tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94402052026-09-09T20:30:06.521+08:00Documenting my travel to IndiaNithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-41055110812588195992017-12-01T00:26:00.000+08:002022-01-18T18:04:11.446+08:00

It has been several years now since my fateful trip to India. Many changes have happened to me since and I've now founded a Yoga School in Singapore. I have started writing again but have decided to start another blog instead of adding on to this one, so as to leave this site in its pristine state as memoirs of my India trip that started my path of transformation and growth. Join me there at

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-25837579718922839822008-10-27T15:13:00.006+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.983+08:00

8(I arrived in my Master's Bidadi Ashram 2 days ago. Master granted my wish of one last Darshan of him and a blessing before I return to Singapore. There was a one day weekend meditation course that I was able to join - Kalpatharu Darshan - that allowed for it.It was a course about fulfilling your dreams and wishes by preparing your body and mind prior to Master's darshan. But all I wanted was to

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-29281803127273550052008-10-24T15:29:00.004+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.983+08:00

Thanks to the Kerala Ayurvedic Center in Cochin today I find out my body type falls into the Vata/ Pitta category, after asking a few questions including the frequency of my toilet trips (!) the consultant pushes me over to the Pitta side. This explains my skin problems like acne..Of which Elaadi Keram oil was perscribed to be massaged on the affected parts before baths. Am on the lookout for

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-37295572037677460532008-10-22T23:22:00.002+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.984+08:00

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-34002215257509839302008-10-22T00:38:00.000+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.985+08:00

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-595115825624649182008-10-19T18:56:00.006+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.986+08:00

Vipassana, the original unchanged meditation and self discovery technique taught by Gautama the Buddha, once lost to India but rediscovered thanks to generations of Myanmar teachers who carried on the tradition silently through the ages, and reintroduced to its home country by S N Goenka.I was immediately grateful for choosing the Igatpuri center after seeing the Dhamma Giri Pagoda! A beautiful

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-51658597931669337402008-10-07T23:23:00.004+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.987+08:00

Have arrived in Igatpuri after a very long train ride from Chandigarh. Will be in the course for the next 10 days, starting tomorrow morning.

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-55810744168271539742008-10-05T22:30:00.006+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.987+08:00

Wide, multilaned roads with traffic thin enough to see gaps between vehicles, no trash on the streets, green buffer zones between road and bicycle paths, monolithic modernist concrete buildings.. is this India? But the unkemptness of the green areas and patina of dirt on the buildings soon tell you that it is. I came to Chandigarh for Nek Chand's Fantasy Rock Garden and Corbusier's town planning

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-202557505682928772008-10-03T20:34:00.004+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.988+08:00

While retreating to Shahdara in Delhi to watch Hellboy II in the air-conditioned comfort of a modern mall I was met with the after effects of the recent bomb attacks in major indian cities: long queues and frustrating wait times to get into its metro stations as guards make a painfully long search of each passenger's belongings before allowing them to pass.My camera which has gone through thick

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-4811212993003865162008-10-02T16:30:00.004+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.989+08:00

Its strange and unexplained, but the sexiness of the sculptures and carvings in this ancient temple site is many times more intense in real life than in the pictures I took of them, or in any of the photos I've seen come to think of it!The guide book talks of the slant of the body and the twist of the torso of the figures being portrayed lending life to them, I agree but there is still much more

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-8259696977097353302008-09-30T22:52:00.008+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.990+08:00

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3543100.cmsBeing a witness to how pushy-shovey Hindu pilgrims can be, both in the North and South of India, I am however surprised at the extent to which this can occur, leading to massive loss of lives at such a holy place. Some news sources are citing bomb threat as the cause for stampede, while this news source is saying some of the devotees

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-51610209475261266742008-09-30T22:33:00.003+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.991+08:00

Of course no Indian trip is complete without splurging for a 750 rupees admission ticket to the Taj Mahal! Its a popular place with grandparents as the average age of tourists here seems to be in the 60s range.

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-35561035643073229012008-09-29T22:29:00.002+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.991+08:00

It looks like staying longer in Bodhgaya was not meant to be as train tickets onward were fully booked on all the other days except yesterday night, so here I am in Allahabad 8(.

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-65748864227777868472008-09-27T21:06:00.003+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.992+08:00

Soon as I arrived in this Buddhist pilgrimage town I tried visiting the Vipassana Meditation Center in the hopes of changing the venue of my previously registered Vipassana course from Igatpuri to here, with no luck 8(. This means I will need to make it quickly back down to Mumbai by the 8th of October for my 10 day meditation course.It is a bit saddening as I would have appreciated more time

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-31715312372409000302008-09-26T11:14:00.003+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.992+08:00

It was coming back from an uneventful day trip to the Buddhist pilgrimage site of Sarnath that a beautiful thing happened. I cram into a shared Vikrams to get back to Varanasi and get unceremoniously dumped somewhere in the suburbs. Hopelessly lost I grab a cycle rickshaw hoping it will take me the rest of the way back to my guest house at Manikarnika Ghats. The rickshaw stops me at the choked up

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-66864631088394426612008-09-25T12:56:00.000+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.993+08:00

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-1564315574217667472008-09-24T13:09:00.002+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.993+08:00

Well it had to happen sooner or later, and my expectations of it happening probably aided its manifestation - I lose my wallet on the train to Varanasi, but no harm done except for a few hundred lost rupees and a bruised ego.Am staying in a guest house close to the burning ghats of Manikarnika, where they cremate dead bodies 24/7. It was suggested by my Master I spend as much time there as

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-47661049477161669922008-09-23T13:04:00.000+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.994+08:00

Before I left for Varanasi I took a bath in Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar. The Ganges seemed clean enough there, none of the "septic quality water" reports coming from Varanasi. Of course I would have liked to have taken it in Gangotri or Gaumukh 8(.

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-56783249978075331192008-09-21T11:50:00.005+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.994+08:00

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/377359/1/.htmlEven as I sigh at my predicament here in Rishikesh about my failed Char Dham Pilgrimage, news come of floods in eastern Orissa killing many Indians, as well as persistant rainfall in northern India. The guides here in Rishikesh tell me the rains are coming way after the monsoon period - an unnatural weather pattern. I am

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-89315186743336849932008-09-20T22:53:00.006+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.995+08:00

I left Rishikesh 3 days ago to visit the holy places of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. But here I am back in Rishikesh 8(.My first destination would have been Yamunotri. It was 2 days of bus hopping that got me all the way to Hanuman Chatti, just kilometers from the start point of the trek to Yamunotri. Travelling via the buses in the northern parts of Uttarakhand proved to be a

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-84452190303810657572008-09-17T12:38:00.004+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.995+08:00

Whats in a dream? When I think about the really good dreams I've had in my life, the ones that make you want to go back to sleep despite all your worldly responsibilities waiting for you outside your bedroom, are the ones where I can do fantastic things like pick up and move things with my mind, and fly, especially flying! Always I would wake up feeling something awesome had happened.. during

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-88125485497321143352008-09-15T23:34:00.005+08:002010-03-13T03:12:00.082+08:00

The first time I had seen a picture of Ma was when I was still in Singapore poring over Google searches on things to see in my India trip. I had not known a great deal about her life, just that her picture itself seemed to draw me closer. In Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahamsa Yogananda wrote about his visit with her, and in his book is a photo where she hides playfully behind him and stares

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-64722811376924163572008-09-14T18:42:00.002+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.996+08:00

Nuff said!

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-17345009837856302782008-09-13T17:32:00.006+08:002010-03-13T03:13:09.709+08:00

It had been one of the most beautiful ceremonies I had attended. In the huge circular meditation hall of the Kriya Yoga Ashram in Rishikesh (which has a resemblance to the Isha Temple in Coimbatore), 5 eager people received their initiation from Swami Shankarananda Giri, spiritual heir of the Kriya Yoga movement stretching all the way from Lahiri Mahasaya, who had received the teachings from

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440205.post-4855757452478077192008-09-12T19:07:00.005+08:002010-03-13T02:17:37.997+08:00

After a morning in Haridwar checking out 2 ashrams to stay (and finding them either overpriced or unintelligible to the foreigner) I decide to move to Rishikesh for accomodation.As soon as my packed Vikrams reaches the Laxman Dhula I gasp as what do I see but the Kriya Yoga Ashram. It's beautiful white dome framed by trees beckons me to the point of my choosing accomodation on the unpopular side

Nithya Priyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17787203168947952992noreply@blogger.com1