Newsletter March
If you would like to get a little insight into ashram life, what a weekend is like when Ma gives darshan or when we have a spiritual celebration, then you’re at the right place.
We will show you what happened in the past month and give you a glimpse of what is to come.
The words that Ma places in our hands for orientation and reflection, especially for this year 2025, read:
Guard the light in your own heart - come what may!
This year, Ma shares with us an email written by a chela to illustrate how we can use a ‘verse of the year’ given by Ma:
Your verses of the year guide me in various situations: when I feel that everything is one big darkness, for example, I think of the last verse you gave us for 2024, in which you speak of the glory of all life.
Then I know that this glory exists, even if I can’t see it, and it already feels less dark.’
Ma has adorned every single frame with her own hand and blessed each one for all of us - so that the truth of these words can take root in our hearts through our practice.
Ever since the ashram association bought the Sri Neem Karoli Baba Mandir in Neu-Ulm in 2019, we have been planning the ‘second construction phase’ for the remodeling of the former workshop into a cloakroom with toilets. As more and more visitors are coming to the Baba Mandir, the existing cloakroom has become too small. Now, with Baba’s blessing and under Ma’s guidance, we have finally been able to extend these facilities.
A short video - recorded in December 2024 - shows the beginnings of the renovation of the cloakroom. Many craftsmen and sevaka - volunteers - transformed the completely unrenovated area into a bright, beautiful cloakroom with additional toilets. When you enter the Baba Mandir through the entrance and turn left through the curtain into the cloakroom, you can see how beautiful everything has become. The previously rather narrow space opens up to the rear and is now about twice as large.
The latest GoFundMe video shows how the former workshop has been transformed into these new facilities.
Thank you for your many and generous donations!
News has reached us that Shantimayi - a spiritual master from the USA - left her body on 16 February 2025.
In 1996, Shantimayi accepted Durgamayi Ma’s invitation and visited the ‘Hanuman House’ located a few kilometres from Ulm. ‘Hanuman House’ was the first ashram in which Durgamayi Ma regularly gave darshan. This is where the beautiful photo showing the two masters in front of the large Hanuman picture was taken. One chela describes the meeting: “It was like bathing in an ocean of divine and motherly love.”
Shivaratri is the major celebration in honour of Lord Shiva. In Indian mythology, Shiva represents the supreme consciousness that is beyond all duality.
This time, Ma is not able to be in the ashram and yet we can feel her divine blessing carry us through this weekend of celebrations. We sing kirtan to Shiva with all our hearts, with great longing for this life in divine oneness.
Ma sends us a sacred text by the great mystic Kabir for the celebration on Saturday, which two chela recite in German and English.
He is the real Sadhu, who can reveal the form of the Formless to the vision of these eyes:
Who teaches the simple way of attaining Him,
that is other than rites or ceremonies:Who does not make you close the doors,
and hold the breath, and renounce the world:Who makes you perceive the Supreme Spirit
wherever the mind attaches itself:Who teaches you to be still in the midst of all your activities.
Ever immersed in bliss, having no fear in his mind,
he keeps the spirit of union in the midst of all enjoyments.The infinite dwelling of the Infinite Being is everywhere:
in earth, water, sky, and air:Firm as the thunderbolt,
the seat of the seeker is established above the void.He, who is within is without:
I see Him and none else.
For the chela of a spiritual master, the birthday of the guru is a very special day. On Thursday, 6 March, we come together in the temple of the ashram Brindavon to sing kirtan and honour Ma. Filled with joy we offer our singing to the Divine Mother, whose embodiment for us is Ma.
The kirtan was also broadcast as a live stream. You can hear and watch it via this link.
During the seva weekend, we prepare Brindavon ashram for Ma’s darshan, the direct encounter with Ma. ‘Seva’ means selfless service. On seva days and seva weekends, the ashram is open to anyone who would like to help in the ashram. Many come to help - long-time chela from the Ulm area, as well as visitors from further away who have never been to the ashram before. Joyfully we clean the temple, the five stories of Brindavon ashram, sweep the terraces and courtyard. In the kitchen, the kitchen crew prepares prasad - lunch - for everyone. In the ashram shop, chela arrange the decorations for the spring season and for Easter.
In the other ashram, Sri Neem Karoli Baba Mandir, just a few kilometres away, sevakas are taking down a wall - as the final step of the ‘second construction phase’ - to connect the previous entrance area with the newly constructed cloakroom.
‘I love this ashram beyond measure!’ Ma calls out to us during darshan and asks us what we remember in particular. Some chela speak of their experiences with Ma in this ashram. Many of us had unforgettable moments in Brindavon over the 20 years before Ma founded the second ashram in Neu-Ulm. Moments in which we left our everyday world behind and followed Ma into her world of love.
In the evening, Ma watches the film ‘Goebbels and the Führer’ - with us. It sheds light on Nazi propaganda and the power that images have on us. How the Nazi regime deliberately distorted the truth in order to achieve its inhumane goals. The parallels to social media with its images and videos taken out of context and content generated by AI cannot be overlooked.
Ma sees several small groups in direct encounters and addresses the questions that are close to our hearts - and we immerse ourselves in the sweet stream of being in which the master lives.
On the night of 12 to 13 April, we will celebrate Hanuman Jayanti to honour Lord Hanuman, who - as Ma shows us - represents the divine power of unconditional love that resides within every human being.
In Hanuman we also honour Sri Neem Karoli Baba, Ma’s master, whom she met in India during His lifetime in 1973. Many of His devotees honour Baba Himself as an incarnation of Hanuman ji.
We are very much looking forward to this special celebration in Ma’s presence. We will sing the Hanuman Chalisa 108 times through the night - the sacred mantra that praises the divine qualities of Lord Hanuman in 40 verses.
