It was summer of 1992. I was working in London Hospital during my training living in Hanvel near Ealing I was planning to visit my Friend Jawaher Gandhi for long, who was a well known Astrologer and Palmist in the city of London among Asian as well as West Indian and English population. It was his father who had started … Read More
Your duty done You have gone, To your Father’s place flown, A votary now in His temple infinite. You are gone ahead To welcome us there Where all must meet And end our separation’s tear. – Paramhansa Yogananda, from “To the Memory of My Sister, Roma Sasi,” on her passing Memories of Tushtiji continue to warm our hearts amid the sorrow … Read More
Recently the Retreat hosted an enthusiastic group of 18 youngsters and 8 teachers from Teach For India (TFI), an Indian NGO that is in turn part of a broad global education movement. The TFI retreat planners had 3 goals: Connect with nature and one another, Learn from nature and one another, and Celebrate the connections and lessons. The retreat opened Friday … Read More
In the Indian tradition, we have always observed that every spiritual organisation has an ashram away from humdrum city life. Around Pune we have the ashrams of Yogoda Satsanga Society and Chinmaya Mission, to name but a few in addition to our own. They all have centres in the city where people can come easily. What, then, is the need … Read More
We arrived in the Ashram from the city on Saturday for weekend service. By the time we arrived (late as usual) the groups had been divided and work had started. No one seemed to need a extra hand so we decided to help in the kitchen. For a long time we had been wanting to have a jackfruit curry but … Read More
I’d had a terrible working week where I had been at crossroads with my boss. I felt I was wrongly accused by him for many things which we felt was not going right. I was angry in my heart, having constantly rebellious thoughts and was not sleeping well due to the mounting tension in office. I had committed to go … Read More
I recently ended a spiritual pilgrimage to places written of in Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda. This pilgrimage was to physical places, yes, yet it reflected a pilgrimage happening deep within. As we ventured to the Himalayas; the cave of Mahavatar Babaji; the seaside hermitage of Swami Sri Yukteswar, in Puri; the boyhood home of my guru, Paramhansa … Read More
I’ve been given the happy opportunity to write a spiritual blog for the Retreat. And the request included such a delightful topic to begin with! For guests often tell us that they feel a sense of peace, contentment, and upliftment on our land, surrounded as it is by lovely mountains and valleys. And that their stay has refreshed them so … Read More
