With a heart so full of love, head bowed down in surrender, and hands folded in humility and devotion, we began celebration of Gurudeva HH Swami Rama’s Birth Centenary day on 25 October 2025 with the Guru-Disciple Relationship Retreat from 19-25 October 2205.

As we prepared the ashram, and more importantly, ourselves to commemorate the centenary of Gurudeva’s physical presence, we received guidance and inspiration from Swami Ritavan Bharati, Swami Tat Sat Bharati, Wong Yoong Khiang, and Rabindra Sahu. They all shared teachings on the theme of our week—how to deepen our relationship with the Guru Force and how to become worthy of being a disciple.​

In homage to Gurudeva, we organised a 7-day yajna (fire offerings) with the akhanda-mandalakaram mantra from 19-25 October 2025. In preparation for this once in a lifetime celebration, the entire ashram was decorated with flowers and holy leaves of the Ashoka and Mango trees. Each cottage door was decorated with a traditional flowers and leaves ‘bandhanwar’ or ‘toran’ lovingly handmade by our visiting sadhakas.

Nine priests organised daily pujas and led the yajna everyday for ​several hours. And the ashram reverberated with the chants of the akhanda-mandalakaram mantra and other Vedic mantras throughout the week. With each repetition of the mantra, we were reminded of the Guru’s Grace to be allowed to be a tiny part of this ancient, unbroken Tradition and to receive the timeless teachings of the Himalayan Masters. The ashram was filled with the fragrant scent of the yajna, as a beautiful reminder of the Path of Fire and Light, so lovingly shown by our Gurudeva.

The yajna concluded with the Purnahuti on 25 October, on Swami Rama’s 100th birthday and was attended by more than 450 devotees including many global family members who journeyed far, and several followers from Rishikesh, whose lives were touched by the light of Swami Rama. Many global family members from all over the world connected with us during the events via Facebook live to pay their obeisances to our dearest Gurudeva.

Swami Rama Birth Centenary (13)

Swami Rama Birth Centenary (12)

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Swami Rama Birth Centenary (36)

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Swami Rama Birth Centenary (41)

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Swami Rama Birth Centenary (52)

Swami Rama Birth Centenary (51)

On 25th October, we began a 28-hour akhanda japa (non-stop remembrance) of the akhanda-mandalakaram mantra at 4 am in the Initiation Room. The japa continued throughout the day and night, until 8 am on 26th October. For those 28 hours, Swami Veda’s Initiation Room became a sacred sanctuary where everyone sat in stillness and silence turning their gaze inward on a shared inner pilgrimage. It was a beautiful experience to see people sitting with utter devotion through the brightness of the day and deep silence of the night, all engaged in remembrance of Swami Rama through their japa.

We initially took a silent sankalpa to offer 100 hours of japa in remembrance of Gurudeva Swami Rama. With heartfelt devotion and dedication of all initiates, both ashramites and visiting sadhakas, we were very happy to have collectively completed over 120 hours of japa.

With every single offering into the sacred yajna fire and through our japa, we prayed at the lotus feet of Gurudeva so we may be purified and may become worthy of following the path that he illuminated for us.

Editor’s note:

In the year 2033, we will be celebrating Gurudeva Swami Rama’s 108th birthday and our beloved Swami Veda Bharati’s 100th birthday with a grand event, and the preparations have already begun. 🙂