In the aftermath of a snowstorm, with many airlines having cancelled their flights, we took off to India savoring the sense of trust that we had learned to cultivate from over a decade of annual pilgrimages. Life, like pilgrimage, is about trust. This is not some abstract, intellectual affirmation, but a sense of connection to grace and presence that is fostered moment to moment. But we can forget that life is a pilgrimage. All too easily, we get used to our routines and life appears to be predictable. We even learn to anticipate the ups and downs so well that we can lose sight of the fact that our sojourn on this planet is temporary.

Pilgrimage helps remind us that we are all on a sacred journey with glory as our destination and where each moment offers us extraordinary possibilities if only we can see with the eye of the heart. So here we are, after yet another year of travelling with an extraordinary group of people, and it is not one bit old, neither for us nor for those who keep coming back to join us on this experience. As always, this pilgrimage attracts authentic spiritual seekers, as it could not take any less to make such a journey. These artists, yoga teachers, business people, school teachers, media personnel, educators, musicians, chanters and meditation practitioners have done their inner work, travelled many lifetimes and come with loaded spiritual gifts.

We arrived smack in the midst of the harvest festival, South India’s Thanksgiving, which extends over a period of four days. Between relaxing on the beach to shake off our jet lag and participating in colorful rituals (the beach resort has its own little temple), what better way could we choose to make our entrance into India?

Our highlight was the new and exquisitely beautiful temple that has been built at the ashram that we all got to enjoy this year. Constructed with high ceilings and octagonal in shape, it appears like a large lotus in the middle of a tropical jungle. The outside is painted saffron, color of the sun and symbol of spiritual renunciation. On each corner of the octagon is seated a figure, alternating between male and female, one sitting rapt in meditation, the other playing the veena, an Indian musical instrument that looks like a sitar. The figures, all life-size and lifelike, are exquisitely carved out of stone and painted an elegant white. We were glad to notice that much of the original architecture established by the founders remain integrated artistically into the new edifice, a wonderful model for us today: to create anew in a way that tastefully integrates the best parts of the old.

India is changing rapidly, especially the cities. You read about it in the news and we see the changes each time we travel. I can’t recognize the roads in my native city any more, not even from last year. Perhaps these rapid changes may have something to do with the increasing numbers of birds that have made the ashram their home. They may be losing their habitats elsewhere and therefore finding a new home in the dense vegetation present around the ashram. A good many of them congregate around the meditation hall and seem to join us excitedly when we chant, not disturbing us, but adding to the ambience that makes meditating in India its own unique experience.

Despite all the changes, India’s spiritual energy is still vibrant. Our experiences during this pilgrimage focus on the heart of rural India, which ensures that we meet and touch the real India. It is at this juncture, of our heart and India’s soul, that we find our true Self, and this is the purpose of our journey, to find the other half of the soul.

We gratefully acknowledge the support for our spiritual practice at the ashram, a gift that extends beyond the community of monks to the workers on the grounds to the boys from the village who curb their shouts during their weekend game of cricket so that we can have a period of quiet during meditation. Those who have travelled to India will appreciate this from knowing the high levels of stimulus that is characteristic of the country in many places. We take great care on our pilgrimage to navigate this stimulus effectively, which is why receiving such great support is such a powerful affirmation because it reflects our connectedness as a group to the local community. One day, during a major festival, local villagers consented to lower the volume of the loud speaker in a nearby village to assist our meditation!

We have made this pilgrimage thirteen times, and each year, in our annual reports, we say that it has gotten better. Has it gotten even better this year? Yes, and that is an absolute fact. We had amazing experiences at temples, got to partake in a number of extraordinary rituals, including a powerful fire ceremony officiated by tantric women yoginis.

We cannot say how many more years we will continue this pilgrimage, and who knows the changes that 2012 will bring. While I do not believe that the world will end in 2012, there is good reason for us to prepare for deep changes. For our 2012 pilgrimage, the emphasis will be on inner transformation. I have personally made a commitment to deepen my own spiritual practice this year and will be sharing new techniques and ideas during our retreat in India after which I will go into seclusion for the rest of the year. I can’t help feeling that the intensity of 2012, regardless of the many prophecies, will lend a powerful incentive to the depth and intensity of our practice together in my spiritual birthplace.  I have, for my part, as you may know from my e-newsletters, decided to let go of all presentations. I am taking a break from all events with the exception of our pilgrimage to India, which I am doing because of the tremendous spiritual power and energy that result from it.

We will also be offering a special add-on after our main pilgrimage, which, as you know, is titled “Journey to Find the Other Half of the Soul”. This added extension, titled “Journey into Transformative Silence’, has been very well received these past years and features a weeklong intensive that explores longer periods of meditation and silence that I personally guide and facilitate. And, upon coming out of this retreat, we undertake a mini pilgrimage to Arunachala, the holy mountain associated with the power of Shiva and on which the great sage, Ramana Maharshi, lived and taught. Each year, we journey to this mountain, meditate in the caves where the Maharshi stayed and meditated, attend the ceremonies at the ashram and partake in ancient rituals at the famous temple of Arunachaleshwara, one of the most prominent Shiva temples in all of South India. Housing the lingam of fire, this is truly the highlight of the extended add-on.