holiness and did in fact meet him. She was asked to bless the Assembly. Her Holiness did so by chanting the Hanumat Vandana:
"Jo hamaare man ki shakti se bhi tejaswi hain, jo vayu ki gati ko bhed karke bhi chalte hain, aise param pita parameshwar, hum sabh mein shakti kaa prasaaran karein, hame prem, sahaanubhuti aur dayaa ki bhao kay saath jeena sikhayen. Vishwa mein bandu- bhaav staapith kar hum anandmai jeevan ko jeeyein. Param pitaa parameshwar hum sab mein yeh jyot paidaa karein."
Later that evening, the parliament was dissolved.
On December 9, 1999, Guru Maa went on the world famous safari starting from Johannesburg. She was accompanied by Dr. & Mrs. Bhangdia, Dr. Jhunjhunwala, Her Holiness Maa Jaya Saraswati Bhagwati and Srimati Bibiji Khalsa's group. They all left Johannesburg at 10:00am in 3 busloads and reached Botswana at 4:00pm. The weather was extremely hot. At the border of Botswana, they left their buses and travelled by jeep. Each jeep had a group of 7 people and the driver. To poor Guru Maa’s surprise, the vehicle was equipped with a gun. En route, they saw many deer. They proceeded towards the camp and reached it at 6:00pm. The camp was beautiful with pretty little mud cottages, in hut-like shapes and very clean. The attendants were friendly Africans. They were humble, warm and affectionate. It was a beautiful atmosphere. The party had tea and left for the safari.
Guru Maa's driver was a local who was altogether a jovial and brave young gentleman called Bob. He was a very fine driver who knew all the ins and outs of the jungle roads.
It took two hours to reach the jungle. On the way, they encountered a lion family. The lioness had just hunted down a wildebeast. The cubs were feeding and the lion was lazing in the sun, after having gorged! A cheetah ran away on seeing the jeep. For a moment everyone thought that he would attack but then he just ran away. It is so true that if you leave a healthy animal alone, it will not attack you.
The group also witnessed herds of zebras, monkeys, elephants, and giraffes. They saw all these wild animals from a close distance of 3 odd feet from the jeep. Despite being wild animals, they are totally harmless. They also saw some hyenas, and panthers.
They returned to camp at 9:00pm. A delicious African and pure vegetarian meal was served at a common hut. The next morning everyone left for the safari at 4:30am except Guru Maa who stayed back to do her pooja. They witnessed hundreds of monkeys and deer who would drink water from the camp. Each evening, between 5:00pm and 7:30pm, time was spent in the jungle observing wildlife.
On December 12th, everyone finally said goodbye to Botswana with a heavy heart. Guru Maa felt that it was such a beautiful place. It was just heaven. There is so much to learn from these animals about life, especially family life, and social life. They have every right to live on this planet and mankind has no right to destroy them they way that we are. They are closer to the Divine Energy than we are. |
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