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Satsang in Belluno, Italy - March 5th, 2014

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The Satsang last night was re-located to a larger hall due to the immense interest in the event, but in the end it was very crowded anyway. Only visitors who had previously registered were admitted. Unfortunately, all others had to be turned away.


At the beginning there was a performance by a veil dance group accompanied by a large group of drummers.

When the actual Satsang began, Swamiji explained the actual meaning of the word 'Satsang' = 'a coming together'. So this time he reversed the questions to the audience and asked them to sing some Italian songs as well.


Among other things, the question was later asked: "How important is it to have a Guru? Is it even necessary?"

'.... Who can help us when things are not going so well? Who will help us if we make a mistake? '

There were questions about karma, and whether you can escape divine justice.

All present were listening very attentively the whole time, always highly concentrated. The evening ended after several hours with Aarti. 



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Darshan in Verona of Swami Vishwananda

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At the beginning of the darshan ten children were singing and dancing.


Swami then spoke from the Upanishad: "Who remembers Me in his childhood will certainly attain me in this very life." Also if the maya in their life will let them forget, it will come again and they will remember their path.
Afterwards Pepe told Swami: "WOW! What a blessing you gave to these children!"


Madhuri had organised and trained the children, she also accompanied with guitar and accordion the several bhajans and songs that the children were singing for Swami Vishwananda.


It was a very nice and happy evening. Approximatively 500 people came for darshan.

Sri Swami Vishwananda visits Montichiari

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On his way from Verona to Torino Sri Swami Vishwananda made a stop at a very famous and holy place where Mother Mary appeared. 


He was there already 2000 on a pilgrimage. 


New Bhajan Book - "Atma Bhog"

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In the last week, our new Bhajan book finally arrived from the printers. It was a long, long process to collect all these bhajans, to find the right words, and the chords, and then to arrange them all together. Many of us were helping - correcting, adding.... and finally, it's here: one of the biggest collections of Bhajans and (we think) the only one in this dimension that also includes the chords to play on guitar or harmonium.


"Atma bhog" translated, means "Food for the Soul", and that is what bhajan singing gives - it is feeding your soul with the divine Love!

On over 280 pages you will find more than 900 bhajans, chants and songs from all major spiritual traditions and paths. With the chords and translations provided, it becomes a treasure that brings great joy in singing, playing along, and diving into the deeper meaning of chanting the Divine Names.

You can order this book in our Bhakti Shop here.

Satsang in Napoli with Sri Swami Vishwananda

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Last night there took a Satsang place on a very nice place at the beach near Napoli.
The location is called "Rama Beach Cafe" 


More than 250 visitors have been there and the evening was full of Swamijis love.




Tonight there is Darshan there - we think it is also a lovely evening!


Swami Vishwananda visits Swami Roberto

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Last Saturday Guruji visited Swami Roberto, the founder of the "Anima Universale" (Universal Soul) Centre, located near Torino, Italy.



It was a warm welcome and Swami Roberto showed Guruji the property. They went through a tour to the four Churches.




You can seen more about this visit (including some more pictures) on the webpage of Swami Roberto.

Swami Vishwananda blessing the town of Naples

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In the afternoon yesterday Swami Vishwananda drove to St Martino Certosa at the top of the hill and blessed the town and the Vesuvio.

Darshan in Naples with Swami Vishwananda

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At Rama Beach Swam Vishwananda gave darshan for the 250 persons in the nice hall of Rama Café. 
 The darshan finished at 0h30. 

Born Knowing

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In 2013 Swami Vishwananda was visited several times by Hazel Courteney, a well-known and highly regarded British journalist specialising in alternative health and spiritual issues. What resulted is an remarkable featureabout Sri Swami Vishwananda in "Kindred Spirit", which you will find interesting to read.

Kindred Spirit is a leading spiritual magazin in the UK and sees itself as a guide to Mind, Body and Spirit, providing information to inspire and educate readers so that their lives may be enhanced through a "holistic vision of timeless wisdom, understanding and beauty."








There is also a video from Hazel Courtney where she talks about her personal experience with Swami Vishwananda: 



Sunday morning in Delhi

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Swami Vishwananda departed Saturday night to a visit in Delhi and Vrindavan for 10 days.
Here a first picture of his arrival in Delhi:



We hope that we will receive updates such as this from the passengers from time to time. When we do we will publish the new information right here.

Holi in Vrindavan

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After Swami Vishwananda was warmly welcomed by Dr. Satya Narayana Dasa at Jiva Institute and he had visited the newborn calfs …


…he  went immediately to the Holi - festivities:




They all went together to the Bankhe Bihari Temple and had darshan of Lord Krishna. Also there Holi was celebrated and the priest threw a lot of colors followed by a bucket of water on the whole group!


An explanation of the significance of Holi festival can be found here on wikipedia

First Day in Vrindavan!

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Anantaananda writes to us from Vrindavan: 

Arriving in Vrrindavan, Satyanarayana Das Babaji welcomed Swami with a beautiful puja and it is clear to see how much Love these two have for each other. 




After a brief Kirtan session in the Ashram, Rickshaws were hired and off we went to have some Holi fun. 

No one quite new what to expect as we had seen some of the celebrations on the way into Vrindavan but the reality of what was about to happen was far different. Getting close to the Bihari Temple that Swami wanted to visit we took off our shoes, left them with the Rickshaw drivers and tried as best to follow Swami through the swarming mass of people. 

Each alley we turned left and right we were pelted with Water, coloured powered and flowers. Even that though was not a full experience until after walking round the temple we managed to push our way through the main doors. 
The Bhanke Bihari temple was packed, the floor was filthy and wet yet in the middle of the throbbing crowd Swami offered prayers and then bowed down on His knees offering oblations. 

It was surreal to see as colours and water flew all around people pushed all tried to get closer, however Swami in His humility still managed to follow etiquette upon entering the Temple and bow down. 

After some pushing with me in front and Ravi behind with Swami in the middle we managed to make our way close to the front and then after buying tickets we were ushered behind the barricade right in front. It seemed as though we stood there in front of Bhanke Bihari for ages, hundreds behind us, colour and water being thrown from all corners and Swami looking slightly unrecognisable completely covered in water and colour ;) 

We came back to the Amshram full of colour and soaking wet….


Thank you, Ananta!

Next day in Vrindavan

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Another letter from Ananta with some nice moments: 

"Day 2 started off a bit slow we had plans to leave by 10 with all the group as everyone had arrived, however as we began to walk down the road we realised that it would be better to remain in the Ashram till 4pm, that decision by Swami would prove to be one that would eventually bring joy to everyone even Babaji in the Ashram. 

We came back through the gates and Swami said lets sing bhajans so everyone started singing, then the colours came out, then the water came out and finally the coloured water… 

It was a Holi Lila that lasted over 2 hours of everyone throwing buckets of coloured water around while we sang and danced. 




Swami played with just us as Krishna would have, always having a smile on His face. It was such a beautiful experience that the pictures are all that can give a glimpse of the joy and beauty of that afternoon in the Ashram.


He was so beautiful as He told us that the pink represents love and then very sweetly began putting pink powered colour on everyone even on the deities in the Ashram ;)



After some lunch we then headed of to Barsane (Vanabhanu), which is said to be where Radha grew up. Her palace is situated at the top of the mountain and we did Parikrama around, It was a long walk up the mountain and down around 10 kilometres, however we were all in a beautiful bhav …… 




Swami was in very joyful mood and at the Top in the Temple we got to stand in front of Radha Krishna for what seemed like an eternity. As we were standing there an Sanyassi walked up to me with a small stick and some cotton wool on the end. He said it is prasad from Radha and the joy on the edge of the stick was perfume that was applied to her. 




We got to have Darshan of Her Divine scent just as Krishna would have smelled Her. The Temple was very beautiful and we sat with Swami for 5 minutes as He gave us all Prasad and then we walked back down to the Bus."

Day 3 with Swami Vishwananda in Vrindavan

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We started out at 10 for Govardan Hill and first went to the place were Uddava spoke the Bhagavatam. It was a small temple (one of only two to Uddava in India) but was very beautiful. The Ghat there is where will we have the Boat Lila with Swami on the 21st. 


We then went off to Govardan Hill and spent some time there with Swami.


It was a fast paced day with Swami with plans changing as we went along and trying to keep up with everything. The names were a bit hard. After Govardan Hill we made our way to Radha Kund and that was very beautiful. We all stood in the water and paid respects and hopefully we go back there after the boat festival in a smaller group so we can swim. We walked around with one of the priests and He showed us all the Goswami samadhi places and then we went to Shyama Kund for Krishna and did Puja there. This Kund is actually super quiet even though they are right next to each other. Everyone is trying to get the mercy of Radha.



We had a very interesting surprise on the next change of plans and we only realised it once we were there. We ended up at the Vallabaacharya Samadhi place - yes, the head of one of the Vaishnava lineages. It was interesting as it was in the back towns, out in the middle of nowhere. It was run down and Swami even said that it was interesting, as it was like, "this is where the head of one of the Vaishanava Lineages is, and no one realy comes?!" It was still beautiful and Swami managed to get some of the tree that was said to be from His time.





One of the highlights of the day was going out into the rural farm area of Vrindavan where the forest are said to be as they were in Krishna’s time. Swami was in an especially happy mood out there and He said this reminded of what it would have been like. 
It is a really amazing pilgrimage and Swami is really having a beautiful time playing and laughing through the days.


Next weekend program

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In ancient times, Yogis would receive Divine Inspiration through the connection to God in nature. Shree Peetha Nilaya is such a place.

 Sri Swami Vishwananda

The Bhakti Marga Family welcomes you to Shree Peetha Nilaya (“the abode of the Divine Mother”). It is a place of ongoing spirituality, where residents and guests come together to participate in prayers, mediation, singing, seva and to share their love of the Divine with one another. 

Please find below the daily schedule for the upcoming Satsang and Darshan; we encourage everyone to participate in the activities offered at the Centre:

Satsang 28th March 2014
19:00-Open Satsang with Sri Swami Vishwananda

Darshan  29th March 2014
9:15-13:30Art Course (basic facial drawing techniques) Price: 50 Euros / Location: SPN Atelier   
9:30-10:45Bhakti Music Intro (introduction to bhajan singing) Price: 10 Euros / Location: SPN Bhajan Café
11:00-12:30Philosophy and teachingsof Sri Swami Vishwananda and Bhakti Marga Location : SPN Bhajan Café
11:00 -12:30Children’s Music Intro, Location: SPN Children’s Room 
14:15-15:15Shree Peetha Nilaya Tour, Location: SPN Main Lobby 
16:00-OpenDarshan with Sri Swami Vishwananda

Day four in Vrindavan

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Another day with Sri Swami Vishwananda in Vrindavan:


Today we started off with the whole group moving towards Balaramji's Ashram not far from where we are staying. It is very amazing to see that each day a ‘new’ person comes to see Swami and then all off sudden they are taking us along to new Saints and temples to see. This morning was no exception as a new person came and he took us to see a Saint that was still alive and is 120 years old (ok not in good condition) but still alive. We took His Darshan after one of the devotees in the Ashram picked Him up and placed Him in a seated position.

We then moved along to see another Saint who is 95 years, He is going along well and was really joyful and happy, Swami sat next to Him for a bit and He allowed us to take pictures smiling with Swami. We sang a short Bhajo Nitai as His Guru was a Disciple of Ramanadcahdra Das, who brought Bhajo Nitai into the world ;). It is interesting to note that some of the people wont let us take pictures and they are usually closed off and don't allow you in, mentally and with the heart and some like this Saint is so open and welcoming that you can not help but have an open heart. It is times like this that you really understand deep within how lucky we are to Have Swami, yes sometimes we don't see Him but He is always accessible and always loving us.


So far Vrindavan and all the experiences have been amazing. We went up the stairs and sat down in front of Balaramji, who was radiating love and happiness. He spoke a little bit and played with Swami, He was always smiling and welcomed the whole group into His small little sitting room. 


Then He gave us Prasad as He said His Guru gave Him the instruction always welcome guests and give them Prasad (Chida), this is because Maha Prasad goes straight to heart after being digested and then He showed with His hands exploding outwards from His heart, we all laughted. So as we were going to take leave Balaramji he said, first please we do short Kirtan - so, the Kirtan lasted close to hour with dancing and such beautiful Harinaam, everyone was in Divine Bliss seeing Swami and Balaramji (who is not that young) dance. 

You can see the Krishna Murti in the back (Bihari Temple)
After Lunch we ended up at the Radharaman Temple, Swami knows the Priests and we got such beautiful Darshan of Krishna. We sang Bhajans and when Swami started to sing Radha Krishna -  imagine the tune… people started to gather around and watch Him.


Then to end off the day well almost… we went to the Garden were the Maha Rasa took place, it was so beautiful and Swami showed us the trees in the Garden that have two parts and He said one part is Krishna and one part is a Gopi. 


Each night He said the trees come alive and they do the maya Rasa Dance, I did say lets try and get locked in to which He no replied you will die from pure ecstasy (I can think of worse to die ;))). 



We walked around the Garden and got to small Temple dedicated to Haridas Thakur and the place He found the Bhanke Biharie Murthi. Moving along we came to another temple that has a Deity of Radha Krishna and people leave bangles, bracelets Saris etc and after they close the temple the Gopis come and use all the items each night for the Maha Rasa Dance. When they open the doors in the morning all the items are used and all over the place. Swami was in a different place when He told us this like He was with them.


(Thank You AnantaAnanda for your update!)

Diary from Vrindavan, part 6

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It was a very early start - 4:30am - and we only got to bed at 2:30am, so that Swamiji could be there when they opened the room where we saw all the gifts for the Gopis the night before.


Swamiji was allowed into the room and he got lots of things from inside: bangles, saris, etc. He came back super excited!


Later, they went to Yoga Maya Devi Samadhi place and from what they said it was beautiful but sad. They led them into dark barn and that was her Samadhi place. 




Next morning we where supposed to leave early as it was a busy day all round. We went for breakfast and then Swami decided to do Abishek on a Lakshmi Narayanaya Saligram that he got. He decided to do an Abishek on the Lingams also, and we all joined in behind Him. 




It was wonderful to watch!



The Boat festival… 

"As in Rome, do as the Romans do", they say, so "When in India expect Indian Time"… We arrived around 3pm only to see them taking the boat out the water and we were told that it was being taken to another Ghat further down.



About 45 minutes later, a procession to the new place began as we followed the Deities through the outskirts of Vrindavan, past Govardan Hill and to a Ghat nearby. 



The walk was over 5km. When we got there, Swami and a few others sat on a ledge overlooking the Ghat while they put the finishing touches on the barge.


The decorations were super amazing as they had made a swan on the front, covering the barge, that looked really beautiful. They'd also decorated the barge really amazingly with flowers and garlands everywhere. 



Everyone climbed onto the barge and then we towed the barge with Swami and the dignitaries: Swami Shri Gyananand Ji Maharaj, Satya Narayana Das Babaji, Jyoti Shree Mataji, Balaramji Maharaj and the Deities of Shri Krishna Kripa and Jugalkishore Sarkar around the ghat from our row boat. 




It was a magical experience that takes you back to lilas of old. For instance, when you read of Lord Caitanya crossing the river by boat on His journey. As we moved across the water, we rowed silently around the ghat. It was dark and I could just see the roofs of the temples in the skylight.

We had two big bags of flower petals - about 5 kg! - on our boat and we kept showering petals on the barge with Swami as we rowed around the Ghat. It was a Pushpam abishek that did not stop! It was an experience that I am not sure I can fully describe. Surreal would be the best way to describe it. 



Sri Swami Vishwananda visits Krishna Balaram Iskcon Mandir in Vrindavan

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On the 25th of March 2014, Sri Swami Vishwananda received an official invitation from the Temple President Panca Gauda Das of the Krishna Balaram Iskcon Mandir in Vrindavan to come through and take Darshan of the Deities Krishna and Balaram and the full complex.

Krishna Balaram Mandir

Swamiji was warmly greeted and led to the office of Panca Gauda Das who is the Temple President and welcomed Swamiji with due respects and honour. At first there were only a few devotees with Swamiji when we first came to sit in the office but after a few minutes the office was packed with devotees and the president jokingly remarked that next time Swamiji comes He will need a larger office!

In the President's office

Panca Gauda Das kindly extended the facilities and accommodation to Swamiji offering the use of the lecture Halls in the future if he ever wishes to give class and even to come and stay in the Ashram that is situated behind the main Mandir Complex. After offering Swamiji and a few of the devotees garlands directly from the Deities, he began to take us on a tour of the complex.

Beginning Tour

Panca Gauda Das led Swami to the main Mandir area and offered Dandavat Pranams to His Guru His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Sri Prabhupada, as it is customary in the Hindu culture to honour the Guru first and then the Deities. We then moved to the Deities and offered obeisance's to Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, who are seated to the left of the main Deities. The temple was very full and the temple President first offered Pranams to the Deities and then cleared a path in front of the Deities so Swamiji could offer His respects by bowing down and offering Pranams. We repeated the process by offering our respects to the Main deities of Sri Sri Krishna Balaram and then once more to Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar, who are situated directly to the right of the Main Deities.


Krishna Balaram Deities

The next stop on the tour was the Samadhi place of Srila Prabhupada, where He is depicted sitting in Samadhi with a carved white marble memorial constructed in his honour. There is also the house of Srila Prabhupada which now serves as a museum with various items that Srila Prabhupada used during His life for devotees to venerate. It is a beautiful place of honour and gratitude to their Guru that resonated closely with many of us as we naturally feel that same spirit of devotion and gratitude towards our own Gurudev.

Srila Prabhupada Memorial

After the tour we were asked to join the Kirtan that was taking place in front of Sri Sri Krishna Balaram and Swamiji was lead to the front of the Kirtan session and asked to sit near the musicians. After 30 minutes of vibrant chanting, Swamiji had another engagement to attend to and so we were led back to Panca Gauda Das's office to offer final Pranams and bid farewell to a fellow Vaishnava.

Kirtan session

Satsang with Sri Swami Vishwananda in March, 28th 2014

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Last night we had a beautiful Satsang evening here in Shree Peetha Nilaya with Swamiji.


Here is one of the questions:
When you look into our eyes when you give Darshan, what do you see?

Sri Swami Vishwananda:
"I think I answered this question many times. When I look into your eyes, I'm actually not looking into your eyes. What appears in the moment I touch your forehead is your soul. Thats where I'm looking. I look into the depth of your heart. That means, whatever is written there, I see everything - but there is no judgement into it.
So, this is in little what I see."


Some of you are already members of "Friends of Bhakti Marga" and so you got the opportunity to watch the whole Satsang on live webcast from home. If you are not yet member, you can become one here:
http://ow.ly/v9OkT
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