Lama D and I are relaxing for a few days in Ganeshpuri, India at the beautiful Fire Mountain Retreat Center. I’m doing my best to keep up the weekly blog, however internet is spotty here, so please be patient. Ganeshpuri is the city of Ganesh, and home of my root guru, Swami Bhagawan Nityananda.
This beautiful video shows the history and beauty of Fire Mountain Retreat Center where stayin.
This very unusual sadguru (enlightened saint) wandered in India and the Himalayas, eventually settling in a jungle hot springs of Ganeshpuri until his passing in 1961.
Everywhere he went, followers gathered around Nityananda because of his unusual energy. He took to meditating in trees. It was easy to be happy around him. And it’s easy to be happy here in Ganeshpuri. Nityananda had nothing. Even his birth was a mystery. When asked about it, he merely said “Two crows came and went.” One of the stories is that he was found as a tiny baby in the jungle because two crows in a tree above him were making a ruckus.
The food at Fire Mountain Retreat center is over the top. Three fantastic meals a day are made of organic ingredients, carefully balanced by Ayurvedic principles. This morning Co-Manager Lee Schwing and I are guzzling pumpkin juice. Also on the breakfast menu today was beet soup, vegetable cakes, millet chapati, and homemade yogurt. Yep. Amazing!
The temple to Nityananda in Ganeshpuri is adorned with gold and silver. We bought flowers and asked the priest to perform an Arati to Nityananda. That means a blessing with flowers, coconut, fire, smoke, and song.
Lama D is soaking in the natural hot springs built by Nityananda inside the temple. They’re REALLY hot, and he came out bright red. These spring waters have special spiritual and healing properties.
When I visit Ganeshpuri, I am filled with blessings from Nityananda. After a visit, when I close my eyes, I feel his presence inside me. It feels hot and a little uncomfortable. I feel grateful that such a being existed, bringing pure truth yet wanting nothing.
I bought a garland of flowers from this lady, and offered it to the statue of Nityananda in the temple for an Arati. I can’t show you because no photos are allowed inside.
This is the Nityananda temple. While Lama D meditated in the hot spring nearby, I bought flowers and made an offering.
Lama D and I visited the house where Nityananda lived. Thousands of visitors came to receive his blessings every day. This is the bed where he rested. Our trip is like a blessing before his interview. Hopefully his visa will be approved and we’ll be able to visit the US together.
Part of Nityananda’s home is now a museum with many photographs of his life.
Lama D and I are looking at the photos of this amazing man.
Nityananda’s Mahasamadhi room. Two weeks before he died, Nityanada announced that he was moving to this Bangalore Building near his house, which has a large meditation room. Here he took Mahasamadhi, which means he consciously left his body and moved on. People can come here to meditate.
This is the hallway in Nityananda’s home where he received many visitors every day. His special chair allowed him to support his legs so people could touch his feet. His personal effects are all here, and his energy is very strong.
Nityananda’s bed in his home.
Lama D enjoyed a relaxing massage at the Fire Mountain Retreat Spa.
Lama D after his Ayurvedic massage with his therapists.
I really like this photo of Nityananda. His eyes are sparkling. His life was totally unexplainable. He never owned anything. He gave everything away. He built towns, hospitals, schools, and kitchens to feed the public both in Ganeshpuri and in Kerala in South India. On several occasions he was investigated by the Indian police, asking where he got all the money to build these things. It is said that he took the police to a jungle swamp infested with crocodiles. He dove into the water and showed them handfuls of money! The police didn’t disturb him after that. Ha Ha!