Lighting the Lamp of Wisdom: A Week Inside a Yoga Ashram
The insiders guide to Hindu spiritual life.
Ashram is the general term for a study center, retreat house, or monastic community in Hinduism, the millennia-old religious tradition of India. Ashrams of various kinds are now found throughout North America, and are popular venues for spiritual retreats, workshops, and classes.
Lighting the Lamp of Wisdom takes you into a typical week of retreat inside an ashram to demystify the ashram experience and show you what to expect from your own visit. You will experience all the elements of a typical day and week, including:
- The colorful puja, or worship services
- Meditation practices and yoga classes
- Classes on Hindu scriptures
- Chanting and music
- Satsang: an informal talk with the ashrams guru
- Work practice
- and much more.
You'll also meet some of the people who visit ashrams to hear their reasons for going there, as well as the spiritual benefits they derive from the experience. Also included are a helpful glossary, a list of books for further reading, and a directory to ashrams in North America that will enable you to locate one near you and set up your own visit.
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Book details
- Author
- John Ittner
- Imprint
- SkyLight Paths, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Formats
- Hardcover, Paperback
- Subjects
- Health & Fitness › Yoga
- Topics
- Hinduism · spiritual retreats · meditation · puja · Hindu scriptures · satsang · monastic community
- ISBN-13
- 9781683361749 (Hardcover)9781893361522 (Paperback)
About the author
JOHN ITTNER is a freelance journalist, writer, and yoga teacher who has studied yoga and Vedanta for many years at ashrams in the United States and India. He is the author of Lighting the Lamp of Wisdom: A Week Inside a Yoga Ashram.
Ittner served as a news editor at the New York Post; his articles have appeared in Yoga Life and other publications. Lighting the Lamp of Wisdom was reviewed by both Booklist and Library Journal.
When he’s not writing, Ittner teaches yoga, a practice rooted in the same ashram tradition explored throughout his work.
