The road is beautiful for most part. But very rough for a few miles. I thought that the Indian car tires must be very strong. For a while I thought we were driving on large pebbles. We had darsans at Jonnawada Kamakshamma, Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swami first. Both were blissful, very nostalgic for me. Kamakshamma's Temple is also very familiar to me. During summer months our relatives also used to join in providing food and thirst quenching water, light butter milk to the devotees free of charge. I think each family sponsored a few days. The pooja and prasadms were delicious.
For the Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, I climbed the small hill in my younger days very easily. Now the car takes you almost to the top. Adilakshmi is the name of His consort here.
On the way, we needed to eat lunch and was tough getting a pure vegetarian place. But, luckily someone suggested a one man owned hotel in a small lane in a village (forgot the name). The driver got the directions and we had wonderful homemade meal there. He was from Palghat area in Kerala and was knowledgeable about Machilipatnam which impressed Rao even more.
After visiting these two, we arrived at the quiet ashram. It is spacious and clean. Lot of security. At first I only saw white people. Then I found out that there was a retreat going on the next day or so. We tried to get accommodation in the foreign section. We were asked to sit and wait for someone to come and talk to us. Rao mentioned some familiar name from the USA and the staff told him that that person was there. Within an hour he got a room and a key. Paid the fee and was happy. When we came out, Amma in her car was returning from a visit to her school. We stopped along the side of the road and had a glimpse of her as her car entered her residence compound. Rao decided to stay for the Yoga retreat for 3 days and I returned to Nellore to spend 3 days with my sister. We went to the Rapur bus stand to check the bus timings for him to return to Tirupati directly from there.
I had wonderful time in Nellore with my sisters. I returned to Tirupati per my original schedule, but, Rao extended his stay at the Ashram for two more days (one day at a time). He would have stayed longer, but we had reservations on a train to Visakhapatnam on the 18th.
I copied and pasted the following information from her India website for those who are interested:
International Headquarters Penusila Ashram
Sri Penchalakona Kshetram
Nellore District
Andhra Pradesh
INDIA – 524 414
Tel: 08621-221615
Email : communications@karunamayi.org
Directions:
From Nellore town, Penchalakona is 70km. From Thirupathi, it's 100km.
Every 90 minutes there is bus service from Nellore RTC busstand. By taxi, it takes about 90 minutes.
For the Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, I climbed the small hill in my younger days very easily. Now the car takes you almost to the top. Adilakshmi is the name of His consort here.
On the way, we needed to eat lunch and was tough getting a pure vegetarian place. But, luckily someone suggested a one man owned hotel in a small lane in a village (forgot the name). The driver got the directions and we had wonderful homemade meal there. He was from Palghat area in Kerala and was knowledgeable about Machilipatnam which impressed Rao even more.
After visiting these two, we arrived at the quiet ashram. It is spacious and clean. Lot of security. At first I only saw white people. Then I found out that there was a retreat going on the next day or so. We tried to get accommodation in the foreign section. We were asked to sit and wait for someone to come and talk to us. Rao mentioned some familiar name from the USA and the staff told him that that person was there. Within an hour he got a room and a key. Paid the fee and was happy. When we came out, Amma in her car was returning from a visit to her school. We stopped along the side of the road and had a glimpse of her as her car entered her residence compound. Rao decided to stay for the Yoga retreat for 3 days and I returned to Nellore to spend 3 days with my sister. We went to the Rapur bus stand to check the bus timings for him to return to Tirupati directly from there.
I had wonderful time in Nellore with my sisters. I returned to Tirupati per my original schedule, but, Rao extended his stay at the Ashram for two more days (one day at a time). He would have stayed longer, but we had reservations on a train to Visakhapatnam on the 18th.
I copied and pasted the following information from her India website for those who are interested:
International Headquarters Penusila Ashram
Sri Penchalakona Kshetram
Nellore District
Andhra Pradesh
INDIA – 524 414
Tel: 08621-221615
Email : communications@karunamayi.org
Directions:
From Nellore town, Penchalakona is 70km. From Thirupathi, it's 100km.
Every 90 minutes there is bus service from Nellore RTC busstand. By taxi, it takes about 90 minutes.
1 comment:
Thank you so much for all the details regarding Travel to ashram and the contact details 🙏
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