We have just returned from Navaratri Puja at Cabella. This was a great blessing for the English, and for everyone there. Shri Mataji was at a puja at the castle every night from Saturday to Friday, and there was a chance for ladies to offer Lakshmi baskets. There was a havan every day. On Thursday and Friday there was also a puja at the hangar. On Saturday Shri Mataji attended the inauguration of the new school. The English play, Sleeping Beauty, was on Saturday night. It was very joyful, and also great fun; a mixture of pantomime and deeply spiritual moments.
My husband and I arrived late on Thursday evening; we could already feel the joyful vibrations as we were driving up the valley, before we had even reached Cabella. On Sunday morning I was blessed to be put on the rota for working in the castle laundry. I was given cloths to iron – tablecloths, tray cloths etc – that were to be used by Shri Mataji, or used in the puja.
By late afternoon everyone was in the hangar. A video of a talk from a previous Navaratri puja had just been put on when we heard that Mother had just left the castle, so we started singing bhajans. She was with us for the puja, and for a while afterwards as people made offerings, then briefly for a spectacular firework display that showed the Devi destroying Ravana. She looked well.
On Monday I was lucky to be able to go up to the castle again. Some of us were outside on the bridge, the vibrations were beautiful and we were happy to be there. Then Anthony Headlam called out from the doorway ‘The English!’ and beckoned to us. (The English collective did seem to grow somewhat at this point)
We made our way slowly forwards. Suddenly I realised I was in Mother’s sitting-room, She was sitting on the far side of the room. Children were sitting in front of Her, the bhajan group was singing. Anthony told Parvati from London, Christine from Bristol, and me from Birmingham to stand to one side, then gave us a large dish holding four saris to offer to Mother. He came up with us, and said to Shri Mataji as She touched the dish, ‘We offer these four saris from the United Kingdom for the reunification of the four countries’. Shri Mataji looked at all of us intently. Then we bowed down. We went out to the side through the kitchen, and ended up in the hallway, joyfully.
After Mother left the sitting-room we went out to the site where the hangar used to be when it was up near the castle. In the centre was a giant wooden statue of Ravana. The men had great fun setting this alight – helped by some petrol – and it blazed away to nothing. Behind in the night sky to the south was the crescent moon on the right, and Venus shining brightly on the left, fairly close together. Then we went and had something to eat in the downstairs kitchen in the castle; this night was a wonderful finish to Navaratri, and to the weekend.
Maggie Burns
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