Sr. Prasannadevi - 40 years of her hermit life in Girnar forest

Please click for the celebration of her 40 years of hermit life at Junaghad-Gujarat.

Recorded on 13-March-2013

On 1st of Jan 1974, hearing God's call, Sr. Anne arrived the first time in Gujarat. She travelled all the way from south to west just to attain what she was called for . Sr. Anne had in the deepest corner of her heart the thought of taking up Indian Sanyasa. When the convent of Little Stars of Blessed. Fr. De Foucauld in India was closed down due to legal problems, this could not be considered anything less than a door opened by God,so that Sr. Anne may fulfill God's own will. Thus she started the life of a wanderer (Parivrajaka) which is considered as a must for any Sanyasis in Indian tradition.

In her quest for an Ashram life, she had visited most of the well-known ashrams and pilgrim centers of India and some of the leading Sanyasis of India like Swami Jnananda and Ramana Maharshi. She inspired her life by visiting and understanding the life styles of Shri Buddha, depicted in Ajanta, Ellora Caves, the prayerful atmosphere of Kurisumala ashram, Vagamon by Francis Acharya, Arunachala and Shantivanam, the spiritual birth place of Swami Abhishiktananda.

Sr. Prasannadevi's house

In 1975 she finally found a home for her hermit life near Atmeshwar (Girnar. Her friends built her a small hut in1976 which was called "Jyoti Mandir" now "Sneha Deepam", on the bank of a stream. This was an answer to her quest of a place to carry out her vocation. In July 1978, she was visited by Rev. Fr. Dominic of Ashirwanam Monestry (Kenkeiry, Banglore), whom she considers her Guru. He inclined his spiritual strength, prayers and teachings and continued his tsay in a hut opposite to Sneha Deepam till 1980. Fr. Dominic came because of an initiative-thought of Rt. Bishop Jona, the first Bishop Of Rajkot, to start an Ashram. Fr. Dominic though did not know the local language, through his silence and presence had inspired many visitors who started considering Fr. Dominic their Guru.

 Slowly and steadily Sr.Anne dissolved into the life of all the people who visited her. As time passed she started getting visitors from all over Gujarat. Some visited her occasionally, some regularly and some became  her very close friends. She by her simple living and teachings, has inspired hundreds and thousands of people.

 On 13th March-1975 Late Rt. Bishop Charles Gomez S.J. visited her on her birthday and in 1978 Rt. Bishop Jonas came and gave Sr. anne the right to have communion regularly. Those days once a week mass was celebrated and nowadays every Sunday  mass is conducted at Sneha Dipam by the parish priest of Junaghad.

 On 25th March 1997 in the presence of Rt. Bishop Gregory Karotemparel the Bishop Of Rajkot. parish council members,Carmelite sisters and youth of Junaghad: Sr. Prasannadevi made her perpetual vows as a hermit and were canonically accepted by the church. Sr. Anne would really have longed for such a day.

 In1999 her Hindu friends celebrated her arrival in Junaghad In year 2000,completion of 25 years of Sr. Anne's hermit life was celebrated in the presence of Bishop of Rajkotand the Junaghad parish.

Sr. Prasannadevi's Chapel

Sr. Anne had an inspiration from God , in which God said that He was pleased with her, and this is how Sr. Anne became Sr. Prasannadevi (The name which was officially given to her by Fr. Domnic). This grace of God has led her to live her hermit life with utter simplicity but with a great discipline . She rises up at 4:30 every morning and starts her day with prayer. Once it is enough light in her garden, she collects the most  beautiful  flowers and keeps them at the tabernacle. She has a small chapel which was built by her well wishers, and it is the holy place where she recites her prayers and mass is celebrated on Sundays..

 Describing about Sneha Deepam, it is a pure natural living place. It has a small hut where Sr. Prasannadevi lives and also a grotto and in front of it is a stream of water flowing through the rocks. She has cultivated a beautiful garden with variety of plants and colorful flowers. She also feeds birds and mongooses that come to her garden. She loves to spend her time in garden.

 She really has a loving heart with which she welcomes all who come to visit her. Her presence itself is inspirational. All the non Christians who visit her call MATAJI and great each other by saying " Jai Prabhu". Her simplicity and loving nature is very well revealed in the way she addresses all her visitors. All her visitors respect and love her and are very keen to visit her again and again . She also visits the poor people who are seriously sick and are hospitalized. Her love, prayer and guidance have helped many people. She also helps many poor people in the village financially,with the little collections she has from the visitors.

 The complaint mostly raised against the hermits is that they lead a very passive life, since they remain in the forest cut away from the active life of the world. But Sr. Prasannadevi has successfully combined both action and contemplation, It is her strong faith in God which has kept her firm to follow her vocation and fulfill God's will.

- Rojan Joseph

Please click on the video for Sr. Prasannadevi's house in the Girnar forest (Recorded in 2012)