Banaras Engoldenment
A sacred retreat with Andrew Harvey — living with Kabir in the holiest city on earth
Spiritual Guide
Andrew Harvey
Duration
7 Days
Destination
Varanasi (Banaras), India
For me, Kabir is not only the greatest mystical poet of India, but of the world. And Varanasi, which I call Banaras, is not only India's holiest, wildest, most mysterious, and most transformative city; it is, in my lived experience of it over 50 grateful years, the holiest, wildest, most mysterious, and most transformative place in the earth.
It has been a dream of mine for decades to hold a concentrated retreat on Kabir, who was born and lived in Banaras in the 14th and 15th century, in Banaras itself, where his fierce, pure, naked, absolutely uncompromising spirit is still overwhelmingly alive, not only in ashram dedicated to him, but in the songs of boatmen, the conversations of taxi drivers, sadhus, shopkeepers, and lepers.
Now at last, this dream will be realised. In our retreat, we will live with Kabir, and Kabir will live progressively in us, revealing to us who we really are: the fully human, the fully divine Self, liberated from religion, caste, tribe, trauma, karma, ego, vanity, fear and death.
“The weaver does not ask the thread where it is going. He simply weaves.”
— Kabir
The Pilgrimage
7 Days · Banaras
Arrival. Landing in the Sacred.
“You have arrived. Now let yourself arrive.”
Check into the hotel. Settle into your room. Let Banaras find you before you go looking for it.
A gentle opening session to calm the whole being. Simple mantra. Soft breathing. A slow walking meditation to land your soul in your body. As dusk falls, we gather for the first reading of Kabir's poetry—his words like a hand reaching across seven centuries to touch your chest. Let them settle. Let them stay.
The River. The Formless. The Fire.
“The river does not ask who you are. She simply carries you.”
Boat ride across the Ganges to the empty shore—the eastern Ramnagar bank. In Hindu sacred geography, this emptiness holds deep meaning: the eternal city facing the vast, unoccupied shore. Form facing formlessness. The known facing the unknown. You will sit on that shore and feel this for yourself.
Breakfast. Then a talk on Kabir and the great Nothing—the vast, silent space from which all things emerge and to which all things return.
A visit to the ashram of Anandamayi Ma, the greatest woman saint of 20th-century India, considered an incarnation of the Divine Mother. We sit on a balcony overlooking the Ganges, offering simple devotion to the Mother. A short talk follows, woven with Kabir's poetry on the sacred marriage of opposites—the dance of light and shadow, form and emptiness, through which the One reveals itself.
The Aarti at the burning ghats. Fire. Devotion. The endless river. A revelation that will not leave you.
The Gold Within.
“You are not being polished. You are being revealed.”
Boat trip up the Ganges, softly chanting the mantra of the Mother. The river carries your voice. The sky carries your heart.
Breakfast. First talk on what Kabir calls Engoldenment—the turning of the whole human being (heart, mind, soul, and body) into divine gold. An ancient tantric practice will be offered: inviting the Mother's golden light to descend into every chakra of your being. Not effort. Not striving. Just receiving.
Free time to practice. Sit with the golden light. Let it move through you. No rush. No doing. Just being.
Dinner, followed by a circle of sharing. Experiences. Difficulties. Realizations. New possibilities. What is waking up in you?
Noble Silence. Noble Seeing.
“When the noise stops, the truth begins to speak.”
Boat ride to the empty shore once more. This time, we chant the Gayatri Mantra, followed by silent meditation on the sand—feet on the earth, breath in the sky.
Breakfast. Then a day of noble silence begins. No words. Just presence. Just listening.
A visit to the Aarti ritual on Assi Ghat. You will see it now—with new eyes. Without the need to speak about it. The silence will be the seeing.
The Natural State.
“Not becoming. Being. Doing.”
After breakfast, the second talk on Engoldenment: The Natural State—Kabir's vision of effortless, illumined spontaneity. The gold you are not searching for. The gold you already are.
Lunch and rest. At 4:30 PM, a two-hour silent walk through the crowded lanes near the ghats. Practice the Natural State in the middle of life—not apart from it. Walking, breathing, seeing, being, loving.
After dinner, two hours of sacred sharing. What did the silence teach you? What did the crowded lanes reveal?
The Weaver. The Woven.
“Kabir was a weaver. God, he said, is the Weaver of light into matter.”
After breakfast, a visit to Kabir's birthplace—his temple and ashram. Walk where he walked. Breathe where he breathed. Then return by boat to the hotel.
Visit the traditional weavers of Banaras. Watch the looms move. Watch the silk take shape. Kabir said God weaves light into the fabric of existence. You will see that truth in the hands of a weaver.
Sit by the Ganges in silence. Let the river hold what the day has given you. Dinner. Early night.
The Return. The Beginning.
“You came as a pilgrim. You leave as a carrier of light.”
Final boat trip down the Ganges. A last sunrise. A last chant. A last surrender.
Breakfast. A closing talk on Kabir as the timeless trainer of the special forces of evolution. What does his wisdom ask of us in these times? What are we being called to birth in this burning world?
Lunch, followed by an hour of sacred sharing. Then a ritual of dedication—inspired by Kabir—to sacred action. To serve from divine wisdom. To act from egoless love. To live in joy-full freedom.
Visit the Annapurna Temple—the goddess of fullness and abundance. A celebration of life. Of the body. Of the divine made human. A celebration of the embodied life we are called to live through grace.
A feast of gratitude by the Ganges. For Kabir. For the river. For the journey. For each other. For the gold that was never lost—only waiting.
You came seeking. You leave knowing.
Not knowing in the way of answers. Knowing in the way of presence. The river did not explain itself. It simply held you. Kabir did not give you a map. He gave you a mirror. The gold you found was never lost. It was only waiting for you to stop searching and start seeing.
You walked through the crowded lanes. You sat on the empty shores. You chanted. You were silent. You shared. You received. And somewhere in the middle of it all, something shifted. Not because you tried. Because you let yourself be held.
Take this with you: you are not a problem to be solved. You are a pilgrimage already in progress. The river is still flowing. The weaver is still weaving. And the gold—the gold is still becoming you.
You speak of bondage
You speak of liberation
No Reality
Neither remains
— Kabir
End of the Pilgrimage.