Bogotá, Colombia



2006-06-15 to 2006-06-18



CENTENARY CELEBRATION IN COLOMBIA

The Kriya Yoga Center in Colombia celebrated Baba Hariharananda’s centenary at a very beautiful Convention Center in Bogotá. The surrounding vivid tropical gardens and sport facilities made us feel like we were in the country, not in the city.

Kriyavans came not only from Bogotá, but also from the Coffee Region of Colombia and Barranquilla, two places where we also have centers. Present were also a few kriyavans who were initiated by Baba when he was in Colombia in 1975, whom we call the “classics.” In total, there were one hundred and fifty kriyavans at the program.

We started the program on Thursday with Kriya activities and evening meditation. Friday morning there was more meditation. Later in the evening Paramahamsa Prajnanananda gave a public lecture. Kriya initiations were conducted Saturday morning, and meditation classes and discourses continued with Paramahamsaji and Yogacharya Miguel Baba until Sunday evening.

Yogacharya Miguel introduced the Gurudev’s centenary, highlighting the celebrations worldwide in more than one hundred cities and invited the participants to come to India for the culmination of this year’s celebration. He then recounted many of his experiences with Baba Hariharananda, which included the time when Baba entered into nirvikalpa samadhi when he visited Bogotá.

Paramahamsa Prajnanananda then captivated the audience, of three hundred people, by mentioning Baba Hariharananda´s love for Colombia, and how he would always correct Paramahamsa Prajnanananda if he did not mention Bogotá as one of the places Baba had visited. He then mentioned that he had preference for three countries: Iceland, Poland, and Colombia. .

Paramahamsaji then explained the purpose of the Centenary and emphasized the beautiful inauguration in India, the one hundred celebrations to be held this year throughout the world in Europe, United States, Canada, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and, of course, India. He then also invited the participants to attend the closing centenary ceremony in India in 2007.

Paramahamsaji talked about the importance of doing everything we do with love — eat with love, walk with love, work with love. This requires an open mind, but to also completely surrender to God, which will fill us with His love. This love will eliminate the misery and sorrow in our lives and transform it into peace and happiness.

Paramahamsaji then recounted his youth, his experience with Kriya, and his encounter with his beloved Baba Hariharananda and emphasized what Gurudev always said, love God continuously. According to Baba Hariharananda, one way of loving God is to constantly observe your breath and feel that it is the power of God breathing.

The participants were very impressed with Paramahamsaji’s talk, and their immediate reaction was a keen interest in learning Kriya, which was reflected in the large number of initiations the next day. Their comments on Baba’s talk were very favorable and included sayings such as: “very profound,” “he transmits such calmness,” and “I like what I heard about Kriya Yoga.”

We were delighted that many kriyavans received second Kriya initiation, which represents to us a strengthening of our core Kriya group in Colombia.

Throughout the next two days, Paramahamsaji guided meditation and gave inspiring talks. We were impressed with the devotion of the attendees. They were looking for God, and found a calm and divine energy which satisfied their expectations.