Hello from john david. I have been in India since September, leaving Australia just after the world changed. Did it really change or did our perception get massively assaulted through TV? Here in India in a small place like Tiruvannamalai life is rich in its diversity; an internationally feted saint and simple village people tending their animals.

I came to India with a group and we traveled from the north to the south visiting sacred places and having darshan with saints and our own satsangs. It was a rich month.

I decided at the end of the tour to stay in India for some time. I have been in Tiruvannamalai for a month taking the darshan of Arunachala, the ancient holy mountain and from Ramana Maharshi whose presence is very available in his beautifully kept ashram, still run by his family. It is particularly easy in this place to be with the Eternal Self.

Over the last two weeks we have had satsang up on the roof Stesa Bhavan, behind the German Bakery in the early morning. The space is covered with a bamboo roof and looks out directly onto Arunachala and is just minutes from Ramana's Samadhi. It would be hard to find a more evocative place. Monkeys and squirrels came to visit. These satsangs will continue through December.

I am offering a two week satsang retreat beginning on Sun Dec 30th until Sat Jan 12th here in Tiruvannamalai. We will stay together in a recently built ashram looking directly onto Arunachala. We will live satsang day by day in community and in our formal satsang occasions. The retreat begins at the time of Ramana's birthday celebrations and each day we will attend a puja at Ramana's ashram. We will walk Arunachala together and there will be time to be alone.

The cost is $A500 and includes:

I would like to encourage you to come here to this simple place which couldn't be further from what is being offered by the world media at this time. This place has enormous power - throw yourself in!

I am very happy to hear directly from anybody who would like to email me on: opensky@chilli.net.au.