Marriages

(November 2010)


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North Penn Sahaja Yoga Meditation
September 1, 2010

Jai Shri Mataji!!

After some time in careful meditative reflection on the events of the recent past, we the members of the Lansdale collective, submit the following points to the US National Council for their deep and serious consideration. We will be sending a copy of this letter to the Australian National Council as well, so we will start by recapping recent events.

Background

The North Penn/Lansdale Collective had its humble beginnings six years ago when Brian Greenwald moved with his family out of the city of Philadelphia to open a Sahaja ashram in Lansdale Pennsylvania. Twelve successive 14-18 week public programs were conducted by Brian, his family, and the growing local collective, with the periodic loving help and support of many established yogis from all over the world. Self-realization was given to more than 600 American seekers through these programs. The core collective has grown slowly to about 60 established yogis.

A little over two years ago we applied to the US National Council for Kubera funding to establish a Sahaja Meditation Center in Lansdale. We were blessed by Mother, and with the unanimous consent and support of the entire US National Council we officially opened the Lansdale Sahaja Meditation Center in October 2009. Since then, we have conducted two 16 week Sahaja Meditation programs, each including Experience, Knowledge and Integration courses. For the past eight months we have offered drop-in collective meditation on Monday and Thursday evenings, and Tuesday and Sunday mornings. Attendance at each of these drop-in sessions has grown to 15-25 on average, with brand new seekers showing up every week. We hold a weekly collective meditation for more established yogis on Wednesday evenings, and the public programs are scheduled on Saturday afternoons. ALL ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND.

As the most experienced yogi in our collective, Brian Greenwald served as a reluctant leader until the summer of 2009, when he submitted a list of names, excluding his own, to the US National Council to check vibrations in order to establish a five person Lansdale Center Council. This council was established prior to October 2009, and Brian stepped back from collective leadership completely. The center council serves Shri Mataji, Sahaja Yoga, and the collective by overseeing the logistical operation of the center and its meditation programs. It calls on other yogis within the collective to help with many critical support functions, such as finances, postering, and conducting programs and drop-in meditations.

Starting in June of 2010 core members of the Lansdale collective worked together with members of the Philadelphia collective to plan and host an Introductory Meditation Program at the Free Library in downtown Philadelphia on July 31, 2010, to introduce some of the US Growth Team's initiatives. The July 31st Philadelphia public program was a wonderful success, supported by over 50 established yogis, nearly 70 new seekers got their self-realization, and the vibrations at that program were tremendous.

Ten established yogis, and five new seekers from the Lansdale collective came for Guru Puja to Canajoharie in July. We were thankful that many of the Lansdale yogis finally got to meet Carolyn and Ram of the US National Council while we were there, and we experienced tremendous joy preparing a dinner together with members of the Philadelphia collective. While there, we were delighted to learn that some members of the US National Council wished to visit our center to discuss finances, and Sahaja protocol. They asked that we invite all the members of our collective to come for meditation that morning, to presumably meet them.

On August 1st, Vasu, Paul, Carolyn and Ram joined the Lansdale collective for our Sunday morning drop-in meditation with many established yogis as well as some newer seekers. The vibrations at this meditation were also tremendous, and we enjoyed communing with the National Council members for more than an hour. Then they asked that we have the newer seekers leave the center prior to meeting with them.

Only then did we learn the true main purpose of their visit to our center, which was to advise us that the US National Council had decided to ask Brian Greenwald to take a sabbatical from Sahaja for at least one year for violating the maryadas concerning the Sahaja Marriage protocol. Also, they said that they had consulted with the Australian National Council which would also be asking Lilia Safina to do the same. Vasu was aware that Brian was in Australia on that day, but not that Brian and Lilia had been married the day before on July 31st 2010. Carolyn mentioned that the US National Council was well aware of the "epic battle between the Philadelphia and Lansdale collectives" a concept which came as a complete surprise to many of the yogis present that day.

Many yogis from the Lansdale collective shared information with the National Council members about what a model yogi Brian Greenwald has been over the past several years working tirelessly out of true devotion for Shri Mataji to spread Sahaja Meditation, and support the growing Lansdale collective. We explained how graceful, respectful, honest and transparent Brian had been with us through some of the most difficult challenges in his recent personal life. He inspired the entire collective to grow together and go deeper in meditation during this period just watching how years of meditation helped him to act with tremendous dignity under such difficult circumstances.


Sahaja Yoga through Shri Mataji

Our understanding of Sahaja Yoga did not come through Brian Greenwald, but directly from Shri Mataji during our meditations. And the following is what we have come to understand.

During our many years of meditating as a collective, Brian always emphasized that the collective meditation, especially in the presence of Shri Mataji in any of her forms, was the most important means to personal growth and spiritual ascent. We all understood that Shri Mataji gave us all her powers, except for the power to judge each other, which she asked us to leave up to her. She reminded us of the critical importance of being humble people and forgiving others with pure love in our hearts. She said over and over in so very many speeches that the most important things in Sahaja were to grow vertically by meditating, cleansing our chakras, and introspecting ourselves, and to grow laterally by giving self-realization to others. Shri Mataji also made it very clear that the only way we can or will ever come to know the truth was through the spontaneous, living and growing process of our Kundalini awakening. This process would nourish and enlighten us so that through our pure desire we would become our own gurus, self-correcting persons, connected to the Divine power of love while in a state of thoughtless awareness. By committing ourselves fully in our hearts to this Sahaja purpose with pure love, and pure desire we could help to enlighten others and the whole world eventually.

With this true spirit of Sahaja in our full awareness we submit that we may not decide who will or will not be given self-realization, or support within the Sahaja collective, this we leave to Shri Mataji and the Paramchaitanya to determine for us. It is imperative that we be open to receive and support any earnest seeker without prejudice. We should desire with all our hearts to commune with one another in a meditative state, so that we will better be able to become detached witnesses of ourselves and others within our Sahaja collectives. This will help us to grow as individual spirits, and together.

Reconsideration Imperative

We ask the US National Council to reflect on their recent visit to the Lansdale Sahaja Meditation Center. Was their decision to ask Brian Greenwald to take a sabbatical from Sahaja for a year made in the same careful and collective manner, as deciding to fund and support the opening of the Lansdale center? By recently participating in that center founding process we learned that such a serious decision made in Sahaja required open disclosure between all involved parties, careful consideration, collective meditation to check vibrations, and finally the unanimous support of all the US National council members.

Was this decision to remove Brian from Sahaja collective made after being fully informed by all those involved, or who would be affected? Did the entire US National Council meditate upon their concerns, and reach a collective unanimous decision? Was it based on taking Brian's vibrations, and discovering that he had been out of balance lately? Who among us is not out of balance from time to time? Was it based on Brian being in a leadership position? Which as it turns out he in fact was not. Was it based on a desire to protect the growing Lansdale collective in some way? Or was it made for other reasons? How did the US National Council come to know for certain that the marriage between Brian and Lilia actually even violated the mariadas, or did they just believe this to be the case? Brian and Lilia come from two different countries and collectives on opposite sides of the planet, and met each other after the 2009 Christmas Puja in Rome in the presence of several established and respected yogis. Many auspicious events surround their meeting, which were witnessed by various established yogis, who can testify to feeling tremendous vibrations.

The representatives of the National Council said that they made this decision with full knowledge of Brian's past actions and possible future intentions to marry Lilia Safina without following established Sahaja marriage protocol. They said that it was clear to them that Brian was very out of balance, and a potential danger to our growing collective. However, they were very surprised to hear what the many yogis closer to Brian and his family, over the past few years, told them about how graceful, respectful, and collective he had been throughout his ordeal, even if he may have been out of balance from time to time. In fact, we as his brothers and sisters in Sahaja had "pulled his ears" with love many times of late, just as he pulls his own, and ours from time to time. We understand that in collective we must learn to truly love and forgive ourselves and one another, and to become detached witnesses of ourselves and others. One thing is certain, no human being is in a position, or authorized to judge another human being. This power of judgment is granted to us only through our Kundalini awakening for judging ourselves, and only to Shri Mataji and the Paramchaitanya for judging us all.

We have been guided by Shri Mataji to become our own masters, self-correcting people, with our full attention focused on our spiritual ascent. Therefore, we within the Lansdale collective have searched our hearts through meditation and decided unanimously to respectfully set aside the US National Council's decision to request that Brian step back from collectivity. Of his own accord Brian stepped back from leadership more than a year ago, to ensure that the pure attention of the collective remained focused on Sahaja activities and Shri Mataji rather than on the traumatic events of his personal life. He asked us to step up and go deeper in our meditation practice so that we might become wise and lead ourselves, with help from Shri Mataji and each other.

Brian gracefully has honored the US National Council's request to step back from the collective since he was instructed to do so. However, we believe our mission is clear - to spread Sahaja Yoga through giving self-realization, and collective support to any seeker. Our doors and hearts will remain open to ALL who come to us for this purpose. We also feel that we should learn to become more collective to aid in our spiritual growth and to go deeper within ourselves. Therefore, the best thing for our local collective, Sahaja Yoga, and our brother Brian Greenwald and his family, whom we love and support, is to welcome them back into the Sahaja collective whenever they are ready to return, so that we may all become more balanced, and assimilate all the many lessons afforded us during this experience.

Respectfully Yours,

The North Penn Collective, Lansdale, PA, USA