The Shakti and Shiva of Pure Love
Sri Narayani Peedam → Mahāvatar Babaji Meditation Centre
8th – 24th March 2027 · 16 Nights
A$4,500 Earlybird A$3,900 until 9 Dec 2026
An India Pilgrimage · 8 – 24 March 2027
The Shakti and Shiva of Pure Love
A journey with Gayatri and Sri Laxmi to the ashrams of two living embodiments of unconditional love — feminine in the south, formless in the Himalayan north.
Full journey A$4,500 Earlybird A$3,900 · Shakti and Shiva Retreats from A$2,450 each · or monthly instalments
Choose Your Pilgrimage
Join us for the complete journey, or immerse yourself in one of its two sacred halves.
Shakti of Pure Love
Sri Narayani Peedam, Tamil Nadu
8th – 15th March 2027 · 7 Nights
A$2,450 Earlybird A$2,050 until 9 Dec 2026
Shiva of Pure Love
Mahāvatar Babaji Meditation Centre, Palampur
15th – 24th March 2027 · 9 Nights
A$2,900 Earlybird A$2,500 until 9 Dec 2026
Two Avatars: Cosmic Love
In March of 2027, Gayatri will be offering a retreat in India to visit the two incredible Avatars who are unconditional love: Sri Shakti Amma and Yogiraj Amar Jyoti. Sri Shakti Amma Narayani is a feminine embodiment of unconditional love residing in Southern India. Yogiraj Amar Jyoti Babaji is a masculine embodiment of unconditional love residing in Northern India.
These two great Saints, their energy and their practices are very different in flavour, yet they are paradoxically one. They both connect us to bliss, unconditional love, and our own divine nature.
On this retreat, we will get to experience both resplendent beings, their ashrams and practices, and to meditate on these two exquisite pathways to unconditional love. We will also participate in the annual Holi festival at Babaji's ashram in Palampur.
I
Part I · 7 Nights · 8th – 15th March
The Shakti of Pure Love
With Sri Shakti Amma, at Sri Narayani Peedam, Tamil Nadu
The first part of our retreat will be in Southern India, at Sri Narayani Peedam, an ashram of goddess-flavoured devotion founded by the incredible Sri Shakti Amma. In Peedam, Bhakti (devotion) is expressed through form: through ceremonies, chanting and mantra, walking meditation in the beautiful star-shaped temple complex, and deity worship.
Pure love in Peedam feels very tangible. It embraces you as if the walls themselves are radiating love towards you, and all you have to do is be and receive love.
Our sessions will start at 5.00pm on the 8th of March, and conclude the evening of the 14th of March.
Note: We will leave the ashram to travel to Delhi on the 15th of March.
What to Expect
Puja with Amma
Most days, Amma runs pujas: traditional southern Indian ceremonies that we are invited to attend. These are spectacular experiences that involve all the senses. During these pujas, the machinations of the mind often melt away to reveal and empower the pure, unconditional love hidden within us. Pujas with Amma are extra special, as they are opportunities to spend time in Her sublime Shakti or energy — which in and of itself is life changing.
Daily Sessions with Gayatri and Sri Lakshmi
We will have meditation sessions every day with our retreat group. These will include pranayama and mantra, sacred music, and healing meditation. The group sessions will also provide time to check in, talk and connect with spiritual community, to learn the theory behind the practices we are experiencing at the ashram, and to integrate the blessings we are receiving.
Temples and Sacred Places
Sri Narayani Peedam is an incredible temple complex, with many highly charged individual temples that hold specific energies cultivated by Sri Shakti Amma. We will have the opportunity to experience all of these temples, and in many cases to partake in their particular ceremonies and the energies they bring.
Seva
Sri Shakti Amma promotes the twin virtues of service and devotion as a steady pathway to self-realisation. Amma has many seva projects, from feeding thousands of people per day, to a zero-waste recycling project, to ground breaking organic farming, to reforestation of the local area, and so many more. We will get the opportunity to not only see, but also take part in those projects that call to our hearts.
A Free Day
The final day in Peedam will be an opportunity for you to explore the ashram and its many activities (including the Ayurvedic Treatment Centre) in your own time. Gayatri will be available should you have questions, but you will be free to follow your own heart in an unscheduled way and be where you feel called to be.
Called to the Shakti of Pure Love only?
Join us for the first 7 nights at Sri Narayani Peedam · 8th – 15th March.
II
Part II · 8 Nights · 16th – 24th March
The Shiva of Pure Love
With Yogiraj Amar Jyoti, at Mahaavatar Babaji Meditation Centre, Himachal Pradesh
The second part of our retreat will be in Northern India, at Mahaavatar Babaji Meditation Centre, the home and ashram of Yogiraj Amar Jyoti. In this ashram, pure unconditional love is experienced in a formless way. It is transcendental and uplifting. To Gayatri, it feels like dazzling, starry bliss, or a kind of champagne made from joy.
Gayatri lived in this ashram for 4.5 months in 2024, writing up her thesis on the psychology of unconditional love. It was here that the connection between unconditional love and universal consciousness or Sat Chit Ananda became so clear. That is the Shiva-flavoured, formless kind of love we will be exploring on this retreat in the Himalayan foothills.
Our 9 days in Palampur will include retreat program facilitated by Gayatri and celebration of the Holi Festival.
What to Expect
Time with Yogiraj
In Babaji's ashram, we will be able to spend time with Yogiraj Amar Jyoti, who for Gayatri is an extraordinary example of unconditional love that is simultaneously personal and universal. He frequently gives singing discourses, imparting sublime energy.
Havan (Fire Ceremonies)
There is a very quietly conducted fire ceremony at sunrise and sunset in the fire temple or Yagyashala, designed to help us purify and let go of what no longer serves us.
Group Sessions with Gayatri and Sri Lakshmi
We will have at least one session in our retreat group per day. These sessions will consist of pranayama, music and healing meditation.
Silent Meditation
We will put some of the techniques we learn in our sessions into practice in the silent Babaji meditation temple. For Gayatri, this temple has also offered an energetic connection with Mahaavatar Babaji, the deathless Saint who you can read about in Autobiography of a Yogi.
The Holi Festival
The Holi festival will be celebrated on the 21st and 22nd of March at Babaji's ashram. Holi is a festival of Spring, associated with forgiveness, refreshment of spirit and renewed connection with the Divine. These two days will be filled with cultural programs, including a joyous celebration involving throwing thousands of flower petals in the air.
The festival of spring
Holi at Babaji's ashram — a sky of petals.
A festival of Spring, associated with forgiveness, refreshment of spirit and renewed connection with the Divine.
Called to the Shiva of Pure Love only?
Join us in Delhi and the Himalayan foothills · 15th – 24th March.
Your Teachers
Facilitator
Gayatri
Gayatri has been on a committed spiritual path of consciousness exploration and expansion since childhood. She began learning healing with her mother, international mystic and teacher Shakti Durga, at the age of eight. Since then, Gayatri has had the opportunity to meet and study with spiritual masters from diverse traditions around the world. She has been offering spiritual retreats, seminars, and Satsangs for the past 16 years.
Intrigued by the profound transformations and many apparent miracles engendered through spirituality, Gayatri sought to study consciousness from an academic perspective. She holds an MSc in applied positive psychology and coaching psychology, and recently completed her PhD in transpersonal psychology on unconditional love as a transpersonal state of consciousness.
Gayatri's retreats are deeply transformative, uplifting, and soulful. She weaves her wisdom into experiential practice that lifts participants into the light, love, and bliss of their own true nature.
Support
Sri Laxmi
Sri Laxmi is a powerful and heart-centred healer, meditation teacher, and birth & postnatal doula. She has worked closely with Gayatri on retreats and seminars in the UK since 2016 and is one of Gayatri's favourite people to get healings from.
Sri Laxmi has been interested in spirituality since childhood, exploring traditions and practices from both east and west. In 2005, she experienced a spontaneous opening into oneness and unconditional love in the foothills of the Himalayas.
She has accompanied Gayatri and Shakti Durga to Peedam and Palampur many times, and is looking forward to supporting the retreat participants on what will undoubtedly be a transformative spiritual adventure.
Travel & Practicalities
About a day of travel separates Peedam and Palampur. We leave Amma's ashram on 15 March, fly Chennai → Delhi, and overnight at the IVA Hotel. On 16 March we fly Delhi → Dharamshala and drive 1.5 hours to Babaji's Ashram.
Flights are not included in the retreat price. Internal flight details are provided on booking — please book promptly so we can travel together.
All meals at the ashrams are vegetarian. Travel insurance is required (minimum $500,000 medical cover). Please note Babaji's ashram is set in the Himalayan foothills with hilly walking between the guest house and temple.
Are you called?
Pay in full or in monthly instalments.