‘Kashi’ – the city of effulgence! The heart of every Hindu leaps to divine heights the moment he hears ‘Kashi’. Every Hindu considers dropping his body at Kashi as the highest attainment. Sankaracharya says that Lord Viswanatha transmits the highest knowledge of Brahman to those who live in Kashi.

Innumerable sages have lived in this city, which according to modern researchers, is at least 5,000 years old. Sankaracharya started his mission here. Even Buddha gave his first sermon at Kashi. Sri Ramakrishna had the vision of a ‘Swarna nagari’ (golden city) when he beheld Kashi from a distance. Tulsidas wrote Ramacharitamanas here. Kabir lived here. Trailinga Swami, a mighty yogi, lived for almost 280 years in this city. Such is the glory of this city.

With Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s grace and Sri Nochur Acharya’s blessings, a satsang is being envisioned in this holy city of Kashi. This saptaham (seven-day satsang) is planned by the banks of Ganga Mata in the punya ksethra of Kashi, from October 12-19th 2019, with Sri Nochur Acharya gracing us as the Yajnacharaya.

This satsang will be held at Kovilur Mutt grounds opposite Udipi Krishna temple, next to Assi Ghat and is organised by Sri Ramana Maharshi Brahmavidyasrama Trust, a non-profit Trust.

There are 3 types of rooms to choose from:

1. Non-AC rooms in Ashrams
2. AC rooms in Ashrams
3. AC rooms in hotels

Almost all the Ashrams and hotels have lifts and all the rooms have western toilets.

Most of the rooms have 2 beds with an option of adding another mattress if there is a third person. We are unable to provide single occupancy rooms, given our constraints.

As Kashi is warm at that time of the year, devotees may want to take this into consideration before selecting the type of room.

Accommodation has been arranged for 7 days – from 12th Oct 1 PM to 19th Oct 11 AM. If you reach earlier on 12th, hotels/ashrams may give you rooms if they are available. Else, you can keep the luggage in cloak rooms available in hotels/ashrams and return at the designated check-in time. More Information on check-in and check-out times, luggage room facilities etc., for each hotel/ashram will be sent to you after we allocate the rooms.

Rooms will be allocated on first-come first-served basis and communicated on October 1st.

If you plan to stay in Kashi before 12th Oct or after 19th Oct, please arrange your own accommodation.

All Ashrams and hotels are within 1-1.25 KM of the Satsang venue. For the convenience of elderly devotees, e-rikshaws have been arranged between selected primary locations near these hotels/ashrams and the satsang venue thrice a day at no extra cost.

• Wholesome sattvic food will be served 3 times a day besides coffee and tea. 

 

• Food will be served near Satsang venue from 12th Oct (early lunch) up to breakfast on 19th Oct. Packed food will also be given on 19th after breakfast, for travel purposes.

Devotees need to make their own travel arrangements to reach Kashi. Varanasi is well connected by train and air from Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai.

 

Train

From	To	Trains	Frequency
Bangalore	Varanasi	Pataliputra Express	On Mondays
Bangalore	Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Jn (Mughal Sarai) – 20 KMs from Varanasi	Sanghamitra Express	On all days
Chennai	Varanasi	Ganga Kaveri Express	Mondays and Saturdays
Chennai	Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Jn (Mughal Sarai) – 20 KMs from Varanasi	Sanghamitra Express	On all days
Mumbai	Varanasi	Darbangha Express LTT MUV Express Mahanagari Express Gorakhpur Express	On all days

Air

Daily direct flights are available between Varanasi and Bangalore/Chennai/Mumbai.

Transportation between Airport/Railway station and Ashrams/hotels:

It takes about an hour from the airport to Assi Ghat.

Please contact Sri. Nataraja Iyer, Dakshineshwari Travels 94515 26854, 90448 35666 in advance.

Costs from the the airport to Assi Ghat:
        AC Car – Rs. 800 (Indigo), Rs. 1,250 for Innova, Rs. 2,200 for 17-seater tempo traveler.
        Alternately pre-paid cars are also available at the airport
Costs from Railway stations to Assi Ghat:
        From Varanasi station by car: Rs. 600
        From Mughal Sarai station by car: Rs. 850

List of items to bring

• Steel Plate & Tumbler for food, water and coffee
• Flask
• Bedspread
• Torch light
• Mobile charger
• Umbrella
• Rope & Clip for drying cloth
• Medicines
• Electric kettle, if you wish to make coffee or tea in your room
• Shawl

Those interested in pithrukarya, please contact Sri. Kedar at 0542-227 3637 or 94153 03637. Please plan 4 extra days before or after Yagna for pithrukarya.

Please read all the information given in sections Stay and Transportation and Registration Info before proceeding with registration.
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Registration cost is per person and is based on the type of room chosen.

Type of room	Registration Cost per person*	% of total rooms
Ashram – Non AC	Rs. 10,500	15%
Ashram – AC	Rs. 12,500	21%
Hotel – AC	Rs. 15,500	64%

 

Registration cost covers accommodation, food, local e-rikshaw to/from satsang venue (3 times a day) and other satsang arrangements. It does not cover travel costs from your home town to Kashi and transportation between airport/railway station and your place of stay.

An Appeal: As the ashram rooms are limited, devotees who can afford Hotel a/c rooms are requested to book them, so that the ashram rooms are available for those with smaller budget.

How to register?

Please click on REGISTER section above.
Please be ready with the following before you start registering:

• A google email ID – This is mandatory for registration.
• Credit/Card or Debit Card if you plan to pay online using a card

How to pay for registration?

At the time of registration after entering all the required information, you can choose one of the following payment methods:

1. NEFT/IMPS
2. HDFC Payment Gateway to pay with Credit Card/Debit Card/Net
   Banking (Temporarily unavailable)

If you select NEFT/IMPS:

• To help us track payments effectively, a unique account number is assigned to you, whose NEFT transfer details are as below: Bank Name: HDFC Bank Branch: Kanakapura Road, Bangalore IFSC Code: HDFC0001753 Account Number: SRMBVS<your mobile number>. For example, if your mobile number is 9845012345, unique number assigned to you will be SRMBVS9845012345.
• You can transfer the amount to this account using online banking facility of your bank or from your bank branch.
• Most of the banks do not charge any fee for NEFT transfers

If you select HDFC payment gateway (Temporarily unavailable):

• Bank charges 2.36% for this service, which will have to be borne by the devotee. Registrations costs per person including these bank charges will be Rs. 10,754, Rs. 12,802 or Rs. 15,875 based on room type”.
• Registration will be confirmed immediately

We do not accept cash or checks.Unified Payment Interface (UPI) transfers are also not allowed.

Devotees registering from outside of India will need to use cards issued in India as we are unable to accept payments from a foreign country.  

Refunds for cancellations:

We understand that devotees may need to cancel for many reasons and we want to refund as much as possible but are constrained by the time needed to find another devotee to take your place. 

If you cancel your registrations

• On or before August 31, Rs. 1,000 per person will be deducted.
• For example, if you chose Ashram-AC room, Rs. 11,500 per person will be refunded
• On or before September 30th, Rs. 5,000 per person will be refunded.
• After October 1st, no refund

To cancel, please email us at kashi.satsang@voiceofrishis.org with – Transaction Id of your registration, Names of devotees not attending, Online transfer information for sending the refunds

 Other Frequently Asked Questions related to registration are below:

Devotees who want to offer Annadanam in this punya kshetra, can contribute Rs. 10,000 or multiples thereof.

Devotees who wish to encourage Vedapatashala children from Sri Ramana Maharshi Brahmavidyasrama (run under the spiritual guidance of Sri. Nochur Acharya), can contribute Rs. 8,000 or multiple thereof. This will be used towards transportation, food and accommodation of these children for Kashi satsang.