Niten travelled to Mahabaleshwar in India to experience Sarita and Uezu-San’s first Aisho (Divine Love) Retreat. There he discovered a rare blend of humour, meditation, devotion, godliness and silence – and meditating monkeys!

With Uzeu-San and Sarita

Sunrise meditation

Three months before the retreat started, I wrote an email to Sarita saying that I couldn’t afford to come as I didn’t have enough money to cover the costs. I received an answer few days later: “To me, money is energy, so, I read that you don’t have enough energy to come….Is that the case?”

It suddenly occurred to me that, yes, I had plenty of energy and good will to be part of that retreat and money couldn’t be a valid reason not to be there. Although my mind was trying to convince me that my finances were too low, something in me decided to Trust and move accordingly…

The retreat started on 3 February. We were 60 people from 11 different countries. In my position as DJ I had organised all my music selection and felt very fortunate to be sitting right beside master Uezu-San. Just like the previous retreat in France, the quality of silence that I experienced defies any description. Perhaps, even more so this time as I could feel his physical presence so close to my body.

There was, however, one thing that my mind was busy with, a chronic bronchitis that had started three months before. I was still coughing a lot of mucus, and my chest was congested, which made it hard to breathe fully.

One afternoon, as participants were having a pause, Master Uezu-San placed his hands on my chest, exactly in the area where I was having trouble breathing. After a short time, I started to feel heat and a very unusual sensation, as if all of my mucus, was being sucked away by his hands.  When he removed his hands, I immediately coughed, sneezed, and blew my nose, releasing all the mucus left in my body. I could breathe again, it really felt like a re-birth and the bronchitis hasn’t returned to this day.

During the retreat, we had various sessions, all very powerful and healing. Besides the usual “Dhamma Ball” and “Heart Chakra” meditations, we also had wonderful “live music” events led by Shivananda, a Bhajan and Heart songs master…I found those musical gatherings so special in bringing participants together in playfulness and simplicity.

Fergus in Satori

Also, very much loved and appreciated was the walk to the top of the cliffs, a short distance from the resort. We gathered there a couple of times at dawn, in silence as the sun was rising. What a stunning sight! One participant later shared he had a profound experience, known as “Satori” or glimpse of the “No-Mind” state, dissolving for a moment in universal consciousness…

Then, we were all blessed with sacred moments like “Shaktipat” which traditionally refers to offering all our suffering and misery to the master who Himself transforms it and releases it back to us in the form of universal, unconditional love…In this case, both Sarita and Uezu-San were offering Shaktipat. To me, they symbolised in a very real way the embodiment of pure Yin and Yang energy, dancing in unison, in unwavering balance.

Monkeys join Francis for morning meditation

Another powerful moment was the “Energy Darshan” where participants received a direct transmission from both Sarita and Uezu-San. A special Aisho balm was created, carrying Uezu-San and Sarita’s blessing. Uezu-San spiralled around the third eye (or Ajna chakra) whereas Sarita was stroking upward from the third eye in a vertical motion. It was obvious that everyone was profoundly touched by this unique transmission. The impact was awesome. I was witnessing Sarita and Uezu-San as two empty beings, channelling Divine Source Energy.

Perhaps it is because the retreat was being held in India that the whole group could so easily receive this immense energetic offering – India is well known to carry the fragrance of mysticism and spiritual experiences of all kinds. Or perhaps it is the ability of Sarita and Uezu-San to “channel” any past masters that have lived and contributed to expand people’s consciousness.  The energy field created during that retreat was incredibly vibrant, full of love, compassion, dance and laughter…Full…Yet one could also experience the deep Void, the vast emptiness, the magnificent stillness in moments of silence. I believe those moments have nurtured all of us participants to the very core of our hearts and spirits…

I am so grateful that I found in Sarita and Uezu-San, the masters that I have been longing for, perhaps, for lives altogether…Or shall I say, I am so grateful that they finally found me!…

This retreat was, for me, a rare opportunity to experience the unconditional love, total understanding and immense compassion of two individuals who have come to realise who they are, in the deepest sense…It was a rare blend of humour, devotion, godliness, silence and meditation. It was a unique combination of two different flavours, giving us the most exquisite, divine taste of how life can be lived in constant celebration.

Buddha statue at retreat centre in Mahabaleshwar

Aisho was much more than a week long retreat. It was the manifestation of all the wisdom that has ever existed on Earth and still vibrates today. The wisdom of the East and the wisdom of the West. The wisdom of Male principle and the wisdom of Feminine energy.

Many people have been transformed coming into contact with Sarita and Uezu-San…I see the Aisho project being another dawn of a wider, collective awakening that the Earth, and we human beings have been longing for…

Namaste…

Dhyan Niten