New York, 2008
Although I was again traveling solo, my travels around north India this year were free of any troubles, because of many friends gave me support and guidance. I want to express my love and appreciation for Samir Chatterjee, Naren Budhakar, Kinnar Seen, Barun Kumar Pal and Lipika Pal, Ma Chetan Jyoti, Manu Seen and Ustad Lachhman Singh Seen. And thousand thanks to Krishna Das for care and advice and bringing me to Shri Shiddhi Ma. -Ullamaya Ma |
DELHI & RISHIKESH
HARIDWAR
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PUNJAB
BACK IN RISHIKESH
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New York, 2009
This year, I received the great blessing of more than two whole months in India. My travel plan formed itself without much help from me at all. My return plane ticket was in a month, but once there, everything changed. That is India! Jai Uttal and his Kirtan Camp inspired me to go to Kerala, to spend two unforgettable and healing weeks on the Malabar cost. Afterwards, I decided to stay for an Ayurvedic health program since it was exactly what I badly needed at the time. So, basking in Bhakti and Ayurvedic absorption, I regained my energy fast and was able to enjoy the blessings to come. Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, Amma, and her ashram in Kerala, Amritapuri, had been in my dreams for years and both were as astonishing as expected. |
KERALA
KOLKATA (Calcutta)
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AMRITAPURI
MAYAPUR
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Kolkata (Calcutta) appeared on my travel plan only shortly before my departure, but I ended up staying there over six weeks. That is India: expect the unexpected! I felt quite at home in Kolkata, and I found there the spiritual and artistic inspiration I was looking for. This is the home for Shri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Paramahansa Yogananda, music festivals, music studies, and of course, everything Rabindranath Tagore, including his music. I was fortunate to get a permission to study music with a teacher at Yogananda's Yogoda Satsanga Society in Dakshineswar. From there I would take a boat to the Ramakrishna Mission Belur Math on the other side of the river for their formal, musical evening prayers.
Mayapur and Navadvip, just four hours up the Ganges, was another long awaited pilgrimage destination for me. Finally, I was sitting under the neem tree where Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the great Bhakti yogi of Bengal, was born about 500 years ago. Vaguely, I had always felt that I would be changed forever if I ever got there.
My thanks and love to Sanghamitra and Samir Chatterjee for support and help in Kolkata, and for the music, culture and teachings that they share so generously with me and their students.
After my return home in New York, I had an urge to share all this with my family and friends. I hope that my travel journal will give others some inspiration, ideas or information for their own 'spiritual pilgrimage and music adventure'.
Om Shantih,
Ullamaya Ma
Mayapur and Navadvip, just four hours up the Ganges, was another long awaited pilgrimage destination for me. Finally, I was sitting under the neem tree where Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the great Bhakti yogi of Bengal, was born about 500 years ago. Vaguely, I had always felt that I would be changed forever if I ever got there.
My thanks and love to Sanghamitra and Samir Chatterjee for support and help in Kolkata, and for the music, culture and teachings that they share so generously with me and their students.
After my return home in New York, I had an urge to share all this with my family and friends. I hope that my travel journal will give others some inspiration, ideas or information for their own 'spiritual pilgrimage and music adventure'.
Om Shantih,
Ullamaya Ma