Share the road to Indian Himalayas in July?

Me?
Solo female in 40's hoping to find Nirvana in Himalayan mountains and to meet a few enlightened yogis or just simple nice folks along the way.
New Delhi-Dharamsala-Parang La in Ladakh, and Leh.

Anyone who's going towards same direction in July, and interested in meeting a wonderful person like me, please let me know.

btw,anybody heard or stayed at hotel Fiftyfive in Connought place in Delhi?
any opinion about the hotel?

very very very interesting quest!!!

the wonderful person by name tuareg sayeth:

if i may ask : how will you recognize an "enlightened yogi"????? if you actually come face to face with one how will you recognize that the person is an "enlightened yogi"? will he be wearing a nameplate that spells "enlightened yogi"?

dont get me wrong. mine is a genuine question. all of us, including me; have preconceived notions of "how enlightened yogis should look like...." or..... "how enlightened yogis are supposed to behave....." or...... whatever. the really enlightened ones are not in the least obliged to conform to our preconcieved notions. most of them shun human company.

most seekers end up meeting charlatans. the westerner is an irresistible magnet for "mantra selling yogis". so the westerner or foreign looking person ends up seeing some good actors who are acting out a script for some sorta payment.

i wish you all the best! "seek and ye shall find". may you find that which you seek.

i have been to the himalayas frequently as a trekker and travelled on many an untrod path. the enlightened yogis are an extremely rare species indeed. they are rare but definitely there! very much there! they can also be found outside the himalaya. it is really not upto you to find them. they must decide to "reveal" themselves to you. you could be sitting next to one in a public bus and you wouldn't know it.

there happens to be a thread on this site titled "what is yoga". it does discuss some "yogi behaviour" indirectly. there are also a number of "yogi bears" in the himalaya!

may you succeed!

Mr.Trekker,
I can't figure out whether you're really sarcastic, or genuinely concerned.
Anyway,thanks for your offer of searching the yogis on the way to Himalayas.
I need all the help I can get especially from a wise man like you.

I don't think it's a impossible quest to find one.... you said yourself on your reply that they are definitely there,.. somewhere. Can you concentrate,and think deeply where you saw them?
He may look raggedy, wih few teeth missing, but I'm sure his smile will be genuine, and when I look into his eyes, and I'll find the mystery of life all contained on his not shifty eyes. If I really stumble onto The one, I'll be more than happy to be his servant in waiting. I've had a good share of life, and I'm ready to learn some good metaphysics from these Babas.

OK, my main goal was to find some travel mates, and finding an enlightened yogi is just a side product while traveling in India.

tuareg,

Sorry for the sarcasm. Accept my genuine apology.

You state that you wanted to find an enlightened yogi as a "side product". IMHO it may not work...... (it should be the main quest) but then who knows??

I could certainly give you some names. I don't need to concentrate or search anywhere. Try Swami Niranjanaanand Saraswati and/or his Guru Swami Satyaanand Saraswati at Munger, Bihar. (Bihar School of India). I don't know if they are enlightened. My feeling is they are "almost there". Even that is saying a lot. Trouble is they may not fit into your idea of "raggedy teeth" etc. This is very subjective and unique for every individual. As for the eyes, you are spot on. The eyes of the enlightened ones have an unearthly look. (unfortunately even hash smokers do). But these radiate brilliance. (hash smokers dont)

An enlightened one has to be "all- knowing" cuz its in the definition. Such a one will tell you your innermost thoughts. Even mind readers can do it (they are far from being "enlightened"). How to distinguish between the two? The mind readers will not be able to tell you , for example, "what your mom is doing at this very moment in Louisiana" cuz its not there in your mind (to read from). The enlightened one can tell you what your mom is gonna do TOMORROW (for example). This is certainly not there in your mind.

I am nowhere near as wise....... maybe more experienced. If you meant it sarcastically, I deserved it.

You say that you are willing to humbly serve such a person, if you find one. I pray your feelings are totally genuine. IMHO, this alone is enough to send somebody towards you. Most people find it very difficult to surrender to "other" human beings. If you can, its a major plus for you.

Ultimately you will find that which is your MAIN intention. The Travel-Mates may be a disguise to lure you to the "side product". Who knows??

Once again, my humble apologies.

May you succeed!!!

Hi,

I will be flying into Dehli on the 5th of July and will have about 3 weeks of travelling. I will be going to a Yoga school in Bihar in late July. But from the 9th to the 15th of July, I plan to North (around Leh) . After then I'll make my way down through Haridwar etc

Let me know what you think!

Re T

i hope you are careful, you must remember the basic principle of Hinduisim is to find God in yourself.

Pls donot get taken for a ride. I believe Rishikesh is a good place for Yoga studies. but you must take references.

Having said all this i am interested in doing Manali-Leh routine in June

Hi

Thanks for the word of wisdom. I didn't know Hinduism is similar to Buddhism in that one try to find God in oneself.

If you interested in Manali-Leh routine in JULY, please let me know. I'll be starting my India tour starting from Delhi to Dharamsala- Manali-Leh and Delhi in JULY and lastly Rishikesh for Ashram stay. As for Rishikeshi, I have no clue yet, and hopely you'll help me a bit?

Thanks!

Ooops,

MY reply above meant for PM to Alfa. Sorry.

The most common form of greeting India “namaste” means I bow to God in thee. In any case there are NO “enlightened” yogis. Just join a safe and frequented ashram and do yoga like aerobics, in midst of this if you are able to find peace then so be it. Donot expect others to teach it to you or bring it for you.

Try to see the movie “city of joy” to understand what I am trying to tell you.

If you are interested in Hinduism then you must learn some basic facts about it. The first is off course is that Hinduism is NOT a religion. It is set of beliefs. If you want to call it a religion for sake of convenience then one may note that it is a poly-atheist (spelling?) religion. That is to say you can have your own choice of God. You can worship your cell phone if you like. Or even remain Christian while being a Hindu (though strict interpretation of Christianity may not permit it)

Not that people go that far, but they adopt one or many or none of the Gods in the scriptures. Most of the basic Indian/Hindu philosophy is derived from Gita – which is a chapter of “Mahabharat”.

In fact there is another view of Hinduism by sage Chakravaya (spelling) 11 or 14AD which preached that there is no God or rebirth and one should enjoy in this life time only. (Even this belief is allowed to be part of Hinduism)

As an older religion/belief, Hinduism has tried to develop an understanding of finer aspects of human thinking-living-purpose. You can read and learn about it but you will have to be your own teacher.

There is an interesting story from “panchtantra”. A student used to go to a school after crossing a river everyday. One day the river was in spate due to rains but he still crossed it. The Guru-teacher asked how did he do it. The student said by taking the name of the Guru he was able to walk on water. The Guru tried to cross the river himself but was swept away and died.

Alffa,

Thanks again for your enlightened lecture about Hinduism for a humble mortal like me. Maybe YOU are DA ONE i've been looking for all along !
I don't have to look around for a yogi no more.
Hey, I'm just a foreign tourist who wish to have a glimpse of Indian wisdom,and hopely I'll get a crumb of wisdom to look beyond our short lives on earth. I heard that Hinduism has 360 millions of deities! Well, that will keep me busy to choose a few from.

dear tuareg, everyone finds enlightenment in their own method, no one can show u the way , only u have to walk it...its not necessary to go to the himalayas to find it all u need to do is look into urself... and sweetheart not all babas are nice ppl,there are a lots of thiefs, cheats and unscrupulous assholes posing as babas.. take care of urself with babas u meet .....

dude let me know the dates ur travelling, need to do some soul searching myself too...
wish u luck...

Dear Dude, what's wrong having a lofty inspiration to find myself or to search a good baba in Himalayas? Yeah, it's easy for you to say to find own enlightenment. Pardon my platitude , but honestly i'm rather getting bored to look into myself these days.
Hell, it's hard to find anything meaningful in this 24/7 rat race here.
Just because I can afford and find it midly desirable to find the wise yogi does not deter me flying to India and going up the mountains.

dude nothing is wrong in ur search for the right baba in the himalayas....it doesnt matter if u can afford it or not.... the himalayas by themselves are a soul enriching experience....what i meant was be careful... there are lots of cases of women being raped, murdered and stuff being stolen and all.... good luck to u finding ur wise yogi....

Thank y'all for your kind warning against the Baba imposters!

I'm a city girl and I'm not that green in finding the cheaters.
I know Good, Bad and Ugly.

But it'll be rather tough to distinguish between the dopey heads and the yo
e real yogis. Don't they kinda look alike in spaced out look?