Attention: This year we are offering aspecial 10-day add-on to our pilgrimage. You must be registered for the main pilgrimage to avail this opportunity. It is also open to anyone who has travelled with us on any of our previous pilgrimages. Please contact us for details.
JOURNEY TO FIND THEOTHER HALF OF THE SOUL
This Chanting Pilgrimage and Meditation Retreat
is conducted in South India from Jan 12 - 30, 2009
About this life-changing experience: For thousands of years, India has studied consciousness, developing myriad ways of expressing it: through her art, her philosophy, her architecture, and most insightfully through her monumental tradition of sacred sound, that comes to us in a continuous stream of energy that even today effortlessly links us to her most profound spiritual experiences. India is, and always has been, a powerful spiritual vortex on our planet, a magnet that has attracted some of the most influential minds that have shaped human consciousness.
India's spiritual depth and power has had a profound influence on luminaries such as Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, Ken Wilber, Mircea Eliade, Alfred Toynbee, and many other key figures who have directed the course of western consciousness through the last centuries. You too can enhance your vision of life by going on a pilgrimage, a journey that is significantly different from going on tour.
View video clip below to gauge the depth and scope of this experience.
Travel and study with a renowned author, musician and teacher:During this life-changing and mind-altering experience, you get to travel with author, musician and teacher, Russill Paul; be introduced to India through his encompassing cross-cultural perspective, and be led into profound spiritual experience through daily retreat sessions led by him. On each step of this carefully planned journey, you are personally guided to draw the best out of India, and, from within a spiritual mind-set, be given the tools to assimilate the most valuable realizations.
For the past nine years, Russill Paul has guided a dedicated group of western spiritual seekers from the west on this sacred pilgrimage, designed to expand the mind and open the heart to new horizons in consciousness. A native of Southern India, spiritually trained in an Indian Benedictine monastery, as a Christian monk and as a yogi, Russill Paul is now widely respected across North America for his understanding of India's yogic tradition of sacred sound. He offers this chanting pilgrimage and meditation retreat as one of the most intimate opportunities to study with him for more than two complete weeks, inspiring many participants to return again, and again, and again.
PRAISE FROM OUR PILGRIMS
"From your fifth timer ... I felt I was coming home when I arrived Shantivanam- a deep soul connection to this spiritual oasis in the midst of the vibrant, exciting, colorful, manic energy which is India. I would not keep returning if it were not for Russill & Asha & Shantivanam. In fact I cannot stay away." -- Graduate of Naropa University
"How much I appreciate the enormous effort you both expended on giving us a perfect Pilgrimage. From my point of view it was flawless. Everything was taken care of so well that "life" could just happen. And it did! I will always hold our Pilgrimage experience as the example of how life can be when lived to the fullest of our capacities. Thank you for the finest, most meaningful travel experience I have ever had." An AmericanCollege Professor teaching in Japan.
"This pilgrimage provided the right contemplative atmosphere to look for inner awareness. It was a way to learn to see with the inner eye." ACatholic nun from California
"I felt that the way Russill & Asha eased our group into (and out of) India was psychologically brilliant. I felt so utterly safe and protected that I was always up for any new experience and adventure. Also, the scheduling of the trips alternating with ashram quite days was very restful. I can't imagine a better way to encounter the sensory delight that is India." AScience Teacher from Southern California
"I find prayer life at the Ashram to be very peaceful. I felt surrounded by the Presence of God" AGrandmother from Illinois.
"No matter what obstacle was set before us, it was set aside with calmness, care & love. It got to the point in a short while, that I simply knew that the issue would be taken care of without any fuss. As pilgrimage leaders you were wonderful. As friends you were wonderful." A Doctor of Ministry student at University of Creation Spirituality (from Washington D.C.)
"I am especially grateful for the intuitive sense of God as espoused by the East and the sacredness of all in the cosmos. Are there are more beautiful people in the whole world than in India? They do radiate goodness. ASpiritual Seeker from St. Paul, MN.
"The days of my pilgrimage in January, 2004, were, very simply put, the best days of my life. They were a life-changing experience, and I relished every second. The Divine Presence was so powerful in every moment, in every place, in every event. I am eternally grateful." A Dominican Nun from Wisconsin
"It has been 3 yrs. since my pilgrimage to India. I always tell people that other than the birth of my son the pilgrimage was the most moving experience of my life! My thoughts go there often and I am so grateful for my time there. I have such a longing to return and Russill and Asha make the experience so meaningful. The pilgrimage for me reinforced my belief that we are spiritual beings having a human experience." AMother from Los Angeles, CA
COST AND REGISTRATION
COST: The cost of the package is $3299 + $399 registration and reservation fee is required.
SERVICES: A list of services including your international roundtrip airfare, your accommodations, tuition costs, ground transportation in India, porter fees, tips, entry tickets, and almost all your meals are provided in the package. On going help is offered till the date of departure, and the facilitator remains available for on going support and assistance. A complete list of these details will be provided when you register.
REGISTRATION:Early registration is recommended as this retreat fills up in the summer months. Registering early is also to your advantage as it gives you more time to prepare for this journey with greater depth and clarity. We limit numbers to ensure the highest quality.
ABOUT THE FACILITATORS
This pilgrimage is facilitated by Asha and Russill Paul, natives of India who were students of the late Dom Bede Griffiths, one of the most influential cross-cultural figures of the last century. Dom Griffithsdirected Shantivanam, a Hindu-Christian Ashram in the south of India, that gained world recognition in the mid 80's, around the time that Russill became a monk. After almost five years as a Benedictine monk at the ashram, Bede discerned his calling as a householder monk and consecrated his marriage to Asha, a deep spiritual seeker who had also discovered meaning and purpose through the ashram's way of life.
Soon after their marriage, and six months of intimate preparation by Bede Griffiths, they came to North America with his blessing and support, and in view of starting a spiritual foundation that Bede would supervise and visit part of the year. Over a three year period of exploration, Bede came and lived with them for almost four months each year, during which they avidly explored this possibility together. Regretfully Fr.Griffiths had had a major stroke in 1989, the year of Asha and Russill's departure to the west. It is remarkable that he even travelled for three consecutive years to explore this foundation with them after such a major health set back, a testament to how passionate he felt about their ministry.
However, in 1993 Bede died of series of strokes. Since then, Asha and Russill havedeveloped their ministry of yoga, health and spirituality, and have dedicated their lives to the pursuit and teaching of spirituality and holistic living in the west. They have worked with thousands of westerners through their events and products that have been well received worldwide. You may read more about Russill here ...
Asha Paul, has a doctrate in holistic health and had the good fortune to study spirituality and comparative religion directly under the expert guidance of Bede Griffiths. She is also a Hatha Yoga practitioner trained in the gentle and subtle style of the Vivekananda Kendra. She holds a doctorate in Natural Health from the Clayton College of Natural Health, one of the largest and most influential natural health schools in America, and collaborates with her husband Russill Paul in presenting workshops and retreats internationally and furthering their vision of cross-cultural exchange through this pilgrimage.
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