Jyotish-Yagya

India is a place of contrasts. Here is a 10 Rupee bill I brought home in 2008.

Mahatma Gandhi on the 10 Rupee note

National symbols of India on the reverse of a 10 Rupee note. Elephant, Tiger, and Rhinoceros on the Ten Rupee note.

Tiger, Elephant, and Rhinoceros on 10 Rupee note

India is generally inexpensive relative to the USA. Check out the exchange rate from dollars to rupees here. Today 10 Rupees is worth about 21 cents. Fifty rupees will get you an auto rickshaw ride from Hotel Sita International to the train station. Be sure to set the price before getting into the 3 wheeler!

Five star accomodations are available. Hotel Sita is quite comfortable, although not 5 star, at about 1600 Rupees per night. I like them as a hotel.

I stayed the night there in September 2008 on my way to Kanpur. I only slept about 5 hours that night (jetlag, excitment with my first trip to India).  I left a sports jacket hanging in the closet. Totally forgot I’d brought it.

When I stayed there in October 2008 on my way back to the States they returned my jacket to me! It was neatly wrapped in plastic with my name on it! Honesty is a great quality.

Next post will list the estimated costs to me for this trip.

I am going to Brahmavarta to participate in the Nine Days of Mother Divine celebrations. I am not leading a tour. I am happy to travel with a few friends. You are welcome to come along with me. We can share the expense of hiring a mini-bus while in Delhi and Kanpur to tour some interesting temples and enjoy some of the exotic shopping.

My main purpose in this trip is Spiritual Tourism. I want to experience more yagyas sitting right next to the Pandits who are chanting them for me. I want to see and feel Temples that have been prayed in for hundreds and thousands of years.

My trip into the Llanganatis Wilderness with Gary Scott was that sort of Spiritual Tour. We each paid our own way following in Gary and Merri’s foot steps. It was a truly fantastic and enlightening adventure. That feeling of “All is Well” soaked into us from the cliffs and the floor of the sacred valley.

Gary and Merri Scott's trip into the Sacred Valley in Ecuador

That’ me with the camera. Look at our smiles!

At the Ashram in Bramavarta, that same “All is Well” atmosphere surrounds everything. I was helped through the ceremonies in Sept. ‘08 by the Pandits all around me. I had never participated in a Yagya. I had commissioned them from the US, but never been at one! Despite the learning curve and being in a land on the other side of the planet from “home”, I felt comfortable, protected, even nurtured.

I’m going back to find that feeling again (or an even better feeling!)

You  can tag along if you like.

Shopping along the main road from Kanpur

Much of the trip’s planning will unfold while we’re there, like which temple to visit and where to eat while we’re away from the Ashram.

The  post  after next will contain what I imagine it will cost me to take this trip.