Autumn Japa Walk

This virtual japa walk with Gurumayi around Lake Nityananda has been pure prasad for me. I am moved by the caring love behind each detail: a shawl to keep us warm, a bottle of water to refresh us, a mala if we don’t have one.
 
I imagine each of us choosing a different color mala and shawl. Today I choose a pale-green stone mala and a green shawl. On the walk, I hear birds singing in the trees and the gentle sound of the path beneath our feet. Our silence thickens. The fall colors draw me in. I repeat the mantra with each step and each breath, feeling immense blessings infusing nature and the planet.
 
I experience us all as a deep forest of devotees, walking with our beloved Gurumayi, who leads our steps. In time. In rhythm. In grace.
 

New York, United States

What an amazing time! What a shift of awareness is taking place within me! I am so deeply grateful for this powerful, wonder-filled website, this way to connect even more deeply and to find one magical surprise after another. My heart overflows with joy!

Gurumayi, thank you so much!

Starnberg, Germany

Thank you, Gurumayi! I have everything I need to move through this day with joy and calm emanating from the center of my being. And thank you for all the study tools to accompany me on my journey around the lake and throughout my daily life.

New York, USA

Japa has been my constant companion for many years. Often, on my walks, with my mala and the mantra as my companions, I feel as if I am walking on the grounds of the Ashram. And often, I feel that Gurumayi is walking with me. The sweetness of this experience is indescribable!

Thank you, Gurumayi, for sharing this Autumn Japa Walk with us all. It is truly a great gift!

Pennsylvania, USA

I participated in the japa walk around Lake Nityananda. Afterward, I went for a japa walk in Dakshin Kashi. As I repeated the mantra and offered every repetition to the nature around me, I was carried to a pure and happy place within myself. It was so serene, so quiet, within and without. I experienced simplicity: simple existence, simple silence, simply being in that space. This space of happiness is present inside me all the time. I was simply happy! It was like actually walking in my own heart, a dance in silence.

Toward the conclusion of the japa walk, I discovered that wherever I walk, it can be a japa walk like this one. So beautiful!

Thank you so much, Gurumayi.

Gurudev Siddha Peeth

I did the japa walk around Lake Nityananda. The ground beneath my feet felt firm, the earth packed hard, for many have walked before me. The air felt cool, and I wrapped my shawl around me a little more tightly. The japa mala beads felt cool and smooth, sliding between my fingers easefully with each breath—Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya. The trees, the sky, the twitter of the birds felt contained within a universe that extended as much as I wanted it to, painted with the colors of autumn and imbued with the absence of thoughts.

Thank you, Gurumayi, for giving me this experience. I am so grateful for this imprint that is within me now and mine to claim in any moment.

Noida, India

This week I’ve been having darshan with Gurumayi in the form of my dreams almost every night. This is something that has never happened before. Each night Gurumayi has come and asked me if I have been doing my practices. For me, this beautiful video is a reminder of that question.

Thank you, Gurumayi, for inviting me on a japa walk with you. I will practice performing seva from this space of quietude.

California, USA

The Name of God is inherent in each of the nature photographs shown here, and each expands and pierces the heart. Thank you profoundly for this experience of the divine.

Oregon, USA

What surprise and delight I experienced this morning when I received Gurumayi’s invitation to join her on a japa walk!

Thank you, Gurumayi, for being with me – always.

Surrey, United Kingdom

I was inspired by the Autumn Japa Walk to increase my practice of japa. I brought my japa mala on the bus to work, and it transformed my trip. The traffic and the noise did not affect my inner calm and quiet.

Basmathnagar, India

I was taking a break from work and feeling a bit uninspired, when I saw Gurumayi’s invitation. My heart leapt up, and I leapt up as well, and got my japa mala. I put the video on full screen, took a few deep breaths to center myself, and began walking. I felt as if I was truly walking around Lake Nityananda with Gurumayi! I feel like a different person and am once again inspired to continue my work.

Thank you, Gurumayi, for your generosity, and this beautiful example of the transformative power of the mantra. I am so grateful.

 California, USA

"Let the beauty of nature become part of you." This command went with me into my walk here in the Pacific Northwest today. I was astonished to see the extent to which I had unconsciously been experiencing nature's beauty as over there, out there, separate from me, thus seeing myself as somehow less than this beauty. With this teaching from Gurumayi, I realized how I had been holding myself back, cutting myself off from the power of nature. I understood that I could invite the beauty in, recognize nature as part of my own Self, and allow its earth to be my earth, its water, my water, its colors of grace, the colors of my own soul.

Allowing the vibrations of the mantra to carry this beauty deep into my heart, I rest in a state of deep, quiet contentment.

Thank you, Gurumayi, for the miraculous ways in which you shift my relationship to life.

Washington, USA

Thank you, Gurumayi, for giving me an experience of the power of the mantra, and of quietude. It is the end of the day here, and as I joined you for this japa walk, everything became very still and quiet inside me, and I became strongly aware of the silence here.

The colors are exquisite. And I was touched by your generosity and care, how you think of everything—offering us each a japa mala, a shawl, and a water bottle.

Thank you. I will take this quietude with me into the night and the days to come.

Dulwich Hill, Australia

A wonderful and sweet good morning has come today. I will carry all these bright colors in my heart throughout my day. The splendor of nature and the power of beauty are immense.

Thank you, Gurumayi. And thank you to all the sevites in the Website Department!

Milan, Italy

Splendiferous indeed! The Autumn Japa Walk continued after the video, and I found myself silently turning within, walking in the sublime and golden forest of my own heart. There, too, I came across a beautiful lake. Its nature was love, and the ripples on its surface were none other than the repetitions of the mantra. Throughout the day, I was able to return again and again to the japa walk. My world became ablaze with crimson and golden colors, and the mantra silenced the chatter of my mind.

Gurumayi, thanks to you I have a splendiferous smile on my face today.

London, United Kingdom

How glorious! A three-and-a-half minute walk that set my spirits soaring for hours this morning. I intend to come back again and again, choosing a different japa mala and shawl each time, and pausing the video to relish the dazzling beauty that Gurumayi is sharing with all of us.

Illinois, USA

This morning I woke up and started repeating the mantra while still in bed. Then, as every morning, I switched on my computer and with great surprise I found the Autumn Japa Walk with Gurumayi. It was fantastic! I've done this japa walk many times during my visits to Shree Muktananda Ashram, and this morning being accompanied by Gurumayi on this walk with such love and care filled me with great happiness and a profound sense of connection.

Thank you, Gurumayi.

Rome, Italy

Receiving Gurumayi's invitation to go on an autumn japa walk around Lake Nityananda was pure nectar for me. Choosing my japa mala was a step into Shree Muktananda Ashram and prepared me to repeat the mantra. The rhythm and movement of the slides invoked a vigorous feeling of walking. As I performed japa and admired nature, I felt the connection with Gurumayi and the sacred grounds of Shree Muktananda Ashram.

Gurumayi's concluding words about the mantra, nature, quietude, and gratitude make this truly splendiferous walk easy for me to remember throughout my day. This superb posting on the Siddha Yoga path website reminds me that Gurumayi and I are always together.

Thank you, Gurumayi.

New York, USA

Thank you for sharing the wondrous and beautiful place that Shree Muktananda Ashram is—especially in the autumn. I am so honored to be invited on this very special japa walk and relish both the external beauty as well as the inner fullness the japa repetition invokes. I can hear the leaves rustling and the crunch of them beneath our footsteps. I feel refreshed and grounded. Only on the Siddha Yoga path website do I experience such a strong connection to the light within while sitting in front of my computer!

Thank you, Gurumayi, for inviting me on this beautiful inner walk with you and allowing all of us to experience the impeccable inner and outer beauty that Lake Nityananda bestows.

California,, USA