A travel guide that explores over 500 places of spiritual interest for the modern traveller
By Roger Gabriel, April 20 2017. The word ashram comes from the Sanskrit word, Srama, which means “religious exertion.” However, in more recent times the term “ashram” is used to describe any facility used by a spiritual community. They can vary in size from a small hermitage housing just a few people to multiple building complexes …
Simonetta travelled in India during the 1960s and 1970s, where she established a colony for the care of lepers as well as a craft training program. Duchess Simonetta Colonna di Cesaro was born in Rome in 1922. Descended from Russian aristocracy, the daughter of intellectual & politically inclined Giovanni Duke of Cesaro,’ she grew up in a sophisticated environment, and …
A boarding and day-school for boys and girls, the Rajghat School taught from kindergarten to high school and college levels. Rajghat was one of the two schools of the Rishi Valley Trust, founded by Annie Besant and handed over to Krishnamurti so he could implement his ideas. It was an experimental community where students and …
Ella Maillart was the pioneer solo woman explorer who found her spiritual side in India. By Ravi Shankar. The New Indian Express. Published: 27th September 2020 05:00 AM | Last Updated: 25th October 2020 11:02 AM | A casualty of the internet and satellite mapping is the explorer. Before technology, Huen Tsang, Marco Polo and Columbus explored uncharted lands, …
Extract from Saints Alive by Hilda Charlton Hilda Charlton was a spiritual teacher who taught meditation in New York City from 1965 to 1988. In her teachings Hilda stressed the importance of a life of giving and forgiving, unconditional love and remembrance of God. She uplifted the lives of thousands of people who sought her spiritual …
Theos Casimir Bernard’s life story is one filled with adventure, spiritual encounters and a worthwhile determination. He pioneered expeditions to Tibet including the famed city of Lhasa in 1937, at a time when Tibet was closed to foreigners due to a policy of self-isolation. He was only the third American ever to set foot in …
Ashrams of India: Volume 2 Chapter 21 Uttarakhand, Crank’s Ridge Former haven for hippies and mystics during the 60s and 70s Alfred Julius Emmanuel Sorensen (October 27, 1890 – August 13, 1984), also known as Sunyata, Shunya, or Sunyabhai, was a Danish mystic, horticulturalist, and writer. He lived in Europe, India and America. The son …
Granddaughter of Indra Devi’s friend Ruth Taylor, Francesca Rheannon speaks with Michelle Goldberg about Indra Devi. Her biography is The Goddess Pose: The Audacious Life of Indra Devi, the Woman Who Helped Bring Yoga to the West.
One of the few foreigners to stay back in Rishikesh during the lockdown, the author notices that the Ganga is cleaner and purer than it has been in a long time. “It was not until I landed in Rishikesh with no means to leave, for weeks on end, and living on the Ganga amidst quietude, …
Today, I have the pleasure to introduce Yael Bloch, Yoga teacher and author of the book Ashrams, Journey to the Sources of Yoga. I read this book recently and it inspired me a lot. A real motionless journey, from my rocking chair, the park or my bath, to discover these magical places bathed in spirituality and sharing. I …
Ralph Abraham. University of California, Santa Cruz. 3 November 2015. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284190331_Entheogens_in_the_Himalayan_Foothills/link/564fa3f608ae1ef9296eb892/download Abstract. Reporting a miraculous week of entheogens and sadhus in a temple in the montane jungle of the Himalayan foothills in 1972. 1. Introduction In the Fall of 1968 I arrived in Santa Cruz, California, to begin a tenured position as Asso-ciate Professor of …
By Ganesh Dass The day was ending at Madhuban Ashram, as the sun’s last golden rays shined out as it nestled its way down between the peaks of the Himalayan valley. Just miles from Kainchi and Nainital, Madhuban, the Himalayan branch of the Shri Aurobindo ashrams, posed a logistical launching point and picturesque backdrop for …
BBC News 12 Sept 2020, by Soutik Biswas, India correspondent A Canadian backpacker’s meeting with The Beatles in a spiritual retreat In India half a century ago is the subject of a new documentary. For filmmaker Paul Saltzman it was a “life-changing” experience. When a 23-year-old Canadian man arrived at an ashram near India’s holy …
Thursday, 26 June 2014. It hosted the world’s most-famous popstars as they went on a journey of spiritual awakening that transformed their music forever. It was the home of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru to the Beatles, who they visited in 1968 and where, it is thought, they penned most of the White album, including …
Do you want to know what my daily life was like in India, what it is like to stay in a Hostel, to know more about Rishikesh? A new video has arrived, for us to continue the vlogs of our travel routine and our travels around the world! Rishikesh is a major center of study and …
By Steve Paulson. What’s not widely known is Brilliant’s remarkable backstory. To say he was an unlikely candidate to lead a global campaign against smallpox is an understatement. In the 1960s, Brilliant was a young doctor caught up in the wave of political activism and then the Summer of Love in San Francisco. “It really wasn’t fair …
From the diary of American ashram resident and devotte Thelma Benn (later Rappold), who spent three years with Ramana Maharshi from February 1948 until Summer 1950. The Mahakumbhabishekam celebration from the 14th to the 17th of March was a big affair. Thousands of people came from all parts of India. Special trains were dispatched from …
A devotees hotel from the past, the Bombay Ananda Bhavan Hotel, an oasis set amongst the Raj-era bungalows in the cantonment of Bangalore, India. The Bangalore cantonment of bungalows, gardens, race courses, clubs, barracks and parade grounds for its mixed civilian and military population, was established in 1809, separate from the city. Many devotees of …
A devotees hotel from the past, the Hotel Evelyn in Nainital, India. Hotel Evelyn, The Mall Road, Nainital – 263002, Uttarakhand, India. Hotel Evelyn is among one of the oldest hotels in Nainital and has a rich history of hospitality. It has been serving guests even before the town became a retreat for city-weary folk. …
Series: Westerners in India. The following article is an excerpt from Ashrams of India. Cuban-American writer Mercedes de Acosta (1893 – 1968) travelled to Arunachala to meet Ramana Maharshi in 1938 after reading Paul Brunton’s book A Search in Secret India, and stayed for three days. This visit made a tremendous impact on her. She later wrote in her 1960 autobiography Here Lies the Heart that these were the three most significant days of her life…
