Hyderabad Dhyana Kendra conducted a 24-hours Christmas meditation on Saturday 24th December and Sunday 25th December.  Being a weekend it was most convenient for devotees to participate. We also had a few outstation (Tandur) devotees who stayed in the Kendra for the most part of the meditation.

Meditation

The meditation started at 7 pm on 24th and ended at 7 pm on 25th.

We had 8 sessions of 3 hour duration. Every hour we had a cosmic chant/carol, reading/talk. For the first 5 hours of the meditation we played 10 minutes of Mrinalini Mataji's Christmas guided meditation every hour which was very effective and deepened our meditation and helped devotees became still. A total of 7 leaders with one leader repeated (in the first and last sessions) conducted the meditation. We played one video of Mrinalini Mataji's release of Second Coming of Christ from 2 am to 2.45 am, just to make sure everyone was awake.

Towards the closing hours we played the Scripture of Love audio which was utterly inspiring and brought tears when Daya Mata was expressing her love for God and the love that Guruji and Christ have for us. It was most touching especially when Ma concludes the talk reminiscing of Guruji and saying "Will such a one ever walk on this earth again!" 

Participation 

In the first session we had around 70 devotees who gradually filled up the hall by 8-8.30 pm and all through the night we had at least 30 devotees present. The closing session had 100 devotees and the total attendance was 130-140 nos. We had more lady devotees in the night than male devotees, which is really heartening.

Light refreshment and other arrangements 

We had arrangement for light snacks and tea for the participant devotees.

Some lady devotees went to the mezzanine room and rested in between. In my personal experience, I just lay down to rest in between, but did not feel like sleeping since the consciousness was so uplifted. It was also the experience of other devotees that they could not sleep, even if they wanted to.

Volunteer participation

Our special thanks to all the service leaders Rajuji, Mangaji, Sai Jayanth, Nandiniji, Ravi Kiran, and Mallaiahji) dedicated and wonderful sevaks who took care of every detail - Lalaji, Chiranjeeviji, Mallaiahji, Radhakrishnaji (who was not there during the Christmas meditation but whose service is so joyful, pure and utterly selfless). 

There needs a special mention of a few youngsters who have been really coming forth to help in a big way to serve which includes Sai Jayanth, Balaji Misra, Ravi Kiran Mudda who are leaders of tomorrow!

What we felt

We all could feel a little of that Christ love coming from devotees, as we helped and motivated each other during the programme. This was the first time that Hyderabad Dhyana Kendra attempted this kind of meditation. The vibrations were festive, enthusiastic (also due to the forthcoming Janmotsav) in the ground floor. The first floor was warm and cosy with wonderful calmness and stillness pervading.

The clear feeling was that Christ was trying to reach us as best as our restless thoughts allowed Him!