Spiritual Champagne

Swami Satyagyanam Saraswati

When Swamiji told us the night before the marriage ceremony that we were to get
dressed up in sarees, with make-up, jewellery, etc. I saw red! All this rebellion
came up for me and yet I could not pinpoint exactly what it was I was reacting to.
This was not sannyasa, getting all dressed up, frilly and pretty. No, our
Satyananda style was more austere, straight.

Against my “better” judgement I began shopping that night in Deoghar for a

petticoat, blouse, jewellery, and many other people were doing the same thing. The
faint stirrings of excitement began to develop. I noticed the energy building up as
we all participated in our preparations for the ceremony. It was as if we were the
guests. I flowed with this feeling and as the night unfolded into the morning, with
it came an extraordinary change. During the night I saw myself dressed in a red
saree, one I had bought to decorate my pooja table, and this meant shopping again
for the appropriate accessories.

Before I rose in the morning I had planned my preparations – hairstyle, jewellery,

make-up. I wondered if the red and gold saree was over the top, being a bridal
saree, but the urge was still there to wear it. I began having fun, singing, “I'm
getting married in the morning, Ding dong the bells are going to chime.” As I
dressed it felt as if I were actually preparing for my own marriage ceremony, my
union with my Divine Beloved. The make-up, the trinkets, the elegant saree were
like using my femininity at a symbolic level for my Beloved. I was symbolically
preparing for my union.

As the time grew closer my feeling intensified. I became quieter. When the ceremony
between Sita and Rama began, I looked into my Beloved's face also, I walked the
circles with Sita and the chanting by the pandits reined in the threads of gold,
creating a cosmic web shimmering in the light as the sun was setting. I had a sense
of the exquisiteness of God.

I don't profess to have had actual union with the Divine, but this opportunity
showed me another side of myself, my femininity, my softness. It was interesting to
feel pretty at the age of forty-four. The flowing of the saree as I walked, each
step rippling out to the layers of cloth was so feminine. Acknowledging and
honouring my femininity was good for me.

Sannyasi Karmayogini

Paramahamsaji encouraged us to give and gave perfect examples, such as when one of
his neighbours came to express her appreciation for the sewing machine given to her
by Sivananda Math. When she presented Paramahamsaji with three beautiful dolls, the
first things she had made, he let us admire the dolls, then gave them to three
delighted children, and also quietly gave the young woman some money.

Paramahamsaji spoke to us about the power and beauty of women and gave us examples
such as Sannyasi Tripura playing the tabla, the tantric yoginis expressing the
power of Shakti in the fire ceremony, Reverend Antoinette Schoenmaker conducting
mass, local village women being presented with hoes, and Swami Kankeshwarananda, a
modern day Meerabai, holding me spellbound with her narrations from Ramayana, even
though I didn't understand a word she said.

Paramahamsaji encouraged us to practise bhakti yoga and gave us the example of

early morning chanting of Ramayana, prasad for my heart and soul. He enjoined us to
see marriage as a spiritual union, and to celebrate weddings accordingly, and again
he gave us the example of the marriage of Sita and Rama. Paramahamsaji played the
part of host magnificently, dressed in brilliant gold and orange robes, shining
like the sun, his brilliance reflected in the gold and orange marigolds that
adorned the stage. The young couple who personified Sita and Rama so beautifully,
radiated devotion, love and purity. Shiva shone through his image painted on the
back wall of the stage, and we, the thousands of guests, drank “spiritual
champagne”.