Guru Day Retreat

This past Saturday we held our annual Guru Day Retreat. Guru Purnima is traditionally held on a full moon in July or August, and in this case just a day after a blue moon, the second full moon in July. As the sun went down over the course of the long summer evening, its light shone back into the night from the rising moon and echoed again from the hundreds of candles gradually gathering around each master’s shrine.

All five in our line of gurus have permanent shrines now on the community green — four gazebos, with Sri Yukteswar’s as the latest, and Babaji perched as always in the open air off on his own little mountain. Beginning with Jesus, we gathered at each one in turn, with Asha helping us focus our minds and hearts on the facets of our path that each one represents. Then a song, a chant, and a meditation, ending with everyone individually offering a small candle at the guru’s feet.

We had a remarkable turnout this year — about 120 people. The ranks of folding chairs spread so far around the shrines that when the time came to move from one to the next, some of us would simply turn our chairs around and already be part of the new crowd. But even in spreading itself out, an Ananda crowd creates a beautiful focus of energy and devotion, and this one carried us deeper and deeper into its vibration throughout the entire evening.

You can find more pictures here, and the audio and video recordings should be available soon on this page.