Yoga Festivals in Sao Paolo, Brazil
Pujya Swamiji was the main speaker at two conferences in Brazil in August. The first was the International Congress on Yoga and Ayurveda in Sao Paolo (August 11-13th) and the second was the Yoga for Peace Festival in Sao Paolo on the 15th August.
He gave a beautiful lecture at the International Congress on how to live in peace, not pieces and how to be stres free. He said, “Suddenly everywhere I go everyone is talking about stress management. This is amazing! We only manage things we care about, things we want to protect. We manage our finances, our mortgages, our accounts. Now suddenly we are talking about managing our stress also!” He spoke about how to become stress free.
At the Yoga for Peace Festival (August 15th), He was the main speaker and He gave beautiful blessings and a talk on the true meaning of yoga and how it an be used to bring peace to ourselves and our world. Speaking to an audience of over 10,000 people from Brazil and other South American countries, He began by chanting sacred mantras for peace. Then He gave a beautiful message of the true meaning of yoga – union! He said, “We are united, but we are united with our own egos, with our own desires, with our expectations. In order to bring true peac to ourselves and the world we have to unite with the Divine.” He also talked about how today is India’s Independence Day, and He gave His humble pranams to Mother India, concluding with “Viva India! Viva Brazil!” (Long Live India! Long Live Brazil!)
After Pujya Swamiji’s blessings and speech there was a special concert by Krishna Das and Jai Uttal, very famous bhajan/kirtan singers from the USA who are disciples of Baba Neem Karoli. It was amazing to see the devotion and bhaav of the Brazilian people. Pujya Swamiji was so impressed to see that in a country which is more than 99% Christian, so many thousands of people came to participate in the Yoga for Peace Festial, to learn meditation and yoga and to sing bhajans and kirtan with Krishna Das and Jai Uttal. The weather was quite cold (Brazil is in the Southern Hemisphere, so it was winter in August), and it was even raining at times. In the cold weather with the rain even, with no shade or cover, thousands and thousands of people stayed for hours, singing and dancing – mesmerized – to Bhagwan Krishna, Durga and Hanuman.
The devotion and enthusiasm of the Brazilians has inspired Pujya Swamiji to establish an ashram here, in Uberlandia. The plans were laid two years ago, and then solidified this year. It will be a place of yoga, ayurveda, meditation and spirituality with a prayer/meditation hall, a temple, ayurvedic facilities and residential facilities.
The location of the new ashram is beautiful, with waterfalls, a lake, and lots of open space. In the future Pujya Swamiji plans to offer retreats at the new ashram.