Enjoy my collection
Spirituality
Never underestimate your luck. And importantly, never overestimate your skill - Prasanna :)
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From all that we know, we certainly know that we do not know it all. I owe my present self to all those countless countries, cultures, and people of different genres that my life is so blessed to be associated with. There is a beautiful adage from Aitareya Upanishad (of Rigveda) – ‘Pragnanam Brahma’. For me, this means – we are not just our name, fame, ego, or assembly of organs – but the collection of consciousness we gather in our lives. In this perceived little race for life, and the illusion of primacy within, we often neglect the importance of seeking solitude and paying tribute to those butterfly effects that made us what we are.
A student asked me once ‘To what do you attribute your doings in life..?’. I said then, and also believe now…. ‘most of it is luck, or for the lack of a better word – destiny; and perhaps a little bit of my attempt also played it’s part’. I once saw a statistical estimate that about 250,000 people were born on the very day I did. Why was I born in a place that hasn’t turned into rubble by wars, famine, etc.? Why I was born to that couple who let me do those uncommon things that I did? Why and how I met those beautiful people who taught me, guided me, helped me, nurtured me, stood next to me – at those very junctures? And why things did not go wrong despite an abundant statistical possibility….? I don’t know. This section of website is a humble tribute to that cosmic energy that’s beyond my cognitive comprehension.
And before you ask me for a saffron robe and join on a trip to Himalayas, let’s make one thing clear. Seeking spiritual prudence is not eluding our zest for life, but acknowledging the dearth in our mortal conscious. Instilling that moral and spiritual discipline in our lives to stay thankful for what we know, what we are, and yet, relentlessly pursue answers to those deeper meaningful questions of life.
And therefore, I feel it a blessing to have experienced the energy and spiritual connection at the following amazing places. I hope you all will also experience it. I have my travel notes from all the places on this page (i.e. smart tips like how to travel, when to travel, what time of the day is best, safety, and other tips). Happy to share, but… you have to give something back to the society (not necessarily thru this website). If you are busy or need some ideas, visit my ‘Giving back to society‘ page or ‘Donate -> Shop‘ page for some hints. If you have any questions, please contact me via ‘Contact me‘ page.
IMPORTANT: I hold equal respect for all religions and belief systems. This is merely a humble attempt to preserve the spiritual wisdom of our ancestors and NOT to promote (or demote) any religion.
(click on ‘+‘ symbol to expand the list of shrines)
Hinduism
The 18 Mahashakti peetas (Ashtadasa Mahashaktipeeta): Alampur, Draksharamam, Gaya, Guwahati, Jajpur, Kanchi, Kangra, Kolhapur, Mahur, Mysore, Pandua, Pithapuram, Prayagraj, Sri Sailam, Triconmalee (Sri Lanka), Ujjain, Varanasi, and Neelam valley [Sarada peeth - I haven't been to this one in Pakistan, yet]
The 12 Jyothirlingas (Dwadasa Jyothirlingas): Baidyanath (and/or Parli Vaidnath), Bhimshankar, Dwaraka, Ellora, Kedarnath, Nashik, Omkareshwar, Rameswaram, Somnath, Srisailam, Ujjain, and Varanasi
The 7 Puris (Saptapuris): Ayodhya, Dwaraka, Haridwar, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Ujjain, Varanasi
The 5 kedars (Panchakedara): Kalpeshwar, Kedarnath, Madhmaheshwar, Rudranath, Tungnath, [and the assumed 6th Kedar - Pasupatinath, Kathmandu]
The 5 Ramas (Pancharamas): Amara Rama, Draksha Rama, Ksheera Rama, Kumara Rama, Soma Rama
The temples of 5 elements (Panchaboota Sthanam): Chidambaram, Kalahasthi, Kanchipuram, Tiruvanaikaval, Thiruvannamalai
The 4 Dhams (Original Sri Adi Shankaracharya peetas): Badrinath, Dwaraka, Puri, and Rameshwaram
The 4 Dhams (smaller circuit): Badrinath, Gangothri, Kedarnath, and Yamunotri
The 3 Rangas (Tri-rangas or Vaikuntas): Srirangapatnam, Shivanasamudra, Srirangam
Others: Antarvedi (Narasimha), Ayodhya (Ram Janmabhumi), Badami (Buddha), Bidar (Narasimha), Bhadrachalam (Sri Rama), Bhopal (Sanchi, Bhojeshwar), Bhubaneshwar (Lingraj), Chidambaram (Nataraja), Chirabasa (the peaks of Bagiratha, Brigu, Iravat), Delhi (Akshardham), Dwaraka Tirumala (Sri Venkateswara), Ellora (Kailasha), Gaya (Mahabodhi, Phalgu River), Geetasar (where Geeta is believed to have been revealed), Guruvayoor (Sri Krishna), Halebeedu (Hoysaleswara), Hampi (Virupaksha), Haridwar (Ganga, Manasa Devi), Kanchi (Ekambareshwar, Kamakshi), Khajuraho (Lakshmana, Western/Eastern group of temples), Kolkata (Belur Math, Sri Kaali), Konark (Sun Temple), Kumbakonam (Darasuram), Kurukshetra (Jyotisar, Brahmasarovar, Draupati Kund), Lepakshi (Veerabhadra), Madurai (Meenakshi Amman), Mangalore (Mangala Devi), Mathura (Vrindavan), Mysore (Chamundeshwari, Sri Bhagavati, Sri Manjunatha), Mathura (Sri Krishna Janmasthan - believed birthplace of Krishna, Vrundavan), Mantralayam (Sri Raghavendra), Modhera (Sun temple), Orrcha (Ram Raja), Puri (Jagannath), Ranakpur (Jain temple), Rishikesh (Ram/Laxman Jula), Sabarimala (Ayyappa), Sringeri (Sharadamba), Sri Kalahasthi (Lord Shiva), Tanjore (Bhrihadeeswara), Tirupati (Venkateswara), Trivandrum (Sri Padmanabhaswamy), Udupi (Sri Krishna), Vijayawada (Kanaka Durga)
Buddhism & Taoism
- 10,000 Buddha Monastery (Hong Kong)
- Buddhist caves of Ajanta (Lenapur, India)
- Dhamek Stupa (Sarnath, India)
- Diskit Gompa(Diskit, India)
- Guiyuan Temple (Wuhan, China)
- Hanging Monastery (Datong, China)
- Lama Temple (Dongcheng, China)
- Longxing Temple (Shikia, China)
- Mahabodhi Tree - 3rd generation sapling of the tree under which Gautama is believed to have become Lord Buddha (Gaya, India)
- Mayadevi Temple - Believed birthplace of Lord Buddha (Lumbini, Nepal)
- Nalanda University (Nalanda, India)
- Parinivana Stupa (Kushinagar, India)
- Po Lin Monastery (Nhong Ping, Hong Kong)
- Residence of HH Dalai Lama (Dharamsala, India)
- Sanchi Stupa (Bhopal, India)
- Shaolin Temple (Dengfeng, China)
- Tabo Monastery (Spiti, India)
- Tawang Gompa (Tawang, India)
- Tsemo Maitreya (Leh, India)
- Wenshu Yuan Monastery (Chengdu, China)
- White horse Temple (Luoyang, China)
Shintoism (and Buddhist temples of Japan/Korea)
- Beobjusa (Boeun, Korea)
- Bongeunsa Temple (Gangnam, Korea)
- Bongwonsa Temple (Seoul, Korea)
- Boriam Temple (Nahmei, Korea)
- Bulguksa Temple (Gyeongju, Korea)
- Daikozen (Kiyama, Japan)
- Dairyuji Temple (Oga, Japan)
- Eboshiyama Saifuku Temple (Kagoshima, Japan)
- Eikan-do Zenrin-Ji Temple (Kyoto, Japan)
- Fukusaiji Temple (Nagasaki, Japan)
- Fushimi Inari Taisha (Kyoto, Japan)
- Futagoji (Kunisaki, Japan)
- Gwaneumsa Temple (Jeju, Korea)
- Haedong Yonggungsa (Busan, Korea)
- Hasedera Temple (Kamakura, Japan)
- Higashi-Honganji Temple (Kyoto, Japan)
- Itsukushima Shrine (Hiroshima, Japan)
- Jogyesa Temple (Seoul, Korea)
- Jotenji Temple (Fukouka, Japan)
- Kirishima-Jingu Shrine (Kagoshima, Japan)
- Kotoku-in Temple (Kamakura, Japan)
- Lingguang Temple (Shiji, China)
- Saisho-in Temple (Hirosaki, Japan)
- Seiryu Temple (Kagoshima, Japan)
- Senso-Ji Temple (Taito, Japan)
- Shitennoji Temple (Osaka, Japan)
- Shoryuji Temple (Aomori, Japan)
- Tapsa Temple (Jinan, Korea)
- Yakcheonsa Temple (Jeju, Korea)
Sikhism
The holiest Punj-Takths of:
- Sri Akal takht Sahib - The Eternal Throne (Amritsar, India)
- Sri Damdama Sahib - Where Sri Guru Gobind Singh compiled Guru Granth Sahib (Bathinda, India)
- Sri Hazur Sahib - Sri Guru Gobind Singh's permanent abode (Nanded, India)
- Sri Keshgarh Sahib - Where the Khalsa was founded (Anandpur, India)
- Sri Patna Sahib - Birthplace of Sri Guru Gobind Singh (Patna, India)
Other important Shrines:
- Fateh Burj - Memorial of Sri Banda Singh Bahadur (Khanda, India)
- Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib - Where Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded by Mughals (New Delhi, India)
- Gurudwara Sahib Thanda Burj - Where Sri Guru Gobind Singh's wife/sons were kept captive (Fatehgarh Sahib, India)
- Gurudwara Shri Fatehgarh Sahib - Where Sri Guru Gobind Sing's sons were walled (Fatehgarh Sahib, India)
- Nada Sahib - Commemoration of Guru Gobind Singh's halt (Panchkula, India)
- Tarn Taran Sahib - Founded by Sri Guru Arjan Dev, the 5th Guru (Tarn Taran, India)
Jainism
- Chaturbhuja Temple (Karkala, India)
- Dilwara Jain Temple (Mount Abu, India)
- Gomateshwara (Shravanabelagola, India)
- Hutheesing (Ahmedabad, India)
- Jain Temples of Ranakpur (Ranakpur , India)
- Lal Mandir (New Delhi, India)
Christianity
- Anglican Cathedral (Canterbury, UK)
- Basilica di Santa Croce (Florence, Italy)
- Basilica di Santa Maria Novella (Florence, Italy)
- Basilica of Bom Jesus (Goa, India)
- Basilica of St. James (Prague, Czech)
- Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence, Italy)
- Cathedral of St. Gallen (St. Gallen, Switzerland)
- Church of all Saints (Allahabad, India)
- Church of our lady of the Immaculate Conception (Goa, India)
- Cistine Chapel (Vatican, Holy See)
- City Cathedral (Chartres, France)
- City Cathedral (Cologne, Germany)
- City Cathedral (Milan, Italy)
- Fraumünster (Zurich, Switzerland)
- Grossmünster (Zurich, Switzerland)
- Hagia Sophia (Istanbul, Turkey)
- Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (Berlin, Germany)
- Notre Dame (Paris, France)
- Our lady of Dolours Church (Trichur, India)
- Pantheon (Rome, Italy)
- Rouen Cathedral (Paris, France)
- Sagrada Familia (Barcelona, Spain)
- Santa Cruz Basilica (Cochin, India)
- St. Alexander Cathedral (Sofia, Bulgaria)
- St. Basil's Cathedral (Moscow, Russia)
- St. Catherine Cathedral (Goa, India)
- St. Hedwig's Cathedral (Berlin)
- St. Mark's Basilica (Venice, Italy)
- St. Patricks (New York, USA)
- St. Paul Cathedral (Kolkata, India)
- St. Paul Cathedral (London, UK)
- St. Peter Pfarrhaus (Geneva, Switzerland)
- St. Peter’s Basilica (Vatican, Holy See)
- St. Philomena’s Church (Mysore, India)
- St. Sophia Cathedral (Kiev, Ukraine)
- St. VitaCathedral (Prague, Czech)
- Stave Church (Borgund, Norway)
- Stephen's Cathedral (Vienna, Austria)
- The Basilica Of The Sacred Heart (Montmatre, Paris)
- Vallarpadam Chuch (Cochin, India)
- Velankanni Church (Nagapattinam, India)
- WasserKirche (Zurich, Switzerland)
- Westminister Abbey (London, UK)
Islam
- Khwaja Muin-uddin Chisthi (Ajmir, India)
- Bara Imambara (Lucknow, India)
- Hagia Sophia (Istanbul, Turkey)
- Hazratbal Masjid (Srinagar, India)
- Jama Masjid (New Delhi, India)
- Makkah Masjid (Hyderabad, India)
- Haji Ali Dargah (Mumbai, India)
- Rüstem Pasa Camii (Istanbul, Turkey)
- Taj-ul Masjid (Bhopal, India)
- The Blue Mosque (Istabnul, Turkey)
- Tipu Sultan Masjid (Kolkata, India)
- Zeenath Baksh (Mangalore, India)
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