Looking for spiritual places advice

eliminator

To my opinion you should build your meditation practice by yourself. That was my experience after practicing hatha yoga in Rishikesh, giving up hatha yoga and then focusing on lotus meditation. This path I made by myself without serios help from a guru.
In fact meditation doesn't need much study.

On your place I would have build the practice by myself. But used and enjoyed specific meditative atmosphere in India. I found this atmosphere even in Delhi in the Aurobindo ashram where they allowed me to stay for ten days.

Maybe my blog can help you in some sense

http://in-lotus.blogspot.com

HimalayanGirl

I agree with livinhimalayas. I think you will like Parmath Niketan in the Himalayas (Rishikesh). I was just there. The setting is gorgeous, against the backdrop of the Himalayas. You can learn anything from music to arts to yoga to cooking......The Guruji there is fantastic. Plus, you will meet many other people like you. August-September is also a good time to go there--it is cooler. Check out their website on google. The Divine Life Society (as mentioned by Goran) is another great place. Either way, you will love it in India!

mysoulstillwandering

when you are dismissing having a Guru, why are you asking people to read your blog. you are spreading your knowledge, thats what those Gurus did...
why so contradictory statement???

no offences...
i have heard one of the greatest Ramayana translator, reader and orator alive... he says, the greatest bhakti in this age is to take God's name and even if one cant take God's name, least one can do is to- let anyone taking God's name and do not criticise him/her...

thanks..

mysoulstillwandering

again, no offences...
dont take it personally

eliminator

Mysoulstillwandering,

I don't emphisize that a Guru is not needed. I'm trying to rely on my own personal experience. So if I spread my knowledge and rather personal experience(like many others in different blogs)it is not in the guru's way.

Doerethy

Are you going only North? Try south India also.There are so many good spiritual places.

vasilevitsky

I am starting in the North and I might head South later. I have been warned by allot of people about self styled Gurus and ashrams that are not really authentic in Rishikesh. Any suggestions in regards to this? The Divine Life Society which seems to have the best reviews is completely booked. I am guessing that Parmarth Niketan could be one that is also good from the suggestions..

kullukid

Even though Parmarth seems to be a large money orientated organisation I can personally vouch for the genuiousness & authenticity of Swami Chidanand Saraswati ji of Parmarth Niketan.
Not that I'm any kind of leading authority on such things, I might add! KK
http://www.parmarth.com/pujyaswamiji_pics.html

vasilevitsky

It seems like it works on donations though from what it states on the website, no? Also, is the Swami the actual teacher there for the pupils or is he someone that established the ashram and somebody else teaches here?

vegan

Bihar Yoga Bharati ( http://www.yogavision.net/byb/admissions/fees.htm )seems to be its residential institute offering 4-month intensive yoga programs. Sept-Dec program is offered in English! It claims there is no tuition and charges Indian nationals Rs 8000 which works out to less than Rs 70 per day for boarding and lodging and it seems to be a good deal. Foreigners, though, have to pay 1200 Euros which comes to about Rs 700 per day - about 10 times what Indians pay. Won't be exorbitant if quality is good.

Eastern Mind

I saw this swami here once upon a time, guest of honour at some kind of grand opening. Seemed like a good guy. In large ashrams, it is likely that others do most of the the teaching, I would think. Not sure though. never been to one.

kamal.nandan

There is a big celebration going on in Divine Life Society from 14th to 18th of August. You can try for an accomodation after that. But you need to clearly state why you want to be there? They have one month yoga course too which is completely free and the course includes free accomodation, fooding etc.
As it seems to me, Parmarth Niketan is more like a hotel where you will be charged(in the form of donation) for accomodation etc. depending upon the kind of room you opt for.

kamal.nandan

last week I was in Rishikesh and since I had heard a lot about the Ganga aarti at Parmarth Niketan, I visited there during Aarti time. I was disappointed to see so many donation-drop-boxes being brought to the Aarti venue so that people can drop their donations.

eliminator

It's pretty hard to get to swamis you may like. Recognized ones are hardly accessible while others may seem very ordinary people. Yet there are so many sadhus who just live that sacred life because they fell out of the mainstream society ( reasons are extreme poverty, lower caste).

Yet because we are foreigners the choice of gurus gets narrowed dramatically. A big deal of hinduism is mere following of the tradition which includes rituals. And to my opinion we, foreigners, do not fit to this scheme or we want something different. We want flexible buddhist approach when gurus teach us without all that heavy ritualistic luggage of the past ( for example, you can't follow "proper" hinduism because you are not a hindu by birth).

kullukid

Someone else teaches at Parmarth. I think it's unlikely you will find a Swami who teaches Yoga himself.