Deeksha - Spiritual Discipline & Community Living, in Ammagaru's Sannidhi

First stoves designed for common cooking during deeksha. Babugaru (seated) supervising.

Smaller stove - nivedana being prepared

Uppu and Madhu heavy -lifting!

Babugaru roasting chapatis while discoursing. More than a 100 chapathis done this way!

Our Home -  Pandiri next to Ammagaru's Sivapuri Residence. Babugaru (in red, turned back) talk in progress.

Following the Mandala Deeksha started several years ago, which extends for 40 days  from 1st January to 9th Feb every year, another Deeksha was announced, where we would try to expand our sense of family by removing ourselves from the familiar home terrain, and spend maximum time together following the given routine.  We were extremely fortunate in that to make this easier for us and to enable us to be in Her proximity, Ammagaru moved to her Sivapuri residence.

Pujya Ammagaru says that "Deeksha is nothing but Daksha (Be careful)". It is the single word upadesam given by Shirdi Sai Baba to Sri Sai Saradanandaji.  (pg 270, Sai Baba the Master by Acharya Ekkirala Bharadwaja, 14th Edition). It is useful to refer to Pujya Bharadwaja garu's explaination of the same (Sai Master Pravachanamulu (Telugu)).

That one week was unforgettable in that everyone unanimously felt a sense of spiritual high as well as ease together. Every Nagole devotee felt the presence of others not to be an obstacle to their individual disciple - rather a boost. The Nagole 'Bachelor (beehive)' team sprung into action from day 1 (actually Babugaru brought forward the D-day by another day so that we could acclamatize to the new environment) and overnight raised a shelter for us and also took charge of providing hot bathing water as well as the cooking. This was so as to leave the ladies entirely free from conventional duties (and rethink their definition of chores vs seva). The girls did the serving and cleaning up and all the we middle -aged were left to do was our own dish-washing. Mind you the dish-washing exercise was minutely planned and supervised by Babugaru to our traditional (and international) enivironment friendly standards. 

So much happened and was experienced that one post is too meagre.. if fact this is posted so late just coz while I crazily jotted in spare minutes, blogging or photography was the last thing on anyone's minds.