A family from the suburbs was catapulted to divine knowledge when a holy man from India walked into their life
The Guru Who Came to Stay: Sri sri in Ottawa ’88
When Sri sri Ravi Shankar came into the author’s life in 1988 she was living in Ottawa. She and her husband had just had their third child when one of their neighbours heard there was a new Guru. He comes to stay in the author’s home, in a housing Co-operative in Ottawa.
The meetings with the new Guru and the first experiences with his teachings, practices and breathwork changed the author’s life trajectory from trauma to creativity and responsibility. The family from the suburbs is catapulted to divine knowledge when a holy man from India walks into their life.
Through initial meetings and introductory courses, the organization grew in Montreal, and then Ottawa, Canada. There are friends, travels the purchase of a retreat centre in Quebec on forty acres of wooded land with five lakes.
The first courses are taught under tents accompanied by mosquitos and torrential rain. The land of Canada and the extreme climate are recorded, until the present day when there are now buildings and accommodation.
That’s how it all began, the writing, the Guru, the chasing around and the complete change of everything before or since.
But then thirty five years later…
…years after the first meeting… but I was back in London… it all came rushing back the time we had and the magic of it. No one knew who we were or who he was and that made the magic even more.’
This is the story of how we got started and who we met along the way and the friends we made.
The land was found and we became owners of a piece of land that comprised five lakes, trees, a dirt track in and no buildings…We needed tents, a marquee to meet in, a large tent for the kitchen and then we had to bring our own tents to sleep in. We did it…
The dirt track in took some beating that summer and many summers and winters after. It was never made for anything but one or two cars. That first summer we had a silence course, it poured with rain. The tents were awash and the marquee roof was dangerously full of water but we had a course. Guruji came. That was all we needed. Then we would have a course.
…Lynne Pearl is a sensitive writer who uses beautiful language to reveal the beauty of the soul…
Iris Simantel Jones, Sunday Times bestselling author of Far from the East End