Appaji's Canada tour

August 4, 2006

Jaya Guru Datta,

Sri Swamiji's trip to Canada was a wonderful blessing for all North American devotees and something we will continue to cherish for the rest of our lives.

Appaji arrived from Venezuela to Toronto and continued his Flight to Ottawa. We received Appaji and parivar on Tuesday 18th July 2006 at 10:00am. We were absolutely elated. Inspite of the trip and the stress that Appaji's body has to undergo his compassion does challenge every devotees heart to rise up in our devotion.

Appaji stayed at Radhama and Jayaraman uncles home in Ottawa. On the same day he met with devotees from Montreal who came to invite Appaji to their city as well. Surprisingly Appaji agreed to perform Sri Chakra puja for all Ottawa devotees and sang all the bhajans at the Bronson Auditorium which was well decorated and set up. More than 400 devotees had the opportunity to witness the puja and be blessed by his presence. On Wednesday the lucky couple Radhama and Jayaraman had the wonderful opportunity to perform pratyaksha pada puja and all volunteers had the opportunity to be in his presence. Appaji then voiced the doubts of many who are just beginning to feel Appaji's presence in their life. He asked Sri Datta Yogi Raja to answer these questions which he posed to him as coming from those assembled. Wonderful questions were raised and answered at this time. This was around the concept of Guru Shishya relationship.

Wednesday evening Appaji and Parivar arrived to Montreal. Devotees here have been having satsangh for over two years now. Appaji arrived at Jayanthy and Ramachandran family home where the family were estatic and overjoyed at his graciousness to come for pratyaksha pada puja. The children played Veena to welcome Appaji and the ladies were dressed in traditional 9 yards saree and wonderful rangoli was laid out. Appaji then visited the Thiru Murugan temple where the priests were elated that he chose to come at the right time just after they had completed renovations, expansions and mandala pujas. Sri Datta Yogi Raja had already led the devotees assembled through a discourse and meditation and they were ripe in their silence awaiting Sri Swamiji. Appaji spoke lovingly and commenced the bhajans. He mentioned about Lord Venkataramana and praying to him if burdened with loans. He also sang Krishna Maaja Mata, Krishna Maza pita. The devotees all participated

and sang along and Appaji was very pleased. Appaji returned the same evening to Ottawa.

On Thursday Appaji left for Toronto by train. It was nothing short of a miracle. We were informed that the tickets were sold out and overbooked and many people would be moved over from the other CARs to out compartments. But as per Appaji's will our small group stayed together and very few additional travellers joined our team. This was a very rare treat for us. Appaji arrived in Toronto on Thursday at 1:00pm. Betty and Harry Ramnarain were blessed with the opportunity to house and serve him and the parivar during this visit. The very same evening he again surprised devotees by coming to the center performing Sri Chakra Puja and we listened to the bhajans. It being Thursday we had the blessings to do the Sathguru ashtotara puja in his presence. The center was full.

On Friday we had the Sri Chakra puja in the morning and bhajans in the evening. The center was full and brimming, so much so, that Appaji was concerned and wanted to close the satsangh so that devotees do not have to feel hot and overcrowded. Our hearts were still yearning to be with Sri Swamiji. He manifested vibhuti form the rose petals that were part of the garland offered to him. Appaji was elated to see the Dattatreya and Anagha Lakshmi murtis he had sent for the Canada Mother Center at Toronto. He instructed the American devotees to visit once in 3 months, assemble and perform homa or puja as a group here. On his visits to Ottawa and Montreal he advised the devotees there to assemble in Toronto or have the priest guide them during satsanghs.

On Saturday we had special Sani Homa, it being a Sani Trayodasi on a Saturday. The new priest Sri Bhanu Prakash conducted the same and Appaji offered poorna Ahuti on our behalf. Watching Appaji do the Sri Chakra puja and all the nuances of the puja was indeed a blessing. The devotees had decorated the hall very nicely. The hall was again full in the evening as we all attended the concert. Sri Tiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam was blessed with the opportunity to accompany on the Mridangam. As Appaji played various Ragas he explained its virtues and the healing properties. The celebration music at the end had us all dancing. Even a sick man on his wheelchair stood up to dance and clap. Appaji answered patiently the wonderful spiritual questions posed by Padma and Vijay Shastri of Telugu Bharati for its listeners. This was aired on cmr.fm website and 101.3 fm on Saturday at 8:30am. Here he talked about Dattatreya the priciple, Lalitha Sahasranama, healing

music and advised on how live in this country.

On Sunday the priest performed Ganapathi Homa and Appaji performed the Poorna Ahuti. Even though the body was going through such hardship his joy in being with all the devotees and blessing them was very evident. He reminded us that his trip will not be as frequent and it was up to us to use the time wisely. The hall was full and there must have been around 800 to 1000 devotees assembled. Lots of devotees came from America - Chicago, New Jersey, Dallas and other places.

Sunday evening, we went on a boat cruise with Sri Swamiji as our captain. He took his duty seriously and went over each floor of the boat to see all the devotees. When he went to the top all the devotees followed suit. There was lot of singing and dancing. We had some raffles and we then went on to play bhajan antakshari. Appaji was very happy that devotees could remember all the bhajans and even as he nudged us towards mangalam we continued with bhajans. Some fortunate devotees got the opportunity to do pada puja to Appaji. Every moment Appaji was watchful for children and balance of weight in the boat. The 3 hours slipped by very quickly.

On Monday Appaji chaired an administrative meeting and bid farewell at the center. He gave the executive committee a months time to plan a retreat next year during Guru Poornima so as to be able to accomodate 500 to 100 devotees for a week. We bid farewell to Appaji on Monday evening at 5:00pm grateful for his compassion and kindness and renewing our vows to serve him heart and soul , united and strengthened by his presence.

While the time has passed and the physical form of Sri Swamiji is travelling to London, Haridwar, Germany, Mysore and other places, we are relishing his presence in spirit and eagerly planning and praying for his next visit.

I do have most of his discourses recorded and if you are willing to wait some time I will pent hem and put them on our Canadian center website. www.datta-yoga.org Also I have taken over 200 pictures on this trip. I will post some pictures on and send an email to the .

Sri Gurudeva Datta,

Deepa and Ram Vakkalanka, Toronto, Canada

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