Our Trip to India 2006

5 albums of 4624 Pictures for the trip of India can be found at: http://www.crawfordsplace.com/gallery/
 
An aerial view of the areas visited can be found using Google Earth. To use this service go to: http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html and download a copy of Google Earth. Use the coordinates listed below to get a satellite view of the general area where the India, 2006 pictures were taken. Simply select the coordinates, copy and paste them into the Google Earth search window. Press enter and you will zoom to the location.
 

Location Coordinates
   
New Delhi, General Location 28 40 12 N, 77 12 36 E
New Delhi, Indira Gandhi Intl. Airport 28 33 54 N, 77 06 18 E
New Delhi, Gurgaon (Trident Hilton) 28 28 12 N, 77 00 36 E
New Delhi, Raj Ghat(Mahatma Gandhi Memorial) 28 38 26 N, 77 14 58 E
New Delhi, Gandhi Literature Stall 28 38 17 N, 77 15 3 E
New Delhi, Lodi Gardens, Bara Gumbad 28 35 35 N, 77 13 13 E
Udaipur Airport            3 24 36 57 N, 73 53 27 E
Udaipur, Hotel Trident Hilton  24 34 39 N, 73 40 9 E
Udaipur, Jag Mandir 24 34 3 N, 73 40 42 E
Udaipur, Sajjangarh “Monsoon Palace”  24 35 33 N, 73 38 24 E
Mount Abu 24 35 42 N, 72 42 36 E
Abu Road 24 28 48 N, 72 46 48 E
Ahmedabad 23 01 48 N, 72 34 48 E
Vadodara (Baroda)  22 18 36 N, 73 10 51 E
Malav 22 36 17 N, 73 33 7 E
Halol 22 30 9 N, 73 28 27 E
Kayavarohan 22 04 53 N, 73 14 51 E
Pavagadh 22 27 45 N, 73 30 54 E
Jama Masjid 22 29 03 N, 73 32 01 E

Trip Itinerary
5 Jan, Thursday Depart Newark, NJ.  Fly to Delhi, India.
6 Jan, Friday Arrive in New Delhi, late evening. (Stay Trident Hilton Gurgoan)
7 Jan, Saturday New Delhi; Visit: Raj Ghat, Shop in local markets; Visit Lodi Gardens.  (Stay Trident Hilton Gurgoan)
8 Jan, Sunday Leave Delhi, Fly to Udaipur. (Stay Hotel Trident Hilton)
9 Jan, Monday Udaipur; Visit: Lake Pichola; Udaipur streets; Lake Palace Complex; Jagdish Temple; Udaipur Shopping; Lake Pichola boat trip; Jag Mandir.  (Stay Hotel Trident Hilton)
10 Jan, Tuesday Udaipur; Market shopping; Udaipur streets; Sunset from Monsoon Palace.  (Stay Hotel Trident Hilton)
11 Jan, Wednesday Leave Udaipur: Early morning pictures - Lake Pichola; - Hotel Trident Area; Travel by motor coach to Mount Abu.  (Stay Palace Hotel)
12 Jan, Thursday Mount Abu: Early morning yoga; Visit Jaipur House; Mount Abu sites; Shiva Temple; Market shopping; Brahma Kumaris Academy. (Stay Palace Hotel)
13 Jan, Friday Mount Abu: Palace Hotel views; Adhar Devi Temple (dedicated to Durga); Remote Cave; Village Life; Mount Abu Home; Shiva Shrines.  (Stay Palace Hotel)
14 Jan, Saturday Leave Mount Abu: Travel by motor coach to Vadodara (Baroda). Palace Hotel pictures; Early morning views; Abu Road; Ahmedabad; Vadodara (Baroda). (Stay Express Hotel, Baroda)
15 Jan, Sunday Leave Vadodara (Baroda): Travel by motor coach to Malav; Visit Pratappura; Village Life; Malav. (Stay Malav Ashram)
16 Jan, Monday Leave Malav: Travel to Kayavarohan; Dadaji’s Temple; Visit Kayavarohan; Visit Halol; Return to Malav. (Stay Malav Ashram)
17 Jan, Tuesday Leave Malav: Travel to Pavagadh; Jama Masjid; Return to Malav.
18 Jan, Wednesday Malav: Ashram school; Explore outlining area; Newspaper picture; (Stay Malav Ashram)
19 Jan, Thursday Malav: Travel to Vadodara (Baroda); (Stay Malav Ashram)
20 Jan, Friday Leave Malav: Fly to Dehli from Vadodara (Baroda); Malav Ashram; Village scenes; Mount Pavagahd. (Stay Oberoi Maidens Hotel)
21 Jan, Saturday  Delhi: Depart Delhi for Newark, NJ; Delhi Shopping, Dinner


           
Location Descriptions

New Delhi, Raj Ghat
The Raj Ghat is a beautiful park area and the site where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated following his assassination in 1948.

New Delhi, Lodi Gardens, Bara Gumbad
The Lodi Gardens is another beautiful Delhi park frequently used today by joggers and fitness enthusiasts. It is the site where the tombs of Sayyid and Lodi rulers are found.  These include Mabarak Shah (d 1433), Ibrahim Lodi (d 1526) and Sikander Lodi (d 1517).   In the center of the gardens is the Bara Gumbad, a large square dome 15th Century tomb.

Udaipur, State of Rajasthan, India
The city of Udaipur has the reputation as Rajasthan’s most romantic city and is perhaps the most diversified and most romantic spot in all of India.  Indeed Udaipur is a beautiful city and yet it is filled with the extremes of third world poverty and modern day luxury.  In days gone by, Udaipur was the capital of the state of Mewar, the only one of seven major Rajput states to uphold its Hindu allegiance in the face of Muslim invasions.  Its present ruler who resides in a part of the City Palace is the 76th in an unbroken line of Mewar rulers.  This is perhaps the oldest surviving dynasty in the world.  Udaipur is surrounded by the Aravalli Range and is located adjacent beautiful Lake Pichola. 
 

Udaipur, Jag Mandir Located on Lake Pichola this island palace was built in 1615 by Karan Singh and purportedly used by Shah Jahan as a model to build the Taj Mahal.  Jag Mandir was never used as a palace but rather Karan Singh offered refuge here to the Moghul prince Khurum during his exile by his father Emperor Jahangir in the 1620’s.  The view of the Udaipur shoreline and the Lake Palace complex is extraordinary, especially at sunset.
 

Udaipur, Sajjangarh “Monsoon Palace”         Built in 1880 by Maharaja Sajjan Singh it was originally intended as an astronomical observatory.  It was ultimately used by the royal family as a palace during the monsoon season and as a hunting lodge.  The view from the Monsoon Palace is absolutely spectacular with Lake Pichola and the City of Udaipur to the east and the Aravalli Range to the west.


Mount Abu (Rajasthan)
Mount Abu has been the home of many saints, sages and yogi’s for well over 5000 years.  During English rule it was a favorite hilltop resort destination for the British as they sought to escape the summer heat on the dusty Rajasthan plains.  The surrounding hills are filled with caves and ancient temple sites where yogis and other spiritual aspirants performed sadhana, yoga and meditative practices. These practices continue today and pictures show evidence of a rich spiritual community.

Ahmedabad, State of Gujarat, India
Ahmedebad is Gujarat’s largest city (population 4.52 million).  We passed through Ahmedebad on our way from Mount Abu to Vadodara (Baroda).   
Vadodara (Baroda), State of Gujarat, India Baroda is the nearest large city (population 1.49 million) to the birth place and early childhood home of Yogi Amrit Desai.  The city itself is a congested industrial city with little to offer for the tourist.  However, the shopping opportunities appeared to be abundant.  The area around the city is primarily an agricultural area dotted with small cities and villages.  Baroda was a stop over point prior to our stay at Malav.  We were treated to an excellent performance of traditional Indian dance while in Baroda.

Pratappura
This is the small village (population 250) where Yogi Desai lived until the age of 10 years.  Pratappura was and still is a simple undeveloped village. 

Yogi Desai recalls (2) his childhood home:

“The house in which we lived had earthen walls and floor, and a tin roof.  Our home was one large room, with a partition made of cans which held our cooking grains.  On one side of the room was a storage area filled with burlap bags of goods for my father’s store.  Next to this area was a space for the handmade cots on which we all slept.  In the middle of the house was a large swing, a common thing in Indian homes.  For cooking, there was a fireplace dug into the earth.  There were no rugs, no pictures, only on armchair, and no wall hangings.  We lived an extremely primitive life.  I loved it…..and I was very loved by my family.”

Every morning Yogi Desai’s father would rise and light the fire to heat the family’s bath water and settle back to smoke tobacco until the bath was ready.  After having bathed and dressed he would perform puja (worship) to Krishna while chanting Shri Krishna Charanam Mama” (“I surrender to Lord Krishna”). 
It was to these beautiful sounds to which Yogi Desai awoke and began each day.
“Every morning I would awaken on my cot to the sound of the hookah bubbling and gurgling.  I could hear the crackle of the fire, and the sweet smell of the fire’s smoke would fill the room.  My mother would grind her flour early in the morning.  There were two round stones, with a hole in the center into which she would constantly feed the grain.  She would turn the upper stone by a handle to grind the grain into flour.  The whole time she was preparing the grain, she would sing bhajans.  I would awaken to her sweet voice, the sound of the turning stones, and the songs of the birds.  We also had water buffalos for milk when I was little; so some mornings, my mother and father would be churning the milk into yogurt with a device constructed of ropes on a pulley connected to a pot with churning blades.   I loved the yogurt and butter, and especially the sweetballs”

Pictures of Pratappura show the simple yet content existence that Yogi Desai describes.  Pratappura now supports an active community of Potters.

Halol (2) When Yogi Desai was 10 years old the family moved to Halol (population 17,000) in part so that he could continue his education at secondary school (2).  Our visit to Halol was quite remarkable.  We visited the place (Goshala) where Bapuji (Yogi Desai’s Guru) established a stable to worship cows.  In a building on the second floor near the stable is Bapuji’s meditation room.   As we weaved our way through the side streets to Yogi Desai’s childhood home, people seemed to come out of the woodwork to greet Yogi Desai and see the visitors from the United States!  What a strange site we western visitors must have been to their eyes!  A photographer took a picture and we were front page material in the next day local paper!  If you look close you can find me in the picture of the paper.  We were especially well received that day and it seemed that hundreds of villagers gave us a warm goodbye as we departed Halol.

Yogi Desai recalls his childhood move to Halol:

“I had a disconnected feeling when we moved to Halol.  I didn’t understand what was going on around me.  I had been a good student at Pratappura, and suddenly my grades fell.  But once I caught up with my new environment, I became very sharp.  What I lacked in social skills, I had gained tenfold in living a very experiential existence.  From my upbringing, my mind was uncluttered and perceptive, and when I became comfortable in my new surroundings, my grades became excellent – not first in my class, because I preferred playing to studying – but always at the top level.”

“I was chosen to be class monitor, to maintain discipline in the classroom when the teacher was out.  This must have been the philosophy of reforming the mischievous with the most mischievous.  I would stand before the class, and when someone talked or acted out-of-line, I would say, pointing at him, ‘You, go there,’ and send him into the corner of the room to wait until the teacher returned.  Yet, I myself was the prime mischief-maker in the class.  When the teacher turned to the blackboard, I would cleverly distort the meaning of his words.  My friends would all laugh, and the teacher would not know who the instigator was or why everyone was laughing.”

Throughout his boyhood, Yogi Desai had an attraction for all types of self-improvement, physical fitness and personal improvement. 

“I wanted to work on myself and to grow so much.  I felt very inhibited in this desire and suffocated in my search for self-expansion.  I wanted to read, but books were scarce.  I longed to travel and to see more than our village, but there was no money.  I wanted to build up my body, but there were no teachers.  Our family couldn’t afford enough highly nutritious food, or even a daily glass of milk.  I also wanted to grow spiritually, but where could I go?  What I could not know, was that all of this was preparing me for Bapuji.”

At age 15, Yogi Desai read a Gujarati translation of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People and was deeply impressed.  He saw within the book’s philosophy a way to live which accentuated the positive in every situation, and which remained sensitive to others’ needs (2).  He memorized and practiced the techniques as a scripture for positive living, rather than financial success.

On weekends, Yogi Desai led friends on hikes up and around the highest mountain near Halol.  This was the legendary Pavagadh Mountain, the place where the great sage Vishwamitra was said to have done his Sadhana before establishing the shrine of Kayavarohan.

Yogi Desai’s longing for self-development and spiritual growth could not be fulfilled by his reading, his adventures with friends or by the religion into which he was born.   Yogi Desai recalls that:

“My thirst for spiritual growth could not be satisfied by following rituals that my young heart could not understand.  I needed a living religion, and a living person who personified the teachings rather that just preaching about them.  At the time, my entry to the inner path had to happen through a door other than the Vaishnav path.  Bapuji became that door; his teaching touched my life deeply.”

It was in Halol that Yogi Desai at age 15 met his Guru, Swami Kripalvanandji, Bapuji.  Yogi Desai and along with 400 to 500 other villagers enthusiastically attended Bapuji’s lectures.  The whole town was enamored by the young Swami, Bapuji.

“I would run to be the first one at his lectures, sitting right in front of him, very straight and very firm.  Throughout his two-to-three-hour lectures, I remained still and steady, never averting my eyes from his face, never even shifting my body. ”

Yogi Desai had become the perfect student and was inspired to begin the practice of yoga.
One day Bapuji watched outside his meditation room as Yogi Desai showed yoga postures to his friends.  Yogi Desai recalls this day:

“I was showing the postures to a small group of boys in Goshala.  As I moved through the postures, Bapuji unseen by me, came out of his meditation room and paused on the stairs to silently observe me teaching the asanas to my friends.  It was not until nearly twenty years later that I learned he had seen me and that something in me had touched his mind and heart.”

Bapuji later wrote about the experience:

“Amrit’s inclination for the practice of yoga.  I was very much pleased with his distinctive and attractive performance of asanas.  The next day, I took him upstairs to my room and gave him a personal demonstration of yogic practices.  I have not allowed any of my disciples except Amrit ever to sit in my presence during Sadhana and that too, was only for fifteen minutes.”

It was through Bapuji’s continued guidance, direction and inspiration that Yogi Desai developed the unique style of yoga, known as Kripalu and Amrit Yoga.  Kripalu Yoga is named after Yogi Desai’s guru, Swami Kripalvanandji, Bapuji.

Malav Malav is a small village located about 40-50 miles from Baroda.  It is the location of the Kripalu Ashram (Shri Kripalu Samadhi Mandir) and is Bapuji’s the burial site.   This is the place where Bapuji spent 12 years in silence performing yoga, meditation and spiritual practice.  A large beautiful temple is under construction at this site and is dedicated to Bapuji.  We spent 5 days at this location and each day traveled within the Baroda area to visit a number of temples, shrines and historical sites.  The local villagers are actively involved in the practice of yoga and have daily yoga classes at the Ashram.   During the week the Kripalu Ashram functions as a school for elementary students grades one through four.

Kayavarohan Kayavarohan is a great ancient pilgrimage place.  It is believed to be as holy as the city Kashi (3).  Kashi is the ancient name for the holy city Varanasi (also known as Benares).  Varanasi is located on the banks of the Ganges at the foot of the Himalayas and is sacred to Lord Shiva.  It is here in Kayavarohan that Bapuji built a beautiful temple to honor his guru, Dadaji (Lord Lakulish, the 28th incarnation of Lord Shiva).

Pavagadh Pavagadh is a 820 m (2690 ft) mountain located 45 km (28 miles) northeast of Baroda.  Pavagadh overlooks the ancient Muslim city of Champaner, now a World Heritage Site.  The Kalikamata Temple on top of the Pavagadh Hill is considered to be an important shrine, attracting large numbers of pilgrims throughout the year.  In the 13th century Pavagadh was an important hilltop fortress for the  Chauhan Rajputs as they fended off by the Muslims.  Fortifications and protected entry points are still visible on the mountain.  A short jeep ride followed by a cable car took us part way up the mountain.  The remaining journey was by foot past ancient temple sites and path side vendors. 

Jama Masjid The Jama Masjid is the largest Mosque located in the ruins of the ancient city of Champaner.  The main entrance to the Mosque is flanked by two towering minars and the prayer halls are split by nearly 200 pillars that support an exquisite carved roof raised in a series of domes.  At points in its history the Jama Masjid was used concurrently both as a Moslim and a Hindu place of worship.

(1)        Portions of these descriptions are excepts from:  “The Rough Guide to India,” David Abram, Nick Edwards, Mike Ford, Devdan Sen & Beth Wooldridge; Rough Guides, New York, London, Delhi; 2005, ISBN: 1-84353-501-7.

(2)        “Gurudev: The Life of Yogi Amrit Desai”, by Sukanya Warren, Frances Mellen, Peter Mellen; Kripalu Yoga Fellowship, 1982, ISBN: 0-940258-07-2.

(3)        “Infinite Grace: The Story of My Spiritual Lineage,” by Swami Rajarshi Muni, Life Mission Publications, Vadodara 390 018, Gujarat, India, 2002, ISBN: 81-88243-00-0.