By Linda CasoAt satsang that night, some knew and some didn't. Sally Reeder made the announcement … barely … there was so much bliss in the way of her words. But it was official now. The Denver community was sitting just three days away from another darshan special. Only this time it was happening right in our own backyard.
Many of us, primed by Portland, expected a special Valentine's Day program. A quiet affair, you know, something simple … a nice stage, mellow music, Guru Maharaj Ji, Durga Ji, Premlata, Hansy, a few initiators, 600 or so Denverites and perhaps a few love-sick souls who would inevitably wander in from other parts of the country. But by the end of satsang that night, the guest list grew from 600 to 6,000, splendidly surpassing our wildest conceptions once again. Premies were coming from all over the U.S., Canada and who knows where else. A charter bus was already on its way from Portland, Maine.
Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done
Outrageous as it all seemed, everyone knew it would happen and be completely beautiful. A few days before, I read the satsang Maharaj Ji gave to coordinators in Lima, Peru last November. "There's nothing like an efficient organization. It just doesn't exist. Big corporations are not all that efficient … because efficiency in a system is hard to achieve. There's a much better chance of efficiency in our kind of organization because we understand one basic thing. We understand one fundamental thing and that is Knowledge… If you are really practicing Knowledge, if the premies in the community are practicing Knowledge, participating in satsang and doing service sincerely from their hearts, then you don't have to think about organization, because organization will come automatically."
It is truly a wondrous sight when premies heed the call from Maharaj Ji. Naturally, oh so naturally, everything happens. We have found the way to come together, perform our duties and create a total atmosphere of bliss around us. With a true focus, genuine love and concern and total response-ability to the details of all that needs to be done, everything indeed does get done. As we quietly learn to accept Holy Name as our guide, life becomes a simple joy and our mission unique.
When Allen Imbarrato asked that we, as a community, try to house 2,000 of the expected 6,000 premies coming for the program, it seemed almost unnecessary that he ask at all. At any given time, any one of us could go to any city in this country and be welcomed by countless loving people ready and willing to share their life. In turn, the only payment one can offer is to sincerely practice Knowledge. It's the key that opens all doors – front doors, back doors, and most of all, heart doors.
So, in this extra-special situation (or spot-quiz, depending on how your practice has been), providing shelter for premies coming to see the Lord seemed to be the least any of us could do. For many of us welcoming our friends, friends of friends or even total strangers into our homes, it was a special grace, for it truly is an honor to serve the servants of Guru Maharaj Ji. Definitely it was an inner-underground movement. Though 4,600 people eventually were to pass through the darshan line only 600 were registered in hotels. So, somehow our community absorbed approximately 3,000 people into our homes – quickly, quietly, gracefully.
"May You Always Do For Others, And Let Others Do For You"
By late Wednesday night the premies at 1145 Gaylord Street had received (and made) telephone calls from all parts of the country. It was a scene which was repeated, no doubt, in many Denver premie houses that night. (I wondered if Mountain Bell's operators noticed anything special was up?) At least 25 people were coming to stay our house from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Eugene, Lansing, Chicago and Washington, D.C. By 1 a.m., heads counted and extra blankets secured, we just about knew where our guests would squeeze in to sleep, eat, shower, share, meditate, laugh, talk, cry, feel at home and just plain have a good time visiting with old friends and making new ones.
Heart Is Where The Home Is
Basically we are all guests in this world, but the people who came to stay at 1145 Gaylord Street played their parts perfectly. They came humbly, and tried to do as much for us as we had already done for them. The house was cleaned, meals were made, rugs were vacuumed, dishes were washed, money was offered, cars were ready to chauffeur anyone just about anywhere.
Everyone in the house was deeply in touch with the vibration of service, happy to have the chance to be on call 24 hours a day to do whatever was necessary to make the weekend perfect. But by far the greatest thing anyone could offer was something we were all given in the first place – dedication to satsang, service, meditation and Guru Maharaj Ji.
Much to the delight of the Chicago ashram premies who started streaming in from the airport at 8:30 Saturday morning, a Knowledge review had been scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with Initiator Jagdeo. Most of these premies had been up the entire night before making last minute arrangements enabling many of their brothers and sisters in Chicago to make it to Denver this weekend. 26 of us got the treatment that morning, turned on, tuned-up and tuned-in for the weekend.
Later that afternoon about 25 others floated in to share food and the magical realization that we were all eating a family dinner with total strangers, in a strange house, and in a totally different city than the one we woke upon. Lanny Provo, Light Reading photographer, scurried about making salad and taking pictures like a photographer at a wedding trying to capture the highest moments of union.
It was a quiet meal. Someone tried to find out everyone's name and where tney hailed from, but it just wasn't important. We were all one, and we were all totally at home in the most real sense. Deep within ourselves in meditation, we all were enjoying Guru Maharaj Ji's world.
At one point in the calm before the storm a young man came to the front door selling magazines, inspired by the hope of winning a trip around the world. Before he left he was quietly sold by the peace of the beings gathered in that room. Soon afterwards we all followed him out into the warm Denver night to attend one of four special programs scattered throughout Capitol Hill.
"Sunday Morning, You Gave Me No Warning Of What Was To Be …"
I stumbled into the living room at 7:15 a.m. hoping to plant myself firmly in meditation for the day. 26 people beat me to it. Bodies sat erect under meditattion blankets everywhere. At 7:50 a.m. we tuned into the 'Inter-Faith Rap Line" show on a local radio station. Like flowers opening themselves to the morning sun, 26 beautiful, clear, shiney-faced, unique individuals peeked out from under the cover of meditation to listen to 5 initiators, 1 newsman, several Denver premies and (thank God!) a few non-premies talk about Guru Maharaj Ji and Knowledge … a perfect way to start a darshan day.
Some left early to iron stage cloths or be parent's assistants. Breakfast came and went. By 11 a.m. the house was empty. Guru Maharaj Ji was calling.
The rest is pretty much history. The facts are now recorded in the conscious lives of some 5,000 people, people who either by grace, a lot of personal effort, or both, have made the Kingdom of Heaven their permanent address.
Don't Let This Evening End
I arrived back at the house arund 2 a.m. Slowly people straggled in. Four of us, like children who've had a very, very full day and not able to let it end, gathered to talk in my room.
Some of 1145's guests never returned. Instead they boarded buses bound for California. Shuttles scurried off with those who had to fly away and start the next day in Chicago or D.C. Jane and John and the green VW taxied people to the airport until 5 a.m.
After dropping off to sleep for 3 hours, I awoke to virtually an empty house. Five people, on their way back to Oregon, were packing the last of their things into their car. Only four others were sleeping and meditating. I said goodby to the Oregonians and sat down to meditate away the touch of emptiness and sadness I felt. POOF! Maharaj
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Opening Our Hearts,
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Ji the Magic Guru did it again!
To feel at-one with people is not a physical thing Linda. To feel at-one with everyone you must dive deep into meditation. And so I did.
While Loring Baker moved premies to tears during the Knowledge Review held at 1145 on Monday afternoon, I drove with some friends from the East and friends from the West up into the mountains for the first time in two years.
We were the special guests of Mother Nature. She welcomed us quietly, with an easy grace. We didn't have to let her know we were coming, or how many of us to expect, or how long we'd be there. She just accepted us and shared freely her special delights and secret beauties. She let us walk, run, sing, dance and yell as much as we wanted. She gave us forests to rest in, to sit and meditate on the mystery and the majesty which surrounded us inside and out. And when the February wind started to blow, it was her gentle way of telling us it was time to go home.