Visit to The Isha Yoga Center

The Isha Yoga has it's main center at the foothills of the Velliangiri mountains close to Coimbatore, which was a three hour drive from Coonoor. 

            

This is one place that's been on my want to visit list for over two years now, and since attending the Isha Yoga program a month back, I've been wanting to do it with Diksha. So, this kind of fell neat into my lap. A one day trip from Coonoor.

It was an intense and interesting visit. (The pictures are all courtesy Google, as we're not allowed mobiles or cameras within the center.)

There's a sanctity, a structure and an energy to the place that you just can't miss. It's in the layout, the architecture, the methodology, the procedure, all designed towards increasing receptivity of the energy.

What's needed from us...... is to surrender to the process. And I was happy to see that Diksha wanted to do it all..... right from the dip into the Theerthakund. Guess it comes from the structure and approach again....focus on spirituality rather than religion.

A pillar at the entrance with symbols of all major religions of the world.

The Theerthakund is a deep pool with a live linga immersed in it, said to be an energy source capable of enhancing one's spiritual receptivity as well as overall health and well being. A dip in its waters serves as a preparatory tool to receive the energies of the Dhyanalinga, before entering the Yogic Temple. Built from gigantic granite blocks, this extraordinary structure is built 30 ft deep into the earth in a copper tank. 

The Suryakund is for men and the Chandrakund for women, and they're built pretty much symbolically aligned to the sun and the moon. The Suryakund is open, large, bright, while the chandrakund is dark, serene, small. Very interesting.

The Suryakund

The Chandrakund

And then you go into the Dhyanalinga yogic temple.  Dhyana means concentration and Linga means Form. It is said the be the largest mercury based live linga in the world. In the metaphysical sense, Dhyanalinga is a guru, an energy center of tremendous proportions. It has been consecrated by the mystic Sadhguru and enshrines the fully energized form of all seven chakras. 

Dhyanalinga is the distilled essence of yogic science. It does not ascribe to any particular belief or faith. It does not require any pooja or worship. Just sitting silently for few minutes within the sphere of Dhyanalinga is enough to make even those unaware of meditation experience a state of deep meditativeness and feel the energy that overflows from the form.

From the outside

The inside

It's powerful and beautiful, envelopes you with an awe. And while there were atleast fifty people inside when we went, it was absolute pin drop silence. One just sits and meditates; and the closest to a ritual is that at certain times they have a rhythmic instrumental cum vocal sound thingy, which makes the experience very intense, (apparently all based off sound vibrations).

And yes, can't forget, the place has a lot of snake sculptures, just about everywhere, like this one, and diksha loved it, as she's fascinated with snakes.

I've always believed in 'Sthana Balam' (energy concentration of a place), and there was no mistaking the energy here.