Yatra to Rishikesh and onward to Almora...

Namaste friends... Dr Ram Sharma and Dr Carolyn Heising are in Rishikesh this summer and moving onward to the Almora district on a yatra to the masters ashramas... including Swami Vivekananda, Paramahansa Yogananda,  Baba Hari das,  and many others...

Search... for the meaning of life...

SEARCH
POEM BY DR. RAM SHARMA
The search
of the meaning
of living the life
like searching image among images
life like making castles of sand
life scatters like cards
amidst the darkness
a celestial light is there
in your heart
search your heart
and be enlightened  

[Graphic: Adi Shankaracharya, enlightened master]

Moral courage...

 

"Firmness of moral courage when attained removes all the obstacles in the way of salvation. These obstacles are of eight sorts: hatred, shame, fear, grief, condemnation, race distinction, pride of pedigree, and a narrow sense of respectability, which are the menaces of the human heart." ~Sri Yukteswar Giri

[PHOTO:  Mahasamadhi of Sri Yukteswar Giri, Bengal, India, March 9, 1935]

Sri Anandamayi Ma... great saint of India... beloved by all...

Sri Anandamayi Ma has such a powerful Shakti energy... she is the embodiment of Ma..
Jai Maa !! 

Tarkeshwar... at 8000 feet in the himalayas... temple of the pines...

 In June 2013,  Dr Ram Sharma and I made a pilgrimage to Tarkeshwar Lord Shiva temple mandir
located at about 8000 feet in the Himalayas near Lansdowne. This striking temple was a favorite spot for Swami Rama who's lineage runs an ashram at this spot.  We were guided there by an American swamini in Minneapolis at Swami Rama's meditation center near the University of Minnesota where my father completed his first bachelor's degree back in 1945.  It was as if Swami Rama gave us a direct invitation to go to Tarkeshwar given the swamini was a direct disciple of his.  Thanks so much Swami Rama... pranam...

Swami Sivananda and Swami Nikenanda ashrams in Rishikesh..

Dr Ram Sharma and I often visit the Swami Sivananda and Swami Nikenanda ashrams when we stay in Rishikesh.  They are walking distance from Mama's Cottage guesthouse where we usually stay.  The ashrams have lovely temples and the Sivananda ashram has a wonderful library where many books on Vedic philosophy are to be found. 

Krishna Leela.... at Swami Prabhupada mandir in Rishikesh....

In Rishikesh,  we have visited and stayed at the wonderful  Madhuban temple, guest house and eaten at their marvelous restaurant that has both northern, southern Indian food and continental.  This is the RadheKrishna temple of Swami Prabhupada.