Thank you! Un grand merci!
Thanks to all of you who have read and commented on this blog all throughout my journey. It's been fun to share it with you and bring my various people together: family, friends, students, old and new. I hope if anything it planted a few seeds and maybe some of you will be inspired to take a big jou...
Last evening in Delhi
[En français plus bas] This incredible journey finally had to come to an end. We spent the last night in the home of Rachna, one of the PhD students enrolled at the Lakulish Yoga University whom I had met back in Ahmedabad. Their swank apartment breathes yoga thanks to a surprising back-lit panel...
Jodhpur - The Blue City
[En français plus bas] Jodhpur, Rajasthan’s second largest city, was our last big stop. We stayed in a 300-yr old haveli in the old city, which wraps around a very tall hill/cliff on which the city fortress and palace perch high above the activity below. No cars are allowed in (they wouldn’t fit i...
Ranakpur Temple Visit
[En français plus bas] A bone-jarring detour on our way from Udaipur to Jodhpur took us to Ranakpur, site of a major Jain pilgrimage temple. The roads are in shockingly poor condition and the average speed was about 20-25 miles per hour, avoiding pot holes, slowing for the most jarring speed bumps...
Respite in the countryside.
[En français plus bas.] We needed a break from the intensity of Indian cities, so we found the Krishna Ranch about 10 km north of Udaipur in the Aravalli Hills. There was something lovely about being back in the rhythms of nature, being with the birds and the animals (horses, cows, goats, dogs...)...
A few more temples...
[En français plus bas] Beyond the royal palaces, Rajasthan has some amazing temples also. We took a car to visit the temple complex at Eklingji, still used for active worship. Cameras are strictly forbidden so I had to go to Google to get an image, which of course does not do justice to this site...
Lakeside splendor in Udaipur
[En français plus bas.] Rajasthan is famous for the royal palaces that dominate the major cities. All three places we’ve been have one Jaipur, Bundi, and now Udaipur. The Raj rulers had to deal first with the Mughal emperors trying to take over: most signed treaties to hold power on their behalf,...
A stroll in Bundi
[En français plus bas] When a 90-minute walk yields over 90 photos, you know you’re in a fascinating place! That’s the case here in Bundi, four hours south of Jaipur by car. There’s no direct train and the connections are at crazy times. We are staying at a historic haveli, a former residence of a...
Part 3 of the journey begins: Rajasthan
[En français plus bas...] I finally had to leave Ahmedabad and Gujarat to go meet Senêt at Delhi. He arrived quite tired, but we were happy to be together again after our one-month separation. We took another flight right away for Jaipur, capital of Rajastan, the Pink City. The city bazars are imp...
Rajrajeshwardham at Jakhan
[En français plus bas] It's been hard to keep up the blog, but I wanted to share some pictures of my last day trip in Gujarat before going to meet Senêt for our tour in Rajasthan. I made a final day trip to Jakhan near Limbdi, about two hours away from Ahmedabad, the day before leaving. This time th...
Mahatma Gandhi's Gujarat Vidyapith
[En français plus bas...] I don’t know why I get teary-eyed thinking about places for learning, but that’s just who I am... So on my 53rdbirthday here in Ahmedabad, I could think of no better birthday gift to myself than a visit to Mahatma Gandhi’s Gujarat Vidyapith, or Learning Institute, inaug...
Lakulish Yoga University
[En français plus bas...] It was with some emotion that I finally arrived at the headquarters of the Lakulish Yoga University here in Ahmedabad. This relatively recent institution, created in 2013, is one of the most recent and most visible public-facing activities of the group of yogis around Swa...
Leaving the small town for the big city
[En français plus bas] Time finally came to leave sweet Kayavarohan behind and move to Ahmedabad, the biggest city in Gujarat, 5thin all of India, on Monday Nov 20th. The headquarters of the Lakulish Yoga University that I am studying is here and the Diwali holidays were ending. I had a last chat an...
Adventures in India, part 2
[En français plus bas...] Another example of how my research is playing out here. I had been hearing in Kayavarohan for a few days that “something” was going to happen at the Kanjetha ashram on Monday, November 13th. No one seemed to know what, but as a number of my contacts were going, I thought...
Adventures in India
[En français plus bas...] I finally got my internet situation straightened out so I can fill you in on some of the last day’s adventures. Friday was a fun research day. We set out for Surat, a city with 8.3 million inhabitants about a 2-hour drive from Kayavarohan and arrived at the gate of the...
Sorry!
Hi everyone, salut tout le monde ! Internet is intermittent here and I'm not able to post as much as I hoped. Things should clear up next week. Thanks for following my adventures - there are some new photos in an album called "Harsh realities." I'm doing well and learning so much! Internet est inter...
Worship
[En français plus bas...] Kayavarohan is my home base here, and life at the temple revolves around the statue of Shiva, who is believed to have had 28 incarnations on earth, including the last one called Lakulish, who is worshiped here. There are daily rituals of washing, decorating, even feeding...
Cooking for pradosh
[En français plus bas...] I had hoped in coming here that I could take part in some cooking and the perfect opportunity came up with the preparation for the feast of pradosh. This is a ritual that comes around 2x/month. The days are considered particularly auspicious to worship Shiva. I’ll tell yo...
Visiting two ashrams at the Narmada River
[En français plus bas.] We didn’t actually go to Sinor, but the places we were are so small, they aren’t on the map ! Everyone has heard of the Ganges River and knows of its importance for Hindus. There are actually two other major holy rivers, and a scriptural verse says that bathing in the Gange...
Swami Kripalu's birth home
[En français plus bas] We took a field trip to Swam.i Kripalu's birth home in the town of Dabhoi yesterday. It was about a 45 minute drive through rural farmland to get there. As we arrived, we ran into new friends: Dushyant Ashier and his wife. Dushyant was in the service of Swami Kripalu beginning...
A look inside the temple
[En français plus bas...] Jai bhagvan! This is the universal greeting and salutation here, which means something like “Praise the Lord”. At first I was uncomfortable with it, but it’s truly the way to say hello, good bye, thank you, excuse me, please, etc. It’s an all-purpose phrase that people us...
Malav field trip
[En français plus bas] Yesterday we took a field trip to Malav, about a 90 minute drive from here. It's the site of what used to be the main Kripalu ashram in the 1950s and 1960s until he moved to Kayavarohan to build the temple. When he passed away in 1981, he was buried across the street from here...
Indukanta's house
[En français plus bas...] I thought I’d tell you a little bit about Indukanta and her house where I’m staying. She grew up in Ohio and eventually came to discover Kripalu yoga in 1980. She started going to the main ashram outside of Philadelphia, becoming more and more involved with the group. After...
The main temple in Kayavarohan
[En français plus bas...] Day one was a guided exploration of the Hindu temple grounds here in Kayavarohan. The temple was built in the late 60s and early 70s by Swami Kripalu, the subject of my research, to create a new, permanent home for a sacred sculpture of an incarnation of the Hindu god Siva,...
I've arrived in Kayavarohan
[En français plus bas...] I was happy to leave the smog in Delhi--unbelievable. Even the airport terminal was full of visible pollution hanging in the air. I admired the Sun Salutation sculpture installed in 2015, part of the Indian governments efforts to promote yoga around the world. I got a kick...
Namaste from Delhi !
[En français plus bas...] I've arrived in Delhi, capital of India, but a city I won't see at all, partly because of the smog but mostly because I'm not going into the city--just passing through the airport on my way to the state of Gujarat. The flight was full, with roughly about 50% Indians and 50%...
Departure November 1 !
[En français plus bas...] This is a space where I will be giving updates about my trip, the places and people I will discover during my time in India. First leg: Paris to Delhi, leaving Wednesday evening Nov 1 from Paris, arriving Thursday morning Nov 2. Follow me on my trip! ***** Voici un lieu où...