After almost 2 long years, the New York devotees were rejoicing with the arrival of Pratham Parvatyacharya Sri Sri GuruMaa Jyotishanand Saraswati. Gurumaa was accompanied with Dr.Rajeev Sethi the senior cardiologist and Dr.Anshu Sethi from Aditya Birla Hospital,Pune in case of any need during the long journey.
Scores of devotees had gathered at the Newark Airport, and welcomed Her warmly and with chants of 'Jai Jai Jai Hanuman Goasai, Kripa Karhu GuruDev Ki Nai'.
Pandit Rameshji was chanting 'welcome' mantras and 'Guru' mantras to welcome back GuruMaa to USA. In the meantime, the renovation work for Sri Hanuman Temple and Gurumaa's resident area were being rushed to be completed before Gurumaa's arrival. A few things remained pending, but Laliji and his team completed most of the work. Sri Hanuman Temple was completely renovated and received rave reviews from all devotees, and GuruMaa was also very impressed.
GuruMaa was very pleased that the trustees and directors had taken good care of the temple in Her absence, but She imparted words of wisdom to run it better and more efficiently. As word spread about GuruMaa's arrival, devotees started thronging the Ashram for GuruMaa's Darshan. Many, many devotees visited from other parts of USA and UK, including Cindy Begel, Robin Hild, Steven Jamieson, Chandrakanta Mutha, Darshan Priya, Gunjan Priya, Dr. Kohli, Gagan Mitra, AdvaitPriya and NayanMitra.
The Trustees and Directors came more often to the Ashram. The Ashram had renewed energy and great vibrations with GuruMaa's presence, and we realised how much we miss Her. Ashram is not an Ashram without the presence of the revered GuruMaa. The Tuesday and Saturday programs were enlivened with GuruMaa's Pravachans. Fortunately, GuruMaa's health also improved a bit after Her arrival in NY. The November Dipawali program was given a great shot in the arm due to GuruMaa's presence after a gap in 2009. GuruMaa had to accomplish a lot in a short period of time, as She was planning to return by the end of December. We had several Board meetings, where She gave us much-needed direction and counsel. She had a steady stream of devotees who came to have Her Darshan, and seek Her blessings. She decided to nominate Pappubhaiya and myself to be the Co-Presidents of Vedic Heritage Inc. when She passes on to the next phase of Her journey.
A special program was conducted to offically nominate them to head up Vedic Heritage in the future. Pandit Rameshji conducted the ceremony. Pappubhaiya also was initiated to be GuruMaa's disciple, and was re-named GuruMitra. The devotees of the temple, led by Balaji, Nareshji, Ashaji, Bhaktiji and many others presented a special Bhajan program for GuruMaa. There was also a 'East meets West' program presented by Gail Goldstein, Robin Hild and Alex Mintz. Gail recited several poems specially written for GuruMaa (published in this journal), while Robin played a few numbers on his guitar and Alex also wrote a special poem for GuruMaa which he sang accompanied by lilting music. The devotion from all the performers was evident, and their performances showed their purity in their bhakti for GuruMaa and Baba. But, GuruMaa has a mission to accomplish in India and was determined to return before the new year.
Despite the snow blizzard and delays of almost 36 hours, She returned to India in time for the 2011 Akhand Ram Charitra Manas Program. New York's Ashram's loss was Lonavala Ashram's gain. But, GuruMaa's blessings are spread across all the Ashram sites. Jai Sri Hanuman!
