The "Churning" of Divine Nectar (Bee-hind the scenes at Shree Peetha Nilaya's honey headquarters!)

The bee is little among such as fly; but her fruit is the chief of sweet things.

(11:3, The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach)

Bees are the only insects in the world that produces food suitable for humans. Honey, is a delicious and nutritious supplement to our diet, but how does the nectar of a flower transform into honey? Here at Shree Peetha Nilaya, we have a small apiary that produces rich honeycombs consisting of a savory-sweet taste. Today we will show you the entire process we perform to create the perfect honey.

The beginning of honey production starts with the nectar found in nature. Honey is created from the nectar found in melliferous plants, such as flowers, trees and shrubs. During the spring, the first honey plants awaken and bloom, and the bees get busy with work. For this purpose, we plant a lot of flowers that have this source of nectar.

The bee itself has to search for the flower and nectar sources, retrieve the honey, and then fly back to the hive to drop off the package.

The processing of the nectar into honey consists of the evaporation of water excess, decomposition of sugar (sucrose) into simple sugars (glucose and fructose), giving the honey an acid reaction. And when honey is "ripe", i.e. the amount of moisture it has becomes less than 21%, bees seal the cells with honey by wax caps. Such honey is called ripe, and it is ready for use.

After this step is when we come in.

Carefully, we take out the frames with honey from the hive. But not all the frames can be taken away at first. Normally, if a third or more honeycombs are sealed, then the honey is ready. That’s why some of the frames are brought back into the hives for finishing.

We guide the bees back into the hive with a brush, and put the full frames into a special box. We replace the previous full frames with empty ones, since the season of honey collection continues and the bees stay active with their work.

Then, we move to a special room where the honey is pumped from the honeycombs. This is done with the usage of honey extractors and a special centrifuge, where we place the frames to be rotated.

At this point, the honey is still closed with the wax caps. So that the honey can flow during the rotation, we melt the caps with hot air in a special fixture for releasing honey cells. And here comes the "clean" frame.

Clean frames are put into the honey extractor, which can hold up to 20 frames at a time. Push the button and the rotation starts.

Due to the centrifugal force, honey is pushed from the cells and it travels down by the walls into a special section. And then, the magic begins! The crane opens and the honey flows endlessly! Well, not endlessly, but quite a lot comes out. The honey is also simultaneously filtered through a sieve to avoid getting wax into the final product.

The final step is to place the honey into jars. Once the honey is in the jars, the only thing left to do is enjoy! At Shree Peetha Nilaya, we use our honey for both our meals, as well as our prayers. The honey is offered during rituals like yagnas, abishekams, and pujas. The honey is like a good medicine, as it has received all the healing power of nature.

If you would like to purchase the honey made here, we offer the honey in individual jars at the Bhajan cafe during holidays and Darshans.

3-month helper in the Sewing department!

The Sewing atelier is looking for a person who can come to Shree Peetha Nilaya for three months of seva. Below are some of the qualifications necessary for the job:

• This person should have good or very good sewing skills and is capable of listening and follow directions. 
• The person should be willing to work flexibly, urgent work is sometimes needed or longer seva days required to complete special projects. We expect a good quality of sewing. 
• Experience of cutting and working with patterns is preferred. 
• A good capacity to learn to sew in a new way with different kinds of materials is essential. 

We would need help in sewing:

• Full brahmacharini uniforms tunics and skirts
• Uniforms for nuns and to repair clothes (general and clergy clothes) 

Other additional requirements in order to perform the job properly:

• This person should be able to walk three times a day to and from the ashram to the village where the sewing atelier is situated, in the nun's house. This is around 4 km/per day.
• This person should be able to speak English. 

If you have sewing skills and are interested to serve Sri Swami Vishwananda, then please contact us informing of your experience with sewing, provide a photo of yourself, and a date of when you could start. Please indicate if you can commit for doing the full 3 months. A scholarship will be provided for the 3 month period which will cover all your living costs here in the center.

Please send an e-mail directly to: karani@bhaktimarga.org 

Gurupurnima (and Prasad Recipe!)

Guru Govinda dono khade, kake lagoon paay?

bali hari Guru aapno, Govinda diyo milay

Guru and Govinda (Shri Krishna, The God Himself) both are standing in front of me;
Whom should I bow to first?

(Of course Guru because) it is the grace of Guru that I have been able to meet Govinda.

- (Sant Kabir)

"Jai Guru Dev!" - Glory to the Divine teacher!

In the Aapastambgrah Sutra it is said:

"The mother and father give birth to the physical self. It is the Guru who gives true birth to the soul. Wise people call it a special birth."

A human soul, even though initiated in the spiritual path, cannot love an abstract force; and for this reason Scriptures advise us to venerate those who lead us to God and to love being in their physical presence as the Divine manifesting itself in human form. The Guru's physical body is just receptacle of the mighty Divine, and as such worthy of the utmost devotion and reverence. The Guru and God are one because the Almighty and his intermediary cannot be different.

Gurupurnima is one of the main Vedic celebrations, which every year falls on full moon day Purnima in the month of Ashadha. On this day, we express our respect and reverence to our Satguru with all our body, speech and thoughts, as well as to all spiritual teachers of mankind thank them for the knowledge they gave us.

Gurupurnima is the day of the full moon. A full moon reminds (each of us) about the fullness of life, how complete our life has become and how our love has blossomed.

It is a day to be grateful. And on this special day, we are grateful and bow down to the lotus feet of our beloved Satguru Sri Swami Vishwananda. We thank him for that he awakens the Divine love in our hearts, reveals knowledge, transforms our lives; thank for his mercy and all the blessings that we receive from him. Thank you for all that came into our lives. We take refuge in Your Divine love and peace, it is You who steals our hearts, our true SatGuru.

Glory to our Divine SatGuru Sri Swami Vishwananda who is manifestation of Divine Love!

Being close to Gurudev, we can only be bhakti itself, love God for love's sake, give everything to God. Oh God! Grant me that I could always love you. Blessed is the heart, which is filled with love to you day and night! 

When thus I lose myself in Thee, my God,

Then do I see, and know,

That all Thy universe reveals Thy beauty,

All living beings, and all lifeless things,

Exist through Thee.

This whole vast world is but the form

In which Thous showest us Thyself,

Is but the voice

In which Thyself Thou speakest unto us.

What need of words?

Come, Master, come,

And fill me wholly with Thyself.

Saint Tukaram 

On this day we offered to our beloved Gurudev all the dishes that he likes as prasadam.

And today we share with you cookies recipe - Mauritian Napolitaines. These beautiful delicacy consists of 2 berry jam sandwiched between two short crust biscuits and finally covered with colored sugar icing.

Ingredients:

250 g white flour, sifted

175 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

Raspberry jam, aprox. 50-75 g

250 g powdered sugar (icing sugar)

50 ml water, at room temperature (can use rose water)

2 drops of red food colouring (or colour of your choice)

Instruction:

1. Prepare all the ingredients. 

2. Sift flour. Make sure you sift the flour well, it makes the biscuits more light and flaky.   

3. In a bowl, rub the butter in the flour and knead for 5 minutes until you obtain a soft smooth dough. 

4. Divide the dough into 2 parts. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes.

Keep the second part in the refrigerator while working with the first part.

5. Roll the dough about 5 millimeters - 1cm thick in between plastic or wax paper.  For convenience, we began to use wooden sticks, which are placed on both sides, allowing you to roll the dough of the same height.

6. With cookie cutter cut the dough into rounds. This traditional form of Napolitaines. But this year we also cut the form - hearts and stars, a small quantity, for decoration.

7.  Place the rounds on baking sheets.  No need to leave much space in between the biscuits since they will not grow in diameter.  Bake in a pre-heated oven at 165°C for 10-13 minutes (The cooking time depends on the type of oven you have, so keep an eye on them while they are baking).

8.  The biscuits are ready when you notice a colour changes from yellowish to pale yellow or cream coloured.  They should not turn brown and don’t overcook them. That is the reason why the oven temperature is kept low so that it bakes evenly without taking too much colour.

By the way, your kitchen is going to smell great!  

9. Once the biscuits are done, leave them to cool on the baking tray at room temperature.  Don’t move them while they are cooling. 

10. After cooling, spread jam onto the bottom of one biscuits and stick another biscuit on top. Be careful while spooning the jam, because these biscuits are really fragile.

11. To prepare the glaze, you just need to mix together icing sugar with room temperature water until you get a nice smooth viscous glaze. If the glaze is too liquid, you just need to add more icing sugar and if it is too thick, you need to add some more liquid. Add little red colouring to make it light pink. The traditional Napolitaines are coated with a pink glaze.  And here we have moved away from tradition. Biscuits painted in different colors - blue, red, orange.

12. The sandwiched biscuits should be ready on a cooling rack with a tray underneath. Pour 1 tablespoon of pink icing on each biscuit and using teaspoon smooth icing on top and ensure that the sides are covered. Allow the icing to set completely onto the wire rack (should take around 15 minutes). Allow the glaze to harden for some hours.  Store in an airtight container. Do not store in the refrigerator since it may affect the glossiness of the glaze.

13. If you have a sweet decoration balls, you can decorate biscuits with them as per your taste! Voila!

14. Offer to the Lord.

Vishwānandam Brahmānandam

Brahmā Svarūpam Nīlavarnam

Triloka Nātham Shrī Gurudevam

Om Namo Vishwānandam

New peacock chicks

New peacock babies have been born in Shree Peetha Nilaya :-)

One of the hens decided to lay her third set of chicks on a balcony of a resident's room, safe from hungry predators.

Once the chicks were hatched, it was decided that they should be moved up to the pen which was built to house the first peacocks that came to SPN, so that the chicks could be a bit more lower to the ground.

Bringing the peacock Babies up to the pen. The mom is following very worried and excited.

Happy chicks in their new home.

SEVA at Shree Peetha Nilaya

Feedback from Anjali Dasi about her experiences with the Bhakti Seva Programm

Anjali Dasi from Portugal is here in Shree Peetha Nilaya for two weeks doing Seva in the main kitchen. Helping to prepare delicious food for guests and residents. 

Here is something that she would like to share with you:

"Since I met Sri Swami Vishwananda all that I wanted was to come and do SEVA at Shree Peetha Nilaya. I first came as a visitor, doing 4 hours per day for 1 week, but I wanted to come for a longer period, as I felt here is where I should be.

Being at Shree Peetha Nilaya you sometimes get the blessing of seeing Sri Swami Vishwananda, but to be honest the moments where I most felt His presence were while doing SEVA. 

Immediately I understood that the outside task was truly being done on the inside, and by doing SEVA I was actually cleaning my soul, getting rid of the impurities that prevented me of feeling my true essence. Even if the body gets tired the soul really gets full with joy and love. 

Here you see the normal every day tasks becoming permeated with a new meaning and you know that you can have a 24h saddhana just by effortless being in your heart.

Doing SEVA at Shree Peetha Nilaya is an intense and deeply transforming experience that can impulse you to a rapid transformation.
In the end you just feel grateful for this opportunity to serve your soul."

Anjali dasi

Decorations going up for the 10 Year Anniversary

Decorations for the gateway to heaven at ‪Shree Peetha Nilaya‬!

Many signs have also been posted around the region, to invite people in nearby towns to come and visit the ashram on this momentous occasion.

We're approaching the ‪#‎10yBM‬ celebration! Less than 2 weeks away!

Guruji’s Birthday (and Prasad Recipe!)

June 13th, we celebrated the birthday of our beloved Satguru Sri Swami Vishwananda. In different corners of the world devotees and disciples rejoiced, having fun, performed puja and yagna, singing bhajans and giving thanks to God.

Brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva

Guru Krishna prasade paya bhakti lata bija 

"According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Krishna. By the mercy of both Krishna and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service."

 (Srī Caitanya Caritāmrita, Madhya lila, chapter 19.151)

The greatest gift of God is meeting with the Master. It is a great blessing that our Satguru came for all of us, to awakens us, and to opens our hearts. Guruji helps everyone, without expecting anything in return; He loves everyone with unconditional divine love.

From our part we can only faithfully serve the lotus feet of our Master- Just as the Sri Guru Gita always states- service, service, and once again only service.

Sādhakena pradātavyam

Guru santosa kārakam

Guror ārādhanam kāryam

Svajīvitvam nivedayet

„The Guru shoul be pleased and should be made happy. One should dedicate one’s entire life to the Guru’s service.”

(Sri Guru Gita. Sri Swami Vishwananda.)

And our service in the kitchen – of course is cooking! And on this special day - the birthday of Gurudev - cooking prasadam. You can see it now in the  photos....

Preparing birthday cake for the morning puja

and this is preparing a large birthday cake for the evening celebration

and mastering of a new type of coating cake   

and this is the result

And we have prepared small chocolate cakes with monogrammed letters, SV

But today we share with you the prasadam recipe, which we also prepared for Guruji birthday. This is Gulab Jamuns. Gulab Jamun is easily the most popular and loved dessert in India.

The term "Gulab Jamun" literally translates into "Rose Berries". “Gulab” means rose and “jamuns” are deep purple colored berries available in India. This dessert's shape and color (orb shaped and purple tone) is likened to the Jamun berry and since it uses Rose water essence to provide it's addictive flavor, hence the name.

Ingredients:

2½ cups milk powder

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ pint heavy whipping cream

A pinch of baking soda

3 cups sugar

5 ½ cups of water

6-7 cardamom (elaichi) powder 

1 tablespoon rose water

Vegetable oil or ghee for frying (P.S. traditionally gulab jamuns are fried in ghee. you can go the traditional way if you want or just fry them in oil like we have done.)

1 cup = 235 ml

Instruction:

1.      Prepare all the ingredients.

2.      Mix milk powder, all-purpose flour, baking soda and half of cardamom in a bowl. 

3.      Add whipping cream and knead well. This will be consistency of soft dough, if it is too dry add 1 to 2 spoons of milk as needed, not the cream. Dough should be very soft and sticking to fingers, as dough sits milk powder absorbed the extra cream

4. Cover and let the dough rest for about 10 minutes.  

5. Make the sugar syrup. In a pan add water, sugar and cardamom. Let it boil, stir until the sugar has dissolved, about 4-6 minutes. Add rose water. Turn off the heat. Set the syrup aside.

6. Knead the dough. But before working with the dough, grease your hands with a small amount of vegetable oil, the dough is not stuck to hands. Take small portion of dough and shape it into round balls, each in the same size in diameter of about 1 inch. It is important that they get a smooth surface without any cracks. Put them on a non-stick surface. From the kneaded dough should get about 40-50 balls. After you have rolled up balls, cover them with a damp towel.

7. Heat the oil in a frying pan on high heat and immediately turn them down to the very small.

8. Place the 5-7 gulab jamuns in the frying pan, so they don’t disturb each other. Using a skimmer / slotted spoon, start to turn it to avoid sticking to the bottom and giving them the opportunity to fry on all sides. Approximately after 15 seconds they are themselves will float on the surface, but still keep their turn.

9. Continue to fry them on a very low heat for about 10-15 minutes. They slowly will darken to dark brown. If the gulab jamuns are fried on high heat, they will become hard inside and not fully cooked.

10. When the gulab jamuns are ready, blot the excess oil with a napkin. 

11. Placing them in the hot syrup for about 24 hours. Don’t place the gulab jamuns in the syrup immediately after frying. This will cause the gulab jamuns to lose their shape. They should be soft and juicy, having absorbed a large amount of syrup.

12. Serve.

Serve, Give, Thanks

Meditate, practice Atma kriya

Just Love.

With Love from Shree Peetha Nilaya.

Serve your way to Bliss!

Often we say to ourselves “How to please God? In which way shall we please God? How can we make God happy?” There are many ways God is happy with, but what is the best way to make Him happy?

When do you think God is happy? It is when we are happy. God is happy when we are happy, because our happiness is His happiness, because we are part of Him. We will make ourselves happy through serving, through helping, because the greatest happiness comes from serving. The more you help, the more you make somebody else happy, the more you will see the happiness inside of you grow and grow. The less you help, the more you push yourself backwards. The more you think “No, why should I help”, the more you become untrue towards yourself. When you become untrue towards yourself, you don’t let the heart open up. The more this happens, the more you become miserable.

When you help, like Christ said, it has to be unconditional. When you help, you should forget about it.

Don’t be scared to serve, in whatever way you can, however you can, whenever you can, because you don’t know when God can come to you and in what form He can come to you. Feel blessed and feel the Love of God!

(Just Love 2. Sri Swami Vishwananda.)

On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Bhakti Marga at Shree Peetha Nilaya in all areas are enormous work. And the kitchen is not an exception. We have in the kitchen a huge plan, the realization of which we are working on. And what you see in the photo, it is only a small part of the plan as it is constantly reviewed and added to!

Especially in anticipation of such a grand celebration all of the kitchen comes together to accomplish many projects, growing in unity.  Service to our Guru, this is the greatest happiness!

And so each day our team and seva helpers are busy forming something, baking something, cutting something, testing something. 

And so by tradition now, we would like to share one of the recipes we are preparing for the 10 year Anniversary.   This is a very easy recipe sesame candy that will take you very little time and yet still be tasty.

Ingredients:

350 gram sesame seeds

250 gram honey

2 tsp. lemon juice

Instruction:

1. Prepare all the ingredients

2. Tip out sesame seeds on a baking sheet and bake at 180 ° C until golden brown, aprox.15 min.

3. In a frying pan pour sesame seeds, honey and lemon juice. Mix everything until smooth.

4. and fry over low heat, stirring constantly, until the honey starts to caramelize. When the mass will thicken a little bit, turn off the gas and let sesame cool.

5. When the temperature becomes normal to take in the hand, begin to form candy.

but better to do it with ten hands....

Krishna says: "I am most satisfied when you serve My devotee. I am most satisfied when you worship My devotees".  The desire to serve - the highest blessing, and to show us how it is sacred, Krishna himself serves His devotees. Actually, there is no greater good than the opportunity to serve the devotees. Service to others, whatever you perform, you are serving the Lord Himself.

We are waiting for all of you in Shree Peetha Nilaya on the 10th anniversary of Bhakti Marga!