For at least twenty of the last thirty five years I have lived in India. From 1995 to 2003 I maintained a residence in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu at the foot of one of India's holiest mountains, Arunachala, pictured below. One day four years ago the director of World Spirit asked if I would be interested in guiding tours of the temples of Tamil Nadu. I agreed and the 'sacred elements' tour was conceived.
 


Every full
moon hundreds of thousands
walk
around
this
mountain.

Find
out
why


 
Vedic spirituality and the Pauranic forms of worship that have evolved from it are experience and knowledge based. The primary vehicle for experience of the Divine in India is the temple. There are many more shrines and temples in India than there are supermarkets and gas stations in America. India's reputation as the world's spiritual superpower is well deserved; religion is the most powerful institution in society. It would be possible... but highly unlikely... for a visitor not to feel her intense spiritual vitality. If you come to sun on the beaches or trek in the Himalayas or simply to enjoy the many worldly pleasures available on the cheap you might miss it... but probably not; there is an unmistakable feeling of Spirit wherever you go.
  

Nonetheless, for visitors from Christian cultures, even the tens of thousands who come to India specifically for spiriutal reasons and linger for years, access to the Divine through the temple experience is often bewildering. One sees a plethora of customs, festivals, and rituals dedicated to a myriad of strange deities and one wonders what exactly is going on. The sacred elements tour is designed to answer this question.




Bridhadishwara Temple, Tanjavur, dedicated to 'The Lord of the Vastness' is a World Heritage site in a near perfect state of repair after one thousand years. The lingam in the inner sanctum is thirty five feet tall.
Shiva Nataraj

What can this graceful God tell you about yourself?



Goddess Saraswati

Crack the Code!

Click here to read 'Symbols of the Self," a fifty seven page essay on the inner meaning of Indiia's most important spiritual symbols.

 
Vedic spiritual 'science' contends that ours is a non-dual universe born of a single spiritual Principle that manifest in infinite forms. Each of India's thousands of deities provide experiential access to this universal Power. As the tour makes its way from one temple darshan to the next you will see how the deities work to provide access to the Divine, your innermost Self.