Yatra.com Blog

Ever heard of Spirituality in India? I bet 95% of us already know a fair deal about it or would claim to know. If you don’t have an opinion on Spirituality then you probably haven’t lived in India long enough. Indians are globally acknowledged to be “Spiritual”; faith and devotion are visible in every aspect of life here. However we ourselves perceive that spirituality is meant for Sadhus/Saints who are supposed to stay in Himalayas and should not enjoy the “material” life. Till recently there was a concept of compartmentalization – material life and spiritual life as being separate with no overlap. But, there has been a definite shift off late in this regard. With heightened competition professionally and in education, more demanding personal lives and more stressful lifestyles people feel the need for a more rejuvenating and long lasting break with elements of spirituality embedded aka “Spiritual Leisure”.

I remember from the years I had spent abroad; we needed an additional day to recover from the hectic and frantic schedules during a vacation long weekend. A four day weekend would effectively get converted to a 5-6 days with an additional day for recovery. However the evolution of vacationing in the last few years has been quite noticeable not just abroad but also in India - from being an action packed schedule where the idea was to see as many places in one go to a more relaxed and focused vacation. People are now ensuring that their holiday destination is such that the time spent in traveling by road/air is significantly less while the quality time spent on actual leisure is more. Some prime examples of such trips include*:

• Amrtisar - Golden temple pilgrimage can be clubbed with Wagah Border/Jaliawala Bagh
• Tour of Puri temples can be clubbed with a wild-life parks, Sulphur Springs of Bhuwaneshwar
• River Rafting in Rishikesh can be clubbed with Scenic sightseeing in Dehradun, Mussorie and with Ganges dip in Haridwar and Rishikesh

As you would notice that these places are geographically close to each other and cover more than one aspect for a vacationer and that makes it even more tempting - the historical significance of a Wagah border along with the spiritual aspect of Golden Temple OR the scenic beauty of Dehradun/Mussorie with the Ganges dip in Haridwar. Spiritual leisure is here to stay; so don’t be left out, experience it for yourself by planning such a trip for you and your family.

All the best for your upcoming vacation!

Swapnil

* The list is not limited to the places mentioned below. You can get as creative as you want.