The Sadhana Sangam at Bangalore was conducted between the 13thand 15thof September 2019 at the Bangalore Center. DD News had earlier aired the invite in their daily news announcements and local newspapers like Prajavani had listed the event on their daily engagement columns.
Day 1. 13thSeptember:
The centre was abuzz with activity as devotees from across were welcomed at the registration counter early at 7 am. Most of them then proceeded for Breakfast.
The program commenced with all the Swamijis gracing the dais. Swami Smarananandaji, Swami Madhavanandaji, and Brahmachari Shreyanandaji were present on this occasion.
After Swami Madhavanandaji chanted the Hymn to Brahma, and led a short prayer for the group of gathered devotees, he melodiously rendered the ‘Listen to my soul song’, chant while the devotees joined in. This was followed by a short period of Meditation.
The Opening Satsangaby Swami Smarananandaji began at 9 am sharp. After addressing the Satsanga as ‘bright faces of disciples of Gurudeva’, Swamiji defined what made a Yogoda devotee Unique. In answer he said ‘For a practitioner of Kriya Yoga, god is no more just a concept, God is an experienceand the Guru Disciple relationship is a constant guide and companion. For the disciple this is not just an intellectual conception but an experienced truth. Swamiji mentioned that the 2 most important factors for a disciple should be: 1 Practise of Meditation & 2 Practise of the Presence of the divine
With the analogy of an artist who keeps precious stones to remind himself of colours, he spoke of the different methods we can use to remember God throughout our lives. Swamiji concluded the Satsanga, by exhorting all the devotees gathered, to make our own list of precious reminder stones, to keep remembering God and follow it to the end.
The Opening Satsanga was followed by the Review of Energization exercises by Swami Shreyanandaji.
Swami Shreyanandaji, spoke of energization exercises as the prime source of energy for every practitioner of Meditation. These exercises enable the conscious control of prana, and improves concentration, reduces restlessness in the body and mind. The exercises were discovered in 1916 by Guruji. They also enable an all round development of the body when practised twice daily with deep concentration. Swamiji then demonstrated and the disciples practised all the 38 exercises. Many doubts were raised and cleared during practise
This class was followed by lunch at 12.15 pm. Parallely, during the same time, Swamijis also spent time on individual counselling of\ devotees.
2.30 to 3.30 pm saw the Review of the ‘Hong-Sau’ technique of Meditation in both Kannada and English separately.
In the review of the English class at the Dhyan Mandir, Swami Madhavanandaji gave a detailed class on Hong Sau. Swamiji spoke of how important concentration is for success in any field. After explaining the process of Hong-Sau, Swamiji spoke of the benefits of Hong-Sau. He reiterated the fact that Hong Sau technique has the capability to give Self Realization.
3.30 to 4.30 pm saw individual counselling followed by a tea break till 4.15 pm.
Energization exercises and the evening Meditation were conducted Swami Madhavanandaji, between 4.30 pm to 6.15 pm. After the Opening prayer and Hymn to Brahma Swamiji rendered the beautiful chant ‘O God Beautiful’ followed by deep meditation by all the devotees gathered.
After meditation, Swami Smaranandaji gave a discourse on the “Principles of Effective Prayer”, between 6.30 to 7.30 pm. This discourse was open to Public. With the conclusion of the discourse, the devotees dispersed for dinner.
At 8.30 pm, post dinner, there was a video show on the Daya Mata’s journey in India. This was followed by the devotees retiring for the night , and the days events came to a close.
Day 2: 14thSeptember
Day two of the Sangam began early. Tea was served at 6.30 am, followed by energization exercises and long Meditation. Swami Madhavanandaji conducted the meditation during which the group chanted ‘Mother I give you my Soul call’ and ‘Engrossed is the Bee of my mind’. Breakfast followed the meditation.
9.45 am saw Swami Smarananandaji; take a detailed review class of the AUM technique for YSS lesson students in the main Dhyan Mandir, while Swami Shreyanandaji conducted the same in Kannada in an adjacent building. Swamiji spoke of AUM as an experience and explained the details of the practise. He concluded by reiterating that anyone who has experienced AUM is Self Realised. Hence, this technique can give Self Realization to disciples.
Between 11am -12 noon, Swami Madhavanandaji gave a discourse on “ Obstacles to our Sadhana”.
At 12 noon, devotees dispersed for lunch, at the same time individual counselling by the Swamijis continued parallely, till 2.30 pm.
Between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm, there was a scheduled Question and Answer session. Swami Smarananadaji conducted the session with answers to some unique questions that devotee ask.
Post the Q & A session, the individual counselling session of disciples continued, and tea was served at 3.45 pm.
Between 4.30 and 6.15 pm, Energization exercises and meditation were conducted.
At 6.30 P M Swami Smarananandaji gave a beautiful public discourse on ‘Attuning Human Will to the Divine Will’.
Dinner was served between 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm. Post that the devotees retired for the day.
Day 3: 15thSeptember
Day 3 began with optional breakfast served to devotees between 6.45 am and 7.30 am.
Kriya Diksha ceremony was conducted for eligible disciples between 8am to 12 noon. At the same time, Satsanga was conducted for the non kriyabans.
Post the Diksha ceremony, lunch was served between 12.15 pm and 1.30 pm.
Between 2 and 3.30 pm Swami Smarananandaji, gave a beautiful discourse on ‘How do I know that I’mspirituallyprogressing?’ After the closing Satsanga, Prasad was distributed, while the devotees chanted melodious bhajans for Gurudeva.
After a tea break, the Kriya Yoga Review and check up was conducted for the devotees till 5.30 pm.
With this, the program came to a close and devotees proceeded to their homes with beatific expressions on their faces.
In total about 550 devotees attended the program at Bangalore.
