‘Vietnamese people make us all feel like we are returning home’

News from Vietnam tour #1 – 15th July, 2014

Dear Yogis,

The Tour is now three days and it has been a beautiful time shared with our hosts and with the Yogis on Tour. Yogis have come from a number of counties to join in with the Tour. From India, Europe, Mongolia and from the different regions of Australia. Sahaja Tours by their nature are special occasions Yogis sharing time together collectively following the Will of Our Mother upon the path to take Sahaja Yoga to new places, assisting young and growing collectives.

To leave aside the daily concerns of our lives and to dedicate time with your brothers and sisters on the road to freedom, the freedom of the spirit, the realm where Our Mother’s love is felt mostly every waking moment in everything that you do.

‘Vietnamese people make us all feel like we are returning home’
The visiting Tour group of 30 foreign Yogis were meet at Ho Chi Minh City and taken to a collective Villa where we all accommodated together. Although we are the ‘foreigners’ the Vietnamese people make us all like we are returning home their welcome and love is so comforting to the soul.

The arrangements where are staying together under the one roof is really the ideal way to live. All the Yogis together sharing their days together, food catered, all together living and enjoying collectively, foot soaking, meditating such fun and good times shared together.

Words really fail to capture the sense of hospitality and love flowing from our hosts the Vietnamese collective, in their love we feel the love of Our Mother flowing. We were humbled by the largess of spirit in all they did for us. A generosity for which we are gratefully and thankful.

The next day after arriving the day was spent in preparation for the evening program, rehearsing and getting ready for the program. The first program Sahaja public program was held at the Saigon Tech at Quangos Trung. This is a university level institute of advanced education with the full range of educational opportunities, on this night a destiny was reached for an encounter of the spirit. In this country once the Altar is set and the mantras sung it feels like the beauty of Our Mother’s presence was felt all around.

The great quality of the people of Vietnam is that when they open their hearts and receive the gift of the spirit there is an inherent receptiveness and sensitivity to the spirit and the joy of the Divine. Shri Mataji once awakened in their hearts has almost a transformative impact. They seem to jump from their seats and rush forward, dancing together, hands up in the air, feet dancing, bodies moving to the rhythm of the music, their faces lite with the glow of the love of Our Mother.

‘The youth have preserved the inherent human affinity for collectivity’
The youth of this country have an innocence and beauty rarely seen. They have preserved the inherent human affinity for collectivity and times shared in the beauty of the present moment. Faces shining, eyes sparkling, hands extended in friendship, friends made with the people of the world, no religion, no borders, no race, creed, nation, a brotherhood of man.

The next day, we travelled together with the local collective for a day trip to the Mekong Delta. The Mekong is one of great rivers of the world. Massive in its scale from its origins on the slopes of the Himalayas, as it makes it way through Vietnam to the sea. It is a source of great wealth. It’s rich silt laden waters enrich the land allowing the bounty of earth to flow, it is the highway linking the country, it is source of drinking water and also the home for tens of million people. The Delta is a land of unending rivers and water, rich lands, coconut and palm trees, a land fat with the riches of Mother Earth.

 ‘Privileged to listen to a traditional Vietnamese music’
We all boarded a large boat and travelled up river to visit farmlands and a bee farm. We enjoyed a break from heat, humidity and pouring rain within a traditional thatched meeting hall. While enjoying jasmin and honey tea and tropical fruit we were privileged to listen to a traditional Vietnamese music playing songs of the National freedom struggle and the pride of a people who had won their freedom through a great struggle of independence. The singers seemed like simple people from the local ethnic group. There are over 55 different ethnic groups in Vietnam, from Chinese, the Rhmer, Muslim and a range of tribal peoples.

We spent the day travelling by traditional long boat, rowed by the local Villagers, small karts pulled by donkeys, walking along rough hewn paths through rainforests and fields. We watched newly harvested coconuts being turned into foods of every sort and type, palm oils and the harvesting of fruit. Steamed fish and prawns enjoyed upon a balcony overlooking the swift flowing waters. It took many us back to the joyous days of our youth on India Tour when Our Mother would immerse us within the daily simple lives of the villagers of Maharastara, an experience we have never forgotten.

Jai Shri Mataji!

With love the touring yogis in Vietnam