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| Attic Meditation Room |
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This is the attic room where Paramahansa Yogananda spent many long hours in meditation.
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| Sarita Ghosh at Yogananda's shrine room. |
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Sarita's husband, Somnath Ghosh, is Sananda Lal Ghosh's (Yogananda's young brother) grandson.
Sarita is sitting at the doorstep of Yogananda's attic meditation room.
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| Sarita & Hélène at the Attic Room |
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At the family home of Yoganadaji in Kolkata, Sarita Ghosh continues to maintain his attic room as a shrine and is a gracious host to devotees who wish to visit and meditate in Master's private sanctuary. We had the great blessing of sitting in his spiritually charged space for some time, bathed in feelings of his divine presence. After our meditation Sarita prepared tea and shared some stories of Yogananda's life.
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| Master Mahasaya's Amherst Street Home |
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50 Amherst Street where Master Mahasaya's school was. Yogananda's mother was renting this building for her son's wedding when she unexpectedly left this world.
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| Greer Park |
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Where Yogananda's team was playing soccer during his high school's years, two blocks away from Garpar Road.
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| Greer Park |
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Entrance of the park near Yogananda's home.
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| Greer Park |
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This park, now named Ladies Park, a block away from Yoganandaji's home ...
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| Deaf & Dumb School |
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there was a high wall along this side of the street enclosing the Deaf and Dumb School.
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| Nagendra Math |
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Home of Bhaduri Mahasaya, "The Levitating Saint," . . .
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| Bhaduri Mahasaya's room. |
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Yoganandaji often visited this great saint during his college years, and took his blessings before going to America.
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| Bhattacharya Lane |
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young Mukunda (Yoganandaji) and his friends started their first ashram and later a school
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| Pond |
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Where Yoganandaji would bathe and take his students swimming.
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| Shaikh Abdul Raheem |
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Current landlord of house, great grandson of the original landlord of the Ghosh family.
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| At Landlord's in Gorakhpur |
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When we visited the birthplace of Yoganandaji in Gorakhpur we met the landlord of the house, who lives next door. We were invited to see newspaper articles about this devout muslim's service to pay homage to Sri Yogananda by hosting a birthday celebration in his honor every year. This practice continues and he told us that all are invited to participate.
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| Yogananda's room at his Uncle Sarada's house |
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Where Yogananda first stayed while attending college in Serampore. Mr. Sarada Prasad Ghosh, an attorney of Serampore, was a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya and a brother-disciple of Sri Yukteswar.
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| Uncle Sarada's home |
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The courtyard in the center of Uncle Sarada's home. Yogananda's room is through the doorway on the far right. This is where the scene with Sri Yukteswar was filmed in the movie "Awake." He was seen walking on the balcony in the upper left.
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| Serampore College |
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Christian missionary college where Sri Yukteswar attended before transferring to medical college in Calcutta. Years later Yogananda completed his college and received his BA degree here.
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| Serampore College |
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Serampore college gave both Sri Yukteswar and Paramahansa Yogananda a firm grounding in Christian theology and bible study.
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| Sri Yukteswar's ashram |
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The Karar family home which became the ashram (training school) where Sri Yukteswar taught kriya yoga to his disciples, conducting classes, spiritual discourses, and worship services.
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| The banyan tree at Rai Ghat |
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Babaji declined an offer to come to Sri Yukteswar's home. He said he preferred to sit here because "We are under-the-tree people. We like to sit under trees."
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| Meditation Hall |
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The Ranchi Meditation Hall is the center piece of the beautiful gardens.
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| Meditation Gardens |
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The gardens cover many acres with paths for quiet meditative walks and benches beneath the trees for contemplation.
Yogananda wanted his centers to be beautiful and personally oversaw planting of gardens and development of the property.
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| Ranchi YSS Boys School |
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The current YSS boys school, a few miles from the ashram, on 20 acres, where 1000 children from poor families attend.
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| Ranchi YSS Boys School Administration Building |
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The school day begins with prayers, chanting, energization exercises and a 10 minute silent meditation.
The YSS boys school has become overcrowded, so new facilities are under construction.
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| Ranchi YSS Girls School |
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The YSS girls school, across the street from the ashram, where a thousand students are taught.
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| YSS Dwarahat Ashram |
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Located in the Himalayan foothills at 1500 m altitude and 25 km from Babaji's cave.
Meditation hall on the left, Radha-Krishna temple on the right. In the rear is the building where medical services are offered. Two eye-camps and two medical camps each year provide free care for thousands.
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| YSS Dwarahat Ashram |
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Dining hall where three meals cooked by Bhuwan are offered and eaten in silence every day.
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| Sign on the Trail |
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In 1963 Sri Daya Mata was shown by locals at Pandavkholi, Dunagiri mountains, the cave where Babaji Maharaj was said to have spent time when he was in the area. Today SRF/YSS maintains this place as a sacred pilgrimage spot honoring Babaji.
"Gufa" or "Guha" means cave in Hindi. Maybe the sign is to help Babaji find his way back...
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| Trail Switchbacks |
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The trail climbs steeply up the mountain for about a kilometer through a hundred switchbacks. It takes about an hour to reach the cave.
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| YSS Rest House |
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This building near the cave was built by YSS as a resting point on the trail and shrine to Babaji.
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| Babaji's Shrine |
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Inside of Babaji's shrine, pilgrims sit in meditation before completing the climb to the cave.
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| Cave |
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Entrance to the cave honored by SRF/YSS as Babaji's. There are several caves in the area. Daya Mata reported another cave with a very small entrance that may have been where Babaji lived.
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| Cave |
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Inside of the cave pilgrims sit in meditation. Entrance is by permission of YSS Dwarahat ashram.
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| Staircase to Dunagiri Temple |
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The Shakti Temple of Dunagiri at 8000 ft elevation is located in Almora district, 43 km from Ranikhet and close to Kukuchina. According to the local tradition, the area has been regularly visited by Rishi-Munis (sages) since ancient times. Dunagiri is mentioned in several Hindu Scriptures and has been bestowed the name of Brahm-parvat, Divine Mountain.
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| Sadhu Dunagiri |
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A few colorful characters are encountered along the way up to the temple, including begging sadhus offering to exchange some rudraksha seeds for a few rupees, and some with flowers for offerings to Divine Mother in the temple.
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| Sincere Prayer Requests |
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On each side of the staircase on the way to the temple, thousands of pieces of cloth are tied by pilgrims to the branches of the trees, representing their prayers laid at Divine Mother's feet.
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| Dunagiri Shakti Temple |
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Inside of the temple devotees honor Divine Mother, give their offerings of flowers and money to the priest, receive prasad and blessings, then walk several times around the holy shrine, ringing the hanging bells as they proceed. Worship of Divine Mother can be quite a noisy business here.
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| Dunagiri Vedic Chanting Priest |
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Outside, in the adjacent courtyard, a priest chants continuously in sanskrit, verses from a small well worn book, a Hindu Scripture. He only breaks his chanting routine when pilgrims sit with him for a blessing ceremony.
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