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Tour Leaders: Phil Cousineau has published over twenty non-fiction
books including the international bestselling, The Art of Pilgrimage.
Recently, Cousineau has appeared on CNN, the Discovery Channel, Fox News, and
Hallmark's "New Morning Show" speaking about the phenomenal revival world
pilgrimage, and on several Warner Brothers DVD deluxe sets as a commentator
on mythology in the movies. Currently, Cousineau is serving as host for the new
LINK TV series, "Global Spirit."; And Anthony Lawlor –
Oprah,
National Public Radio and numerous other media have featured the work of
award-winning architect Anthony Lawlor.
He is the author of The Temple in the House and
A Home for the Soul. His film, The Living Temple,
takes audiences on a thrilling adventure through the world’s great sacred
places. Learn more about Phil & Tony on our
About Your Tour Leaders page.
Special Offering! Sign up by
Sept 15th and receive a complimentary gift pack including a signed
copy of Phil Cousineau's internationally bestselling book, The Art
of Pilgrimage; Anthony Lawlor's book A Home for the
Soul (a beautiful, hardcover, colour book, featured on
OPRAH) and a DVD of Anthony Lawlor's film The Living
Temple: A Journey to World Sacred Places.
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Phil Cousineau, filmmaker & author of The Art Of Pilgrimage,
and Anthony Lawlor, award-winning architect, author and filmmaker, invite
you to join them on an Seventeen-Day Pilgrimage - The Soul of India: A
Pilgrimage through Sacred Art, Architecture and Culture. We will visit the
Sacred Sites of the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists,
including the great annual bathing festival of Magh Mela at Allahabad,
the meeting place of India's three great rivers, the Ganga, Yamuna
and Saraswati, and considered to be the holiest spot in all of India.
 Our
pilgrimage will be a journey through the Rasas, the ancient Indian
approach to savoring the flavors of the soul as expressed in art, architecture,
music, food, and every other aspects of living. Phil Cousineau and
Anthony Lawlor will help you move deeply into the pilgrimage experience,
expanding your ability to perceive the connections between the soul of India and
the soul that animates your life. This direct experience of inner and outer soul
will be our focus, allowing you to integrate the riches of this culture into
your own life. The history and architectural style of the Taj Mahal, for
example, are less important than experiencing this setting as an embodiment of
one’s own archetypal desire to dwell in a loving paradise.
We
invite you to join Phil, Tony and other like-minded travelers to the country
with the oldest continuously operating pilgrimage system in the world. You will
join thousands of devotees at the Magh Mela festival, held at the
confluence of India's three holiest rivers.
Throughout the journey Phil and Tony will be offering lectures and discussions
to further enhance the journey. Topics will include the Seven Stages of
Pilgrimage; the magical theory of the Rasas in Indian art; the
Hindu Temple: Meeting Place of Heaven and Earth; the Ramayana,
the ancient Hindu epic that still pervades much of modern life in India; The
Taj Mahal: Paradise Garden of Eternal Love; Khajuraho: Entering the Divine
through the Senses; Varanasi - The Architecture of Impermanence: Birth, Death
and Immortality; Nuances of Pilgrimage in the Hindu and Muslim Traditions;
The “Arrival” stage of The Art of Pilgrimage; Under the Bodhi Tree:
The Design of Awakening to Your True Nature, and of course the most
problematic stage of the journey for pilgrims, which is The Return. How
do we do justice to our travels? How do we remember and turn into stories what
most moved our souls? Here we will discuss rituals that help you preserve your
journey in memory and even connect you to the rest of your community, and we’ll
discuss how to create some soulful memento of your pilgrimage.
 We
will experience some of the most important places in the life of Lord Buddha,
including a hilltop where he taught and a pond where he bathed. We will meditate
near the site of the Bodhi tree where he gained Enlightenment. At Amritsar,
we will visit the lake where the Buddha meditated and is now the site of the
magnificent Golden Temple, holiest place in the Sikh religion.
We
will witness unforgettable ceremonies at the most-visited pilgrimage destination
in India, the River Ganges in Varanasi. And no visit to India
would be complete without witnessing the spectacular Taj Mahal and the
stark contrasts of Old and New Delhi.
This sacred journey is designed to be a meaningful, spiritually-renewing
experience, to nurture your creativity, help you realize your personal dreams
and better understand your own purpose.
An excerpt from The Art of Pilgrimage by Phil Cousineau
captures the essence of a Sacred Journey:
"For millennia, the cry in the heart for embarking upon a meaningful journey has
been answered by pilgrimage, a transformative journey to a sacred center. It
calls for a journey to a holy site associated with gods, saints, or heroes, or
to a natural setting imbued with spiritual power, or to a revered temple to seek
counsel. To people the world over, pilgrimage is a spiritual exercise, an act of
devotion to find a source of healing, or even to perform a penance. Always, it
is a journey of risk and renewal. For a journey without challenge has no
meaning; one without purpose has no soul...
The object of pilgrimage is not rest and recreation - to get away from it all.
To set out on a pilgrimage is to throw down a challenge to everyday life.
Nothing matters now but this adventure. Travelers jostle each other to board the
train [bus, plane] where they crowd together for a journey that may last several
days. After that there is a stony road to climb on foot - a rough, wild path in
a landscape where everything is new. The naked glitter of the sacred mountain
stirs the imagination; the adventure of self-conquest has begun. Specifics may
differ, but the substance is always the same.."
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 "I
am convinced that pilgrimage is still a bona finde spirit-renewing
ritual. But I also believe in pilgrimage as a powerful metaphor for
any journey with the purpose of finding something that matters
deeply to the traveler. With a deepening of focus, keen prepartion,
attention to the path below our feet, and respect for the
destination at hand, it is possible to transform, even the most
ordinary journey into a sacred journey, a pligrimage."
--Phil Cousineau, from THE ART OF PILGRIMAGE (Hardcover, Conari
Press, 1999; Paperback, Conari Press 2001, Audio: Dove Audio) |
"Making THE
LIVING TEMPLE showed me that sacred places are as essential to human life as
eating and sleeping. Each day, billions of people enter these setting of
profound peace and inspiration. Moving from culture to culture, I saw sacred
architecture and art depicting those who came before us passing through trials
and breakthroughs similar to our own. Beyond surface differences in style, these
structures describe a shared human condition: getting basic necessities while
trying to understand who we are, why we are here and where we are going. For
thousands of years, geography and belief separated the sacred places of
different countries. Now, the Internet, satellite television and international
travel are drawing them into a LIVING TEMPLE of insight and inspiration.”
Anthony Lawlor, filmmaker |
