Rishikesh - Where to Stay, Eat (Swami Dayananda Ashram)

Day 5 : Neelkanth Peak - Hanuman Chatti Temple - Exploring Joshimath - Enroute to Rishikesh (Joshimath - Srinagar) - RISHIKESH SWAMI DAYANANDA ASHRAM - Haridwar - Char Dham Trip Concludes Finally....

The sixth day of our trip to the Garhwal Himalayas, finally saw us in the plains… the very place from where we had embarked on this holy journey just a couple of days back – Rishikesh!

Rishikesh, the Land of the Sages, is a celebrated spiritual town nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas with the Holy River Ganga gently flowing besides it. It is believed that when Raibya Rishi undertook rigorous penance, God appeared in the form of ‘Hrishikesh’ and the area henceforth came to be known as Rishikesh. Besides being the starting point for the pilgrims undertaking the Char Dham Yatra, it is also famous as the ‘Yoga Capital of the World’ which draws a considerable rush to the town the entire year around.

Welcome to the 'Land of the Sages' - Rishikesh

If you are on a serious soul-searching mission, then Rishikesh is the destination tailor-made just for you. People come here to find a direction to their lives, connect to their inner selves and go back home with pleasurable memories and a silent promise to return again.

Where to Stay, Eat in Rishikesh (Swami Dayananda Ashram)

Step in Rishikesh and you will see lots and lots of ashrams and hotels to stay, suited for a variety of different budgeted traveling pockets. Even though there are a clut of ashrams, one important thing to remember is to book your rooms well in advance especially during the season period since the town sees a lot of tourists not only from India but also from abroad for reasons quite clearly evident in the introductory paragraph.

A Board in the Swami Dayananda Ashram displaying the tithis, nakshatras

and other celestial details of the day

Although, we were to spend just a couple of hours in Rishikesh, still we had prebooked our room for freshening up at the Swami Dayananda Ashram.

Swami Dayananda Ashram

Spread in a huge sprawling area, it is a very humble and a serene place located in the middle of the town, still distant enough to make it calm, laid back retreat from the maddening touristy rush, also one of the things the town is notoriously known for.

Swami Dayananda Saraswati, a contemporary teacher of Vedanta

and a scholar in Sanskrit in the tradition of Sankara.

There is no failure in life. There are only varieties of experiences. We learn from experiences, and not from failure which does not exist - Swami Dayananda

The rooms are amazingly very clean and well maintained for an ashram which has no fixed tariff! You don’t pay anything here but just make a donation!

Our room at the Swami Dayananda Ashram in Rishikesh

What’s more they also offer complementary lunch and dinner serving homelike, pure and satvik food which is cooked daily in the premises itself.

Dining Hall area of the Ashram

There is a well equipped library with CD’s and books written by Swami Dayananda himself, an ashram temple, a lecture/satsang hall where regular yoga courses and spiritual camps are held all round the year and a façade where you can stand and fill in your eyes and heart with the unending views of the River Ganga and the mountains.

View from the Ashram facade

Lord Shri Gangadhareswar Temple - Facing the Ganga River, is the ashram temple wherein daily worship is offered by the visiting devotees and the ashram sadhus and priests.

The Lord Shri Gangadhareswar Temple

at the Swami Dayananda Ashram in Rishikesh

Temple architecture

The main deity of Lord Shiva worshipped as Lord Gangadhareswar

An image inside the Temple representing the Twelve Jyotirlingams of Lord Shiva

An idol of Goddess Gauri, the consort of Lord Shiva in the temple

Besides the temple is the private ghat of the ashram which the resident devotees can utilize to take a holy dip in the River Ganga.

Image from the blog archives, Year 2009

Private bathing ghat of Swami Dayananda Ashram

This time the bridge was broken due to the floods

that had hit the town in Aug 2010

Of all the places that I have stayed in my travels so far, Dayananda ashram is definitely one which is very close to my heart and will always remain so!

Dayanand Ashram trivia – An interesting fact I came to know about this ashram was that the South Indian Superstar actor, Rajnikanth also prefers to stay at this place whenever he is in the town!

Previous posts from this trip -

1. Char Dham Yatra

2. Planning the Char Dham Trip
3. Introduction to Uttarakhand and Char Dhams

4. ISKCON Temple, Delhi
5. Entire DAY 1 of the Yatra (includes The journey finally begins... Haridwar to Uttarkashi)

6. Entire DAY 2 of the Yatra (includes Enroute to Gangotri - Gangnani, Enchanting Mother Ganga... Our First Dham - Gangotri, Places to visit in and around Gangotri, Bhaironghati, Harsil, Pilot Baba Ashram in Bhatwari, Temples of Uttarkashi)
7. Entire Day 3 of the Yatra (includes Uttarkashi to Birahi (Chowrangikhal), Uttarkashi to Birahi (Kemundakhal))

8. Entire Day 4 of the Yatra (includes Birahi-Badrinath:Joshimath Gate System, Badrinath introduction - Where to stay, Eat, Alaknanda River and Brahma Kapal Ghat, Tapt Kund and the Panch shilas, The Badrinath Temple, Exploring the last Indian Village in Uttarakhand - Mana Village,  Places to visit in Mana Village, Diwali Celebrations in the Badrinath Temple)
9. Entire Day 5 of the Yatra (includes Neelkanth Peak, Hanuman Chatti Temple, Exploring Joshimath-Jyotirmath, Enroute to Rishikesh (Joshimath - Srinagar))