Enjoy this article as it takes You closer to both Romania and Canada! It’s also sharing the special moments when a Romanian Diplomat honors Sahaja Yoga Meditation Day in Canada and the Romanian-Canadian Cultivators of Joy at the Festival of New Beginnings in Burlington

Consider it our Romanian Tribute for Sahaja Yoga Meditation Day in Canada and announcement that The General Consulate of Romania in Toronto was represented in Burlington at the 10th Annual New Beginnings Festival in 2025

The photos you saw earlier are from several events related to our 5-day New Beginnings Marathon 2025. These were indoors and outdoors, for all ages, across 2 cities (Burlington and Hamilton) and of course, free entry for all.

Besides sharing the Good News of a Romanian-Canadian volunteer’s community work dedicated to mental health for 20 years being appreciated by Romania’s diplomats to Canada, you will be able to see photos representative of Romania’s beauty found in people, nature, art and culture. Why not learn a few things also about the 100 Seeds of Joy volunteers too?!

The image below says in Romanian: “I deliver Happiness!” and I took the photo in Bucharest – the capital city of Romania.

I am part of the 100 Seeds of Joy team of volunteers from Halton’s Sahaja Yoga Meditation Network and we are known as “The Cultivators of Joy”. Right there, you have the 1st connection, you can say now that you know a few Romanian words already.

Ioana and Isabelle – volunteers / Cultivators of Joy with Halton’s 100 Seeds of Joy community initiative – welcoming everyone to the Free Festival hosted by Sahaja Yoga Meditation Network

We dedicate this article to both Romania and Canada united by the community service initiated 20 years ago in Burlington by Romanian Canadian volunteers. Today there is a beautiful and diverse community of Halton Sahaja Yoga Meditation Network that is recognized by the Romanian Consul General in Toronto, Canada.

A Romanian official Tribute for Sahaja Yoga Meditation Day in Canada and Burlington’s Romanian-Canadian volunteers from the Romanian Consul General in Toronto

The Mayor of Burlington proclaimed the 20th of June 2025 as Sahaja Yoga Meditation Day to mark the 20 years volunteering milestone, rooted in the New Beginnings for a family of Romanian immigrants that made Burlington their permanent beloved home.

explore later this article: Sahaja Yoga Meditation Day: Burlington City’s Proclamation

The next three photos are from Bucharest and Brasov – both towns represent the main Romanian roots for our family.

Actually, I will include several other photos I took, capturing the beauty found in my trips back to my home country – Romania.

On Sunday June 22nd, 2025, the Consul General from the Romanian Consulate in Toronto joined with her family the 10th Free New Beginnings annual Festival in Burlington

(2 short video-clips) Let’s listen to Oana Raluca Gherghe – the Romanian Consul General – offering a beautiful speech and congratulations for the 5-day Sahaja Yoga Meditation marathon and Romanians’ community work during the Festival of New Beginnings 2025 celebrated at the Burlington Lions Club

VIDEO #1 Do not miss it! Learn about Ia Blouse and about New Beginnings Marathon

VIDEO#2 with Romania’s Consul General in Toronto addressing the Festival of New Beginnings

The 10th Annual Free Festival of New Beginnings in Burlington was celebrated at the Burlington Lions’ Club on June 24, 2025 when the Heatwave struck Ontario!

Oana and her family members were wearing “ia” the Romanian national blouse; announcing that on June 24th is the Universal Day of the Romanian Blouse “Ia”.

We were happy that our special guests who joined from Toronto were able to participate for a little while in our program: joining a short guided meditation, enjoying the beautiful melodies offered by our special guest musicians, watching a video-clip with the founder of Sahaja Yoga Meditation and watching some of the slides about the beginnings of Sahaja Yoga Meditation here in Burlington at the Brant Hills Community Center – named after Joseph Brant, the founder of Burlington City.

Later we realized that Consul General’s family had a marathon of their own to accomplish that day, as they were expected to attend another important event for the Romanian community.

Everybody appreciated their efforts to attend our event, despite the shocking heatwave outside, as well with many road closures around, yet they came and they were very warmly received in a celebratory atmosphere by many cool people. 🙂

About the First New Beginnings that happened 20 years ago in Burlington, CANADA

and 35 years ago in Bucharest, ROMANIA

Twenty years ago our family moved to Burlington. We opened at the Brant Hills Community center the first Sahaja Yoga Meditation classes – always offered free of any charge and always open to all, as per the teachings of Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, the founder of Sahaja Yoga Meditation.

My husband and I met Shri Mataji in Bucharest (Romania’s capital city) when she visited Romania for the first time in 1990, after the peaceful Revolution that freed the country from dictatorship.

We were newly married and both working full time as well studying Computer Engineering at the Polytechnic University; yet we were yearning for Yoga and Spirituality in our lives.

That’s when we attended the first Public Program with Shri Mataji in Romania, on October 16, 1990. She talked about spirituality. That encounter changed our lives completely.

The photo above is from my mother’s home in Bucharest. She continues to show respect to our teacher, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi – who left her physical existence on February 23rd, 2011.

Shri Mataji said the following words that touched our hearts as it did with more than 5,000 Romanians listening to Her speech on October 16, 1990, in Bucharest:

“When the Spirit shines in your attention, the attention becomes very powerful and we have never used the power of love, of pure love.

The pure love is like a sap in the tree.

And it goes to the various parts of the tree.

It nourishes all the parts of the tree.“

“But supposing it gets attached to any flower or any fruit,

then the tree will die and the fruit will die.

So the pure love nourishes, enlightens and makes you absolutely pure.“

“You enjoy your purity, you enjoy your virtues and a new race comes up which loves.

There is no fight, there is no struggle, such a satisfied personality you develop.

This attention is so pure that when you put your attention on to anyone with this purity,

you can purify other person.

You can cure that person,

you can give peace to that person,

because Spirit is the source of peace.“

“Spirit is the source of peace.

It is the source of joy.

It is not a duality of happiness and unhappiness,

but singular Joy.“

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi – Public Program, October 16, 1990 in Bucharest, Romania.

Practicing Sahaja Yoga Meditation helped us with our studies as well with dealing with life’s challenges while we were trying to build a family as well our careers that took us to the Western Europe, Africa then to North-America where we found our permanent home.

I hope that you are enjoying the photos shared earlier, they are all from Bucharest, where one can find beautiful art, culture and one can also find fulfilment in spirituality, as we did.

Shri Mataji’s words of wisdom can be proven right to anyone seeking peace or truth, in meditation.

Let’s return to the Festival of New Beginnings 2025 and the moments shared with the representatives of the General Consulate of Romania in Toronto who attended the event, in fact we were honored to welcome the entire Family of the Consul General

Did you know? Among our team of volunteers we have Sorin and Lavinia who are have Romanian origins and came from far away to help with our preparations for this festival.

This photo with our 100 Seeds of Joy volunteers looks like a bouquet of flowers :-).

Lavinia felt to take a photo of the roses Ioana brought from her garden for decorations.

Let us introduce you to other Romanian-Canadians who volunteer with our Halton Sahaja Yoga Meditation Network of volunteers and made the 5-day Sahaja Yoga Meditation Marathon 2025 a GREAT SUCCESS

There are three Romanian-Canadians in this photo:

Same number of the Romanians in the following photos, but might be different people 🙂

You might want to know some details ..

Gratiela, Emil and Raluca live in Burlington where they joined the free weekly classes of Sahaja Yoga Meditation opened by Ioana, Ana-Bianca and Razvan 20 years ago. Anca and Stefan joined the Oakville Sahaja Yoga Meditation classes. Adina and Cristian join from London whenever possible, but mostly the seminars or festival-like events scheduled in weekends; however, they take advantage of the online meditation classes to destress.

So many Canadians of Romanian origin found peace coming to the free classes offered in the Halton region; we just named those that took upon themselves to actively help and volunteer.

In fact, a Romanian-Canadian who volunteers with the 100 Seeds of Joy team from Halton Sahaja Yoga Meditation Network had the great honor of receiving the Halton Volunteer Impact Award for Burlington in 2024 and represent the TEAM..

It was nice that after the General Consul’s speech we enjoyed a “Romanian Family Photo” with almost the Romanian volunteers as well with the Consul’s family members, all dressed up in ia– the Romanian national folk dress, about which the General Consul talked about as well.

The Burlington Mayor also appreciated the Romanian-Volunteers from Halton Sahaja Yoga Meditation Network and reposted their announcement about the Universal Day of the Romanian Blouse that was shared with a photo from their 100 Seeds of Joy Meditation & Music Program for a Burlington School on the same day

It gave me a great pleasure to congratulate the Consul General on the “Universal Romanian Blouse Day” and to share the news that I represented Romania that day wearing a traditional Ia blouse during our special New Beginnings Meditation and Music program offered to 300+ children and staff from a Burlington school and that The Burlington Mayor further shared the News with the City

I sent the message in great hurry to the Consul General as we were in the 5th day of the Marathon just before the last important event where we were invited to attend the 100th Anniversary of a most respected Burlington organization.

The appreciation received from the Romanian Consul General in Toronto was heart-warming:

VIDEO#3: Congrats from Toronto’s Romanian Consul General for the 5-day Sahaja Yoga Meditation “New Beginnings” Marathon and 20 years of community service

That’s it! Let’s use the last intermezzo with some more images from Romania, especially from Bucharest and Brasov that are very dear to my family

The following municipal sign is from Bucharest’s Ward 4 where my mother lives and it says: ” I work, I love and I live in Ward 4“. By the end of this article you’ll know basic Romanian!

You should listen to the beautiful speech expressing support and admiration for the work of volunteers (among them also those with Romanian roots), plus you can learn something New!

It’s time to say Good Bye, and why not in Romanian rhythms and with peaceful meditative words of wisdom, bridging our love for Sahaja Yoga Meditation and for Romania in not one, but three articles and two video-clips shared with you below. Don’t forget to drop a Comment by the end!

(1) Let’s Meditate on our Mountains and Valleys with Romanian Nature and Wisdom Quotes

(2) Take a Virtual Walk through Romania .. and Meditate

(3) Burlington City appreciates our Cultivators of Joy as its own Inner Lights

(video-clip#1) Our Ukrainian singer and friend Ekaterina joined from Montreal the New Beginnings Festival in 2024 that was celebrated on May 5th, and during our Good Bye Dinner she surprised us with the following Romanian Song, meaning: ” This Love from Me to You” which very much represents what a volunteer feels and does

(video-clip#2) This is a beloved Romanian Rapsody that was performed as a surprise during the Anniversary of a beloved Romanian Play at the National Theatre in Bucharest (I was lucky to be there). Enjoy the amazing rhythms and the Collective Joy!

We hope you’ve enjoyed the article. Explore the Articles for more Joy and Wisdom.

Please, let us know what you feel now. 🙂 Drop a word, an impression that’s sincere and constructive. 🙂

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