The ultimate travel of a lifetime is your life. And if you are reading this, you are still on your journey! Bravo! In the meantime, consider nurturing your spirit with a Spiritual Travel Retreat to India, January 18-February 5, 2027. And even if you are not available to go to this land of mystery, you might want to download this free India Itinerary for a virtual trip.
The Dynamics of Non-Dualism
You will notice on the itinerary that there are themes for each part of the travel. The key theme is “Who Am I?” This is a spiritual question made famous by India’s greatest guru, Ramana Maharshi, whose ashram we will visit.
I remember the very first time I saw Ramana’s picture in an esoteric bookstore in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was indelibly imprinted in my memory. But it took another twenty years for me to arrive at his ashram and discover the path of non-dualism. He is not in body anymore. The spiritual path he opened is available in the Satsang teachers who come to speak in and around his ashram. In India, they call this path Advaita Vedanta. I call it the path of spaciousness. It is a connection to your own essence energy and everything and everyone.
I sometimes call this awareness of awareness. And it gives me the wiggle room to not go off the cliff, so to speak, when everything is going sideways.
You will find nondualism in many forms. I heard from two rabbi’s that Moses brought down two tablets from the mountains. The first was non-dualistic and hard to understand, so he brought down another, the ten commandments. Well, if you want to live with a lot of ‘you should not…’, it is a good way to go, but if you want to embrace and reflect on life…non-dualism is the way to go. It is not a religion, it is not meditation, but it can bring you to enlightenment or, at the very least lightening up!
Travel of a Lifetime
I am so grateful to have spent time in India. It brought me to an awareness of poverty and riches, everything in between, both spiritually and materially. I grew up in New York City, thinking I lived in the greatest country in the world. Thankfully, I got to see more of the world, both inner and outer.
India is a magical place. You never know what may happen. I have a picture of a participant on my first travel retreat, a childhood educator who happily held a snake proffered by a snake charmer.
On my last travel there just before the pandemic one of my participants had dinner with world renown guru Mooji and guru John David. Afterwards he said “It was a travel of a lifetime. The very best in his life.” And he did not even like Indian food. Whatever needs to happen does.
Arunachala, the sacred mountain of the fire Shiva is the true guru who will bring you if you are open to your enlightenment and spiritual awakening.
Indian food in India is so delicious…and in the South India where we travel…not so spicey!
