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Here is the entrance of the orphanage Matri Chhaya Gurukulam
where we stayed during our visit.
The building where we stayed had opened the day before.
Isabelle is doing her Seva time.
At the orphanage, we practiced karma yoga
or selfless service for the community.
Swami Sharad Puri has founded many institutions in India.
With Yogi Sarveshwarananda Giri,
they built the ashram-orphanage Matri Chhaya Gurukulam.
It is Swami Sharad Puri who picked the children in the jungle.
Almost all have lost their parents.
Many ashrams exist in India.
These places are directed by a spiritual teacher
where students stay to train with him.
Ashrams have existed in India for at least 6,000 years.
Swami Vijayananda, head of Anandamoyee Ma's ashram in Haridwar,
was a French doctor living in India for 45 years.
He died on April 6th, 2010.
The Khumba Mela, or "Festival of the Pot",
is the largest religious gathering in the world.
The most important for the pilgrims is to bathe in the Ganga river.
They believe that it cleanses them from their sins.
According to Hindu myth,
the churning of the "Ocean of Milk" produced a nectar of immortality
over which the gods and the demons fought for 12 days,
which are symbolized by the 12 year-cycle of the Khumba Mela.
During this struggle finally won by the gods
a few drops of this nectar escaped from the pot and fell in 4 places,
Haridwar, Ujjain, Nasik, and Allahabad—
the four sacred pilgrimage sites of the Kumbha Mela.
A stop in Rishikesh in one of the many ashrams.
We went to a shelter for widows and poor people who make malas—
sacred necklaces imbued with
physical, spiritual, astrological, and neurological properties.
Thanks to the members of the Instant Présent association,
220 pounds of toys were collected and distributed
to several orphanages and children in need.
Thanks to the little French yogis who gave their own toys
and made a calendar for the children of Matri Chhaya Gurukulam.