By Swami Omkarananda

First off, thank you for taking the time to learn more about my
country and spirituality in India. It comes with much joy to
meet new people interested in our ancient traditions! So you
are thinking of picking up your bags and heading off to India
for a spiritual experience at one of the many locations that
offer classes in Yoga and the Indian Spiritual Traditional? Or
are you a yogi who wants to take your spiritual practice to a
whole new level? If you are, you have come to the right place.
Before you make the leap of fate towards a whole new way of
living in another country consider some of these basic things
that can help you in finding a place that fits your needs while
spending your time in India.

If you are feeling anxious and want to jump directly to the ashram web stie of my
guruji, here is the link: http://www.tureya.org/ashram homepage.html

Before we get started in our discussion of Yoga in India, here are some photos
which I have taken throughout India which might give you a better idea of what you
can expect while traveling through our spiritually rich country:

This is a Photo of a Yoga Philosophy Debate which was conducted by the Tureya
Foundation:

Yoga classes in India are taught in a variety of locations, anywhere from the
mountain tops to villas in the city. Here is an asana class being taught at a yoga
Institute in Southern India. As you can see the students are sitting on the bare
earth.
 I do realize that photos may not give you the best
idea of what it is like in India, but they can at the
least give you some context of what you can expect
when you begin to travel the country. The Indian
culture is arguably one of the most unique and
diverse cultures in the world, both in the past and
in the present. The argument for this is that India has sustained so many varieties of
spiritual traditions and cultural changes throughout its history, from the Indus Valley
Civilization 10,000 years ago to the Arian rule in Northern India only a few thousand
years ago. From the ancient to the present day, there are still many traditions have
survived the arc of time, and one of those traditions is Yoga.

Yoga was not always considered to be part of the Hindu Tradition. It was only after
the Arians embraced the Yogic practices that it became a companion to those who
practiced and prayed under the Hindu Philosophy. Before this, yoga was a cultural
heritage, a pillar that many people from India would use to evaluate their values
and philosophical beliefs. If you look closely, you will find some of the yogic
practices mixed into all of the religious practices and philosophies, including
Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Muslimism, and even Christianity. But as time passed
Yoga became comely associated with Hinduism, but it still exists today that yoga
can be found mixed in with all the world religions.

Today’s India still hold many varieties of the Yogic tradition, and if you, as a traveler,
are trying to find yoga in India it is best to try and narrow your search and find a
specific location that suits what you are looking for. Yoga is not simply Yoga, as you
might have already known, and there are over 7 major philosophically different
practices of yoga (traditionally speaking), and hundreds more that have been
devised by yogic practitioners throughout history. So each Ashram or spiritual
center in India is going to embrace a different philosophical practice which they
believe is the best means to achieve spiritual enlightenment. On this website you
will find some of the different type of practices of yoga:

http://www.tureya.org/homepage.html

There are also major cultural difference between Northern and Southern India which
will definitely shape your experience while traveling through the country. Much of
Northern India was totally committed to trade with other countries; the Silk Road
was perhaps one of the greatest trade routes in the history of humanity where
merchants from Europe, Asia, and Africa exchanged goods and merchandise with
distant countries. One of the primary reasons why the British invaded India and held
it under rule for nearly 400 year was because India had spices, silk, and minerals
that no other country in the world could provide. Northern India was one of the
principle hubs for this international trade, and the entire culture has been deeply
affected by this international exchange. For this reason you will be able to find a
much larger population of people with ancestors from the Middle East and other
parts of the world while you travel Northern India. You will also find that the culture
of Northern India has been shaped and molded by its historical business affairs.

While Northern India was engaged in significant international trade, Southern India
remained relatively isolated from the Northern affairs, and instead the Southern
Indian culture was shaped around its village based communities. For this reason the
culture remained relatively unaffected by any substantial change throughout its
history, and even today the ancient language of Tamil is still spoken as the primary
language, a language that has been existed in written form for over 5,000 years
ago. In Northern India the culture was being molded by its interactions with Western
nations while in the South many people continued living in the same style as their
ancestors did thousands of years earlier. Because of this, many scholars would
argue that the Southern Indian culture reflects a tradition that has existed for
centuries together, and many of the religious and spiritual philosophy from the past
still remain vibrant and alive in the Southern Indian Culture of today.

One of the first major philosophical beliefs of yoga originated from Southern India,
this being the Shivite tradition where people worship Lord Siva as their god. The
Shivites shaped yoga into a unique spiritual practice which used many of the
esoteric practices of Yoga that are commonly known as Kriya Yoga, Tantra Yoga, and
yoga meditation. Their spiritual practice was created under the belief that all parts
of the universe existed as one consciousness which used its imagination to create
all of existence. This philosophy was very unique because it embraced all aspects of
life and considered them to be equal because they all originated from the same
creation. Today this same mentality and belief remains a unique part of the
Southern India culture as people accept care for each other, not only as friends but
as family of the same creation.
If you would like to learn more about the yoga or culture in Southern India, please
visit the Tureya Foundation’s website which offers detailed information about yoga
in India. You will also find some great resources about the Indian tradition including
articles and videos.

http://indiashram.org

If you do have any other questions regarding yoga in India, please feel free to
contact me at:

Swami Omkarananda:

Omkara@gmail.com