Wandering in the Himalayas – Part 3

(Continued from Wandering in the Himalayas – Part 2)

I came back to Rishikesh in the lap of my father Himalaya, just like a little boy who goes in his father’s lap from time to time for some re-assurance. I was going through a lot of spiritual energy movements at that time, all possible emotions hitting my mind wave after wave. The body felt like a blast furnace, but a faint understanding that my body was being baked , my mind was being processed so that my soul could shine, prevailed. My system was boiling and the waters of Ganga doused the fire with Love, like only a mother could.
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Pilgrimage (Part 1)

As a boy, whenever I used to see a Sadhu (wandering monk) on the streets or in the temples I used to feel a deep hollow in my heart and numbness, a sense of “nothingness” so to say, followed with a burst of happiness and excitement. The remembrance of it now is very strong, but the little boy could not figure out these emotional bursts at that time. It used to leave me confused but happy deep within nevertheless.

Prasad at the Samadhi of Matsyendranath

Since the childhood there has been a desire to be alone, in some way or other finding my own space. The spiritual inspirations and stimulants were around me all the time. Sometimes I realized them, other times on recent reflections lot of it makes sense, how subtly these stimulants worked on my soul and mind. As I grew up and could handle myself maturely, this bird found his wings. I started taking breaks and investing my time to visit places mostly pilgrimage sites to be on my own and explore, within and externally. Read more…

Arise and Awake!

On October 24^th 2009, people in 181 countries came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet’s history. At over 5200 events around the world, people gathered to call for action on the climate crisis. On the same day 30 Yogis gathered together in Vienna to meditate on becoming more aware of the environment, to send healing positive energy to our mother Earth and to understand the crucial link between Yoga and Environmental consciousness. Read more…

Wandering in the Himalayas – Part 2

(Continued from Wandering in the Himalayas – Part 1)

The days went by and one day around the people I knew in Rishikesh I heard about a Mahatma (realized soul) living in the jungle of Haridwar. Unlike my city life, I had all the time in the world over here and didn’t want to lose any opportunity to meet such a highly evolved person, so I quickly jumped at the chance to join the group visiting the Mahatma.

The forest in which this man lived is a closely guarded nature reserve with restricted entry. As our group made way through the terrain, the freshness of the wild forest started enveloping us, the sharp noise of the city was left way behind only to be welcomed by the late evening chirps of birds waiting to fly back home. Peacocks seemed to care less of the group but the bird atop the tree did sound a little curious of the arrival of handful of men in this dense forest. The might and grandeur of the forest was evident, humbling us as we walked through the winter chill, reminding me all the time how we humans try hard to dominate the nature and yet how tiny we are in front of her vastness and power. Pondering over this I made my way through the uneven ground.

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Wandering in the Himalayas

There was a time in my life when devotion was flowing through me like a river in spate. Mind had limited application during those times, tears didn’t stop rolling down the cheeks. I had to be close to Lord Shiva in the Himalayas only to come closer to the Shiva within me. Devotion or Bhakti has always been for me a test of my surrender to the higher designs of the Universe. It was time to put this surrender to test.

In December of 2006 I traveled across the foot hills of Himalayas. Promptly surrendering my money wallet and mobile phone to a friend I walked to explore the inner through the outer. Dropping all, I walked with a mind of a ‘Parivrajaka’ (wandering spiritual seeker).
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Working with recovering drug addicts in London

A dear friend from London offered to host a series of seminars in London. During my initial days in London another common friend who was working as a mentor for Narcotics Anonymous helped us organize an evening event/seminar for the recovering drug addicts and other people.

The event was a fantastic success and the life positive philosophy of Yoga was happily accepted by the participants. Participants expressed, shared, danced and gave love. Since then there was no looking back, the participants who were individually going through difficult stages in their lives were hungry for more. As one of them said for the first time in their life they had seen a ray of positive hope in their life, some concept that could help them manage their lives with complete confidence.
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Empowerment Through Yoga for Street Children

The primary aim of classical yoga was always to aid the evolution of humans. A diligent practice of Yoga can bring about a gradual but certain change in a persons life. Over thousands of years people have been using Yogic tools and helping themselves become stronger to face the trials of life. Over my teaching career I have seen hundreds of people giving me feedback about how they have managed to change for good by following the yoga lifestyle.

I started working with the boys at Saathi in October 2006. Saathi is a registered development agency in India working primarily with youth living on the streets and runaway adolescent girls and the various issues that are a part of their struggles.
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