INDIA
You are never a tourist or visitor in India. Everything, from all directions, attacks your senses. Indian life will permeate your skin, engulfing your entire body. Your mind will become subject to the culture in this incredible country.
Rajasthan, with its sights and cultures, remained glued in my mind. The spiritual road of India Started for us at Maha Khumba Mela in Haridwar, a festival that brings together tens of millions of people into a tiny town. Closeby is Rishikesh, a place full of Rishis, temples, meditation caves, and ashrams.
Akbar’s tomb in Sikandra, the Jain statues of Gwalior, the palaces of Orchha, the spiritual Bodh Gaya, and the holy Ganga are essential markers of the culture and spirituality of India while Varanasi, the mysterious Benares, mystifies you with its look and tradition older than history itself.
The profoundly religious south marked by the Dravidian culture has temples surrounded by gopurams where deities watch over believers’ lives. Hampi, the old capital of the on;y empire, religious Madurai, exquisite Thanjavur, the impressive Hindu temples of Trichy, Vellore’s Golden Temple, and Tirumala’s “Money Temple.” From the tip of India in Kanyakumari, we explored the Malabar coast in Kerala, riding the public ferry from Kollam to Allapuzha.
Mumbai is heat and business. But short flights away are the spectacular caves of Ellora and Ajanta, relaxing after visiting them on the coast on the Goa Beaches.
DVD Release
“Among Naked Gods”
A shocking journey to the largest religious festival in the world.
Khumb Mela is the oldest spirituality fair in the world. Millions of pilgrims come at once in Haridwar to attend the festival and bathe in the crystal-clear green waters of the mythical and mighty Ganga.
The river tumbles through the city losing itself towards the sun-scorched plains of India caring in its holy waters the sins of the pious devotees.
Book Release
“Among Naked Gods”
A spellbinding journey into a bewildering realm forgotten in time
“India has a mythical dimension capable of hosting the sublime and the dismal so close to each other as faces of the same coin. The country remains a timeless spectacle filled with vibrant festivals, indelible history, deeply rooted religious manifestation and a formidable society; all of which have resisted against the unwavering passage of time. Traveling in India, however, can overwhelm anyone less familiar with its reality. After several days in the country, travelers from anywhere in the world find themselves grappling with a cultural, spiritual and existential shock so powerful that it can leave any mortal at odds. I wanted to write about the India I love, but also to unveil the experience of the bemused traveler who could not control his dread, panic, joy, intrigue and hope as he explored a country which leaves all who visit speechless.”
DVD Release
“Swami Shantananda Puri”
A deeply inspiring interview with Swami Shantananda Puri at Vashishta Guha outside of Rishikesh, India that reiterates the spiritual history of this magic cave and goes on about meditation, self-realization and Indian philosophy in a Satsang with the Master