JALARAM JAYANTI

Last week we celebrated Jalaram Jayanti in Charleston Carolina.  This is
something I started a few years back as I have great faith in Bapa.  There are hundreds of times when I have experienced Bapa’s presence, watching, guiding, healing and protecting.  I am tremendously grateful for this presence in my life and that of my family.

To celebrate this event, we try to create a Virpur type of atmosphere.  The set up and decor reflects a story related to Bapa or Virpur.  The food is always Khichdi, Shak Rotla because that is what you get served in Virpur.  The event has now become very popular in Charleston and we have a large congregation of devotees that attend.  Sometimes, I sponsor the event and cook the entire meal for everyone, sometimes a small group of volunteers get together and divide the menu so that each person within the group is focusing on making just one dish (in large quantities). This year the menu was divided up between a group of women who each made one item.  It was my turn to make the rotla.

It is amazing how one finds the energy when performing seva for this event.  Things always seem to fall into place, and deadlines met.  I find that contributing to this event makes me deeply happy.  It allows me to show my gratitude for all the times Jala bapa has granted my wishes and looked after us.  A prime example was two years ago when I on a very quite bank holiday, I was in our store.  At around 4pm, I just had the intiution, like someone telling me that I should shut the store door and do it quick.  Now there was nothing going on in the area, nothing amiss but I listened to that voice, just thought about Jalaram bapa and went to shut the doot.  Beleive it or not, no sooner had I turned the key, two large males appeared from nowhere, now on the outside and tried to push the door. They kept trying for quite a while even though i was miming to them that the store was shut.  These guys were not regular customers, they did not even look local and it was a scary moment for me.  I was truly shaken but I beleive and now affirm that it was Bapa telling me to quickly shut the door, it was him watching over me….getting goosebumps?…..I could relay hundreds of similar incidents to you.

My niece Minu who lives inthe UK has for the last two years been making cakes for the Lohana Jalaram Jayanti events in South London.  The cake she made last year (and featured in my previous blog – Jalaram Jayanti 2012) has become quite a hit and the pictures are doing rounds around the globe.  This year she made yet another cake, depicting irbai Maa serving a meal to the Sadhu’s.  She called me around 11pm (UK time) on the eve of Jalaram Jayanti, telling me she had baked a cake but had NO idea what decoration to do.  She had been inundated with cake orders that week and had not sat down and given much thought to Bapa’s birthday cake.  She said she had wanted to make something  related to Virpur but was in a bit of a last minute panic.  I spoke to her for a bit, knowing she was nervous and told her that she will make a beautiful cake.  It doesn’t matter if she left it late; but the fact that she really wanted to make something beautiful for Bapa was enough motivation and that Bapa will guide her.  Sure enough, I get a call at 8am (Charleston time) that the cake was ready and can I get online to take a look?