FAQ
What is the food like at your Retreat?
We serve organic, vegetarian food without garlic, onion and chili. A typical lunch consists of rice, dhal, yoghurt, roti (flat bread), one vegetable dish, and green salad with olive oil. For dinner we typically serve a soup, a vegetable dish, roti and sometimes rice. At breakfast we often serve mildly spiced rice with some beans or some sweet milk-rice.
Many of the vegetables come from our own garden and can be considered Vedic organic, since the plants are exposed to Vedic chants both life from the pandits and from loud-speakers day-over.
Vedic organic milk from our own cows is served both in the morning and in the evening.
Some of the rooms have their own kitchen-corner and one can cook something for one-self if one likes.
What is the best time of the year to come ?
Any time is good and has its charm. It also depends on what one wants to do. From being active in the ashram, participating in yagyas, meditating, or doing panchakarma we can recommend any time of the year. If you are coming to use the ashram as a base-camp and plan for hiking in the Himalaya, then generally autumn (October/November) is the best time. This holds true in general for the mountains all-over the northern hemisphere of the globe. But even there you have to consider what you want to see. If you come for studying the flora and herbs (visiting the famous valley of flowers, a one day travel away from the ashram), then the rainy season is much better (June to September/October). For smaller hikes in the local Himalaya of Kumaon even the winter months are ideal.
The view of the mountains are best from October to March. And it is rarest during the hot period of the plains (April to June), when it has lots of haze; sometimes the views are however clear in the early morning. The rainy season – regarding views – has its special charm. But you have to be lucky, as it is unpredictable when it happens. Sometimes there is no glimpse of the higher mountains for weeks – that can even happen during Mai or June as well – but then, during the rains, if the clouds move away, they usually don’t go completely and one gets the most amazing scenarios.
We are blessed here at 2000 meters height (6000 feet) with a balanced temperature. We had a few days during June where the temperature went up to 34 degrees Celsius – still there is never any need for air-conditioning and the other extreme during the winter months is that there can be a few days during which you find some frozen water on the ground in the morning. We have been blessed with snow not more than a few hours per season in the last six years and it does not stick to the ground more than halve a day. Usually the winter months are during sunshine warm enough to sit out at the sun and enjoy one’s meal. We have a lot of lemon and orang trees – they would not survive if there was frost. All our guest rooms have floor heating, so it is comfortable even for doing PK during the winter months.
What did Maharishi say about rejuvenation in the Himalayas?
You can see his comment about the value of the Himalayas for one’s evolution and his plans for the construction of Himalayan retreats here.
Do you have any further questions?
Please write us a message or call us. Ashutosh’s phone numbers are: 9917248154 or 7599367331 or 09810207429 (if you call from Delhi then the last number does not need a 0 at the beginning but the first two instead).