Kriyaban

Could there be a more powerful way to start a post? This is the experience of just four days at the Isha Yoga Centre.

One of the temples within the complex houses a Dhyanalinga, and its influence, if you meditate near it, is so strong that in just a few days, you start to feel very noticeable and clearly visible changes in your overall state. But the Dhyanalinga is not the only "structure" here with that capacity; there are two more! As you can imagine, I'm doing nothing but going from one to the other all day, trying to be in tune and synchronization with all of them to make the most of the opportunity to be here and push my spiritual process as much as I can. Adding to all this is the cycle of morning and evening meditation techniques, leaving me with little time for anything else, except eating, sleeping, and sneaking away for a natural pineapple juice and a slice of carrot cake around four in the afternoon, just before starting the second cycle of visits.

Dhyanalinga at Isha Yoga Centre

It's clear that this trip was not for vacation, the entire trip has been an opportunity to "work", and Isha Yoga Centre is the greatest representation of this type of trip.

The places where I felt the most connection with the Guru and the practice have been the Yogananda ashrams in Calcutta and Ranchi. There, clearly, the meditations were intense, clear, and devoted. Then, at the Ramana Maharshi ashram, I had a powerful encounter with the aspect of the Self and its relationship with the process of detachment towards the inner silence space in meditation. Finally, here at Isha, what is most clearly felt is how everything is designed and conceived to impact your "multidimensional body" so that you become the most perfect machine possible to connect with God during meditation. That's why the lingas present in the different temples and the multitude of small other things scattered throughout the complex have no other mission than to push you, push you, and push you forward. So, after four days alternating between the different spaces and distilling the sensations that were gradually produced, today, in the Dhyanalinga temple, I heard God tell me: "I am the silence, and you will find me in silence."

Isha Yoga Centre, as its name suggests, is a Yoga Center, but rather a "complex" dedicated to Yoga, with "Yoga" understood as the ancient science of "the reunion of the soul with the spirit." When I say complex, I mean the place is brutally large, in the middle of nature and at the foot of the green southern hills known as the "Seven Hills," with great energetic power, similar to Arunachala.

So, we are not talking about a place where asanas are practiced; if you are looking for a place to do things to improve your well-being, this is not the place for you because you can do that elsewhere without having to come here. This place is for seekers of "Freedom," understanding "Freedom" as the ultimate detachment from the Self, for the free and direct flight towards God.

Isha Yoga Centre

This place is incredible. It is probably the best place in the world where, through interaction with the space, you can catapult your personal practices to new and more interesting levels. Obviously, the place is called Isha because here you have the opportunity to be initiated by the Guru behind all this (Sadh Guru) in his meditation techniques, and therefore, take the experience of being here to a much higher level of coherence and harmony. His techniques are oriented towards achieving freedom (understood as previously mentioned) through a full awakening of consciousness, and he has named the set of all of them as a process of "inner engineering." In line with Yogananda, Sadh Guru understands the science of Yoga as the true science of inner development and, in line with the current modern era, uses the term engineering very aptly.

Sadh Guru's inner engineering

Personally, I am incredibly happy to be here; it is as if Yogananda brought me here to enjoy this wonderful place conceived by God and for humanity together. Every time I enter the Dhyanalinga temple, I thank God for being here. So much so, that I am trying to modify the dates of my next destination, so my return here in fifteen days will be for six days instead of three.

The experience is comprehensive. The food is completely sattvic, and therefore perfectly coherent with the retreat; it is very well thought out and cooked. There are many people staying here, and there are two meal shifts, held in a giant dining hall that can accommodate 500 people per shift. Imagine 500 people singing the grace prayer, all together and in unison... it is amazing. Needless to say, the complex is exceptionally high quality in everything. The accommodations are wonderful, dining rooms, cafeteria, transit areas, etc... everything is brilliantly conceived and thought out to be coherent with what you came to do, and it is not expensive at all, six days cost me 66€ all included.

The lingas in the temples were consecrated in rituals carried out just a few years ago when the entire complex was built, so one could say they are the most modern and cutting-edge energetic structures on the planet.

Linga Bhairavi

From following Sadh Guru and how the lingas are built, I can say that his knowledge about everything related to the construction of these structures is perfect. He has full knowledge about the interrelation that exists between matter, energy, and the multidimensional human being. As an engineering spirit, I still enjoy and unravel all the constructive details of these structures, and I can appreciate in the details the "bridges" between the energetic worlds of the different dimensions through: the type of texts engraved on noble metals, stones cut under perfect geometry and coherent with the rest of the elements that surround them, very evident proportions between elements, the use of water, air, and fire in a very thoughtful way, etc... A whole science of "the natural" put in tune with the ultimate element: "the multidimensional human body." A science of engineering completely new and ancient at the same time; a science I would leave everything for to embark on knowing; the true and ultimate science.

Linga at the Adiyogi temple

I've been here for four days and hope to add ten more days if God wills. In fact, if due to border closures because of the COVID issue I have to stay in India until things calm down, I wouldn't mind at all becoming a temporary resident in this wonderful place; I think after that, Barcelona will definitely feel like the MATRIX when I return...

.............

Well... a few days have passed since my last paragraphs, enough to ride a roller coaster of sensations and situations.

With the threat of COVID looming over the entire territory, several things come to mind, one of them is to reinforce the practice of energy exercises, not so much in quantity, but in quality. Now more than ever we need to recharge the body as efficiently as possible to stay strong, and that means remembering to do the exercises with total concentration and confidence.

On the other hand, it is a time to test concentration during meditations. Now, the amount of information bouncing around in our heads is such that sometimes it is very difficult to meditate, nevertheless, it is a very good opportunity to practice the ability to set aside mental restlessness and give way to concentration. Personally, I have experienced how the mental bond that traps you and keeps you tied to the cycle of circular thoughts breaks during practice; it is a unique and wonderful sensation, very much linked to the feeling of freedom. Of course, it requires tenacity and faith during practice, but if you achieve it, you will never forget it. The next day I tried to experience it again and didn't succeed, as not every day is the same. For known reasons, your physiological state varies greatly from one day to the next and your ability to meditate deeply is influenced, but the important thing is to have the experience that reminds you it is possible.

The first days I went barefoot everywhere and got completely used to it, even enduring with strength the areas where the ground is burning hot, and you have to go half-jumping to compensate for the heat, but after a few days, as "the amazement" of being here normalized, I started considering that maybe it wasn't necessary and resumed wearing flip-flops. The thing is, for the first three days, I spent repeating all the journeys at the center four times: one trip with flip-flops, back without flip-flops, back again for the flip-flops, and finally back with flip-flops... and after getting used to going without them, now it's hard to go back to using them.

I had the opportunity to see Sadh Guru up close at a Darshan we had on Sunday. About 800 of us gathered in one of the gardens of the place; it's so cool that I would have let his saliva "crown" my face...

Walking towards the Adiyogi

One of the many things I like about him is how he combines optimism, wisdom, and detachment. He is a true spiritual master and for his devotees, also a Guru.

I've been in my room for more than nine days and I think the "fauna" that roams the floor is starting to mutate due to the diet I'm providing them with dead skin and hair; soon I will encounter an ant turned into a proto-velociraptor...

At the Darshan, there was a moment when Sadh Guru talked about the snake ring he wears on his finger and mentioned that to avoid getting trapped in another dimension after a samadhi or experience of that type, it is necessary to wear something metal on the body, and of course, I caught the comment and the next day my finger was happily adorned with a copper ring molded like a coiled snake. It's not that I enter samadhi or things like that and therefore need it, it's just that it's amazing and I love it. So far, I've been wearing it for a few days, and since it's copper, my finger is turning green; we'll see how long the ring whim lasts...

In one hand the "protective" ring and in the other, samples of health protection

The last three days at the Isha Yoga Centre have been absolute madness. You can't stay at the center for more than six days unless you enroll in a yoga program. My return flight to Barcelona was canceled due to COVID and my visa was about to expire. Without a clear idea of where to go and how to quickly resolve the paperwork, I felt the threat of a COVID rampaging through India looming over me, taking over my zen state and almost preventing me from meditating in the last two days. In such a vacuum of good ideas, I entrusted myself to God and asked Him to help me see the way out clearly. So one afternoon, while doing energy exercises, I had a fleeting thought: "you have to leave NOW". Since the idea of going to Kerala as the first option after Isha was in my mind, I interpreted that I had to leave for Kerala "in a hurry," and I started to make arrangements to book accommodation in Kerala. The next morning, everything changed again, and after a chance conversation with the supervisor of the place, she let me know that I have to leave "India" as soon as possible and that I have only one day to organize everything because otherwise, I would be trapped without being able to leave the country until who knows when. I had already contemplated the idea of being trapped, even the idea of being trapped for months, but a greater awareness of the importance of the virus threat and the intuition that this was a "window" opening finally made me decide to return no matter what.

So, I compact my two backpacks into one, arrange tickets, and say goodbye to Isha. I have to say that in the "escape" I am accompanied by a certain sense of sadness for having to leave India like this, in a hurry, after three months with so much calm, but as the saying goes: "opportunity knocks but once" and this saying fits me "like a glove"...

If someone had told me just "8 hours" ago that I would be on my way to Barcelona with my backpack, I wouldn't have believed it.

My last photo in India: the entrance to Isha, with the Seven Hills in the background on a rainy day

My journey in India ends and begins here. The part related to earthly experiences ends, but everything related to "the imprint" left by contact with the divine begins.

Without a doubt, this three-month journey deserves an ending that will be simmered, a synthesis that will gradually come in the following days. From the calm and taking advantage of the confinement due to COVID measures, I will shape a farewell worthy of this "piece" of a trip.

It has been so amazing that I need time to digest it, but do you know what excites me the most about having made this trip (and the reason I decided to do it)? That when I sit down to meditate again in my home, in front of my temple, I will be a different person, and at that moment when I set out to "connect" with God, I will undoubtedly feel the eternal mark that this journey has left on my ability to address Him and love Him more than ever.

This text corresponds to my experience returning to Isha in 2024. Things here have changed little since my last visit in 2022, but whenever I arrive at this place I feel happy and fortunate. With renewed enthusiasm, I am ready to share my reflections during the stay. I hope you enjoy it and can benefit from it!

As always, there is something I love about this place: creating a routine that allows me to reconcile my practices with the use of the most relevant places, such as visiting the lingas and the garden spaces. This time, as a result of having been here three times, I focused on going to the Dhyanalinga twice a day and reading in the cafeteria.

I have bought many more things than in previous visits, taking advantage of my larger backpack, I allowed myself the luxury of filling it with incense, books, and decorative items for my new yoga room at home.

I came with a strong desire to buy the book "Inner Engineering" because it was time to learn more about it. To my luck, I found two more books, as interesting as the first: "Karma" and "Death".

Books: Inner Engineering, Death, and Karma

With six days ahead and knowing the place like the back of my hand, I enjoyed reading, learning, getting emotional, and dreaming about everything these fantastic books have to offer, always in my lovely room, in the cafeteria, or in the gardens of the place. The book "Inner Engineering" left me halfway. I expected to find a closer exposition to what is really taught here, not what is taught to beginners but to advanced devotees. It is more a book about good practices than a book where a specific yoga technique is exposed; that was what I expected to find. It makes sense that if you want to access Sadh Guru's characteristic yogic technique, you enroll in a months-long program, receiving the necessary guidance for proper learning. Normally, this type of technique is not openly facilitated, as it is necessary to be guided during the process to avoid mistakes in practice and the problems derived from them. So, my joy in a well...

Inner Engineering

However, I enjoyed the other two books a lot. Thanks to Sadh Guru's extensive knowledge about the world of energies and the dimensions of the being's reality, I was able to understand the processes of karma and death in a more scientific and spiritual way.

This place needs to be understood. In usual ashrams in India, devotees often gather in meditation halls whose center of attention are deities, gurus, or masters, whether they are alive or not. At Isha, the elements around which devotees do many of their activities are lingas. This is very different from what a Westerner expects. Precisely because of Sadh Guru's understanding of the subtle energy world and its relationship with the being, these consecrated elements or lingas have a significant prominence in the place. Four of them are the most significant and are located in the ashram in busy and well-visible places. Additionally, the ashram is geographically located at the foot of hills, whose nature has a great capacity to positively influence the energies of the place. Enjoy here about the science of creating Lingas.

This is an ashram where mainly people come to receive training. Training in what Sadh Guru offers and which he has named "Inner Engineering." This is very interesting about Sadh Guru: he uses technical or scientific terminology to define many of the things he explains. And that, in a way, makes it more accessible to an audience familiar with those terms, rather than with the Sanskrit terminology in which many things of traditional yoga are defined.

In this ashram, it is also allowed for people who do not wish to receive training, like me, to stay for a maximum of six days. This site is designed so that during your stay here you are in the best possible conditions in terms of comfort and, moreover, you are constantly influenced by many elements that have been sanctified to positively impact your energetic dimension. Thus, you have the possibility to stay, receive training, and be enveloped in a context that naturally favors you, and through these sanctified elements, receive positive influence.

The hills surrounding the Isha Yoga Centre

Sadh Guru understands yoga very well from a modern perspective, starting from classic knowledge as described in the Bhagavad Gita. His discourse emphasizes a lot the entire energetic part of yoga, similar to other modern gurus. The yoga he expounds (and which is very similar to others) is a yoga that, through scientific techniques, allows working on the different energetic dimensions of the human being. For example, if in some religions you are told to pray to God or the Gurus as part of your daily practice, Sadh Guru's proposal is that you perform certain psychophysical techniques to work on the dimension of your mental, physical, or energetic body.

Isha is a space that breathes all this philosophy and knowledge. If you understand this and are informed before coming here, you realize it because all those details are scattered throughout the place in a clear and visible way, or subtly. So, if you are familiar with what this place offers, you have the possibility to see what you otherwise would not be able to perceive.

This is a very special place, but I repeat: if you come here without having informed yourself beforehand about the place, what it contains and what it offers, it is very likely that you won't understand it, which would be a pity. Being here and not understanding the place is missing ninety percent of what it has for you.

Regarding Sadh Guru, he is someone highly sought after in reference sites. For example, he is called to give talks and not necessarily about spirituality. Very important companies call him simply to give advice on things related to day-to-day matters or the development of the companies, etc. They call him for his wisdom. We are talking about companies like Google, Microsoft, Oxford University, among others, requesting Sadh Guru to advise them with his wisdom and knowledge. These are very large companies that cannot damage their reputation by choosing the wrong people to advise them. What do I mean by this?

Sadh Guru

Well, Sadh Guru is very beloved in India and highly respected, but also around the world, especially by those who do not have a prejudiced view. It is very easy to judge him; he is a public figure and exposes himself a lot. It is very easy to make up things about his person and his life.

To me, Sadh Guru is not controversial at all; he is just himself. If you want to know about him, you have the way to do it. In his books, he defines himself and tells about his life, as well as his awakening process. He is a character who is very exposed. Gurus do not usually expose themselves the way he does. Here in India, they say he is a modern guru, and he says it has nothing to do with that. He says all gurus are modern because they are from the time in which they lived, doing what was done or accustomed to be done at that time. Being on social media and talking about so many topics, he always finds detractors.

Bhakti yoga, jnana yoga, kriya yoga, etc., in short, many different types of yoga to achieve the union of the soul with the spirit. So, precisely for that reason, my attitude is to be open to knowing, because the more knowledge, the better.

I had a very beautiful thought coming here by bus. I thought that so far I have come to India to visit it, but something has changed on this trip: from now on, I am going to India to be in India. On this trip, what has happened is that I have connected with the experience of being, instead of visiting or seeking experiences.
Simply being, carrying out my sadhana, in those conditions, India has earned a place in my heart.

Enjoying being

Useful Information

Transport:

Taxi from the YSS ashram in Coimbatore to the Isha Yoga Centre; cost: 1000 rupees.

Accommodation in Coimbatore:

Web: Isha Yoga Centre

Price: Depending on the type of accommodation, the price varies. The simplest room with meals included costs about 850 rupees per day.

Places to visit:

The Isha complex is a secluded space away from the city and has everything needed for retreat stays without having to go outside.

Important:

If you haven't read the Considerations section yet, don't forget to do so. In this section, you will find very valuable information that can save you many headaches. In particular, there are details related to credit cards and mobile phone use that are essential.