My meeting with Shree Maa and Swami

[Guest guest]

Nanda wrote:

Can people share how they met Shree Maa and Swamiji ...

I was first introduced to Shree Maa and Swami when my sister,

MaryBeth, fell in love with Shree Maa's voice on a tape she heard.

She let me hear the tape. It was beautiful. Several years later, I

believe the last year that Shree Maa and Swami traveled, my hubby and

I were traveling in our rv, and we stopped to see them in Colorado (I

don't recall the city). I remember Shree Maa looking like a beautiful

buttercup, sitting at the edge of a stream where Swami was going to do

a homa. She was all dressed in yellow, right down to her socks. I went

over to give her some flowers, but I didn't get too far before Swami

shooed me away. I was in the way of his preparations for the homa.

 

The homa was wonderful, by the side of the river, and, though I don't

understand Sanskrit, I recognized all the names of my favorite

dieties being mentioned. I loved the way Swami sang/chanted with such

enthusiasm and with such a big smile. I was carried away.

 

That was not enough for me though because the same summer I went to

see them at a holistic center is Isaqua, Washington. I was there for

several days because they were doing a retreat. Because of my illness

I could not participate as fully as I wanted, but I did what I could.

What I remember most is right out of Linda Jonsen's book, "The Return

of the Goddess: The Women Saints of India," where she describes Shree

Maa as being so silent she is almost not there at all. I was standing

with a group of people chatting, and I felt a slight breeze behind me.

I turned around, and there was Shree Maa standing right behind me,

smiling. We had all been waiting for her arrival, and then she just

seemed to appear.

 

That was a wonderful day too, with lots of singing bhajans,

accompanied by the Shree Maa Band, as I like to call them. It was so

interesting to hear this mix of Hindu bhajans with Western backup of

country, folk, jazz. I loved it. And of course, Shree Maa sang so

sweetly, like a little canary. And, of course, Swami sang with great

enthusiasm and vigor. : )

 

I was sad, after that, to learn that they would not be traveling for

awhile, but I know that the work they are doing at the Mandir is so

very important. In any case, I will never forget Swami's boundless

enthusiasm and Maa's soft sweetness. Jai Maa , Jai Swamiji ~ Linda