From Shri Surajnath Sidhh, Guruji

This year’s Utsava Maa celebration will be quite auspicious, as I hear many hundreds of goddesses from all corners of the Earth are convening in the red tent to enliven the culture again, singing again the songs we have all forgotten. This is our fortune, that all goddesses are forever welcome in the ashram, an energy and knowledge center for hundreds of years.

The theme of the festival is “˜Divinity, Ecology, Creativity’. Divinity is one kind of celebration. We are all involved in it, whether we know it or not. Divinity can be defined as sanskar (refinement), shiksa (education), samvedana (sensitivity), Shakti (energy), samipya (unity/closeness) and langam (all together, mixture, combination). Many people can feel the divinity ““ mostly women. You can also recognize quickly where there is peace, harmony and bliss. This sensitivity arouses all celebration, which is the natural tendency of humans. It is our spontaneous nature. That’s why we’re always attracted to it. That is one reason the goddesses convene here at the ashram, where our Rajasthani families move from one celebration to another, small and large, casual and formal. We mark the calendars monthly with inaugurations, graduations, ceremonies, and jaggrans (spiritual gatherings) with fire dance, sweets, music, and very colorful, beautiful clothes and jewelry. This is nature, and so it is the Rajasthani nature, to live in celebration as a form of divinity. Sometimes we sing to the creator, but often we are singing to each other.


In Sanatan Dharma (eternal duty) divinity is closely bound to ecology. This ashram is guided by the philosophies of child ecospiritualist Jasnathji, who lived in the 15th century. This tradition is very sensitive to the concerns of our environment as it is perceived as a manifestation of the creator herself. By now you are aware that the Earth’s ecological balance has been disturbed, with humans responsible in a great degree. All countries and its citizens have been affected. The organization of Utsava Maa in 2015 was in response to the increased helplessness we were seeing in our ashram clinic ““ more and more depression. The fear we share is disturbing our bodies as well, resulting in increase in diseases.


We believe that coming together from disparate regions will breathe life into unknown solutions. Not only through intellectual discourse, but also through celebration ““ a style of worship that Maa recognizes as any mother has a sacred lullaby that is sung again and again until the optimism comes back into the heart center of ourselves and our people. We have to work to change society toward positive sensibilities, without which we cannot be creative. Utsava Maa plants a seed in this direction. We have to nurture it all together. In time change would certainly happen.


To read more about this amazing event, see www.utsavamaa.org. See you in the red tent 28 Dec ““ 4 Jan!

Om Shanti & Prem,
Surajnath Siddh