On day three we visited two spiritual centres of excellence in Haridwar with our group. The first was the Gayatri Pariwar Shantikunj ashram. It was established mid last century by Pandit Sriram Sharma Acharya and his wife who were devoted to the Gayatri mantra. He voluntarily shed his physical body on Gayatri Jayanti, June 2, 1990. Woah! He decided of his own free will to wink out! His shrine is on the premises, see the photo above; the energy there is very strong. We sat in the shade near the shrine and meditated, as waves of energy streamed forth.
Now, there are roughly 6,000 branches of this organization, which is dedicated to Vedic studies and practices. Pilgrims come from all corners of the globe to stay here at the headquarters in Haridwar. The ashram contains temples to Gayatri, and to the Sapta Rishis. The Sapta Rishis are 7 Immortal sages whose vast light still illuminates humanity. Of interest to those who recently came to our Earth, Sun and Stars retreat in Canyonleigh: the wives of the SaptaRishis in mythology are the “7 sisters”, the 7 stars of the Pliades. Vishvamitra, the King who became a Brahma Rishi is one of the sapta rishis, the only one who was a human before he was a Sapta Rishi. His Guru Vashistha is also honoured in the ashram. Given that the Gayatri Mantra had become a bit of a theme on our retreat, it was great to connect with the energy of spiritual light and self-realization that had permeated this sect and ashram.
Lighting up the inner Gayatri became a theme of our River of Love retreat. We had some amazing meditations where our spirits soared into spirals of light and we merged with the infinite as pure light/love.
Love from Shakti Durga
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