check out this Ashram in Southern India when you get the chance. It is welcoming people from all over to world to study yoga without spending thousands of dollars like most of the other institutes.
Greetings! I noticed this post on yoga forum and wanted to elaborate more about the Tureya Foundation. Many of my friends have asked me where I have studied yoga in India as they want a point of reference before they travel to another country with different social standards and many different lifestyles. I thought that this question might also be circulating around a large community as well, since by nature we are mostly a rational and questioning society. There are a few details I thought I should fill in, as the Tureya website does not seem to clarify on a few aspects of the community which I think are vital to anyone who is interested in visiting, perhaps studying at their ashram in India.
First: My experience with Tureya. I found the Tureya community 6 years back through an Indian friend. The two of us had studied together in college, yet she was born and raised in Tamil Nadu, India while I grew up in the US. Her father was a devotee of the Swami Sivananda lineage of yoga and was advancing his practice under the guidance of Swami Tureyananda. During my third visit to India my friend Priya and her father took me to meet swamiji in Kodaikanal. At that time the ashram was only known by word of mouth, so to speak, and you were only allowed into the ashram if you were known to the disciples or swamiji. I lived at the ashram for two months studying Kriya Yoga and swamiji?s revelation of Tantra yoga, but during my stay I saw many people turned away from the ashram who were seeking a path other than that of the spiritual life. At the ashram there were students from many different countries, but all had the same goal to find self-realization. This I could always sense on a deeper level.
I think the Tureya foundation has only recently entered the online community. I have written one of my dearest friends at the ashram who told me that the disciples were asking swamiji to put up a website so more people had access to the teaching. I was surprised since the ashram is anything but commercial, but judging by the information I think the website is designed to continue the ashrams main goal which is to share the love and joy of spirituality. Still they are very selective of who can live and study at the ashram, and you are only welcome upon invitation. They are strictly against ?drop-ins.?
Anyways I am really grateful for what the ashram has provided in my life, and thought this would be another opportunity to give back to the community by spreading the word and information regarding the ashram. I wanted to post so that others would be able to find the same peace that I have discovered. If you have any questions you may contact me at: jaishakti@cheerful.com but please do not use my email for exploitation of advertising. I am putting it up so people may contact me with any questions.
hi!
I just wanted to say thank you for the wonderful reference. I just finished a 3 month retreat there 2 months ago after traveling throughout India. I ended up starting my trip at the ashram and traveling to through the rest of India for another month, but had I the chance or choice to return to one place in India again I would definitely return to the ashram.
Aside from this, I also wanted to say how much I enjoyed my first trip to India, and I would definitely recommend the trip to others as well as it has greatly impacted my life.
Stay well and happy!
Does anyone have additional details regarding their tantra yoga courses? I’ve been doing a lot of research about tantra yoga online and had some doubts about some of the practices I have been learning in Europe. I read one book by Swami Sivananda online that talked a lot about tantra yoga from a much different perspective than what I am accustom to, yet it seems to be on par with what I believe is “real” tantra.
I understand that tantra is deeply rooted in the Shivite tradition which originated in Southern India where the ashram is located. Do they still practice some of these traditions at the ashram?
Thanks for your help
Priya
Hi. I received guidance from the Tureya Ashram in Tantra yoga 2 years ago under the supervision of Maharishi Tureyananda. It is not easy to get lesson in trantra from swamiji as he will usually on teach students who are well prepared and balanced is their worldy and spiritual lives.
Yes, tantra is a highly advanced system of yoga that is practiced with the intention of deepening the spiritual awareness as well as advancing the practitioner towards higher states of consciousness. The Tureya Ashram does not offer courses in Tantra yoga but rather guides students through the lessons of tantra and the philosophical as well as practical lessons from this ancient system.
Tantra cannot be taught as a course, however it can be experience through direct guidance and inspiration. As tantra is a highly diverse and advanced system, the student of tantra must be well prepared and guided by the guru. The student must also have a sound mind and body in order to delve into the practice otherwise spiritual growth is not possible.
Below is a description of tantra yoga written by Swami Sivananda who is the Mahaswami of the Tureya Tradition. From these guidelines many of the lessons from the ashram take root.
"Tantra Yoga had been one of the most advanced and developed practices for the spiritual regeneration and growth of the Rishis and spiritual aspirants of yore. When practiced by the ignorant, unenlightened, and unqualified persons, it has led to certain abuses; and there is no denying that some degraded forms of Saktism have sought nothing but magic, immorality, and occult powers. An example of the perverted expression of the truth, a travesty of the original practices, is the theory of the five Makaras (Pancha Makaras);-Madya or wine, Mamsa or flesh, Matsya or fish, Mudra or symbolical acts, and Maithuna or coition. The esoteric meaning of these five Makaras is: “Kill egoism, control flesh, drink the wine of God-intoxication, and have union with Lord Siva”.
Tantra explains (Tanoti) in great detail the knowledge concerning Tattva (Truth or Brahman) and Mantra (mystic syllables). It saves (Trayate). Hence it is called Tantra.
The Tantras are not books of sorcery, witchcraft, magic spells, and mysterious formulae. They are wonderful scriptures. All persons without the distinctions of caste, creed, or colour may draw inspiration from them and attain spiritual strength, wisdom, and eternal bliss. Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras are the important books in Tantra Sastra. Yoga Kundalini Upanishad of Krishna Yajurveda, Jabala Darsana, Trisikha Brahmana, and Varaha Upanishad are useful for getting knowledge of Kundalini Sakti and the methods to awaken it and take it to Sahasrara Chakra at the crown of the head.
The Tantra is, in some of its aspects, a secret doctrine. It is a Gupta Vidya. You cannot learn it from the study of books. You will have to get the knowledge and practice from the practical Tantrikas, the Tantric Acharyas and Gurus who hold the key to it. The Tantric student must be endowed with purity, faith, devotion, dedication to Guru, dispassion, humility, courage, cosmic love, truthfulness, non-covetousness, and contentment. Absence of these qualities in the practitioner means a gross abuse of Saktism.
The Sakti Tantra is Advaita Vada. It proclaims that Paramatman (Supreme Soul) and Jivatman (individual soul) are one. The Saktas accept the Vedas as the basic scriptures. They recognise the Sakta-Tantras as texts expounding the means to attain the goal set forth in the Vedas.
Tantra Yoga lays special emphasis on the development of the powers latent in the six Chakras, from Muladhara to Ajna. Kundalini Yoga actually belongs to Tantric Sadhana which gives a detailed description about this serpent-power and the Chakras (plexus). Entire Tantric Sadhana aims at awakening Kundalini, and making her to unite with Lord Sadasiva, in the Sahasrara Chakra. Methods adopted to achieve this end in Tantric Sadhana are Japa of the Name of the Mother, prayer, and various rituals. "
Can anyone tell me approximately how much it would cost me to stay at the Tureya Ashram for about one month?