A birthday is always a special occasion, especially when it is our dearest Ammaji Yogacharini Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani’s birthday. This year, we were fortunate to offer our love, respects and gratitude to her on the occasion of her 78th birthday that was celebrated on 13th September with a special fire ceremony, a Homa, Havan, Yagna propitiating potent energies of the cosmos, so that those energies will bless our dearest Ammaji with health, happiness, and a long life.

Ammaji is the source of love, energy and strength for so many of us. Each and every member of the Rishiculture Gitananda Yoga family worldwide appreciates the golden opportunity we have to live on this planet at the same time as our beloved Ammaji.
The celebrations kicked off on the 11th with my heartfelt talk on Ammaji as part of Yogacharya Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani’s Scintillating Saturday’s. This session “Matru Devo Bhava” was dedicated to her life, her teachings, and offered as a loving tribute to her manifestation as his mother, guru and now as his God.
Dhivya Priya Bhavanani organized a beautiful get-together of the Rishiculture Gitananda Yoga family worldwide on the 12th September and hundreds of members of our family paid tribute to Ammaji through song, music, dance, melody, poetry, and by expressing their heartfelt gratitude to her. Pujya Ammaji watched the whole event live for three and a half hours, and enjoyed it tremendously. She also came online, blessing everyone with her words of wisdom. To have her Divine Darshan on that day was a very special experience for so many.

On her actual birthday, Monday, the 13th of September, close family, students and friends came together at the ICYER Ananda Ashram for the three hour ceremony held under the direction of our Ashram Pundit, the most amazing Shivacharya Shri Nataraja Gurukkal. He had brought along with him fifteen of his young students training in his Veda Patashala, and the mass chanting of numerous Vedic Mantras, including the Ganesha Atarvasirsha, the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra, and mantras for Dhanvantari, Sudharshana and the Navagraha Devatas reverberated in the front hall of ICYER. Ammaji joined us for more than an hour during the Homa, and enjoyed every moment, looking like the royalty she indeed is. All of us witnessed in awe the manifestation of the Divine Universal Mother Herself through her in her elegant and regal demure. It seemed like Mother Prakruti herself was present during the performance of the Homa.

Dr Ananda had the privilege to perform Pada Puja for Ammaji and this was truly a cathartic moment for all of us who are close to her. He said, “I don’t remember when I had this opportunity last, but the beatitude that manifested through me on this sacred occasion was truly a moment of Samadhi in itself. If I had done it a few years ago, my state of mind and inner perspective may have been different, but here, I was being given an opportunity to worship my Mother-Guru and God. It felt like my whole life was worth living just for this moment of communion”.

He continued, “If I had done this Pada Puja a few years ago I would have done it in a very different state of mind. I would have been grateful, I would have had respect, I would have loads of love and yet this opportunity, especially at this point of time was very touching. Ammaji has enabled me to open my perspective over the past 12 months and I now “see” the Whole Universe through her. She has granted him the capacity, the vision of the Divine Mother Goddess who is manifesting through her, through her eyes. Just as Krishna showed Ma Yashodha the Universe when he opened his mud stained mouth; so also I have begun to witness the grandeur of the whole Cosmos through her eyes”.

Hundreds of students from all over the world, logged in to Zoom Womb and enjoyed watching the whole event through live telecast. This gave so many of our yoga family an opportunity to be with us during the event, even if they were not able to make the journey to India, to Pondicherry and to the Ashram, at this point of time.
Yogacharini Sangeeta led a very beautiful, warm, loving chanting session in the evening that again brought together hundreds of our Vishwa Yoga Parivar members who participated in wishing Ammaji the best of health, wellness and happiness.

Many cakes were cut over the weekend and wonderful meals were relished, manifesting a gala family time for everyone who participated in this magnificent celebration. Gurleen of Canada organized a very special cake to be delivered on Ammaji’s birthday and it carried artwork by her loving daughter Ayra who had depicted Ammaji riding her famous red scooter into Pondicherry. As Ammaji was one of the very first women to ride a scooter in Pondicherry, and that too wearing a fully draped sari; this cake and the art work on it carried very special significance.

When we asked Ammaji the next day what she thought about her three-day, weekend birthday celebration, she said, “It was spectacular!”.
What more can we all want? What more can we all ask for?

We are truly blessed when our Divine Living Siddha of Pondicherry is pleased with our efforts to serve her. We are truly blessed with abundance when she gives us her loving blessings in such a wonderful manner.

May we all be worthy of her grace. May we all be worthy of her teachings. May our lives be our Guru Dakshina to our Guru, our most beloved Ammaji.