By Peter Gallagher

Interviewed by Marlene (Matrikaa) Gast, Yogaratna

I began signing up for Shaktipat Retreats as soon as Gurudevi began offering them, more than a decade ago. Two per year, both Online and On-Site, has been my pattern.

My introduction to Gurudevi was at least two decades ago. A massage therapist told me that he could not feel the difference between muscle and bone in my back.

Fortunately, there was a Svaroopa^® yoga teacher in my town. I began classes with her and learned that Gurudevi periodically offered yoga programs at a yoga center, only a two-hour drive away.

When I returned home from the first one, my wife took one look at me and told me to sign up again immediately. “Why?” I asked. She replied, “Because now I see the guy I married.”

Thus Gurudevi’s teachings drew me back again and again. After Gurudevi took sannyasi vows in 2009, she taught meditation primarily. She knew stuff I wanted to learn!

I would enroll in her programs whatever she was teaching. She was teaching Truth. I was getting bliss, though I didn’t know what to call it. This is how I became a regular Shaktipat Retreat attendee.

This summer, I traveled by train to Downingtown PA for her On-Site Only Shaktipat Retreat. I had a powerful mystical experience after receiving Gurudevi’s first Shaktipat offering.

During our “Jyota se Jyota” chant, I did the arati (candle flame circles) to the photo of Baba Muktananda. I stood on the low platform to the left of Gurudevi’s teachings’ chair. I slowly moved the silver tray with the candle in clockwise circles.

There were points at the top and bottom when the tray briefly blocked my view of his face. Each time his face was revealed again, Baba’s facial expression changed. I received the darshan of his ever-changing countenance again and again. I was saturated with Guru’s Grace, enthralled by Muktananda’s presence.

I stayed in my inner depths even as I recognized my closeness to the back edge of the platform. This practical discernment in the midst of mystical awareness seems appropriately tantric.

Beholding Gurudevi’s Guru in this way settled me inward to a sense of deep peace. I took the train home the next day. My state of inner depth remained undisturbed — even as I changed trains in a busy New York City terminal on my way back home. Still deep within…