Category Archives: Religious Practice

Wherever you go in India, you will find colour and crowds, heat and history. This is particularly true of South India where the humidity rolls in from the surrounding waters, and the distinctive Dravidian Hindu temples punctuate the cities. Take, for example, the city of Tiruchirappalli (commonly known as Trichy or Tiruchi) in the middle […]

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It was my last day in Rishikesh: that magical city of yogis and mystics on the Ganges at the foothills of the Himalaya. I’d been there for a week-long yoga ‘retreat’ – a retreat that turned out to be more of a test of patience than a practice of yoga (more on that some other […]

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Rishikesh. Heat enveloping like a wet blanket, the smell of incense and mud, and memories of the late sixties … Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the White Album … (Click for: Within You Without You from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) Rishikesh is a city of yoga, meditation, and religious philosophy. It […]

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In the ancient Hindu holy city of Haridwar, on the banks of the sacred river Ganga, there is a ghat (set of steps down to the river) that is said to to have been built in the first century BC by the legendary King Vikramaditya. Called Har Ki Pauri, which means the feet of Lord […]

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The Ganges River, known more commonly as the Ganga Mata (Mother Ganges), is revered in Hindu worship and culture. More than just a river, she is the embodiment of a goddess whose purity cleanses one’s sins: bathing in her waters releases the faithful from samsara, the endless cycle of death and rebirth. All along the banks […]

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