If you’ve already read my free guide to exploring Kashi here on my Substack, you’ll already know about the significance of Kashi.
The most ancient continuous lived city in the world and the core of Vedic civilisation, this is a pure vortex of spiritual energy and knowledge.
Seekers from all over the world come here to learn, yet the significance of Kashi as a Hindu ‘Teerth Kshetra’ is immense. Kashi is one of the 7 Moksha Puris and the most significant, with Kashi Vishwanath being the main of the 12 jyotirlings.
How did Kashi change my life?
I went there for the first time in 2017, but I ended up getting gastritis and had to leave in a few days. It wasn’t really my time yet, but I knew that I would be back there one day!
When I returned to Kashi in 2021 for Mahashivratri, I was completely new. I had no idea where the temple was, where to find a pandit - yet the day before Mahashivratri everything just worked out, as if by magic. As if I had been there for several lifetimes and was just remembering my old home.
This time I stayed for a few weeks, exploring the ancient mandirs and getting acquainted with the place. In 2022, I stayed there for 2.5 months - once again during Mahashivratri, and became fully immersed in its magic. This is when I started conducting trips. It was a spontaneous inspiration to do so, because I was experiencing so many things and I felt the need to deliver it to others!
There was absolutely no one that I knew who was giving people a non-touristy, deep experience of Kashi that I was experiencing on a daily basis, understanding the ancient stories and spiritual rituals as well.
And then in 2023, I was in and out continuously, it Kashi became my second home. I would wake up every day and worship the Ganga, do my Surya Namaskars on the terrace, walk around the ancient temples and never once did I feel like I missed the modern world. Everything that I searched in my 6+ years of travelling the world, I had found in Kashi. It will take at least a few pages to describe in full, so that will be saved for another story.
Why are my trips different?
I started conducting group Kashi Yatras to provide an authentic experience of this sacred place, for mandir darshan and to understand the spiritual science behind Vedic rituals. Across the 11+ years of my own spiritual journey exploring ancient cultures across the world, as well as my own Hindu lineage, I understood these aspects very deeply.
My aim was both to provide a transformational experience as well as something that the yatree would take home with them to continue, as is said by Neem Karoli Baba, “All land is Kashi, All water is Ganga.”
You could say it was divine inspiration, and I do believe that Kashi is a calling. Each and every soul that joins is there by their soul calling, and I find that my Kashi Yatra trips have a unique and beautiful group dynamic.
I currently have TWO types of Kashi trips on offer
One specific teerth yatra structure which includes rituals and is a applicable only to Hindu Yatra-goers
An open spiritual format which can be joined by anyone, from any country, wishing to experience the real ancient Kashi
I have two teerth yatras coming up now in February and March, and I will have open trips in the second half of the year.
My trips have now been launched on Tripoto - find it here to register as places are filling fast!
Har Har Mahadev