“Dear and sweet Bilja, it was wonderful… It is an understatement to say it was wonderful – it was extraordinary. Each part of the whole-day program was awakening peace in me, silence and gratitude accompanied with tears of bliss. The food which our Maja prepared with enthusiasm and a lot of love, we ate with pleasure and thankfulness. Thank you for everything, thank you on your gift, thank you on an extremely positive energy you transferred to us all. Thank you to our Mohanji and God which connected us all… Unconditional love is here in my heart and soul…” Zlata Djorovic
On Sunday, 3rd March 2019, I conducted a 1-day program as a Mohanji acharya for the first time. It took place in Zrenjanin. I am writing about it in case somebody finds it useful and inspiring. I organised it with our beautiful, dear and lovely Maja Halasev, a Mai Tri practitioner, MET initiate and Himalayan School of Traditional Yoga teacher. She hosted it in her “Happy Centar” in 46, Dositeja Obradovica Street.
The program started at 9am with two-hour-long yoga session. I welcomed them all, introducing the program in a few words and creating a positive initial atmosphere. The session started slowly, warming up, through easy yogic exercises, jogging and running movements, continued with Sun salutations as aerobic part to speed up the circulation and wake them up better. I adapted the variety, speed and intensity of the session to them. Then it was followed by various other exercises or asanas including strength ones. It gradually cooled down with pranayamas, my chanting, and yoga nidra for deep relaxation.
The plan was to go for Conscious Walking afterwards, but we were sweaty so I adapted the program by introducing the first part of the talk – it turned into 45-minute-satsang interspersed with experience sharing from my own life. I was happy that the participants were very interested in the topic and enjoyed it.
Next we went for Conscious Walking in the Seceranski park. A feeling of togetherness, some friendly atmosphere and rapport had already been established and inner calmness and joy was felt. On the way back to the “Happy Centar”, a few people opened up and shared their personal stories. One added, “It is so unusual that I am not fit at all, and after two hours of yoga, during which I was wet, now I do not feel tired. I wonder how it is possible. I used to go swimming and exercised in the gym, but when I would come home, I needed rest. And I also realised how unfit I am!”
After that we went through Maja’s labyrinth.
She explained how she built it and most of all, how she had carefully planned it, what is going to be built in on which day, at which time, from which material and where exactly, etc. so that it be built per Vasthu – a traditional Hindu system of architecture which respects energies of space to the subtler levels. It was opened in 2017 as the first energy labyrinth, the labyrinth of Love. Our association on the word “labyrinth” is usually a puzzle drawing from a newspaper which we used to solve as children, square shaped tracks with dead ends and one exit from the labyrinth. Another association is a building with a lot of corridors where one can get lost easily and find the way out very hard, which cause panic and nightmares and used to exist in Ancient Greece and Egypt. The most famous is surely Knosos, as an abode of Minotaurs on Krit. A modern version of those labyrinth are park creations made from high vegetation, plastic boards or glass, square shaped and with similar purpose – that people have fun and at the same time feel a little bit “scared”. A combination of concrete and steel is definitely not a foundation for spiritual experience, let alone for relaxing our mind or making us enjoy it. The labyrinth in “Happy centar” is something totally different. It is a spiritual object built for thousands of years on special spots on Earth by various civilisation. A labyrinth is an ancient symbol, a fingerprint of the divine, which refers to the unity of everything in the Universe, an archetype which can be used to have an immediate and true spiritual experience by walking on it. We experience a metaphor of life journey into our own centre and back to the periphery. By walking on the tracks of a labyrinth we get centred, balanced, healed, we connect with higher aspects of our consciousness, raise awareness, subtlety and perception and we are more sensitive to subtle energies. In the centre of labyrinth we can meditate and contemplate… or simply enjoy…, which we did. Everybody went over those 108 pink tiles with good intentions and openness to the charm and energy of the labyrinth. They asked, Why 108?” Which I explained as the proportion of the distance between the Earth and the Sun and also some other cosmic distances. It is therefore taken as a minimum number of repetitions of spiritual practice, like chanting, etc.
Then we had delicious vegan lunch which Maja prepared. She paid careful attention to the day – Sunday and had the idea to prepare lunch in the colour of the Sun – yellow. There was a leek pie with rise, millet with pumpkin seeds, humus, diced celery root powdered in turmeric and other spices. Participants liked it, although they were not all vegans. Surprised how delicious it can be, one of them said that that lunch completely changed his attitude to vegan food. It could be freely called soulful food. It gave enough nourishment and satiated the hunger to the fullness yet without heaviness in the stomach and we had to perform the second half of the program including Conscious dancing. The less heavy the stomach, the better the effect will be.
Having finished lunch, we all stayed at our places and spontaneously started sharing experiences.
Experience sharing was an excellent ouverture into a discourse on the topic “Releasing the inner potential.” Before the event I did not go through Mohanji’s teaching as I have assimilated it well so far, neither did I create an outline of my speech, or seminar as some people tend to call it. I wanted to act from the state of surrender and not from the mind and intellect, although I would use them, of course. Therefore I relied on my trust in Mohanji’s and the grace coming from my connection with him. If there is no grace, even my knowledge would not be worthwhile as I would not be able to express it or make it useful for the attendees. On the contrary, in the surrender mood, Mohanji’s could lead me directly to give answers that the participants needed, even if they did not ask the questions. I picked The Power of Purity Book and randomly opened a page and saw that it is exactly related to what I planned to talk about. I marked it for this day.
As I was reading, I noticed that I had been mentioning them the same points during the day, from the very morning. Such a synchronicity. Also, after each few sentences, inspiration came to explain and illustrate what exactly the words meant. Real life examples had a great impact. My own insight came out spontaneously, too. The book excerpt was like an outline for the extended speech. I did not actually think, the talk was just flowing, stories came and I conveyed them with humour. People who know me would say that I am very silent and reticent to talk, let alone tell jokes. Thus these moments were something like blossoming of some buds which were dormant. And what is crucial – exactly when and where they were needed, not a minute or a day before or after. Straight into the centre of the target. Participants were open and curious to know more. They were listening with interest, expressing with their faces and body postures that they were getting something they needed. Their awakening had started before, and they wanted to go further, in a practical way, applicable to their lives, even if it means changing their lifestyle a bit. They were simply open to connect to, be filled with and express something higher. Maja, who could feel and work with energies said, “How His energy was felt – you could simply see that people were getting the answers they needed.” Total morning and afternoon discourse lasted about 2h. Self-acceptance level increased. While leaving in the evening, one participant told me, “Thank you, we learnt a lot today!” I am so grateful to have played a role in it, by being a mouth of a master. It is such a responsibility.
Having reached this contentment for the intellect, too, they agreed we were ready for a dance! Conscious dancing took a lot of impressions which were like hooks pulling a person down, it was like taking off to a new dimension, some were in a trance-like state of bliss and peace. It is meant to celebrate life through movement and be used to and established in a state of love, faith and inspiration, while letting go of the frequencies of expectation and disappointments. I am a dancer and am passionate about dancing. I used to dance for years when I was a girl at various competitions and dancing shows. This is the terrain where I feel like a fish in water.
While I was explaining the process, I made it more interesting by showing them real steps of African dance, without making it mandatory. It was just to give them more confidence if they had never danced before. For the second chakra, I showed them the movements which were like writing a horizontal number eight and asked, “Is there anyone who can dance salsa?” One older but strong and vigilant-looking man raised his hand. I called him to approach me and said, “My son taught me salsa, let’s dance together” and we danced for a few minutes, which everybody considered attractive and inspiring. True. I learnt Latino American and classic dances, but I learnt salsa only when I came home from India a few weeks ago – my 16-year old son taught me! He was still 15 then. How beautifully orchestrated it was from above.
Energy centre per energy centre, the waves of energy, heat and releasing was at a height and then carefully, step by step, a musical beat by beat and gentle notes we sailed into Blossoms of Love meditation. They preferred to sit with back leaned on the wall. They felt silence in the lungs and heart, and deep relaxation and cooling down after dynamic dancing. When it finished, without interruption, with a beautiful music in the background, Maja and I gave them energy transfer, Mohanji’s gift. This is something precious that stays with them.
Having rubbed their palms and opened their eyes, I told them I have something for them, a gift for everyone – my book “Conscious Walking”. As they experienced this technique that day and as I had been inspired by it, “expressions of a stable mind” as Mohanji would say came out.
In the end, we exchanged details too, for meeting some day at a similar self-embracing event in the future.
Two days after the event, I received a message from a participant, “Dear Biljana, I read your book “Conscious Walking” for the first time, with love and satisfaction. Wonderful! 🤗 Thanks God and You on such a gift.”
With love,
Bilja
Mohanji Absolute Truth 