Pilgrimage to Yogananda’s Kolkata
We do not currently have this pilgrimage scheduled. Costs and schedule to be determined. Below is a sample pilgrimage.
The heart of the Autobiography of a Yogi is the city of Kolkata. Immeasurable blessings emanate from the places where Paramhansa Yogananda and Swami Sri Yukteswar lived and meditated. That power is as alive today as always. Ananda has led pilgrimages to Kolkata since 1986, and we share a deep friendship with Yoganandaji’s family and other custodians of these shrines.
Our pilgrimage will be centred on two houses. One is Yoganandaji’s boyhood home at 4, Garpar Road, where he spent his early years of spiritual seeking. The family of Yogananda’s brother, Sananda, continues to inhabit the home, which they will open to us as a shrine. In Yogananda’s attic meditation room he “found God” and had visions of Divine Mother and Sri Krishna. We’ll be able to meditate on this very spot. Yogananda’s father and Sri Yukteswar were brother disciples. Sri Yukteswar regularly came to this house to meditate with the family. Before Yogananda departed for America, Mahavatar Babaji came to bless him at the doorway of his bedroom, which is now reserved for silent meditation.
During Yogananda’s 1935-36 sojourn in Kolkata, he stayed at the home of his close friend, Tulsi Bose. This home is now preserved as a meditation shrine, under the care of Ananda Sangha Kolkata. Conserved here are the beds used by Yogananda and Sri Yukteswar, and relics of our gurus and of other saints who have blessed this house.
We’ll meditate at the site of Sri Yukteswar’s Serampore hermitage, and visit the banyan tree at Rai Ghat, where Babaji and his disciples appeared to bless Sri Yukteswar when he finished writing The Holy Science. In Serampore, we’ll meet other members of Yogananda’s family, and have lunch at their home.
We’ll also visit the Kali Temple at Dakshineswar, sanctified by the presence of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa for much of his life, and by Yogananda, as recounted in Autobiography of a Yogi. We’ll also meditate at the ashram of Sri Narendra Nath Bhaduri, the “Levitating Saint.”
This pilgrimage will be led by Keshava, Daya, and other teachers of Ananda Sangha Delhi.
Ananda Pilgrimages are not so much about sightseeing and doing, as about being—being in a place of high spiritual vibration and learning to relax and open your heart to receive the blessings. Meditating as a group in these holy spots reinforces their power. On pilgrimage, we meditate together in the mornings, and at each place, we visit. The flavour of the pilgrimage is inward—one of communion and meditation.
Tentative Schedule
Friday, 10 March
| By 9:40 am | Arrival on your own at Kolkata airport
Drive by bus directly to Tulsi Bose’s house Welcome satsang, stories, meditating with relics, taking turns in the meditation room Lunch |
| 3:00 pm | Drive to Dakshineswar Kali Temple, darshan, and meditate in Sri Ramakrishna’s room |
| 5:30 pm | Depart Dakshineswar
Check into hotel |
| 7:30 pm | Dinner at the hotel |
Saturday, 11 March
| Energization and meditation
Breakfast |
|
| 10:00 am | Meditate at Tulsi Bose’s |
| 11:30 am | Arrive at Yogananda’s boyhood home
Satsang and darshan, including attic meditation room, Yogananda’s bedroom Lunch and stories with Yogananda’s family members |
| 2:30 pm | Depart Garpar Road
Visit and meditate at the ashram of the Levitating Saint Free time Dinner at the hotel |
Sunday, 12 March
| Check out
Breakfast at hotel |
|
| 7:45 am | Depart by bus for Serampore |
| 9:30 am | Meditate at Sri Yukteswar’s hermitage
Visit Rai Ghat and Babaji’s banyan tree Lunch and visit with Durlov Ghosh and family |
| 2:45 pm | Drive to the airport |
| 6:30 pm | Flights start departing Kolkata |
Accommodations, Meals, and Transportation
Our hotel in Kolkata for two nights is the 3-star Hotel Gallery 67. All meals are included. Transportation within Kolkata will be by comfortable a/c bus.
Arrival and Departure
Fly on your own to and from Kolkata, arriving before 9:40 am Friday, 10 March, and departing after 6:30 pm on Sunday, 12 March.
Programme Fees
Double occupancy: Rs. 28,000 per person.
Single occupancy (private room): Rs. 33,500
If you wish to share a twin room and you don’t know another pilgrim, you’ll be assigned a roommate if possible.
The programme fee includes airport transfer for the above flights, all group transportation in Kolkata, lodging and 3 meals a day, and hotel tips.
Not included are airport transfers for flights other than those above, beverages, donations at ashrams and Yogananda’s shrines, medical care should you need it, personal trips in taxi or auto, personal hotel expenses such as laundry or room service. You’ll be invited to make a donation of any amount to help the upkeep of each of the Yogananda shrines.
Payments
Completed application form and payment both needed to confirm your space. We ask for full payment once your application has been approved.
Glimpses from past pilgrimages:
[rev_slider alias=”kolkata”]