When I was meditating, I had a vision of something blue. It was all around me. Then it got smaller and turned into Baba. Then blue Baba was far, far away and turned into the Blue Pearl. Then it started all over again when the Blue Pearl exploded into blue light everywhere.
a seven-year-old in New York, United States
This year, I was blessed to have the solitude to be able to truly embrace
Sweet Surprise. After the
satsang, I wrote Gurumayi’s Message down and submerged myself in the Guru’s radiance.
A few days later, I received a great blessing from the Message. As I began my morning recitation of
Shri Guru Gita, I was interrupted by loud noise from my neighbors who live on the floor above me. Negative emotions began to surface and distract me from my practice. Then, I glanced beside me and noticed the piece of paper on which I’d written Gurumayi’s Message. As I read the first line, I experienced that the words jumped into my heart and completely removed any negativity I was feeling toward my neighbors. In fact, I was overcome with compassion. I have since learned that my neighbors are currently going through great challenges. Gurumayi’s Message inspired me, when I needed it most, to be a better person.
Stockton, Australia
What is this love lacquer
That makes the world
Shine with possibility?
A new year
A new day
A mint moment
Perception fresh
The eternal now
Always blooming
Ambrosia for the soul
Her words.
New York, United States
I want to thank Gurumayi for the supreme gift of her Message for 2024.
When I first heard Gurumayi saying her beautiful Message out loud, it felt as if she were speaking directly to me. This jolted me wide awake (it was 4 a.m. here in New Zealand!) on so many levels. During the satsang it felt like the buds of understanding flowered and bore fruit, revealing layers of love within me that I had no expectation of ever experiencing.
Gurumayi’s words affirmed so many things that had enlivened my sadhana in 2023. I was filled with delight and confidence, and feel fortified for the coming year. My life is so full of the Siddhas’ blessings. And during Sweet Surprise Gurumayi showed me there is so much more to discover than I could have ever imagined. What a beneficial mystery the Guru-disciple connection is!
In the days since Sweet Surprise, a gentle love has been moving into parts of myself that have never felt love before. What a blessing it is to have a Siddha Guru!
Central Lakes, New Zealand
The first day of January was a rainy day in that part of Poland where I live. It was raining as well right before Sweet Surprise began. After the satsang concluded, I looked out the window. To my amazement it was white all around and snowing heavily. It must have started when Gurumayi was telling us the story of the little boy and how his wish for snow for Gurumayi had been fulfilled.
Nature responded to this little boy’s prayer not only in Shree Muktananda Ashram but also in a place on the earth far away from the Ashram. What's more, this visible manifestation of the story took place without any delay in time. Gurumayi’s words became a reality, instantly, thousands of miles away. What magic!
Needless to say, the snow melted quickly after Sweet Surprise concluded.
Turka, Poland
I set my timer to end my morning meditation at fifteen minutes before the start of Sweet Surprise. Imagine my amazement when Gurumayi came into my meditation! We were outdoors and two exquisite horses passed right in front of us. I turned to tell her how beautiful these horses were, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t say a word.
When I opened my eyes, it was 6:44, just one minute before the timer was to go off. Gurumayi’s Message for 2024 reached my heart directly. I had been aching to see her and hear her, and my heart is now rejoicing. It was a double Sweet Surprise!
Oregon, United States
This year Gurumayi’s Message had a particular flavor for me. I perceived a strong exhortation and a very sweet invitation at the same time. I had the feeling that there no pause, no interruption between the namasankirtana Narayana, Gurumayi’s Message, meditation, and Gurumayi’s closing words—it all flowed together.
Sweet Surprise was for me tender, fluid, inspiring, reassuring, and strong. I came away completely satisfied with this precious gift from Gurumayi.
San Giorgio a Cremano, Italy
Gurumayi’s Message for 2024 is revealing new insights to me every day.
Currently, I am experiencing a health challenge that has me quite immobilized. Last night, as I lay in bed, I remembered Gurumayi talking about the power of humming. I began to hum into different chakras and parts of my body. And then the chant Narayana came to mind. I said to myself, “Lord Vishnu, the sustainer—yes!” I began to hum Narayana into my body, with wonderful results.
Today I am chanting Narayana as I go about limited tasks, with full knowledge that I will be sustained by this namasankirtana throughout 2024.
California, United States
The canvas on which Gurumayi’s Message appeared, and which depicted a sunlit, birdsong-filled forest, captured my attention and filled me with silence and serenity. In contemplating her Message later, I observed how the visual background itself was representing each part of the Message. From that insight I learned that I should honor myself and others through acknowledgment and appreciation by applying and implementing the Message.
Chanting Narayana along with Shri Gurumayi filled me with ecstasy, and meditating according to her instructions led me to experience the great silence within. After the satsang was over, I found myself with a sense of peace and a thought-free state which I had never experienced before.
Udaipur, India
Gurumayi’s Message for 2024 for me is beautiful and most powerful, and it seems to be meant for me. At this time I am troubled by the health status of some of my family members. The Message for 2024 gives me a lot of strength and courage to go forward in life and face whatever may happen.
During Sweet Surprise I felt all of Gurumayi’s support and love for all of us. The next morning, at the beginning of my meditation, I mentally repeated the Message. Then, during the meditation it came naturally to me to invoke Gurumayi and ask for her help. I felt Gurumayi’s gentle presence near me, circling my head, and I felt her answer within me: “Of course I will help you; don’t worry! I will always be with you, I will always be near you.”
Naples, Italy
The moment the image of the forest was shown, I was deeply moved. It reminded me of my very first spontaneous meditation when I was very young. In this meditation, I experienced that I became one with a tree and could feel powerful energy flowing through my trunk from the roots up into my swaying branches.
As I listened to Gurumayi’s Message, the word “dignity” touched my heart. For the past few months, things have been quite challenging. As a result, I sometimes lost myself in my emotions.
As I participated in this satsang, I felt that Gurumayi was showing me the way back to my true nature, to who I am, and to what I want to achieve in my life. After taking part in Sweet Surprise, I now feel so much more confidence, trust, and joy. I have the strong intention to remind myself daily of Gurumayi’s Message and her grace.
Gottmadingen, Germany
During and after Sweet Surprise last night, I was changed, rearranged. It was as if Gurumayi had spoken her Message just for me. There was a purity in her Message as she spoke it; it was powerful beyond measure and sweeter than divine nectar. Every word was filled with this sweet nectar.
For the first time ever, I resonated with the true power of prayer, as she told us of the little boy who prayed with all his heart to give Gurumayi the snow she’d asked for. And Gurumayi had her snow.
Awakening this morning, I was experiencing an inner hum, which has stayed with me since Sweet Surprise. I seem to be naturally sharing this “hum” with all I come in contact with. I’ve shared the Message with others, who don’t know Gurumayi, and they have been touched as I was.
May I be a carrier of light to all that I meet. May this inner hum continue. May I come to embody Gurumayi’s Message. And may I pray, for real!
Texas, United States
During Sweet Surprise, when Gurumayi was guiding us into meditation with a focus on sound vibrations, I felt those vibrations as tiny pearls of light which traveled through my body, leaving a beautiful trail as they traveled from the earth beneath my feet to the crown of my head and beyond. I also saw the face of Goddess Durga right in front of my own face, as if I were wearing her mask. It was truly a divine experience.
Pune, India
When the picture of the forest appeared, I was drawn into the silence and majesty. My body and mind quieted. My breath deepened. As I heard the words of Gurumayi’s Message, I felt the “dignity,” “grace,” and “divinity” she speaks of to be present in the forest. And when Gurumayi led us into meditation, drawing our attention up from our feet to our torso and head, I deepened into that embodied experience of those three qualities.
When Gurumayi told us that the Message is our “inner pillar,” I naturally felt that through my core and I felt deeply connected to my higher Self. My mind became like the leaves fluttering and rustling in the breeze at the top of the tree, with solid groundedness through my body.
This experience will guide me through the chaos of life.
Kingscliff, Australia
When Sweet Surprise began, and we saw Bade Baba in the Temple, I spontaneously sat forward in a half-pranam and began to pray for my brother, who is experiencing serious health problems. When Gurumayi began speaking about our prayers being answered, her words filled me with such faith and joy, and it felt as though she was speaking directly to me. My brother sounded much better and was optimistic when we talked later in the day. I am so grateful!
Kansas, United States
When Gurumayi used the word stambha (“pillar”), I remembered a dialect word my father used when I was a child. Its sound is almost the same. He wanted to express that I should stand firm and go a good way. As a child I connected the word with the image of an elephant’s feet. I found it difficult, almost impossible, to stand like that.
And now, when Gurumayi tells us that the Message is our “inner stambha,” I see this subject is very important for this year—and I have a lot of work to do, like when a new school year begins. I believe that my true wish to follow Gurumayi’s teaching, “Stand tall in your inner dignity,” will come true—because this year my wish is being supported by Guru’s grace. Right now I envision an Indian elephant adorned with beautiful golden ornaments who, in his elegant and noble subtle form, serves a divine golden being—the Guru.
Hindelang, Germany
Gurumayi’s Message for 2024 feels so accessible to me and so necessary for these times. What stood out for me was the way that Gurumayi reminds us to uplift each other by practicing how we choose to communicate—like the trees that share information with each other to promote health all around. I love how the image of the trees embodies the first line of the Message, while the beautiful chant of Narayana honors Lord Vishnu, the sustaining force of the universe. All of these elements create such an artful experience. I am just in awe.
Texas, United States
When Sweet Surprise began with Gurumayi’s darshan, I quietly affirmed this experience within, repeating, “I’m with Gurumayi” and “Gurumayi is with me.” As I continued to repeat these words, while observing Shri Guru’s tranquil and profound presence, an immediate bond with Gurumayi blossomed within me. I found myself swaying and smiling in harmony with her, fully prepared to embrace the precious teachings of Shri Guru.
Sydney, Australia
A few hours before Sweet Surprise began, the Noto Peninsula in Japan was hit by a very big earthquake. It happened in the evening, so the extent of the damage was not yet clear. I was dominated by great anxiety and worry, which I brought with me to the start of Sweet Surprise. I felt as if Gurumayi were far away.
However, as I focused on the vibration of each sound of Narayana and the vibration of my voice, my mind became quiet and calm. I made a connection with Gurumayi. By the end of Sweet Surprise, Gurumayi’s radiant smile seemed to have blessed me with this experience and I will never forget it.
Tokyo, Japan
On my recent visit to Gurudev Siddha Peeth, for a retreat and to offer seva, I found myself struggling to get in touch with my inner core, and I was praying for guidance that I be able to offer myself fully.
During Sweet Surprise, as I was watching Shri Gurumayi while we chanted Narayana, I felt she was taking me along with her to the inner realms of myself. I felt instantly linked to her and started getting answers to all my questions—one by one with each round of the chant. I feel that I have begun implementing the third line of her Message. I will also be making an effort to achieve the teachings in the first and second lines of Shri Gurumayi’s Message.
I am feeling grateful and fortunate to have such a perfect Master in my life.
Nashik, India
As a teenager almost twenty-five years ago, I traveled across Australia for a Young People’s Retreat, and met a group of Siddha Yoga students my own age, many of whom I now count as lifelong friends and sadhana buddies. I was so astounded to find other young people who unabashedly enjoyed chanting, that I soon ended up moving across the country to be with my kula! Sixteen years later I was fortunate to offer seva to support the Siddha Yoga Chanting Tour—as one of the drivers of a van that took us from location to location around Australia!
Listening to Gurumayi’s story in Sweet Surprise about the snow, I realized that I am always in conversation with my Guru—through sharing my prayers, wishes, and dreams. I now feel newly inspired to offer my best to every moment, and to keep including the Guru in my prayers, wishes, and dreams.
I thank Gurumayi for encouraging this beautiful practice for our global sangham and for the grace to sustain a vision for a peaceful and joyous future.
New York, United States
Embarking on the new year with the auspicious moment of receiving the Guru’s darshan was truly touching. Being able to chant, meditate, and share that profound bond with her was a wonderful gift. Gurumayi ji’s mention of the fruit of someone’s prayer made me realize that last year, when I was grappling with professional challenges and struggling with self-respect, my prayers were answered.
Every element of this Sweet Surprise was truly enriching. Gurumayi’s Message for 2024 feels like a special treasure, and during meditation, feeling the sound vibrations resonating throughout my body left a deep and lasting impact.
New Delhi, India
On the morning of New Year’s Eve, I turned on my very loud industrial heater in my cold New York City loft. As it was rumbling and blowing, I began to hear high overtones in a melody ringing off my walls. It was the chant Narayana. So I turned on my playlist, and listened to Narayana as I went about my routine.
Today, as we began chanting Narayana during Sweet Surprise, I understood that its vibrations had already entered me the day before. After I heard Gurumayi’s Message and her sweet words to us, followed again by Narayana, my whole body sat perfectly still, solid and straight, and dignified. And my heart, totally open felt bathed in divine love, the nectar of Guru's grace
New York, United States
I was so happy to participate in Sweet Surprise and to be with Gurumayi. I could feel her love. I participated in the live video stream at my home in an energy-filled atmosphere with my family, including my ninety-four-year-old grandmother. She was seeing Gurumayi for the first time and felt so content that she conveyed blessings to all of us for bringing her to this satsang. Throughout the satsang, I could feel waves of love and joy.
I am grateful to Gurumayi with all my heart for her love and care, and for this Sweet Surprise.
Gandhinagar, India
I loved Sweet Surprise. It was so moving and inspiring! And Gurumayi’s Message has been reverberating in me all day, including the image of the trees. I realized that Gurumayi is telling me to embody this Message’s focus on the earth by being like a tree in both its height and its groundedness.
Gurumayi spoke about feeling energy enter her feet from the earth, and started her meditation instructions with a focus on our feet. So I feel like I have received this directive in going forward for the year: “Ground yourself, do the mountain pose, let the healing shakti come up through your feet. Ground yourself and it will all come together for you. You’ll blossom like a tree and give more shade to others.”
So to help myself manifest Gurumayi’s Messsage, I’m going to ground my feet and breathe in from the earth.
California, United States
I am grateful to Gurumayi for her Message for 2024. I loved that we had satsang; it was simple, familiar, and uplifting. The image of the forest expressed the first part of the Message so fully.
I am feeling very content, quiet, and renewed, and I know there is more inner work to do. I love Gurumayi’s teaching, “Make yourself proud of yourself,” and to ensure that I do, I will practice how I comport myself.
London, United Kingdom
Although I do not see myself as a formal student of the Siddha Yoga path, I have always made a point of participating in the Sweet Surprise webcasts and live video streams. I have no words to express with any accuracy exactly how Gurumayi ignites the spirit within me, but she never fails to do so. I feel it. It’s palpable. She is like the match one uses to light another match, or like the “helper” candle used on the menorah lamp of Chanukah to light the other candles.
Her voice and Message are like a second sun rising up to light my way for the entire new year of 2024.
California, United States
Gurumayi’s Message for 2024 is so crisp, so fiery, so true, so bold, and so totally everything! I returned home mesmerized from participating in Sweet Surprise, having laughed and chanted—and still singing and full with the best lasting energy for the year to come. I feel connected again. I am so happy and thankful to dear Gurumayi.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Today’s Sweet Surprise with Gurumayi was magical! My husband and I were sitting with a view to the east outside. Just as the last note of Narayana rang out, the rising sun peeked above our horizon. After Gurumayi gave us her Message for 2024, this poem arose in me:
The golden sun bathes our golden hill
With its taintless, eternal golden rays—
The true gold whose value is untold—
Our daily gift from God’s golden heart.
May we each respond by displaying
our own treasure chests, revealing
the gold within our own golden hearts.
California, United States
This morning I sat in my living room in front of a big screen to watch Gurumayi deliver her Message for 2024. The room also has a very large picture window that looks out at the adjacent woods and a six-foot-tall statue of Shiva Nataraj. When Gurumayi said, “The sun gave us
darshan, and it’s still giving us
darshan,” I looked out the window to see the sun lighting up Lord Shiva in our own newly fallen snow.
So much of Gurumayi’s Message resonated with me that I felt, “Yes, Gurumayi, it was me; it was my prayer!” I am an energy healer and I knew that I am on the right path when Gurumayi said that the power is vibration, a resonance that you can feel in your toes, your fingertips, and “your whole being.”
Minnesota, United States
Gurumayi’s Message for 2024 was very pointed and powerful for me. At times when Gurumayi spoke, I felt her words pierce my heart and shake my ego. My husband and I grasped each other’s hands and forgave each other for the past year’s hurtful words and flaring egos. I had prayed for this, and here it was, just like the light snow!
During the meditation, I remembered hearing the ocean as a child while my family and I slept on vacation at Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. I’ve always loved hearing the ocean. Now I realized that the sounds and vibrations of Om Namah Shivaya fit in perfectly with the sounds of each crashing wave. The mantra has always been with me!
Maryland, United States
In the meditation after we received Gurumayi’s Message for 2024, I pictured Gurumayi bestowing light upon us—through her Message, through her words, through her being. I see her holding a bright light in her open hands with palms up. She grants us this light. I also envision that we can offer it to others through our kind words and caring actions, holding others’ well-being in mind. We can share the light that Gurumayi gives to us.
I am very grateful to Gurumayi for this gift, for this recognition, for this guidance, for this Message! I look forward to its unfolding in the year ahead.
California, United States
There is no better way to begin any new year than to have satsang with Gurumayi! The sound vibration of Gurumayi’s divine voice burst through my heart with her love and grace. It is thirty-seven years since my first darshan with her, and I am so blessed to have her as my beloved Guru.
New York, United States
When Gurumayi began to chant
Narayana after we received her Message for 2024, I found myself in the illustration of the forest that accompanied
Sweet Surprise.
I was dancing among the tall, magnificent trees. An elephant appeared. His march was majestic and the weight of his huge, beautiful body was resonating, through his steps, deep into the earth. As I stood in awe of his benevolent power, I started experiencing the same grounded, unwavering dignity within.
As Gurumayi continued to chant
Narayana, I saw myself approaching the noble elephant with reverence, to offer him a
mala made of fifty-four
rudraksha beads. As soon as he accepted my present, I realized with wonder that the
mala was forming a circle of scintillating grace around both of us!
And as the chant continued to resound, the splendid elephant joined in my dance. All sense of separation melted away. In my head and heart, I heard him whisper with confidence, “I am Ganesh, the divinity within.”
Newfoundland, Canada
The words “Thank you, beloved Gurumayi,” do not convey how grateful I feel for Gurumayi’s presence on this earth. My heart is so completely full at this moment. As I listened to Gurumayi during
Sweet Surprise, the immense wisdom and love flowing so freely from her permeated my mind and heart, and made me remember—despite all that the world is going through—where my true center is, and that God, within me, around me, and in the form of the Guru, has not forgotten me.
I am so grateful to Gurumayi for such a remarkably beautiful, generous, and abundant start to the year 2024.
New York, United States
What sublime, beneficial, and uplifting guidance Gurumayi gave us today through her Message for 2024! As I was sitting in silence to prepare to participate in Sweet Surprise, after a few minutes I felt peace enveloping me and energy pulsating in my awareness. The vibrations were tangible and felt as if a shift in my life was about to happen as a result of participating in Sweet Surprise today.
As I listened to Gurumayi’s words during the satsang, I felt my inner world was getting illumined and her words were throwing light on the areas I need to focus on this year. It was certainly reassuring. It helped to strengthen my belief in my own practice and the approach I have been taking to connect. It gave further clarity as to where and how I can stay strongly rooted in my own awareness in life.
These immediate reflections have opened up a new dimension for my efforts to serve the Siddha Yoga mission. I am feeling so grateful and blessed!
Pune, India
Together with a number of other Siddha Yogis, I eagerly prepared for and then participated in Sweet Surprise. It started at 2 a.m. in Sydney, Australia, yet we were all wide awake and full of wonderful anticipation!
How sublime to have the darshan of Gurumayi on January 1, 2024, and to receive her Message in such a perfect way—simple, elegant, and yes, so sweet! To receive it with all of us together in the Universal Hall is such prasad!
I am feeling strong, calm, and very, very happy! I feel confident that everything is going to be good! I loved how Gurumayi said that the Message is a great one, and that the Message will give us so much support.
Sydney, Australia
As Gurumayi ji took me into meditation through her instructions, I found myself deeply absorbed in the nectar of her powerful yet most divine words. I was strongly experiencing her power flowing in me. As I was sitting in meditation, I saw a majestically big, ambient yellow chakra above me, and Gurumayi ji was sitting in its center. That was the moment when I felt immense divine power within me flowing through the vibrations of her voice.
Nadiad, India
I am feeling so blessed to have received my beloved Guru’s grace through every single word from Gurumayi that I heard in Sweet Surprise. I felt she was talking to me directly. I also felt the darshan of my own divine nature.
I know this upcoming year is going to be a great opportunity to go deeper into my heart in order to explore the treasure I’ve being carrying there all my life without knowing it.
Madrid, Spain
Gurumayi’s Message felt like it was given just for me. I have been working on each aspect of the Message and will continue to do so with the grace received from having participated in this live video stream.
I am going to be meeting with someone soon and Gurumayi’s teaching near the end of
Sweet Surprise—about preparing something uplifting to say at the beginning and the end of meeting someone—is so perfect for me to hear. Immediately I knew this would be beneficial. I had never thought before to prepare for a meeting in this way.
I feel such a connection to Gurumayi; she hears my heart’s desires and answers them with love. A sweet prayer from someone wishing to see her and hear her Message was answered today. I am so grateful for Gurumayi’s being in my life and being my teacher. With love, I bow in gratitude.
North Carolina, United States
About eight hours before I heard Gurumayi’s Message, a large earthquake occurred around the Noto Peninsula in Japan. As I listened to the news of the earthquake on TV, I was really sad that something like this happened on an otherwise beautiful New Year’s Day.
Later, after listening to what Gurumai said in
Sweet Surprise, I thought about making it a practice to use uplifting words to people I meet for the first time. Although for a while, I may be tempted to talk about such a sad topic, I think it is important for me to think about the world not from the perspective of sadness, but from the perspective of hope and prayer in order to lift the hearts of other people.
Thanks to Gurumayi’s words, I think I will be able to sleep calmly tonight.
Tokyo, Japan
For the past week my intention for chanting and meditation has been, “To our union”—the union of Shri Guru and myself. This has brought about blissful chanting and deep meditation. This morning when I remembered the live video stream, I spontaneously said, “My prayer was answered!”
I have been working on how to be with others in a confident and gracious way. To be given Gurumayi’s guidance in
Sweet Surprise to practice this before and at the end of my interactions with others was amazing! This first day of 2024 has been overflowing with grace!
Connecticut, United States
If a little boy can help make it snow for Gurumayi on New Years Day, then I know that by imbibing Gurumayi’s Message for 2024, I can help make the world a better, purer, more loving, and kinder home for myself and us all. I will do all I can.
I am grateful to Gurumayi for her kindness, her graciousness, her humor, her loving truths, and her grace.
New Mexico, United States