Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_1909711,0015002500030001.htm
Over 30,000 take ‘diksha’
Smriti Malaviya,

Allahabad, January 23

THE LAST ‘shahi snan’ of Basant Panchami witnessed another congregation of devotees on the banks of the Sangam during the ongoing Ardh Kumbh Mela, on Tuesday.
With beads in their hand and chanting ‘mantras’, over 30,000 devotees from different parts of the country took Vedic ‘diksha’ from Asaram Bapu.

Seated under one roof, the devotees from West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Gujarat, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and different parts of Uttar Pradesh took the Vedic ‘diksha’ from Bapu in a blissful ambience.

After the ‘diksha’, they pledged to regularly perform ‘jap’ with mind engrossed in the supreme meaning of the ‘mantra’, observe fast once in a fortnight, eat only ‘satvik’ food and follow the golden principle of ‘Sanatan Dharma’.

Attracted by the huge number of devotees at the ‘Satsang Shivir’, about 500 foreigners also attended Bapu’s discourse on Monday evening. Sewadar and Bapu devotee from America, Deepal Patel said over one lakh Bapu’s disciples had arrived in the Mela area to attend the three-day ‘Satsang Shivir’.

After delivering the ‘diksha’, Bapu said ‘Sadguru’ enlightens a disciple with the essence of his true self, which transcends time and space and the disciple gets liberated from the cycle of birth and death.

The ‘diksha’ aspirants had travelled hundreds of miles and collected at the designated camp at 3.30 am. At least 10,000 of them stayed overnight in the camp and braved the chilly winter winds to avoid the traffic bottlenecks.

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Sadho.. Sadho..