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Ashrams in India: A Personal Journey into India's Spiritual Traditions
I had traveled to India before, but I had never stayed in an ashram. I had never searched for one or planned to have an ashram experience. My first experience happened completely unexpectedly.
I was traveling in India with a friend who was a disciple of Anandmurti Gurumaa. We were traveling south to visit Tirupati Temple and needed to spend one night in Delhi before our flight. My friend suggested that we stay at her guru's ashram.
We arrived around 6:00 p.m., just before Anandmurti Gurumaa's evening spiritual talk. The talk was in Hindi, and I was the only foreign visitor there. I could not understand the words, but I remember feeling incredibly comfortable. There was something about the atmosphere, the energy, and the peace of the place that stayed with me.
We left early the next morning to continue our journey. But when my friend unexpectedly had to return home a few days later, I suddenly had some free time. Something inside me told me to go back. So I returned to the ashram and stayed for many days.
This time, Anandmurti Gurumaa's talk was partly in English, and I was able to understand much more. After the talk, she asked to meet with me, and we had a conversation that lasted more than an hour.
At that time, I had been traveling with a question about free will and how much freedom we really have within a greater divine plan.
During our conversation, Anandmurti Gurumaa explained it to me through the image of a dog whose leash is tied to a tree. The dog is free to move, but only within the length of the leash.
That image helped me understand something that I had already been feeling: perhaps we have free will, but our freedom exists within a greater plan that we cannot always see.
The conversation did not simply give me an answer. It helped me recognize something that was already within me. And this became one of the most important lessons of my first ashram experience.
I had traveled to India before, but staying in an ashram allowed me to experience a completely different side of the country.
Instead of simply visiting temples, cities, landscapes, and cultural sites, I experienced India from within a spiritual community. I experienced a different rhythm of life, participated in daily practices, spent time in silence and reflection, and experienced what it felt like to live for a few days within a spiritual tradition.
For me, an ashram experience can be both a way of discovering India and discovering something within yourself.
“You don't search for an ashram. The ashram finds you.”
My experience with Anandmurti Gurumaa opened my curiosity about the many spiritual traditions and ashrams throughout India. There are four ashrams and spiritual traditions that have a particularly personal connection to my journey.
Each one offers something different. Their differences are exactly what makes them interesting — an ashram experience in India can take many different forms depending on the teacher, tradition, practices, and philosophy.
A journey inward through yoga, meditation, wisdom, and conscious living.
I have personally met Anandmurti Gurumaa and have stayed at her ashram twice.
Her teachings on yoga, Yoga Nidra, Vedanta, meditation, and spiritual practice are very close to my own philosophy of life.
Of the four spiritual traditions featured here, this is the only ashram where I have personally stayed and had the opportunity to experience the tradition firsthand.
A home of love and service, where Amma's teachings are lived through the heart.
I have a personal connection to Amma's teachings of love, compassion, devotion, and selfless service.
I have visited the center connected with Amma in Seattle and have met people who closely follow her spiritual tradition. I have also received an invitation to visit Amritapuri in India.
I would like to experience Amritapuri personally before developing any future Soul India experience connected with Amma's tradition.
Enter the quiet presence of Ma, where the sacred and the ordinary meet.
Although I have not yet had the opportunity to visit her ashrams, I have felt a deep personal connection with Sri Anandamayi Ma and her teachings.
Her philosophy of seeing the Divine in everything and experiencing everyday life as a spiritual practice resonates deeply with the way I understand my own spiritual journey.
I look forward to visiting her ashram and experiencing her tradition firsthand.
A mountain sanctuary where devotion, simplicity, and the spirit of Hanuman fill the atmosphere.
I initially became curious about Neem Karoli Baba through his connection to figures such as Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg and their association with Kainchi Dham.
But beyond that connection, I developed a personal resonance with his teachings around love, devotion, bhakti, and seva.
I have not yet visited Kainchi Dham, which is why I want to experience it personally before creating any Soul India program around it.
These four traditions represent different dimensions of India's rich spiritual landscape. They also represent different spiritual lineages — including traditions carried forward by living teachers and traditions that continue to inspire seekers through teachers who have passed on.
Sri Anandamayi Ma and Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaj Ji) are no longer physically present, yet their teachings, ashrams, and spiritual traditions continue to inspire seekers around the world.
Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma) and Anandmurti Gurumaa are living spiritual teachers whose presence and teachings continue to guide their communities today.
I don't want to present these four traditions as if they are the same. Their differences are exactly what makes them interesting.
Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Vedanta, meditation
Love, compassion, devotion, service
The Divine in everything, spiritual practice through daily life
Love, devotion, bhakti, seva
Together, these four traditions offer different paths toward love, devotion, meditation, self-awareness, service, and a deeper connection with the Divine.
For me, however, the deeper connection is the same: a journey toward God, toward the Divine, and toward a deeper understanding of our own spiritual nature.
My goal is not to tell travelers which path to choose, but to help them understand the diversity of India's spiritual traditions and discover which experience may resonate with them personally.
This is what I want Soul India to offer: an opportunity to explore India not only as a destination, but as a place of spiritual discovery.
I am exploring the possibility of creating future Soul India journeys that include visits to some of these ashrams and spiritual traditions. Before offering any Ashram experience, however, I want to personally visit these places, experience the traditions firsthand, and understand each one deeply so that I can thoughtfully curate an authentic experience for our travelers.
If you are interested in visiting one of the ashrams featured above, please let us know. Your interest will help us understand which experiences may be meaningful to our travelers as we continue exploring future possibilities.
For now, the journey continues.
And perhaps that is the most beautiful part of traveling through India: sometimes you go looking for something, only to discover that it was already looking for you.
Explore the journey that speaks to you.